06-27-2008, 09:28 AM
geothermal in hawaii is not a reliable resource. ie they can do it.. but one lava flow could take it all out, or take the transmission lines out, and an eq could break the wells, and the resource is only so hot, so extraction at too high a rate will kill the resource. and collapse of the well is always possible when the pressures are diminished. all of these issues were raised by puna geothermal committee when we drove them out of the volcano area in the '80s. the courts backed us up and they were gone. the problem today is that the communities in lower puna never made a concerted effort to do the same, too much in-fighting, and now have to contend with what they have. but do the research, it is a very unreliable resource.