08-27-2014, 06:33 AM
As a proponent of alternative energy since the 70's, I have historically been in support of geothermal since it is an alternative energy. Hawaii is the most dependent state on imported oil in the US and that imported oil has a higher cost than what you just pay at the pump and HellCo. Hawaii needs to become more self-sufficient so developing geothermal on the Big Island was a natural coarse to take.
What's different with PGV from the majority of geothermal plants around the world (other than Iceland) is that they are drilling into a live volcano. A volcano that even the HVO scientists admit there's more they don't know about than what they do know about it.
And here they are injecting water and chemicals into the most active volcano in the world. Now lava is heading in the direction of the PGV plant. How large a volume of fluids have been pumped down there? I don't know. If lava is going into the crack and working it's way toward PGV, what happens if that lava hits a large pocket of PGV "fluids" underground. Depending on how large a volume that is, it could trigger an explosion when that fluid instantly turns to steam.
I would hope that they are talking about a possible temporary shut down of the plant until this close threat of lava passes. I wouldn't want to be living right next to PGV right now and I would hope they are thinking about this possibility.
Is the benefit of energy from PGV worth the risk? Solar energy works even here in cloudy, rainy Puna. It is clean and non-polluting (except for the manufacturing process) and there are no moving parts to break or a need for a large amount of employees to maintain it. Solar photovoltaics is the best long term solution for Hawaii.
We live very comfortably off-grid and know first hand how amazing it is, my uncle calls it magic. The weak link is the batteries, but there is a lot of money being invested in battery technology and we can expect some breakthoughs on that thanks to people like Elon Musk at Tesla.
The future is no grid at all and for everyone to have their own energy source at home. The grid is 20th century technology and I doubt HellCo will even be in business anymore in 20 years or less. Solar works in Puna, it's clean, safe and becoming cheaper every day.
Regarding this debate about PGV, I think Pele will be speaking up very soon and she just might have the last word.
What's different with PGV from the majority of geothermal plants around the world (other than Iceland) is that they are drilling into a live volcano. A volcano that even the HVO scientists admit there's more they don't know about than what they do know about it.
And here they are injecting water and chemicals into the most active volcano in the world. Now lava is heading in the direction of the PGV plant. How large a volume of fluids have been pumped down there? I don't know. If lava is going into the crack and working it's way toward PGV, what happens if that lava hits a large pocket of PGV "fluids" underground. Depending on how large a volume that is, it could trigger an explosion when that fluid instantly turns to steam.
I would hope that they are talking about a possible temporary shut down of the plant until this close threat of lava passes. I wouldn't want to be living right next to PGV right now and I would hope they are thinking about this possibility.
Is the benefit of energy from PGV worth the risk? Solar energy works even here in cloudy, rainy Puna. It is clean and non-polluting (except for the manufacturing process) and there are no moving parts to break or a need for a large amount of employees to maintain it. Solar photovoltaics is the best long term solution for Hawaii.
We live very comfortably off-grid and know first hand how amazing it is, my uncle calls it magic. The weak link is the batteries, but there is a lot of money being invested in battery technology and we can expect some breakthoughs on that thanks to people like Elon Musk at Tesla.
The future is no grid at all and for everyone to have their own energy source at home. The grid is 20th century technology and I doubt HellCo will even be in business anymore in 20 years or less. Solar works in Puna, it's clean, safe and becoming cheaper every day.
Regarding this debate about PGV, I think Pele will be speaking up very soon and she just might have the last word.