"Thus, The Gas Company announced they would be shipping in liquified natural gas (LNG"). Is this smart? Nope! But the wind energy projects for Lanai and Molokai are being resisted, geothermal energy has long been fought on the Big Island and even a biomass to electricity plant near Hilo is being criticized. Wait until OTEC International or Lockheed Martin announces their intent to build a 100 MW floating OTEC plantship, and see what comes out of the woodwork. A few environmentalist will whine about LNG, but I would not be surprised if this option experiences less opposition than wind farms.
Isn't this crazy? Yes, but the problem with energy is there is no public willpower to approach our future energy needs intelligently. Whether it's not in my backyard, culture, resistance to any kind of new technology, noise, smell or just an uncaring attitude, we are in a crisis of inaction. This is why we have never had a NATIONAL energy policy.
"In just another example, I feel like I am the only person in the islands who has been harping on the need for our State to put on a full court press to replace current jetliners or find a substitute and sustainable jetfuel. That HUFFINGTON POST" article I wrote on this subject was only three years ago, but I have been saying this since the 1970's, when I went to work for the U.S. Senate to draft the hydrogen bill that became the Matsunaga Hydrogen Act.
"(BY THE WAY, I REMIND READERS EVERY SO OFTEN, BUT FOR THE ABOVE AND NEXT VISUAL, JUST CLICK ON THEM SO YOU CAN READ THE WORDS AND NUMBERS".)
Once the price of oil jumps to 150/barrel and higher, Hawaii will go into a prolonged economic depression because tourism is our only industry and the next leap, if due to Peak Oil, could well stay elevated a long time, and maybe forever. Oh, the bad news is not only that a next generation hydrogen jetliner is beyond the fringe, but in two recent energy conferences I've attended this past month, the overwhelming attitude from industrial experts is that jetfuel from algae might never get cheap enough. What about from terrestrial biomass? Don't even bother with jetfuel. Gasify and catalyze into methanol for the direct methanol fuel to power ground transport. Oh, another problem. The Farm Lobby effectively prevented the Department of Energy from doing any work on this technology so they could protect ethanol.
Here is another key point. Electricity is generally only about one-third of a location's energy needs. Over time, solar, wind, ocean, geothermal and other options will cover this need when prices jump even higher. The undersea electric cable project will eventually cost more than 2 billion, but, let's face it, it makes sense to link the islands for a common price where the neighbor islands provide "their" natural energy to Oahu.
"The huge problem is that we are doing very little about ground and air transportation. Plug-in electric vehicles? In Hawaii? You've got to be crazy to go down this path because EVs are having problems at electricity rates about one third that of Hawaii (12 cents/kWh versus 36 cents/kWh"). Plus, for a long time to come, much of the electricity will continue to be supplied from fossil fuels, especially if LNG gets established. A fuel cell car will take it five times further than a lithium battery system, but hydrogen is too expensive. This is where the direct methanol fuel cell was supposed to have been readied because one gallon of methanol has 1.4 times more accessible hydrogen than a gallon of liquid hydrogen. Imagine the difference in cost! I should mention that fuel cells currently only can use hydrogen, but methanol, being the simplest biofuel, is just about the only liquid that actually can be directly processed, for Toshiba already markets one for portable applications.
However, it will take at least a decade to commercialize a DMFC for vehicles.
Oh, yes, one more important thing. It is not cheap to establish the infrastructure for LNG. Hawaiian Electric will need to install the interface equipment for their powerplants, our harbors must be converted to accept this fluid and an armada of trucks will add to safety problems and traffic. Ours won't be so complex, but a recent LNG plant on the East Coast cost a billion dollars. Hmm, maybe an offshore floating harbor. We should contact the Maritime Alliance for their Portunas concept:
A one acre port will only cost 15 million, but, of course, you will need to add the LNG handling equipment. Then get the liquified gas to land, then to the user. Energy is difficult.
You also need to consider the matter of fracking, which will only grow in controversy. What is this? You don't want to know.
Okay, so let me return to natural gas. Without getting too messy, let me just say that Bloomberg reports that NATURAL GAS FOR JUNE DELIVERY IS ABOUT 2.50/MILLION BTU OR 1000 CUBIC FEET (TCF). HOWEVER, KEEP IN MIND THAT LIQUIFIED NATURAL GAS SELLS FOR AROUND 11/TCF. BUT, GET THIS, SYNTHETIC NATURAL GAS COSTS 55/TCF IN HONOLULU TODAY. Here is the historical price of natural gas:
Actually, natural gas as of June 2012 has dropped further to below 2.50/TCF. We have long been paying extraordinarily high prices in Hawaii for synthetic natural gas ("SNG"), so I can only wonder why we did not import liquified natural gas from the very beginning of time? Might have something do with Pacific Resources Inc. nearly half a century ago having the refinery that produced the SNG for a gas company they owned.
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