Purpose:
· Youth leadership and social enterprise development is our core objective, with strategies to build a localized movement to put the value of aloha ‘aina into action.
· The current economy of Laie, Oahu, Hawaii, the US and the rest of world have reached unsustainable levels.
· Now is the time to teach the youth of our community not only to survive, but how to thrive using provident living skills using the latest renewable energy and organic farming and aquaponics technologies and other resources.

How to Implement:
· Provide useful sustainability hands-on training for residents and tourists.
· Build in carefully organized and sustainable stages
· Homes in Ko’olauloa should have areas to do private organic gardening, and fruit tree.
· Should be designed to make us of natural lighting and to be cooled with out air-conditioning
· Village social engineering, that encourages connecting of family from baby to grandparents,
· Conform to current Ag zoning

Who Will Benefit:
· BYUH, Kahuku High & Intermediate, Ko’olauloa elementary students and teachers,
· Ko’olauloa Kupuna (from Kahuku senior housing, etc),
· Local organic farmers,
· Hawaiian studies students,
· Polynesian artisans

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Live in Your Values from Bamboo Living on Vimeo.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Click here to see a real-time view of electricity being used in a 2 bedroom home in Laie, Hawaii.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

bootsontheroof.com

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Christy Burt

Renewable Energy

The state of Hawaii has recently set a goal of generating 70 percent of its power from clean energy sources by 2030. We currently hold the highest retail electricity prices of any state in the United States, owing to our dependency on foreign sources for power. Imported oil accounts for 90 percent of Hawaii’s energy needs. As Hawaii enters the early stages of what many hope is an energy revolution, companies are turning towards seawater, an energy source that is infinitely renewable and extremely convenient, given the fact that we are surrounded by it.

The Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning has started a $200 million construction project that would extend plumbing nearly 5 miles offshore, suck 45°F water from 1,800 feet deep, circulate frosty water into buildings’ existing A/C systems and then dump it back into the sea. This new air conditioning system will pipe cool air into 40 of downtown Honolulu’s largest buildings, with the effect of saving 75% of the electricity they currently use for air conditioning. This technology is already being used around the world in places with easy access to cold water: Toronto, Stockholm, Bora Bora and the Big Island. If this project proves successful, it will later be extended down to the tourist filled hotels of Waikiki, where 40% of their electricity is taken up by air conditioning, and maybe eventually down to common households. Many expect that this project will be very successful. “It fits in very well in Hawaii. It’s one our natural resources,” says Ted Liu, director of the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

Seawater air conditioning is not only an innovative step towards cutting our dependency on foreign oil, it is also an environmentally friendly step towards reducing Hawaii’s carbon footprint. Though seawater air conditioning will reduce the amount of electricity consumption, it has gained the support of Hawaiian electric since it will help the state and Hawaiian Electric reach their joint goal of cutting electricity use by 30 percent and obtaining 40 percent of Hawaii’s power from renewable sources by 2030. It is predicted that the Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning will save 174 million barrels of oil and will eliminate about 84,000 tons of carbon dioxide from the air annually. Our government has already approved an environmental study of this project and the company hopes to start construction later this year for the system to come online in 2012.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning, LLC. Web. 28 Mar. 2010. .
Niesse, Mark. “Cold Ocean Water to Be Turned into A/C.” R&D. Associated Press, 7 Nov. 2009. Web. 29 Mar. 2010. .
Pala, Christopher. “Honolulu to Implement Cooling with Deep-sea Water.” Environmental Science & Technology. American Chemical Society. Web. 30 Mar. 2010. .

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Stefanie Cabamongan

Renewable Energy for Oahu

The islands of Hawai’i are in dire need of alternative sources of energy in order to preserve the environment and promote economical, cost effective renewable energy. Hawai’i relies on imported petroleum for about 90% of its primary energy, making us the most oil-dependent state in the nation. In addition, the residents of Hawai’i pay among the nation’s highest prices for electricity and fuel. Of all the petroleum consumed by Hawai’i, approximately 63% is used for transportation purposes and 30% for electricity. The state of Hawai’i has the potential of solving these problems by extensively testing different forms of renewable energy sources. Hawai’i, especially the island of Oahu, has the conditions and resources to develop a society that can run mainly on renewable energy. Through the ocean, land, and climate of Oahu, our society has the capacity of developing a new way of life: living off of renewable energy.

Subsea ocean current turbines and current-based generators at ocean level will be situated around the island of Oahu, generating energy for the whole island. The turbines will be placed beneath the surface of the sea in areas that tend to have strong currents. The current-based generators, a network of metal rods that tap into the currents that flow along the bottom of the ocean, will be placed beneath at sea level. They run efficiently as water currents of just a few miles per hour flows through the rods. The Vortex Hydro Energy, who was the company that discovered this technique, will provide this method of generated energy. The ocean turbines supply Florida with 35% of its electrical needs and the current-based generators at ocean level is estimated to provide energy for thousands of homes, proving that these renewable energy sources can effectively sustain Oahu at a lower cost.

