The Big Island goes green, and we get to watch

Renewable energy may be trendy on the U.S. mainland, but on Hawaii’s Big Island, it’s a reality.

And before you ask me — yes, we visited Hawaii, and we toured its green initiatives. I promised you the real Hawaii, didn’t I?

Our visit started at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii, where its executive director, Guy Toyama, explained why Hawaii has no choice but to find and tap renewable resources, such as wind, solar and geothermal energy. There are no naturally-occurring fossil fuels here.

That’s Hiroshi Arai showing Ōlelo pa‘a Faith Ogawa and Aren a sample of his Big Island Abalone. It’s just one of the companies in the Hawaii Gateway Energy Center that uses renewable energies (in this case, cold sea water) to farm tasty Abalone.

Ōlelo is one of the most sought-after chefs on the island and she later prepared an authentic Hawaiian meal with the Abalone. It was one of the highlights of our trip so far.

Also on our itinerary: A tour of the Keahole Solar Power array (picture at top) where plant operator Dean Towle showed us how the sun’s energy is turned into electricity. The company is developing a technique called Micro Concentrated Solar Power, a small, inexpensive solar power plant that could provide enough solar power for 250 homes.

Our son Aren, who is an aspiring scientist, thought this was much cooler than going to the beach.

All of the kids were fascinated by our final stop, Cyanotech, which uses renewable energy to farm algae. Here’s an picture of Valerie Harmon, the company’s director of cultivation, showing the children how algae is grown and harvested in large circular pools. Cyanotech produces BioAstin Natural Astaxanthin and Hawaiian Spirulina Pacifica.

And why would kids be interested in an algae farm? Because they got to visit a lab and look at real algae through a microscope.

Kids these days. You just don’t know what is going to impress them.

The business reporter in me wonders how profitable some of these ventures are, but the idealist in me says it doesn’t matter. What does matter is whether these kinds of initiatives are sustainable over the long term, and after touring the energy center, I think — I hope — they are.

  • Jasper

    If you go to South Point, you’ll see a whole farm of rusted unused windmills. Hawaii, where they waste renewable energy!

  • http://damontucker.com damon

    The Big Island has the potential to be the Geothermal capital of the world.

    I’m not sure why we don’t touch into it more then we do.

  • http://www.travellerspoint.com Peter

    Sounds like an educational visit :) Geothermal would indeed seem ripe for the picking in the Big Island.

  • karlakatz

    Personal windmills (yes, the NEW style) are so noisy, I had to sell my house on Kauai because a thoughtless neighbor installed one on his property.

    We could hear that horrific whirling all day, and all night. What used to be leisurely evenings on the lanai, became a shouting match, just to hear ourselves over the disgusting whooshing from his windmill.

    Also, over the period of the first 6 months, hundreds of bats were found dead at the base of his windmill. We sold and moved, so I don’t know how the bat issue was handled.

  • b cole

    Algae is renewable, does not affect the food channel and consumes CO2. To learn more you may want to contact the National Algae Association.

  • Nancy

    Every time I drive down I-80 and see all the windmills in Iowa, or when I am on Maui and see the windmills up on the hillside, I think of the broken down windmills at South Point. What an eyesore. Perhaps, Chris, you will be able to tell us that they are now fixed, or perhaps, as I suspect, there is more money to be made by creating new ones rather than maintaining old ones.

  • Joe Farrell

    We generate about 10-12Kwh a day from the 20 solar panels on our roof – our power will is about $100 a month for 3300 square feet and multiple modern appliances that suck power – switched most of the bulbs to CFL as well – they are 3 for dollar out here in LA. Have changed most of the power hog appliances to work during the day now since I’d rather use the power than push the meter backward slowly.

  • Joe Farrell

    We generate about 10-12Kwh a day from the 20 solar panels on our roof – our power bill is about $100 a month for 3300 square feet and multiple modern appliances that suck power – switched most of the bulbs to CFL as well – they are 3 for dollar out here in LA. Have changed most of the power hog appliances to work during the day now since I’d rather use the power than push the meter backward slowly.

  • John

    The old wind turbins at South Point have been replaced by newer more efficent ones. There were about 30 to 40 old ones. There are (I think) 14 new ones which not only replace the enitre output of the old but many times more( I do not remember off hand, but think it was 5 to 10 times more). Also there is a wind farm at Upolu Point(near Hawi).

  • http://uscanteen.com valerie

    we can all do our part- big or small- check out our stainless steel canteens- green and cool!

  • Angela

    Yes South point has old windmills but did you see the nicer larger ones that are in use and provide energy.

  • http://www.clarkecomputer.com Charles Clarke

    @damon & Peter – Regarding geothermal, Michael Kaleikini, manager of Puna Geothermal Ventures commented in a Q&A (article on hawaiifreepress.com) that “HELCO would not authorize much more than present, as the grid was already potentially supplied with 30% excess electrical generation capacity.” So, they probably need some voter input on how you would like the older plants decommissioned or reduced usage (costing jobs, of course).

    Just visited the windmills at Upolu Point. Was surprised to see them so close to the airstrip.

  • http://www.clarkecomputer.com Charles Clarke

    Forgot to say that while I was on the Big Island, I thought it would be great for plug-in hybrid/electric vehicles. Hard to have range anxiety when you can’t get that far from home. :-)

    They would also be great as a large battery for more wind energy generation. Give them preferred spots with plugs on beaches, etc. and they would be available more of the time as batteries. I wonder what the time of day power usage curve looks like.

    With gas being $1 more per gallon than on the mainland, they would payback quicker also. Are the cars shipped from Asia/Japan cheaper on Hawaii? Less distance to ship.

    Of course, they would be harder to hear coming around the curves or over the small hills in the roads.