‘Ōlelo No‘eau

Ako ‘e ka hale a pa‘a, a i ke komo ana mai o ka ho‘oilo, ‘a‘ole e kulu i ka ua o Hilinehu.

Thatch the house beforehand so when winter comes it will not leak in the showers of Hilinehu.

Learning Outcomes

1. Students will be able to describe how energy is created, distributed, and used.
2. Students will be able to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of different types of energy production, including renewable and non-renewables.
3. Students will be able to discuss the ways in which political and economic forces shape the production and consumption of different types of energy.

Energy is All Around Us

Energy is all around us. The sun shines on the earth, which causes wind, and sets hydrological cycles in motion, and causes waves. The earth orbits the sun. The gravitational pull of the moon moves the tides. The earth itself is a ball of molten rock, whose energy occasionally leaks out in volcanic activity or in the slow movement of the continental plates. There are also much more local processes at work, like the chemical energy released when we burn something or the processes of photosynthesis in which plants capture energy from the sun and store it in their stems, leaves, and fruit. All of this energy is essential to sustain life on earth and humans have learned to harness this energy through controlling fire, domesticating plants and animals, and eventually building machines and power plants.

In particular, the modern world is shaped by the discovery of fossil fuels, energy dense hydrocarbons which can be burned to produce heat, which powers engines that have been adapted to perform all kinds of useful tasks. Fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas are stored chemical energy from plants and animals that lived on earth a long time ago. Fossil fuels are also burned to produce electricity, providing lights and power to homes and businesses across the world. A much smaller percentage of the electricity we use is produced by solar energy, hydroelectricity from dams (the kinetic energy of water moving downhill) or wind power. Hydroelectricity and wind power might also be considered forms of solar power, since the hydrological cycle and the weather are fundamentally derived from the influence of the sun. These forces are used to spin a magnet, or electromagnet, in a coil of wires which produces electrical energy. This can be done by turbines turned by the falling water in hydropower, wind in wind turbines, or steam heated by burning fossil fuels, biomass, garbage, or nuclear reactions. Think about all of the ways we use electricity on a daily basis. We  travel from one place to another, light our house, power our computers, prepare food, or watch our favorite show. Almost every aspect of our lives are dependent on the production and consumption of electricity. When the power goes out, modern life seems to come to a stop and we have difficulty imagining how humans spent their time during the vast majority of human history without electricity.

The average amount of electrical energy used per person has dramatically increased over the last century. This may not seem like a problem, until we remember that most of that electricity comes from burning fossil fuels. Most modern transportation also relies on burning fossil fuels directly for power. The carbon dioxide released from burning fossil fuels is the primary cause of climate change which threatens the future ecological integrity of the planet. Natural disasters generated from climate change like wildfires, hurricanes, and winter storms can also threaten the electrical grid and expose the fragility of the complex electrical systems we have become dependent on. For example, Pacific Gas and Electric in California has been found liable for starting forest fires because of lack of trimming trees near power lines^[1]. These forest fires burn hotter and longer because of drought conditions caused by climate change. The burning forests release huge amounts of carbon, exacerbating the problem. The temporary solution is to turn off the electricity when high winds create ideal conditions for forest fires. Understanding the different modes of producing electricity and their advantages and disadvantages is key to addressing the climate crisis and creating a sustainable future for our species on the planet.

Energy Production Technology

Hawaii, by virtue of its physical isolation in the middle of the vast Pacific Ocean, has unique energy challenges and opportunities. While Hawaii has a huge potential for solar, wind, tidal, geothermal, and other types of renewable energy, it currently relies heavily on fossil fuels. The state of Hawaii is divided up into six energy grids, one for each of the six populated islands. In contrast, the entire continental US is divided into four grids. Any of the advantages that come from scale are absent in Hawaii. Alternatively, the high cost of electricity and small grid size make it an excellent place to pilot renewable energy projects and new strategies. However, the vast majority of Hawaii’s energy (73%) still comes from fossil fuels, which are the state’s largest import. Oil is expensive and Hawaii’s electricity rates are largely dependent on the price of oil and are roughly two to three times that of other states.

