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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0701.012 2018-2020 Murashige, Laura From: Richard Ha <richard@hamakuasprings.com> Sent: Wednesday,January 22, 2020 4:14 AM COUNTY CLERK To: Council Testimony COUNTY OF T,I Subject: Very very strong support for Bill 131 RECEIVED Time ®004M DateJAN 2 2 2020 Aloha Council Chair Chung and Council members. i My name is Richard I Ia. I am President of the Big Island Community Coalition(BICC). The BICC supports Bill 131. One of our board members is a dedicated member of the Citizens Climate Lobby. The BICC has requested to enter the PUC Docket 2019-0333 as a participant. It is the new Power Purchase Agreement between HELCO and PGV. PGV will charge 7 KWh for the first 38 MW. They will charge 4 cents KWh for the next 8 MW. Plus they will receive $34,000 per month in capacity payments. If the price at the nozzle of a hydrogen fuel celled vehicle is 10 cents per KWh, it is equal to gasoline. How can we do that? That would be the start of a hydrogen eco system. The BICC wants to be part of that conversation. Time is of the essence. There are two existential threats: Climate Change and declining fossil fuels. Both will cause an increase in renewables and decrease in fossil fuels and a movement toward hydrogen. This would normally mean an increase in costs to the rubbah slippah folks. We want to find a solution that results in lower cost for now and future generations. Hawaii has a major advantage because if we made hydrogen from geothermal electricity, it could produce large volumes of hydrogen that is free of carbon, while low in cost. We could be the low cost producer of green hydrogen. The advantage of hydrogen made from geothermal electricity is the earth is the battery. And, it's free and there are no batteries to discard. Nor, will there be minerals dug up in foreign countries, manufactured and shipped here burning fossil fuels. The Big Island could be the example for the world to follow. We need to diversify and increase our geothermal sources. This will spread our risk. Our present economic system assumes exponential growth. In a world of finite resources, this is not sustainable. Carbon emission is an externality caused by exponential growth. The resultant effect on Climate Change is an existential threat to humanity. Another existential threat to humanity, is a decline in finite fossil fuel resources. The human species from 70,000 years. Has been finding and exploiting energy sources that are energy denser than the one before. For the very first time, we are facing a decline in energy availability. Energy equals work and work equals GDP. Less energy equals less work. In a case like this, social equity is extremely concerning. We can see the resulting homelessness,protesting, decline in the middle class taking place all over the world. t Comm. No. -W-11- Ref. W-11- Ref. To: F f 4i W. .j; JAN 2 202D The US is lucky as far as having resources. Hawaii is even luckier. But, we need to do this right, so, it benefits the rubbah slippah folks, Fossil fuels are the most energy dense resource that we have today. The US just became the top producer of oil a few months ago. Sixty percent of our oil resource is shale oil. Shale oil depletes very rapidly. Ninety percent of the production of new shale wells comes out in three years or less. This means that we need to drill a new shale well every three years to just stay even. New shale wells have been declining for the last year. The Big Island is very lucky to have geothermal. I have not heard the Consumer Advocate address this issue. Economics as practiced today is a social science. Most of the classes on economics are taught this way. I have not heard anyone addressing the issue from a bio physical, ecological point of view. It's not a matter of who is right so much as risk assessment. For example; we have become so accustomed to the energy density of fossil fuels that we have become energy blind. A 4 engine jet liner is rated at 100,000 horsepower. One horsepower is roughly equal to 10 humans power, so that is equal to a million humans. The flight takes five hours. That is equal to 5 million humans power. If the value of each human power was $10 hr., the cost of that flight would be $50 million. Since there are 500 seats on the plane, each seat is worth$100,000. And, there are approximately 10 calories of energy in every calorie of food. It's a matter of risk assessing. It's not a matter of philosophy. This a very big issue that is coming up fast, we all need to help each other. Mahalo Richard Ha President Big Island Community Coalition. Sent from my Wad 2