PIOS PRE-PLANNING DINNER

Blue Revolution Hawaii (from left, Patrick Takahashi, Fujio Matsuda, John Farias, Al Yee and Leighton Chong), the conceivers of the Pacific International Ocean Station, held a pre-planning dinner meeting with Al Yee, chair of our technical committee and founder of Yee Precast Design Group, at Kahala Nui, to develop the initial visuals for the program.  Here is Al, circa 1960 and more recently when he was awarded a lifetime achievement award by the Hawaii Engineering Society:

These renderings will be utilized to set the stage for an international summit planned for the Fall of 2013.  Al's committee will meet every Wednesday in February at 5:30PM.  Inquiries welcomed.  Contact Leighton Chong at  lkmchong@aol.com.


(Note:  click on those terms in color to access additional information.)


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SECOND ANNUAL DINNER

The Board, Advisors and Friends of Blue Revolution Hawaii had our annual dinner at Ocean House.

The gathering was chaired by Leighton Chong, with Guy Toyama providing a powerpoint presentation on the Pacific International Ocean Station.  Above, Fuj Matsuda, Ken Sanders, Michael Asato, Joe Van Ryzin, John Farias, Benny Ron, Guy Toyama, Bill Spencer, Pat Takahashi and Leighton Chong.  A two year developmental plan was discussed.  Otherwise we had a great time with fine food and fabulous wines.

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OCEAN ENERGY WORKSHOP

Two board members of Blue Revolution Hawaii played important roles in the 11-12 September 2011 Ocean Energy Workshop of the Hawaii-Okinawa Clean Energy Task Force.  Guy Toyama organized the event at the Gateway Center of the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority (NELHA) at Keohole Point on the Big Island of Hawaii.  Patrick Takahashi assisted as a facilitator.

The gathering, had a larger mission, but very early in the discussion discarded wavepower and  other marine options to focus on ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC).   For the first time, ever, all the key principles of OTEC convened and said all the right things to assure for the future of this technology.

The event opened with a Hawaiian prayer (pule) and welcomes by County of Hawaii Mayor William Kenoi and Kumejima Town Mayor Choukou Taira.  We learned a new word, Haisai, which is aloha in Okinawan.  Most of the locals dressed in Aloha shirts, while many from Okinawa wore their equivalent, Kariyushi wear.

Below, Okinawa Prefectural Maritime Deep Ocean Water Research Station:

Reaffirmations of the Hawaii-Okinawa clean energy cooperation objectives were provided by Desikan Bharathan from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy, Andrea Gill for the Governor of Hawaii and Takahiro Yabe from the New Energy Development Organization of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.  Various technical presentations were made by Will Rolston (County of Hawaii), Yasuyuki Ikegami (Saga University), Tomoyuki Yoza (Kumejima Town), Shin Okamura (Xenesys), Gary Barbour ("new" executive director of NELHA) and Jan War (NELHA).  Panels from Japan (IHI, Kobe Steel, Yokohawa Electric Corporation, Saga University and Xenesys) and the USA (Makai Ocean Engineering, Lockheed Martin, NREL and the University of Hawaii) detailed the promise of OTEC.  Representatives from Ocean Thermal Energy Corporation and OTEC International were prominent in the discussions. 

The sister city signing ceremony was particularly memorable, with Mayors Kenoi and Taira:

The list of participants was impressive, but I won't mention who they were for fear of leaving someone out.  Maybe you'll see them somewhere in the signing ceremony:

First, some history, for off the coast of NELHA was where the first net positive experiment was conducted by Lockheed on Mini-OTEC in 1979:

Then 15 years later at NELHA came the 210 kW open cycle OTEC facility of the Pacific International Center for High Technology Research:

Today, Pat and Guy posing at the Makai Ocean Engineering OTEC test tower:

Installed seven years ago was a 55 inch pipe, designed for a 1 MW OTEC power plant, with Noriko standing next to a cross section:

These two pieces of hardware are mentioned because the conferees came to a conclusion that the earliest priority is to install a turbogenerator and new pumping at the test tower so that up to 100 kW of OTEC electricity can be generated.  This enhancement could cost $5 million, and, most importantly, show the world that ocean thermal energy conversion is, indeed, producing net power.  