The state legislature has a goal to produce 100% renewable energy by 2045, but has not backed it up with a concrete plan for meeting this goal. The single coal burning power plant on O‘ahu is slated to be phased out in 2022, although since alternative power sources have not been lined up, it is unclear how this will actually happen. Oahu also contains an incinerator that burns trash to produce electricity. Although this is a relatively small part of the electricity generated for the island, it is an important part of reducing landfill space and will be discussed more fully in Chapter 6.

Each of the four counties in the states have separate electric companies which operate independently to some degree. Kauai is unique in that it has an energy cooperative, The Kauai Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC) was formed to buy and rebuild the electrical grid after Hurricane Iniki destroyed it in 1992. The cooperative is owned by the members and run by an elected board of directors. They currently get about 70% of their energy from renewable sources including solar, hydro-power, and biomass.^[2] Not for profit energy production is an interesting model that potentially allows companies less pressure to increase shareholder profit but rather focus on providing reliable, clean energy to its members. Currently, there is an effort on the other islands to follow Kauai’s lead and transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. There are many potential options for renewable energy but also significant challenges. Let’s consider each of these different types of renewable energy production and the potential issues and opportunities they present.

Solar and Wind

Solar and wind are the first thing many people think of when we talk about renewable energy. This makes sense as they are the fastest growing sectors of renewable energy. The largest challenge for wind and solar is that they do not provide continuous power. Solar power is only available when the sun is shining, and wind power when the wind is blowing. As a result the electricity generated varies from day to day and season to season. Most consumers are not willing to live without electricity at night and so solar and wind need to be supplemented with other sources.

The main issue for daily variability is that solar energy production peaks around the middle of the day, when the sun is highest, and is lower in the morning and evening, and non-existent at night. Energy use typically has a low peak in the morning, when everyone is waking up and leaving the house, then it dips during the day when most people are at work or school. (Although workplaces also use electricity, they do not compensate for the dip in residential consumption.) Then energy use has a bigger peak in the early evening, when everyone gets home, cooks, watches TV, and takes a shower before bed, when energy use falls again to its lowest point at the middle of the night.

One solution is to increase the storage capacity through batteries. The large solar farms built on Kauai include batteries that can store energy generated during the peak production hours in the middle of the day and then release it in the evening  when demand is higher. As more people buy electric cars, these cars can also function as distributed battery systems that can store electricity from peak hours and then feed it back as needed. However, a month of rain and clouds can dramatically reduce the production of solar electricity and this variability is a challenge. These extended periods without wind or sun require an alternative form of energy, making solar and wind unlikely to be the only source of energy.

For a long time, the state of Hawaii offered significant tax credits to homeowners that installed solar panels. About a third of single family homes on Oahu and a fourth on Maui and the Big Island have rooftop solar.^[3] This is the highest rate of adoption in the country. However, many people live in large buildings or rent, where installing your own panels is not possible. In response to this demand, there are community solar programs which allow those  living in condominiums or apartment buildings, or renting to lease solar panels and receive reductions in their power bill.

However, because the state electrical grids do not have the capacity for this rapid growth in decentralized electrical production it became complicated for the state electrical grid to deal with the increased supply during peak hours. In addition, solar power subsidies usually went to higher income families and left lower income rate payers paying higher electricity bills. You can now only claim the credit if you also install batteries which raises the prices of installing the solar panels, making it harder for lower income households to afford the initial costs. However, as more cars and appliances become electric, there is an increasing demand for electricity that makes it impossible for rooftop solar to meet the demand of the entire state.

Increasingly, industrial scale solar and wind farms are being installed across the islands. This increases the production of renewable energy but can also be done in ways that are potentially damaging to local communities and the environment. Industrial scale wind and solar farms use up space that would be otherwise used for agriculture, housing, or conservation. Because islands have limited buildable space, this can have real impacts. In some cases, local communities have organized protests against industrial scale renewable energy projects. The largest of the protests were the Ku Kiai Kahuku protests against the AES Na Pua Makani wind turbines at Kahuku.