Wind turbines, solar panels, and piezoelectric roads will be implemented throughout the land of Oahu. The wind turbines will be situated predominantly in the Nanakuli and North Shore regions due to their 17-20 mph winds. The wind turbines will be these regions’ main source of renewable energy. Large commercial freestanding solar panels will make up for areas that may receive little or no energy from the wind turbines, ocean turbines, and current-based generators. So, these solar panels are reckoned to be located primarily in the Central Oahu district. South Oahu freeways will contain the piezoelectric roads, which contains a network of Piezo Electric Generators (IPEG) that harvests and generates energy from weight, motion, vibration, and temperature changes. The energy will be transferred to the main grid so it could be used by the public and private infrastructures.

The island of Oahu will no longer have to rely solely on imported petroleum to generate energy as a result of the diverse renewable energy sources located in the ocean and on land. These forms of alternative energy will be cost-effective in the long run due to the global shortage of petroleum and the rapid increase in price that would follow. The use of transportation powered by electrical sources will then arise on the island due to the large amount of the energy produced. Oahu’s future is to live side-by-side with renewable energy.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Kona Johnson

A Renewable Hawaii

America is increasingly becoming a nation of, by and for big businesses and not the people. An unfair yet undisputed fact in American politics is that money equals power- and unfortunately the big corporations possess more money than anyone else within our nation. As a result, through millions of dollars in lobbying efforts and campaign finance we have seen much needed reforms blocked and big business supporting politicians continuously elected. Specifically and most devastatingly, we have seen little effort at an increase in the innovation of renewable energy sources and self-sustainability. Ralph Nader outlines our dilemma best asserting that, “The use of solar energy has not been opened up because the oil industry does not own the sun.”

With this in mind we have to look to local sources of renewable energy that can be implemented in order to increase the sustainability of our communities and neighborhoods. One such source of renewable energy that is perfect for Hawaii is wave power.

This untapped source of power is perfect for sustainability efforts in Hawaii because of a plethora of reasons. For one, in areas of high wave and wind activity (like Hawaii) these underwater turbines have proven to be extremely proficient at energy collection. As compared to solar energy, for example, wave power has proven to be more beneficial because it allows for an energy collection during the night and during times of rainy overcast weather (where solar panels don’t). Wave power potential also outweighs wind energy potential because water is 389 times denser than air allowing it to create the same amount of energy with a turbine one-third the size of the average wind turbine. Not only does this decrease in size drastically cut overall costs, but also because these turbines are underwater they receive zero threat from almost all natural disasters.

In north England, one of the few places that wave power is implemented currently; leading scientists estimate that waves alone could potentially power 15-20 percent of the whole UK. Wave technology goes further than simply showing potential though; recently a wave hub- a new device used to transfer wave electricity (much like an extension cable)- was installed along the coastline of Cornwall, England. This simple extension of the wave turbines is estimated to already provide full time electricity for more than 10,000 homes and as a result is also estimated to stop over 300,000 tons of carbon dioxide in the next 25 years.

Fortunately for Hawaii residents one of the few wave power bases in America is located right here on the east side of our island on Makapu peninsula. The base is actually an ideal model of how wave powered outlets should be expanded throughout Hawaii and also how these bases will work. According to Star Bulletin news, “the base is not only super efficient, but as a result it’s windward sides largest employer, where hundreds of civilians work in support of the bases mission to become self sustainable.” Currently one third of the bases power comes from solar and wave energy and according to leaders among the base, they soon hope to become totally self sufficient as well as become providers of energy around Hawaii. Focusing on expanding this marine base and creating wave-powered generators around the island simply makes sense. It’s not something drastically new and labor intensive such as creating plantations of sugar cane to convert to energy and fuel, plus it would be one of the most proficient methods to collect energy. Not only that but, as we can see through the base in Makapu, creating and expanding these wave centers will allow for employment of thousands of citizens- in turn boosting our economic output as well as the intellect and awareness of community members.

America is quickly becoming a nation of, by and for big businesses; renewable energy and self-sustainability will bring it back to the people.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

This famous wood engraving appeared in Camille Flammarion’s book L’atmosphere: meteorologie populaire.

It depicts a medieval pilgrim who has somehow arrived at a place where the Earth and the dome of night touch, and — lo! — he is able to peak through into a celestial realm.

The same urge to discover something new is still alive today as we seek new ways through science and technology to solve human problems on earth such as sustainability.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Earthship Plans

Earthship FAQ’s

Dennis Weaver’s Earthship Home

Center for Alternative Technology

Bookmark It

Hide Sites