Thursday, December 16, 2021

BLUE REVOLUTION HAWAII TEDx EVENT

On Dec 11 we had a successful TEDx Countdown webcast of talks by 8 leading experts on the potential of open ocean aquaculture for expanding world food supply while reducing Global Warming emissions. The recorded Talks have been uploaded to TEDx for review and may be selected in a month or so for TED's Library of Talks. In the meantime, here are the individual talks:

Pat Takahashi: https://vimeo.com/657074946/8f1aa884f8

Neil Sims: https://vimeo.com/657075206/1e77736f9c

Luis A. Vega: https://vimeo.com/657075716/7c7b3490b0

William A. Spencer: https://vimeo.com/657076364/ec505c1150

Mathew Goldsborough: https://vimeo.com/657076743/156650f706

Shaun Moss: https://vimeo.com/657077047/48d398f963

Dawn Lippert: https://vimeo.com/657077455/95b82612b2

Tetsuzan Benny Ron: https://vimeo.com/657077865/22e3a3e458

Additionally click on the Blue Revolution Hawaii website to:

  • Visit the  Nature Conservancy advocacy of the Blue Revolution for Sustainable Aquaculture Production.
  • Watch the BRH video for the Pacific International Ocean Station.
  • Details about the eight speakers, including chairman:
Leighton Chong, intellectual property attorney, Chairman of TEDx Event

Pat Takahashi,  PhD, Professor of Engineering and Director of Renewable Energy at University of Hawaii

“The Time for the Blue Revolution Is Now”


Neil Sims, MSc (Zool, UNSW), Founder/CEO, Ocean Era Inc, Kona, Hawai’i

“To the Blue Horizon – Our Oceans as a Salve for Our Ailing Earth”


Luis A. Vega, PhD, Renewable Energy Consultant, formerly at UH/HNEI

“OTEC Carbon-Free & Renewable Power for Ocean Farming & Beyond”


William A. Spencer, Founder Hawaii Oceanic Technology, Inc., Mariculture Evolution Group

“Automated Open Ocean Fish Farming Platform”


Mathew Goldsborough, Chief Technology Officer, Forever Oceans

"Oceans of Data: Technology, Transparency & Future of Open-Ocean Fish Farms"


Shaun Moss, PhD, Executive Director, Oceanic Institute, HPU

"Improving Production Efficiencies in Aquaculture Through Selective Breeding"


Dawn Lippert, Exec Director Elemental Excelerator, Chair Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative AB

“Building Community Intelligence” (first presented at TEDx 2021 Countdown Summit, Edinburgh)


Tetsuzan Benny Ron, Ph.D., Aquaculture Specialist, Blue Revolution Hawaii, AquacultureHub

“Integrated Multitrophic Aquaculture (IMTA) for Ocean Farming Systems”


Special thanks also to Amnon Ron, chief operating officer of CME Congresses in Israel, for providing superior technical assistance.
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Sunday, December 5, 2021

BLUE REVOLUTION HAWAII WILL HOST A TEDx EVENT

Blue Revolution Hawaii, spearheaded by Leighton Chong, has been feverishly at work to produce a TEDx event with a Blue Revolution theme for world-wide showing on VIMEO on Saturday, December 11, 2021 at 9AM (Hawaii time).  Click on the following to watch the entire program:

1.  Patrick Takahashi                                           9:00 AM HST“The Time for the Blue Revolution Is Now” 2.  Neil Sims                                                        9:20 AM HST“To the Blue Horizon – Our Oceans as a Salve for Our Ailing Earth” 3.  Luis A. Vega                                                   9:40 AM HST“OTEC Carbon-Free & Renewable Power for Ocean Farming & Beyond” 4.  William A. Spencer                                       10:00 AM HST“Automated Open Ocean Fish Farming Platform” 5.  Mathew Goldsborough                                  10:20 AM HST"Oceans of Data: Technology, Transparency & Future of Open-Ocean Fish Farms" 6.  Shaun Moss                                                 10:40 AM HST"Improving Production Efficiencies in Aquaculture Through Selective Breeding" 7.  Dawn Lippert                                                11:00 AM HST“Building Community Intelligence" (first presented at the TEDx Countdown Summit, Edinburgh) 8.  Tetsuzan Benny Ron                                    11:20 AM HST“Integrated Multitrophic Aquaculture (IMTA) for Ocean Farming Systems”                                                               [END:  11:40 AM HST] 
We welcome your viewing of the FREE Binge-Watch Series webcast!