In 2019, AES, a large multinational corporation that has a long history of producing coal powered electricity, began building 13 large wind turbines in and around Kahuku Village. Empowered by and using techniques similar to the Ku Kiai Mauna protests against the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea, Kahuku residents and allies physically blocked the entrance of large vehicles from either leaving the base yard at Kalaeloa or entering the areas behind Kahuku. Over 200 people were arrested for blocking a roadway or refusing to obey an order from a police officer, although most of these charges were later dismissed by the judges. While the construction of these kinds of projects is an important part of reducing carbon dioxide emissions, these costs are being distributed unfairly. The immediate beneficiaries of the project is AES, a large multinational corporation who have made billions off of destroying the environment, and the state, which meets its goals for renewable energy production.

The main arguments of local residents against the turbines is that they were “too big and too close.” The turbines, at 586 feet, were some of the largest structures in Hawaii and were located within 1,900 feet of residential areas. There is much debate about the health impacts of the noise turbines make and the shadow flicker caused in evening as the shadows from the blades create a strobe light effect that many residents find annoying. Kahuku residents were also denied permits to install solar panels because of the difficulty of the grid to absorb so much renewable energy at one point. In addition, some of the turbines are located close to the James Campbell National Wildlife refuge and posed a threat to native birds and the endemic Hawaiian Hoary Bat, or ‘Ope‘ape‘a.

All of these issues raise important questions around environmental justice, which recognizes the importance of creating environmental solutions that incorporate social justice and don’t just benefit the large corporations and government agencies that have created the current climate crisis. From an environmental justice perspective the wind turbines at Kahuku were a failure. If renewable energy projects require police to arrest hundreds of concerned community members then there is a total lack of communication and community involvement in the process.

Although the protests did not stop the wind turbines from being built, the City and Country is reviewing the setbacks and permitting process for industrial scale renewable energy projects and recognizing that communities need to be actively involved in the planning process. Offshore wind turbines are one way to reduce some of these concerns as they can be situated away from homes and terrestrial birds but they don’t address the fundamental challenge of how to create climate solutions that are both environmentally and socially responsible.

Biomass

Biomass involves burning wood or other fuels in order to produce electricity. If the wood burned is replanted and grown, then theoretically there is no increase in the amount of carbon dioxide because you are both releasing and sequestering carbon as part of the lifecycle of the power plant. Historically, burning of sugar cane waste was one of the major ways electricity was  generated in Hawaii. Now there are several biomass generators with two notable ones being H-power, the waste to power plant on Oahu and the Honua Ola plant along the Hamakua coast on Hawaii Island. The Honua Ola plant manages 20,000 acres of eucalyptus forest to burn and generate electricity. ^[4] For biomass to actually provide environmental benefits it really comes down to the effectiveness of the planting and growing efforts. Many feel that biomass shouldn’t be counted as renewable energy because of the negative environmental impact of logging and burning wood, deleterious health impact of smoke from burning, and other issues.

Hydropower

Hydropower is one of the earliest oldest forms of energy production and was essential in the beginning of the industrial revolution. The earliest mills were always located next to fast moving rivers to harvest the power of the river to turn the machinery. On the mainland, hydropower is the largest source of renewable energy nationwide. However, many environmentalists have opposed hydropower because the dams have flooded important historical sites, hidden natural wonders, and negatively impacted fish such as salmon that move between the rivers and oceans during their lifecycle. In addition, droughts throughout the Western US are beginning to threaten hydropower production int the region.

