KIUC 25 Years after the Crash

SUBHEAD: Without a clue our suburban power company drives into the future searching their rear view mirror.By Juan Wilson on 27 March 2011 for Island Breath - (http://islandbreath.blogspot.com/2011/03/kiuc-25-years-after-crash.html)Image above: A Toyota truck crash on NASCAR circuit. From (http://www.autoracing1.com/).This week we learned the results of the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative board

Germany Backs Out of Nukes

SUBHEAD: If we had the winds of Texas or the sun of California, the task here would be even easier.By Juergen Baetz on 23 March 2011 for MSNBC - (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42239367/ns/business-world_business/#)Image above: A German nuclear power plant. From original article.Germany is determined to show the world how abandoning nuclear energy can be done. The world's fourth-largest

Solar PV Use Accelerating

SUBHEAD: Mid size solar photo-voltaic installations grow at light speed across Unit.by Lauren Sommer on 16 March 2011 for KQED Broadcasting - (http://www.npr.org/2011/03/16/134341220/midsize-solar-installations-grow-at-light-speed?sc=17&f=1001)Image above: Solar panels at the midsized Sunset Reservoir solar array in San Francisco. From original article.As Tim Nilsen steps into one of his barns

Limits to Complexity

SUBHEAD: It seems we are witnessing the time when increasing technological complexity is obviously costing more than we gain.By George Mobus on 14 March 2011 in Question Everything -(http://questioneverything.typepad.com/question_everything/2011/03/limits-to-complexity.html) Image above: Computer devise as doorstop. From (http://craze001.wordpress.com/2008/09/25/computers-a-lifetime).Three Mile

The Area Under the Curve

SUBHEAD: We have never faced the stark reality of a net energy decline before in history. Now we are.By George Mobus on 7 March 2011 in Question Everything - (http://questioneverything.typepad.com/question_everything/2011/03/its-the-area-under-the-curve.html)Image above: An ocean whirlpool. From (http://www.unoriginal.co.uk/gallerymisc58.html).Oil Prices and the EconomyThe punch line comes

Giant Brazil Dam Blocked

SUBHEAD: Construction of Belo Monte Dam in Amazon delayed by judge on environmental gounds.Image above: Protest of indigenous people along Amazon River to be affected by dam. From original article.After decades of protests against what would be the world's third largest hydroelectric facility, Brazilian officials finally approved construction on the controversial dam at Belo Monte just one month

No Modern "Steady State"

SUBHEAD: A system without fossil fuels and without debt is the world of 1750 with fewer than one billion people.By Gail Tverberg on 21 February 2011 in Our Infinite World - (http://ourfiniteworld.com/2011/02/21/there-is-no-steady-state-economy-except-at-a-very-basic-level/#more-1301)Image above: Home economy crafts in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia circa 1750. From (http://

Past the Point of No Return

SUBHEAD: The need is to find a way to reduce the population at a rate that will exceed the rate of decline of the carrying capacity.By George Mobus 13 February 2011 in Question Everything - (http://questioneverything.typepad.com/question_everything/2011/02/past-the-point-of-no-return.html)Image above: People crowd train in Dhaka, India, station. From (http://knowledge.allianz.com/?354/

KIUC Signs Biomass Deal

SUBHEAD: Critics, like George Monbiot, contend that burning biomass for electricity is not really a form of 'Green Energy'.By Anne Barnes on 25 January 2011 in MSN Money - (http://money.msn.com/business-news/article.aspx?feed=PR&Date=20110125&ID=12816383&topic=TOPIC_CONTRACTS&isub=1)Image above: Power plant smoke stack. From original TreeHugger article. Kaua'i Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC)

Brazil Approves Giant Dam

SUBHEAD: Clearing of square mile of Amazon Forest approved to begin construction of Belo Monte Dam on Xingu River.By Stephen Messinger on 27 Janaury 2011 for Treehugger - (http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/01/brazil-approves-clearing-forest-for-belo-monte-dam.php)Image above: Jurena people's life of fishing and travel on the Xingu River is threatened by Belo Monte Dam. From video below. After

Green Energy’s Big Challenge

SUBHEAD: When it comes to such a large-scale shift in energy supplies, few places face more of a challenge than the United States.By David Biello ON 20 January 2011 in Yale Environment 360 -(http://e360.yale.edu/feature/green_energys_big_challenge__the_daunting_task_of_scaling_up_/2362)Image above: To supply 25% of current energy by 2050 the U.S. will build 1,000 one-gigawatt nuclear reactors.