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Wednesday, March 4, 2020

LONG TERM PROGRAM OF BLUE REVOLUTION HAWAII


Aquaculture America occurred last month at the Hawaii Convention Center.  This organization met two years ago in Las Vegas at the Paris Hotel, where Blue Revolution Hawaii gave a talk on our activities.

Did you know that the ocean contributes $2.5 trillion to the global economy?  The U.S. runs a $15 billion seafood trade deficit.

Blue Revolution Hawaii was again represented at the Aquaculture America 2020 gathering in Honolulu:

We provided the first talk of our session:


BLUE REVOLUTION HAWAII:

Proposal for a Pacific International Ocean Station

                                                                                by
Leighton Chong
Benny Ron
Patrick Takahashi

ABOUT THE CO-AUTHORS
Benny Ron:  Israeli genetics and aquaponics specialist
Leighton Chong:  New York City practice in intellectual property and international law
Patrick Takahashi:  Hawaii biochemical engineer

ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION
Blue Revolution Hawaii was formed nearly a decade ago to develop the Blue Revolution.
Agreements of cooperation have been made with various international universities, companies and government organizations.
The primary purpose is to build the Pacific International Ocean Station

AMONG THE HISTORICAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE CO-AUTHORS
1975:  Experimented with using microalgae for biofuels and remediation of global warming
1980:  Wrote the original congressional legislation for OTEC and Hydrogen, both becoming law.
1990:  Guided the 250 kW open cycle OTEC facility at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority
1992:  Presented the first paper on the Blue Revolution at the first large-scale floating platform international gathering.
1999:  Published The Ultimate Ocean Ranch in Sea Technology

WHAT IS THE BLUE REVOLUTION?



CORNUCOPIA OF BENEFITS
Clean energy 
Hydrogen and biofuels
Freshwater
Next generation fisheries
Remediation of global warming
Prevention of hurricane formation

THREE STAGE PROGRAM
Secure half a million dollars to host a symposium for billionaires
$150 million:  Pacific International Ocean Station near Hawaii in 2030 as the showcase exhibit for a World’s Fair
$150 billion:  First Ocean City at the equator in 2050 and a follow-up Ocean Expo (the first World’s Fair was held in London in 1851)


At the end of the talk a couple of people came to discuss future options.  At least one of them appears to have a link with potential big money.  Blue Revolution Hawaii currently has half a million dollars endowed at the University of Hawaii to initiate the program.  We are seeking at this time matching funds to host a summit of billionaires or their staff interested in the concept.

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Thursday, July 11, 2019

PROGRESS ON THE BLUE REVOLUTION


Blue Revolution Hawaii (BRH) organized a session at the Aquaculture America 2018 in Las Vegas.  Board member Benny Ron has been very active with NOAA and international partners advancing the field.  Representing Blue Revolution Hawaii, Benny and BRH founder, Pat Takahashi, made a presentation on the Pacific International Ocean Station.

Usually, on all campuses world-wide, there is a solid core of ocean scientists who make its mark measuring, modeling and repeating the process with better equipment over time.  Now and then there might be a couple of ocean engineers, half helping those scientists with the technology of measurement, and the other half attempting to create a career to apply ocean science knowledge, linking with industry to do something useful for the economy and world.  There is almost no federal funding in this esoteric area.

In essence, the Blue Revolution is that esoteric field. Some of us have long (third of a century??) been touting the Blue Revolution as something ideal for the future of our society, for, while producing sustainable products and clean energy, the concept shows promise for reducing the incidence of hurricanes and remediating global warming.  As ultimate profit will be the motivation, this could well be the most convincing reason why the system can be the ideal solution for ameliorating climate change. All other geoengineering options merely cost a lot of money, with some provoking serious concern for the environment itself.

