Monday’s Energy Futures Show: Sea Level Rise

The inspiration for the Blue Line Project this weekend in Hawaii might well be Professor Chip Fletcher of the University of Hawaii. Fletcher studies sea level rise at home and around the Pacific and has had an impact on public consciousness with his computer-generated graphic. His computer program draws a blue line through Honolulu to show the high-water impacts. HPR’s Energy Futures program on Monday will feature Fletcher and Associate Professor of Law Maxine Burkett, who directs the Center for Island Climate Adaptation and Policy at UH’s William S. Richardson School of Law. The show will be broadcast at 5 pm HST next Monday on KIPO-FM (89.3) and streamed at that hour on HPR’s website.

Vega Heads Marine Renewable Energy Center

Dr. Luis Vega

Today’s guest on Energy Futures is Luis Vega, a veteran of numerous ocean energy programs and now the manager of the National Marine Renewable Energy Center at the University of Hawaii.

Hawaii Public Radio is in the midst of its fall pledge drive, so the show is a bit shorter than usual; it’s also recorded today, so there are no phone calls from listeners.

Tune in at 5 pm on KIPO (89.3 FM) or listen via the Internet as Luis Vega describes the Center’s mission and current activities to help ocean energy companies achieve their potential.

PUC Chair Takes The Calls, Walks the Talk, but 'Stromeinspeisungsgesetz’ Has Got To Go

Hawaii PUC Chairman Carlito Caliboso

Surprised we were when our invitation to Hawaii Public Utilities Commission Chairman Carlito Caliboso to be a guest on Energy Futures was accepted. We’re not used to such accessibility at the PUC. Maybe it’s just a hold-over impression of the Commission from the ‘80s, when the panel seemed like the Wizard of Oz – safely obscured behind a curtain and never quite decipherable.

But that wasn’t the experience today in our weekly Energy Futures show. Caliboso was approachable, good-humored and forthcoming. He completely shattered our stereotype of a PUC commissioner, so the adage must be true: You never learn less.

Down with Stromeinspeisungsgesetz

Chairman Caliboso’s topic was the recent Feed-In Tariff Decision and Order by the commission. We started the program by noting how completely unacceptable the term “feed-in tariff” is. Meaningful though it may be to energy industry insiders, the hyphenated word means nothing to the average person, and the second word is misleading.

The literal translation of the German law regulating renewable energy contributions to the utility grid – Stromeinspeisungsgesetz – is “act of feeding into the grid,” but that’s no reason we have to live with the phrase. Our suggestion: Renewable Energy Pricing.

Caliboso took several calls from listeners as he explained the rationale behind the Renewable Energy Pricing D&O – to spur the expansion of renewable energy contributions to the islands’ electric grids and reduce Hawaii’s fossil fuel dependence. Today’s show was a rare opportunity for the average Joe and Lokelani to question the PUC Chair, and he acknowledged as much.

The next step in the Renewable Energy Pricing procedure is to set the rates the utilities will pay for photovoltaic, concentrated solar, onshore wind and in-line hydroelectric energy. These are the off-the-shelf technologies that can be brought on-line with relatively little hassle.

Today's show will be archived for a few weeks at Hawaii Public Radio's website, starting sometime Tuesday.

Concentrated Solar Power Has Day in the Sun

Darren Kimura, president & CEO of Sopogy

We’re stretching and we know it, but the headline seems to fit the tone of this week’s Energy Futures program on Hawaii Public Radio. Our guest was Darren Kimura, long-time solar energy expert and currently the president and CEO of Sopogy, the local concentrated solar company.

Kimura gave a good overview of CSP’s potential and discussed some current projects his company has underway, including the array at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii on the Big Island and a two-year test of its solar air conditioning concept in Southern California. The show is archived at HPR's website.

CSP is one of the renewable technologies to be covered by the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission’s feed-in tariff decision and order, which came to light last week. Energy Futures’ guest next week will be PUC Chairman Carlito Caliboso. As we noted on our Hawaii Energy Options blog, we think his guest appearance will produce calls from developers who may have more than a few questions about the Commission’s D&O. (The Honolulu Advertiser editorialized favorably about the D&O today.)

The numbers are 941-3689 on Oahu and toll-free from the neighbor islands and beyond, 1-877-941-3689. The show also is streamed on the Internet.
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