Guests Cover Interisland Cable, Other Energy Issues As We Connect with a Listener in Far-Off Germany

Josh Strickler and Henry Curtis in HPR's studio.

We jokingly billed yesterday’s program as the President Obama Call-in Show, since he’s spending the year-end holidays in Hawaii and -- as they used to say in radio – was "within the sound of my voice.”

Predictably, that didn’t happen, but we did score the unusual – our first call from Europe from a listener in Germany who was following Energy Futures via online streaming.

Our guests were Representative Hermina Morita (at right), who was on Kauai; in the studio were State Renewable Energy Facilitator Josh Strickler and Life of the Land executive director Henry Curtis.

A highlighted topic was the planned underwater electric cable system that would link Oahu, Molokai and Lanai into an electrical grid for the first time. Neighbor islanders called with a concern that their islands would be negatively impacted by development of 200+ megawatt wind farms that would feed power to an energy-hungry Oahu. You can listen to the hour-long program at Hawaii Public Radio’s website once it’s posted there (sometime later today).

The first show of the New Year next Monday will be dedicated to transportation energy issues. Our intended guests will discuss development of an alternative to petroleum-based jet fuel and the latest plans to create a fleet of electric vehicles in the islands.

Energy Futures is broadcast "live" 5-6 pm HST Mondays on KIPO-FM (89.3 in the islands) and on the Internet via streaming.

Year-End Show Looks Both Ways on Energy

Hawaii Public Radio’s Energy Futures show will end its first six months with a look back to renewable energy developments here in ’09 and a look ahead to what we can expect in the New Year -- especially in the Legislature's new session starting next month.

Our guests will be state Representative Hermina Morita, chair of the House Committee on Energy and Environmental Protection; State Renewable Energy Facilitator Josh Strickler, and Life of the Land's Executive Director Henry Curtis.

This will be a lively discussion, including Henry’s view in a Honolulu Advertiser commentary today that the publicly-stated costs for the planned underwater cable between the islands are understated.

Energy Futures is broadcast 5-6 pm HST each Monday on KIPO-FM (89.3 in Hawaii) and streamed on the Internet at HPR’s website. Call the show with your comments and questions; the number on Oahu is 808-941-3689 and from the neighbor islands, it’s 1-877-941-3689.

‘Age of Consumerism’ May Need Rethinking; Journalism Climate Summit Suggested Here

Drs. Tom Brislin, Toufiq Siddiqi and Susan Chandler in HPR's studio.

Guests spent the hour on Monday’s Energy Futures program reflecting on the outcome of the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference and suggesting policy options that will be required for Hawaii to adapt to the climate realities of the 21st century.

Dr. Toufiq Siddiqi of the East–West Center was not as pessimistic as some about China’s refusal to allow inspections of its greenhouse gas emissions and presumed future reductions. He said it’s a relatively easy matter to know how much fuel is being burned. The Reaganesque “trust but verify” dictum may be outdated, he suggested.

Drs. Susan Chandler and Tom Brislin of the University of Hawaii Public Policy Center predicted policy shifts that will help the state adapt to climate change. A major conundrum will be how Americans will adapt their own lifestyles if and when the fight against climate change becomes the moral equivalent of war. The Age of Consumerism that has been raging since World War II in the United States may soon be out of fashion.

As the hour-long program wound down, participants discussed the role of the news media in “partnering” with government and others in the climate fight. Unanswered was the question whether media executives and gatekeepers are sufficiently educated on climate issues, and that led to suggestions that a global journalism summit could be held in Honolulu that would benefit from the leadership of the University of Hawaii and the East-West Center, whose Jefferson Fellowships journalism program is highly-regarded.

Energy Futures is broadcast “live” 5-6 pm HST on Mondays on Hawaii Public Radio's KIPO-FM (89.3 in Hawaii) and via streaming on HPR’s website. Monday's show has been archived and will be available there for several weeks.

Post-Copenhagen, We Explore What It Means

The Copenhagen Climate Change Conference apparently has ended with a whimper, although that may be too hasty an assessment. But if what was “decided” there isn't expected to actually start rolling back climate change, that assessment may be both hasty and accurate.

My Energy Futures guests on Monday will have had nearly 72 hours to ponder the conference’s outcomes, so their analysis won’t be exactly instant. Dr. Toufiq Siddiqi of the East–West Center, and Drs. Susan Chandler and Tom Brislin of the University of Hawaii Public Policy Center will discuss what we’re likely to encounter in Hawaii and the Pacific as a result of a climate meeting that didn’t meet expectations.