Despite having abundant water, hydropower is a much smaller provider of renewable energy in Hawaii. This is, in part, because there are no large rivers. There are several small hydroelectric stations throughout the island, many of which were established during the plantation era. The production capacity of Hawaii’s hydropower depends a lot on the rain, and drought can severely impact the ability of hydroelectric plants to function. However, as a renewable source of energy that can be tapped on demand, it could still be an important part of Hawaii’s grid. Even if rain is unreliable, reservoirs can function as large batteries. Excess solar or wind energy generated in the middle of the day can be used to pump water uphill into a reservoir. Then in the evening, when energy use is peaking, but solar production is out, the water is let through the turbines to generate energy. One advantage of this type of “battery” is that it can store a lot of energy and never degrades over time like chemical batteries. On Oahu, both Nuuanu and Wahiawa reservoirs have been considered as sites to store renewable energy and generate hydroelectric power. Someone has even proposed repurposing the Red Hill Fuel tanks as stored water batteries. Kauai is currently planning such a system to augment its conventional batteries.

As in the mainland, the construction of dams and other infrastructure for hydroelectric projects can negatively impact native stream life. ‘O‘opu and other native fish are anadromous and spend part of their lifecycle in the ocean. This means that they need the ability to move up and down stream as part of their annual life cycle. Dams can impede this movement. In addition, large dams that flood large areas of land can increase the production of methane, a damaging greenhouse gas, as flooded areas decompose. Sometimes this methane production does more damage than the carbon dioxide that was avoided by the production of hydroelectricity.^[5]

Geothermal

Geothermal generates electricity using the heat from the earth. This works especially well in areas with active volcanoes like the Big Island, where the superheated magma is fairly close to the surface of the earth. There is currently an active 38 MW geothermal power plant at Puna, on the Big Island which supplies 23-30% of the total electricity for the island.^[6] Geothermal plants using steam from water heated underground to turn a turbine. Some places, like Iceland, generate the majority of their electricity from geothermal sources and there is huge potential to expand the production of geothermal energy on the Big Island and possibly other islands as well.

Unlike other forms of renewable energy, geothermal is remarkably stable and reliable, with no seasonal or daily fluctuations. However, there is usually a significant initial investment needed and there is some danger of releasing poisonous hydrogen sulfide or other gasses to those living closest to the plant itself. Lava flows on the big island have also come close to the Puna plant, potentially covering it. Because of these concerns, residents of Puna have protested the Puna plant for years and proposals to build new geothermal plants.^[7] In addition, some feel that the geothermal power plant is an affront to Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of the volcano. Of course, all of these issues need to be weighed against the known damage caused by greenhouse gas emission and climate change.

Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion and Tidal Energy

These next forms of energy production are still being developed but also have a huge potential. Ocean thermal energy production, called OTEC for short, uses the different temperatures between the warmer surface of the ocean and colder deep ocean water to turn turbines and generate electricity. These power plants can be located on platforms offshore or on the coastline near areas with deep water relatively close. There is a working OTEC power plant on the Big Island that produces 100kW of energy. This is a relatively small contribution but proponents see this as a potential major player in clean energy production. Similar to geothermal, the energy produced is constant and unchanging with seasons and daily fluctuations. Unlike geothermal which is only available in specific locations, much of the world’s population lives near the coast, where OTEC is technologically feasible. Hawaii is a particularly good place because of our tropical location in the middle of the Pacific with warm surface water and relatively easy access to cold, deep ocean water..

Currently, the cost to build OTEC is more expensive than solar, wind, and other forms of alternative energy. As the technology develops and the price of energy increases, this could change. In addition, cold water brought to the surface for OTEC can also be used to cool buildings, an additional benefit that can reduce our dependence on electric air-conditioning. OTEC could potentially be developed to be commercially viable and produce electricity without the negative impacts or challenges associated with other forms of energy production.

Energy Efficiency

Energy production is just one half of the problem. If we increase the production of renewable energy and then simply increase our energy consumption, we will continue to rely on fossil fuels. This is actually what is happening in many places around the world. The growth of renewable energy has simply stopped the construction of new fossil fuel power plants, without replacing those that exist. On a household level, we can see this with a family that simultaneously installs solar panels and then air conditioners to take advantage of their lower energy costs. On a local level, the federal government has proposed a new military radar system in the hills behind Kahuku that would consume roughly 24 MW, the amount that is produced by the newly built wind turbines. If we continue to increase consumption of electricity, then increased production by renewable energy will never be enough.