But before providing details, let us first quickly review two previous great challenges:  beating Hitler in his quest for the Atomic Bomb, and overcoming the Soviet Union in space with Project Apollo to the Moon.  The A-bomb cost $25 billion in current dollars.  Apollo cost $25 billion in the early to mid 70's, or $150 billion in 2019 dollars.

If Hitler succeeded before the Allies, who knows what the world would be today.  The success of the Apollo Project has been said to be primary reason why the USA prevailed over the Soviet Union around 1990, bringing an end to the Cold War and the fear of a nuclear winter.  Sure, we still have a mettlesome North Korea, a pugnaciously commercial China and a noisy Russia, but the Doomsday Clock remains precariously set at 2 minutes to Midnight, mostly because of global climate change.

So what is the next greatest challenge for Humanity and Planet Earth?  Overcoming Hitler helped develop nuclear power, with the potential for more bombs, leading to Chernobyl and Fukushima, with a continuing rocky future.  The Apollo Project showed that there was no really attractive commercial case for the Moon, and less for Mars.  Next, marshaling of international cooperation towards reduction of carbon dioxide combustion, while actually enhancing long-term human productivity?

If Global Warming is this next challenge, there is one compelling reason why the Blue Revolution can be the next great solution for Planet Earth and Humanity:  PROFIT.  Just absorbing carbon dioxide makes no sense because it is too expensive a process.  Clean coal technology similarly is a money-loser.  There is no way to make a profit from just removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.  We can, of course, stop using fossil fuels, but that will take time.  Ocean thermal energy conversion, or OTEC, is one these options

That is the advantage of the Blue Revolution, for the whole process will be powered by sustainable OTEC, a technology that begins to become competitive only at 1000 MW sizes and larger.  The total system uses the heat of the ocean, which is replenished by the sun, with the cold portion coming from Arctic and Antarctic regions.  In addition to electricity and freshwater, there will be a cornucopia of sustainable products, such as next generation fisheries, marine biomass plantations, hydrogen, biomethanol, comfortable new habitats, exciting marine tourism enterprises and much more.  These Blue Revolution platforms will in time become floating cities and industrial parks.  Most of them will be positioned along the equator, where the temperature difference is the greatest, and where hurricanes don't come.  However, platforms could also be placed in hurricane formation zones, with a goal to drop the ocean surface temperature by a degree or two to eliminate the formation of these ocean storms.  Thus, in time, much of the ocean between the 20th parallels can be utilized for these purposes:


Let us say, then, that ocean cities and Disneys-at-Sea someday become prominent, how exactly will global warming be remediated?  The chemical balance between the sea and atmosphere, affected by the blue revolution process, possibly needing the addition of iron, should result in the absorption of carbon dioxide, converting this gas into solid compounds, which will drop to the bottom of the ocean, and stay there for a very long time.

The French invented OTEC (to the right, Jacques-Arsene d'Arsonval).  Here are two French sources providing intriguing insights:
For decades, our study teams hinted that a sum of $1.5 billion was necessary to kick-start the Blue Revolution.  However, all this will get you is a floating platform, possibly powered by a 10MW OTEC facility, supporting an array of pre-commercial experiments to develop sustainable co-products.  At least, at this cost, perhaps an enterprising billionaire seeking a legacy could be found to lead the effort.

The reality, though, is that something closer to $150 billion will be required to support a full city/industrial park with a 1000 MW OTEC plant.  If the first system makes money, more will be built.  After all, the Navy has proposed a Columbia-class nuclear submarine force estimated to have a lifecycle cost of $347 billion.







Does this change the dynamics of funding, for even Jeff Bezos only has $158 billion?  Not really, for all this will take time, and Bezos could well someday attain trillionaire status.  Here are six others also said to be primed to reach that level.  The leadership of this trillionaire, or team of them, will determine the optimal pathway for the Ultimate Blue Revolution.

Back to our Defense budget, no question that this sought-after  $347 billion expense will improve our national fighting-ship.  But why, for we today have no mortal enemy poised to attack us. The USA always annually spends more for war than the next seven or eight nations put together, mostly because of the effectiveness of the Military Industrial Complex.  Well, Bernie Sanders says the we spend more money on defense than the next 12 countries combined.  Perhaps Bernie has special info, for the estimated U.S. military spending from 1 October 2019 to 20 September 2020 shows our country allocating more on defense than the next NINE countries, combined.