Energy Futures is broadcast “live” 5-6 pm HST Mondays on KIPO-FM (89.3 in Hawaii) and is streamed on Hawaii Public Radio’s website.

Talk of Copenhagen Includes Next Generation

The Copenhagen Climate Change Conference is in its final days, and its outcome is as uncertain as the weather. We’ll try to make some sense of it with our two guests – Dr. Roger Lukas, professor of Oceanography at the University of Hawaii, and Natasha Reznickcheck, a student at Honolulu’s Academy of the Pacific.

Dr. Lukas is a member of the generation that has confronted global warming with scientific research, while Ms. Reznickcheck represents the next generation that is starting to undertake energy-related projects at the school level. We intend to learn more from both.

Energy Futures is broadcast “live” 5-6 pm HST on Mondays on KIPO-FM (89.3 in Hawaii) and is streamed at Hawaii Public Radio's website.

Scientists Highlight Copenhagen’s Importance; Future Storms Likely to Cause Greater Damage

Dr. Kevin Hamilton in HPR's studios.

The news about climate change and emission mitigation is coming so fast it’s piling up on itself. The kickoff of the UN’s Copenhagen conference seemed like a good day for the US Environmental Protection Agency to declare greenhouse gas emissions a threat to public health.

That and other news was highlighted in this week’s Energy Futures program with guests Dr. John Barnes, principal investigator for the Mauna Loa Observatory, and Dr. Kevin Hamilton, University of Hawaii professor of meteorology and interim director of the International Pacific Research Center.

Barnes (at right) described the work of the observatory since 1958 in measuring the increasing amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere 11,155 above sea level on the volcano’s slope. Those measurements have seen CO2 increase from 315 ppm in 1958 to 387 ppm recently. Barnes noted that the rate of increase is increasing.

Hamilton’s climate modeling work suggests that the intensity of cyclones and hurricanes is likely to increase by at least 10 percent due to the warming of the sea and atmosphere as greenhouse gases accumulate. Combined with sea level rise, future storms could be all the more destructive when they crash into islands and coastal regions.

Yesterday’s Energy Futures program will be archived at the Hawaii Public Radio website later today and will be available there for the next month or more. Energy Futures is broadcast “live” 5-6 pm HST on Mondays on KIPO-FM (89.3 in Hawaii) and via HPR’s website with audio streaming.

Pacific-Based Scientists To Discuss Copenhagen

Dr. Kevin Hamilton and Dr. John Barnes

The Copenhagen Climate Change Conference convenes on December 7th and will attract global attention to what some are calling the most important conversation in history.

Hawaii Public Radio’s Energy Futures program will again focus on the conference Monday afternoon from a mid-Pacific perspective. Guests on our program will be Dr. John Barnes, principal investigator for the Mauna Loa Observatory, and Dr. Kevin Hamilton, University of Hawaii professor of meteorology and interim director of the International Pacific Research Center.

Energy Futures is broadcast “live” 5-6 pm HST on Mondays on KIPO-FM (89.3 in Hawaii) and via HPR’s website with audio streaming. Listeners join the discussion with their comments and questions at 941-3689 on Oahu and 1-877-941-3689 from the neighbor islands and beyond.

Burkett, Tollifson, Mikulina See Climate Imperatives

Monday's guests: Maxine Burkett, Jim Tollifson, Jeff Mikulina

Monday’s guests on Hawaii Public Radio’s Energy Futures program – while representing diverse community interests – nevertheless spoke as one regarding the necessity to halt climate change. Their island home requires it.

Our guests were Maxine Burkett, director of the Center on Island Climate Adaptation and Policy at the University of Hawaii; Jeff Mikulina, executive director of the Blue Planet Foundation, and Jim Tollefson, president and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii.

Each expressed concern that Copenhagen’s Climate Change Conference beginning on December 7 may not reach agreements on future emission targets for the most prolific polluting nations – most especially the United States, China and India.

Sea levels already are rising and are guaranteed to continue that trend based on the amount of greenhouse gases that already are in the atmosphere and are certain to be there in future decades. That’s not good for island and coastal societies.

The program has been archived at HPR’s website. Energy Futures is broadcast “live” 5-6 pm HST on Mondays on KIPO-FM (89.3 in Hawaii) and via HPR’s website with audio streaming. Listeners join the discussion with their comments and questions at 941-3689 on Oahu and 1-877-941-3689 from the neighbor islands and beyond.