Some increases in electricity consumption are inevitable as we transition from fossil fuel burning cars, stoves, water heaters, and lawnmowers to electric ones. These are more efficient and don’t emit carbon dioxide at the point of use. But other increases in consumption are avoidable. In order to get to carbon zero, or a point at which we are putting no greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere, we simultaneously need to decrease our electricity use through increased efficiency as well as reduce our consumption of fossil fuels by replacing fossil fuel power with renewable sources of energy. Improving efficiency is key to arriving there. Often upgrades that improve efficiency are significantly cheaper than generating additional energy.

Some shifts are easy to happen and are already occurring. The price of LEDs and fluorescent light bulbs are decreasing and they are largely replacing incandescent bulbs. LEDs use 90% less energy than an incandescent and last 25 times longer. This is an easy fix. More fuel efficient cars and appliances are also being mandated by the government. Solar powered water heaters, or LED TVs and computer screens, and induction ovens are all examples of more efficient appliances that can reduce electricity consumption without changing our quality of life. In some cases, more efficient appliances are also safer. For example, gas stoves are a huge source of indoor air pollution and gas leaks in homes can endanger residents. Increases in electricity and gas prices can encourage consumers to choose more efficient cars and appliances. However, because these changes can be expensive, especially for groups with lower incomes, we need government programs to encourage energy efficiency initiatives.

Other changes in efficiency are more gradual. For example, a properly built home can stay cool year round without the need for air conditioning, even in the hottest climate. We can see this with some traditional plantation style houses in Hawaii that were built to maximize airflow and keep the house cool. Properly insulated homes, especially roofs, can also reduce cooling costs. A simple fix like painting a roof white can also reduce the temperature inside a home and reduce the cooling costs. There are literally hundreds of different kinds of solutions to retrofit homes to reduce cooling costs and improve the efficiency of buildings and appliances without reducing their functionality. While some of these are expensive to build and maintain, many are relatively simple. We need to expand and develop these initiatives.

A huge advantage of efficiency measures is that benefits often go directly to the consumer and can benefit those who need it the most by reducing their electricity bill. Because of this, there is typically little incentive for large utility companies to invest heavily in energy efficiency measures. However, Hawaiian Electric does have incentive programs to swap out old refrigerators and subsidize purchasing of LEDs and educate consumers about how to reduce their electric bills.

Many of the University of Hawaii Community College campuses have energy contracts with Johnson Control, in which Johnson Control works to reduce the energy consumption of the campuses and then receives a profit based on the avoided energy usage. This has led to changes across many of the campuses including switching out lightbulbs, putting in motion sensors so lights don’t stay on, putting cooling systems and lights on automatic timers, removing individual AC units and creating chiller loops to more efficiently cool buildings, etc. However, despite all this, energy consumption has continued to increase across the campuses, illustrating how improved energy efficiency also needs to be balanced with simply reducing consumption. For instance, the largest single energy use at many campuses is air conditioning. Many people in Hawaii live perfectly comfortably without air conditioning at all. If we designed the building so windows could be opened and the walls were well insulated, it could be possible to simply not have air conditioning at all.

Degrowth

The most radical version of this strategy of decreasing our use of energy is called degrowth. Degrowth challenges a fundamental assumption of our current capitalist system that growth is both necessary and good. Bigger is not always better. The most widespread measure of an economy is the GDP or Gross Domestic Product, which measures the total economic activity of a country. Wars, which destroy a lot of things and kill a lot of people, can increase a country’s GDP as it ramps up manufacturing for wartime efforts. Within the current model, growth is always seen as beneficial, despite the environmental costs.