In parallel, planning should proceed to utilize the waters from the 55 inch cold and surface pipes to generate half to one megawatt of electricity.  It is possible that more than one OTEC system can be accommodated to operate in parallel to assure for success and provide a test bed where OTEC components can be tested.

Also discussed was the next stage, a 5-10 MW floating prototype, which could well break even economically.  Finally, part of the visioning included a 100 MW commercial OTEC plantship.  It is becoming more and more clear that "The Blue Revolution is the Optimal Solution for Japan."  A posting suggesting a similar opportunity can be found at "Blue Revolution for Germany."

Finally, finally, OTEC appears to be making progress.  We hope to see two operating OTEC systems at NELHA within a couple of years and a third net-positive OTEC facility at Kumejima (below) in this same time frame.

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BIO JET FUEL FROM MACROALGAL PLANTATIONS

Simple Solutions for Planet Earth and Humanity was almost called Simple Solutions for Planet Water and Humanity because our globe from space is blue, and the oceans are largely ignored, except to protect it.  The Fukushima tsunami/tsunami/nuclear disaster has spurred a re-look at the seas around us for sustainable commodities.  


However, there remains a conservation ethic regarding the marine environment, as underscored in a publication released today by the International Program on the State of the Ocean:

'Shocking' Oceans Report Warns Of Impending Mass Extinction

The preliminary report from the International Programme on the State of the Ocean (IPSO) is the result of the first-ever interdisciplinary international workshop examining the combined impact of all of the stressors currently affecting the oceans, including pollution, warming, acidification, overfishing and hypoxia.

The participants were mostly preservationists, so caution can be expected.  Yet, if you read the details, the Blue Revolution actually can be applied to ameliorate those identified impacts.    This attitude of "let us protect the ocean" is indoctrinated through the K-12 levels, because science teachers tend to be anti-development.  This mentality prevails through college and graduate school for most of the courses are taught by ocean scientists, and their interest is to measure, monitor and model, not to commercialize.

However, the oceans now are being re-considered for renewable resources, and jet fuel, in particular has become a priority for the U.S. Department of Defense.  Thus, a report from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory on:

     Microalgae as a Biomass Feedstock

is worthy of close scrutiny, although no mention was made of any link of macroalgae to the effluents from Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC).

To summarize:

  1.  The United States has the largest Exclusive Economic Zone (the 200 nautical mile region surrounding land--about 30,000,000 square miles, of which 85% is in the Pacific--in comparison, the land area of the USA is close to 25,000,000 square miles).   Thus, the U.S. has more seawater than land ownership.  France is #2, followed by Australia, Russia, UK, New Zealand, Indonesia, Canada, Japan and Chile.  Thus, all these countries (UK through Commonwealth countries) touch the Pacific. 

     2.  To quote from the above PNNL publication:

The photosynthetic efficiency of aquatic biomass with an average 6 to 8% is much higher than the average photosynthetic efficiency of 1.8 to 2.2% for terrestrial biomass (Aresta et al.,2005a).

Thus, a rough average is that aquatic biomass is three times more efficient in converting sunlight into mass than land crops, where there is no additional cost for irrigation, plus the fertilizer is free if the effluent from an OTEC facility is used.  Note that where there is macroalgae, there is also fish (left from Monterrey Bay).

     3.  Japan has two major macroalgal projects:  the Mitsubishi bioethanol from seawater project and the Ocean Sunrise Project.  The UK/Ireland has the Biomara Project.  The USA has no comprehensive project.

     5.  An excellent online reference is produced by Oilgae.

     6.  Go to Bio Jet Fuel to learn more about this subject.

While the sensible option for terrestrial biomass is the biomethanol economy using the direct methanol fuel cell for transportation applications, when it comes to macroalgae, as the moisture content is higher than 80%, it is possible that hydrolysis and fermentation might well argue for ethanol as the final product.  Historically, methane has been favored as the fuel, and if this pathway dominates, then conversion to methanol is a mere step away using a 

catalyst.  There is a more recent tendency, though, to use fermentation to produce isobutanol (right), a four carbon chain alcohol, as linking two of these molecules can produce bio-gasoline, adding one more molecule (12 carbon chain) gives jet fuel and yet another to 16-carbon diesel.