Fuel from Sunlight?

SUBHEAD: Scientists reveal potential of new technology to produce "clean: fuel from sunlight.By Jake Richardson 20 January 2011 for Care2.com - (http://www.care2.com/greenliving/clean-fuel-could-be-made-from-sunlight.html)Image above: Illustration of thermochemical solar powered reactor. From (http://blog.genericase.com/?tag=petrol).Dr. Sossina Haile and her colleagues at CalTech have created a

Onset of Catabolic Collapse

SUBHEAD: It’s possible at this point to provide a fairly exact date for the onset of catabolic collapse here in the United States of America.By John Michael Greer on 19 January 2011 in The Archdruid Report - (http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/2011/01/onset-of-catabolic-collapse.html)Image above: Viaduct passes in front of the Colosseum in reconstruction of Rome as it was in 320 AD . From (

The Grid

SUBHEAD: A single-source for 24x7x365 5kwatt electric service to every residence in Hawaii is not possible.By Juan Wilson on 19 January 2011 - Image above: Control room of TVA nuclear power plant. From (http://www.ornl.gov/info/ornlreview/v38_1_05/article11.shtml).To save ourselves we must downsize, decentralize and reduce consumption. The providers of the Grid have another mantra "Centralization

Kauai Hydro Projects Power Up

SOURCE: Kenneth Taylor (taylork021@Hawaii.rr.com)SUBHEAD: Four sites on Kauai would generate 18% of island power needs under a proposal.[Publisher's note: It seems unlikely that financing for such a project can be properly utilized by the debt strapped KIUC. They were unable to even retrofit an existing sugarcane operation into a biofuel power station. Moreover, given the pathetic record of

Ku'oko'a - Transforming Hawaii

SUBHEAD: If the Grid is to be continued Hawaii has two realistic options - geothermal and ocean energy.By Henry Curtis on 16 January 2011 in Disappeared News - (http://www.disappearednews.com/2011/01/kuokoa-transforming-hawaiis-economy.html)Image above: Rebels took out these electrical towers = Medellin, Colombia, leaving the nation's second largest city without electricity. From (http://

Ocean Swell Wind Generator

SUBHEAD: Using the physics of the blowhole to generate electricity for Hawaii in the ocean.By Henry Curtis on 14 January 2011 in Disappeared News - (http://www.disappearednews.com/2011/01/blowhole-energy.html)Image above: Oceanlinx swell driven generator prototype at Port Kembla, near Sidney, Australia. From (http://www.mywindpowersystem.com/2009/09/ocean-wave-energy-alternative-energy-part-7/).

Ku`oko`a

SUBHEAD: Renewable energy sources should come before electric grid infrastructure.By Henry Curtis on 9 January 2011 in Disappeared News - (http://www.disappearednews.com/2011/01/kuokoa.html)Image above: NYC barge sporting wind and solar energy power generation. From (http://www.earthzine.org/2010/04/19/ten-steps-to-a-smarter-grid).I had an opportunity to talk with a principal in Ku`oko`a a few

HECO biofuel & privitization plans

SUBHEAD: Hawaiian Electric to use locally produced biofuel for power generation.By Andrew Herndon on 7 January 2011 in Bloomberg - (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-07/hawaiian-electric-to-use-locally-produced-biofuel-for-power-generation.html)Image above: Illustration of Aia Koa Pono Kau Energy Farm. From (http://www.allhawaiinews.com/2011/01/hawaii-farm-to-fuel-project-military-to.html).

My Way or the Highway

SUBHEAD: Oahu is pushing the outer islands to support it's lifestyle even against their interests - with 200 40-story windmills.[Editor's note: The Kamaoa windmill farm was in installed at South Point of the Big Island in 1986 to produce 7.5 megawatts of electric power. By 2006 the the rusting dilapidated site was shut down. Centralized windmill farms will not be a reasonable solution for Hawaii.