It can be hard to imagine a world in which growth is purposely slowed and actually reversed. Our entire financial system, the stock market, capitalism, government, and everything connected to these systems (like educational institutions and retirement systems) are based on the assumption that businesses, populations, and industries will continue to grow forever. When there were a lot fewer people and the earth’s resources seemed unlimited, this made sense. However, as we have filled the planet, it has become obvious, although widely ignored, that there are some absolute ecological limits to what can be extracted from the natural world.

A challenge to degrowth is the idea that economic growth can be separated or decoupled from the environmental impacts. The development of solar industries, reforestation efforts, or regenerative agriculture can provide positive economic growth without harming the environment. Tax systems that differentiated between extractive and damaging industries vs beneficial ones could be implemented to support environmentally positive growth while punishing destructive growth.

While degrowth and decreasing consumption might make sense for developed countries, the developing world still needs to increase consumption of very basic necessities like sufficient food, housing, and healthcare to reach modern standards of living. Reconciling and somehow managing the needs and wants of different populations around the planet is one of the central challenges of making the economic and environmental shifts necessary to achieve a sustainable future. Some might simply argue that there are too many people.

From the 1970s, population growth was held up as an impending ecological disaster. The Population Bomb by Paul Ehrlich laid out a nightmare scenario for the future if global population was not brought under control. This is problematic because populations tend to grow in underdeveloped countries whereas richer countries people have fewer births but each person consumes considerably more resources. The US, with only 5% of the world’s population, consumes 25% of the world’s resources. From this perspective, the problem is not the number of people per se but how much each of those people consume. In addition, proposals to slow population growth focus on poorer, less developed countries in the global south and can be racist and eugenicist.

In addition, population growth is complicated and the number of children a family has is more directly connected to the kind of economy they live in and the incentives or disincentives provided by agricultural, industrial, or information economies. Furthermore, global models of population growth show the world population peaking and then beginning to decline sometime in the next century as the global economy shifts.

Degrowth looks at ways we can consume fewer resources without sacrificing the health, security, and quality of life of people throughout the world. Much consumption and growth does not directly benefit people and some consumption is harmful. In terms of energy, energy efficiency is a way to use less energy without sacrificing quality of life.

Classroom Ideas and Disciplinary Adaptations

Social Sciences

What are the historical developments that led to the current electrical system? (See Bakke 2017 below). How has the increase in productivity gained by the exploitation of fossil fuels changed human society?  Think about transportation, the built environment, cities and suburbs, work, recreation, travel, etc.

Natural Sciences

Physics of energy- Discuss the fundamentals of electricity. How do those principles constrain its generation, transmission, use, and storage?

Math and Business

Energy numbers- Compare and contrast the financial impacts of different scenarios for transitioning to a carbon neutral economy. (see an example here from Snow 2015 or this from PBS)

Art and Humanities

How have different types of energy (nuclear, fossil fuels, renewables) been portrayed in literature and film.  How has that portrayal changed over time? (see below Lord 2014, Goodbody 2017)

Supplemental Materials

Books

Bakke, G. (2017). The grid: The fraying wires between Americans and our energy future. Bloomsbury Publishing USA.

Crosby, A. W. (2006). Children of the Sun: a history of humanity’s unappeasable appetite for energy. Norton.

Hickel, J. (2020). Less is more: How degrowth will save the world. Random House.

Lord, B. (2014). Art & Energy: how culture changes. Rowman & Littlefield.

Articles

Goodbody, A. (2017). Stories of Energy in Contemporary Novels: Reframing Energy through Narratives, Genres and Metaphors. Hannes Bergthaller, special issue, Metaphora, edited, 2, 15-33.

Hawaii’s Energy Facts and Figures. 2020 Edition. Hawaii State Energy Office

Piper, L. (2021) Can we save the planet by shrinking the economy? www.vox.com

Snow, S. (2015). The Surprising Math of Getting The Whole World on Clean Energy | by Shane Snow | Medium

Films

Crash Course in World History. Humans and Energy

Sierra Club. 2018. Reinventing Power: America’s Renewable Energy Boom. 50 min.

Podcasts

The Energy Transition Show

The Energy Gang