For the record, here are some 2018 graphics showing the last official comparison:


Thus, that first $150 billion Blue Revolution platform (to the right something from the Seasteading Institute) will just be step one towards solving our looming global warming problem.  If each can turn a healthy profit, more, quickly, could reverse climate change.

Remember how expensive the Manhattan and Apollo Projects were?  Well:


So, you ask, where can anyone find $150 billion to build the first operational floating city?  Start with shifting spending from war to Earth peace, and get help from future trillionaires.

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Thursday, March 8, 2018

FORBES 2018 BILLIONAIRES


(This posting was contributed by board member Patrick Takahashi.)

Joining the three comma club has never been one of my goals.  In fact, growing up in Kakaako, I don't even remember being asked what I wanted to be.  University professor was not on the radar screen and millionaire definitely a pipe dream.  When my older brother became an engineer, that influenced my ultimate decision.

Like opening day for Major League Baseball, announcement of the latest Forbes list of billionaires is among my annual highlights, and this is their 37th. Why?  We need a billionaire for the Blue Revolution.

Incidentally:
  • baseball begins on Thursday, March 29, the earliest in history
  • ALL teams will open on that day, the first time since 1968
  • the final day is September 30
  • I've already signed up for two CDM fantasy teams, and will add a few more of the ESPN variety
The first list in 1982 only had 13 billionaires, and who remembers #1 was Daniel Keith Ludwig (first supertanker) at $2 billion?  Of the top 100, 89 made their fortune in oil.  Warren Buffet was worth a quarter-billion, or $250 million.  Jeff Bezos was 18 and on his way to Princeton, while Bill Gates was 27 and Microsoft had not yet introduced Office.

In 1987 Forbes went international and had five Japanese billionaires at the top, with the richest being Yoshiaki Tsutsumi, owner of Seibu Corporation.  Amazingly enough, I had recently met him and during this period was in discussion with his staff to invest in a geo-spa venture on Maui.  Very long story also involving his older brother, but Yoshiaki soon thereafter ran afoul of the law and kind of disappeared from prominence when the Japanese economic bubble burst in 1992.

From those relatively humble beginnings, the 2018 Forbes list has 2,208 billionaires worth $9.1 trillion: (in billions, and some with family)
  • #1   Jeff Bezos                 $112
  • #2   Bill Gates                  $  91
  • #3   Warren Buffet           $  88
  • #4   Bernald Arnault        $  75  (Louis Vuitton/Christian Dior)
  • #5   Mark Zukerberg        $  72
  • #6   Amancio Ortega       $  66  (Zara/richest European)
  • #7   Carlos Slim Helu      $  69  (Mexico)
  • #8   Charles Koch           $  61
  • #9   David Koch              $  61  (yes, the brothers combined are 
  •                                                 worth more than Bezos)
  • #10 Larry Ellison            $  59
Alice Walton is the richest female at $46 billion, and there are 256 woman billionaires.  I always thought of that inspired billionaire being a man.  Clearly, I need to adjust my attitude.  How many of you knew that TODAY is International Women's Day?

Bezos is less than a factor of ten from becoming a trillionaire.  Again, I must further broaden the scope of the Blue Revolution Angel to include those destined to become the first trillionaire.

Clarendon came up with 20 potential trillionaires.  Some are really too old already.  However:
  • Jeff Bezos could attain trillionaire status in 2023 at the age of 59
  • Mark Zukerberg is pegged for 2030 at the age of 45
  • Larry Ellison needs to live to 2034 when he will be 89
  • Bill Gates, 2035, 79
  • Michael Bloomberg, 2035, 93
  • Larry Page, 2040, 67
  • Sergey Brin, 2040, 67
There are a few not even among the current 2208  triple commas, however, that intrigue me.  Who are they?  You need to be at the next meeting of the Blue Revolution Hawaii board.

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Thursday, February 15, 2018

THE BLUE REVOLUTION: Wanted...Imaginative Mega-Billionaire!

All my effort to Save Planet Earth and Humanity could well be validated with this posting today.  We all wonder if there is a purpose to our life, and my simple answer is no.  So read on.

The Big Bang, if there was one, created our Universe, and for nearly 14 billion years, stars, planets and life were created, while in sequence, pretty much at random.  It is said there might be a septillion stars out there, which is 1 followed by 24 zeroes, or a trillion trillion.  Yet, we might well be the only life form anywhere.  Until we get obviously alien signals (flying saucers are pure fantasy) confirmed to be real, we are the only intelligence.  Next, maybe robots and artificial intelligence, but those won't be developed unless humans perfect them.

Life is tough, for forming only a little more than 300 million years after Planet Earth appeared 4.6 billion years ago, of the more than five billion species, 99% are now extinct.  Evolution and extinctions resulted in hominins (our earliest ancestors) perhaps 6.5 million years ago.  Mammoths only appeared 4.8 million years ago.  The first Homo genus came as long as 2 million years ago, with us, Homo sapiens, possibly 200,000 years ago, but these dates keep changing.

BBC has an excellent video of the 25 biggest turning points in our history, ending with the advent of Man, so let me move ahead to 2000 years ago with Jesus Christ, while new technology like light begun to come two centuries in the past.  We now have 7.6 billion people and 19 billion chickens, but we are exceeded by maybe 100 billion rodents.  These numbers pale to the 200 trillion 3-inch bristlemouth fish living at the bottom of the ocean.

I have problems with ants, and now I know why.  There are a septillion of them.  Again 1 followed by 24 zeroes. There are more bacteria in a gram of dental plaque than all the people who have ever lived. I can go on and on, but let me end by saying that there are 1 followed by 31 zeroes worth of viruses, and placed end to end (and you can imagine how small they are) you wouldn't be able to guess how far they would stretch.  I'll tell you anyway, 100 million light years, just about the diameter of the Milky Way Galaxy.  But viruses aren't alive, are they?

By now you should be impressed about life on Planet Earth anyway.  So what has all this to do with the Blue Revolution?  Well, Humanity is at the threshold of ruining our world with global warming and not particularly liking each other to boot.
The solution?  The Blue Revolution.  Here is a future that will only happen if the world gets together and proceeds to develop OTEC, using this technology to power floating cities and industrial parks, while producing sustainable energy and resources, plus remediating climate change and minimizing tropical storms.

What is standing in the way of progress?  Money. And motivation.  An iPhone 10 sells for less than $1000.  The Pacific Ocean International Station, the first proposed step towards the Blue Revolution, could easily run beyond $1.5 billion.  There is no financing mechanism for anything so risky and bold.

The Apollo Project was indeed a giant leap for mankind, and came in with an initial budget of $25.4 billion 55 years ago.  Today, the value is $200 billion.  But the USA chose to go to the Moon by 1969 mainly for political reasons.  We were concerned about the Soviet Union, and this decision helped to bankrupt our adversary, ending the Cold War two decades later.

The Blue Revolution does not have the glamour of the Mars Project.  There is a range of cost estimates, but $1.5 trillion sounds about right to get to that enigmatic globe.  Elon Musk says he can do it cheaper and earlier.

In any case, how many can afford Musk's $200,000 flight ticket for tourists to get there?  Maybe this was only a one way price.  So, we reach Mars, what is the point?   Walking on the Moon ended the Cold War, and this was worth $200 billion. But Mars?  Billionaires missed the memo that said outer space has become obsolete for now.

Some mention space mining.  But for what mineral?  Others point to Stephen Hawking's prediction that we only have a century left before something terrible happens on Planet Earth.  Business Insider reports on five reasons why we need to colonize Mars now:
  • Ensure survival of our species.  (Asteroids?  Far-fetched.  The last serious impact was 66 million years ago when the dinosaurs died off.  We are supposedly now in a serious sixth extinction event, but I can't get too excited about the lethality.)
  • Discover life on Mars. (We have failed so far with remote instrumentation, but if life is found, so what?)
  • Improve quality of life on Earth (I miss this point).
  • Growing as a species.  (Huh?  Going to Mars is an awfully expensive way to grow-up, in fact, sounds irresponsible to me.)
  • Demonstrating political and economic leadership. 
On that fifth reason above, yes, it would be a fine achievement for the world to partner for the good of Humanity and Planet Earth.  But any Mars project will not result in anything all that useful, save for some dubious ego satisfaction.  What about the Blue Revolution?  The former would be an amazing feat if life is found and a few end up surviving on the Red Planet.  But that's about all.  The latter:
  • Sustainable energy and resource pathways:
    • hydrogen
    • freshwater
    • biofuels
    • methanol
    • rare earths
    • much more
  • New economic development.
  • Attractive habitats for an alternative life style.
  • Replenishment of fisheries.
  • Prevention of hurricanes.
  • Remediation of global warming.
I can add to the above cornucopia of benefits, but this comparison is almost pointless.

Mind you, I once worked for NASA's Ames Research Center on the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, and am a fan of space.  We should continue much of the scientific activity, and more, really.  Someday, of course, we almost surely might need to send pioneers to other worlds.  But the timing is not now.  In a millennium, maybe, but more probably closer to a million years when we have mastered travel through wormholes, if that is ever achieved.

The 2017 Forbes billionaires list numbered 2043.  Their total net worth was $7.67 trillion.  Bill Gates has been #1 for 18 of the past 23 years and Jeff Bezos, who is now #3, added $27.6 billion in one year.  Mainland China had 76 newly recognized billionaires.  Click on iBlue Revolution to review a history of analyses regarding billionaires and the Blue Revolution.  To quote one posting:


In any case, you don't just go up to a billionaire and ask for money.  You need that key connection, compelling vision and fundamental link to a special passion.  Most desire to help the downtrodden, prevent diseases and reverse poverty.  Surely, among the 2000 psyches there just has to be a particular enlightened individual dedicated to Planet Earth, wishing for something extraordinary to provide some key commodities in harmony with the natural environment.  For only $1.5 billion--one percent the cost of the International Space Station, a $150 billion space adventure that meant well, but will crash into oblivion in the Year 2020--the Blue Revolution represents the next economic frontier for Humanity to generate a cornucopia of sustainable products while enhancing our environment.

I tried, even personally donated funds to  show my commitment, and certainly haven't given up on finding a major benefactor.  But perhaps you're better suited to involve that special tycoon.  If so, you really don't need me.  Go ahead, take the leadership role.  Involve that billionaire to Save Humanity and Planet Earth with the Blue Revolution.  Glad to be of service should you need any advice.

Practicality will prevail, so the first Blue Revolution prototype will no doubt be placed in a reasonably ideal location where natural conditions will permit the utilization of OTEC.


Frankly something closer to the equator would be best, for no hurricane has ever crossed from one hemisphere to the other, plus this is where the surface temperatures are at a maximum, with 4 degrees Celsius still available at 1000 meter depths.

All things considered, then, Hawaii would be the perfect spot to build and test the Pacific Ocean International Station because we have succeeded in more workable OTEC experiments than anyone else, have a thriving Natural Energy Laboratory Laboratory Authority to provide expertise and have chaired more conferences and workshops  on related subjects.  As mentioned two days ago we already have billionaires with close association to this 50th State with ideal names:
  • Pierre Omidyar International Station (POI Station)
  • Larry Ellison International Station (LEI Station)
I can add a third:  Pacific Ocean Steve Case or POS Case, a stretch, but there no doubt are others.  We would welcome someone from Japan, China or anywhere else.  Most important is that sincere drive to consider the ocean as the solution for Humanity and Planet Earth. 

Anyone reading this posting linked to a potential mega-supporter, please contact Blue Revolution Hawaii.  Three coordinators are co-authoring a presentation on the Blue Revolution at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas next week:
  • Leighton Chong (left, LKMChong@aol.com) directs the Hawaii effort, is a patent attorney and copyrighted Blue Revolution for our organization,
  • Benny Ron (rightTetsuzanBennyRon@gmail.com) originally from Israel with a special zen association in Japan, is marshaling the session, and
  • I (PatKenTak@hotmail.com) will give the talk.
That billionaire would not be expected to personally come up with the full $1.5 billion.  He/She can serve as the illuminous catalyst to launch the effort...someone who convert Fantasy into REALITY.