To maximize hydrolysis/fermentation operations, yeasts and microorganisms capable of sea or brackish water tolerance would be desired.  Thus, to advance this field, extensive research and development will be required in the genetic engineering of conversion science, ocean engineering of optimal macroalgal farms at sea and next generation catalysts to convert methane to methanol or isobutanol (or butanol) to gasoline and jet fuel.

There is every reason to believe that production costs of $3 can be attained, and, perhaps, even $2/gallon.  For Hawaii, then, the advancement of open ocean macroalgal plantations and discovery of a magic catalyst to produce jet fuel from methane or butanol should be of particular priority.

As microalgae is even more efficient than macroalgae, research should also be expanded on the production of biofuels from these microorganisms. The ocean engineering of this system in the open ocean will be a particular challenge.

The systems analysis of the Pacific International Ocean Station is especially crucial now to justify  funding for this project.  Compelling documentation can solidify the partnership of academia, government and the private sector, and to also gain the participation of international interests.

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ZHEJIANG OCEAN UNIVERSITY AND BLUE REVOLUTION HAWAII SIGN MOU

Blue Revolution Hawaii today hosted five professors from Zhejiang Ocean University:

Professor Dajun Zhou (group leader, second from the right)
Vice President of Zhejiang Ocean University

Professor Zhibo Tang (tour leader, in the mddle)
Director of Scientific Research Department

Professor Shilai Wang
Director of Teaching Affairs

Dean Guofang Ding
School of Food Science, Pharmacy and Medicine

Dean Yin Wang, Dean
School of Social Sciences


We signed a Memorandum of Agreement (a following posting will provide details):

Several interesting bits of information:

1.  A bridge (just part of it is to the right) finally connected Zhoushan Island (where Zhejiang Ocean University is located) to the mainland only last year at a cost of about two billion dollars.  These islands (and there are a thousand of them) were then made a Special Economic Zone.  Several more bridges will be built.  There are construction canes all over the island.

2.  The city of Shenzen, located close to Hong Kong was named a Special Economic Zone in 1988.  Depending on who you ask, the population is today 9 million, 14 million, 20 million or 30 million.  This means that the population grew by a factor of 30 to 100 over the past 23 years.

3.  Zhoushan now has a population of about a million.  Projections are that this will "only" increase to 3 million to 5 million by the Year 2020.

4.  Zhejiang Ocean University was formed in 1988, but already has 15,000 students.  A new campus at the coastline is being constructed.  I would not be surprised if this someday becomes the pre-eminent ocean institution for the country.

A sister city relationship is being discussed between Zhoushan and Honolulu.  Hawaii's primary link to China could well in time become these islands, located across the bay and south of Shanghai, for we have very similar interests and are the only island states of our respective countries.  [I was reminded that there, too, are Hainan and Taiwan, and, yes, we should form partnerships with all three locations.]

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THE BLUE REVOLUTION IS THE OPTIMAL SOLUTION FOR JAPAN

Japan is back to square 1945, and will need to re-invent itself for the Year 2045.  It will take about that long to regain any kind of prominence, and only with the right decisions.

Clearly, Fukushima was only a repeat of Hiroshima and Nagasaki:  devastation symbolic of a nation on decline.  Obviously, nuclear fission will never become a major energy option for the country.

Japan is too crowded for biomass, not sunny enough for solar and has limited wind potential.  While the country is #2 to Germany in solar photovoltaic cell sales, the fact of the matter is that, like the rest of the world, the total amount of renewables used today is far less than 5% of the total, with most of this being hydroelectric power.  Anyway, the winds and sun are intermittent, and can safely be accommodated only up to 20% the electricity load. What can they do about the remaining 80%, plus, ground and air transport requirements?  This challenge, actually, is also faced by the rest of the world, but Japan has to address this matter right now.

First, it is easy to recommend that they forget more fossil energy.  There will soon be something like a carbon tax for coal, as global warming won't be ignored for too much longer.  Mind you, nothing much will happen for as long as a decade, but someday, when the crunch of Peak Oil and Global Warming results in something catastrophic,  steps will haphazardly be taken.  Japan does have some potential for marine methane hydrates (MMH, seen left burning), but the costs will be astronomical and, although there could be twice the amount of energy in these deep sea deposits compared to all the known coal, oil and natural gas resources, MMH is too dispersed and difficult to harvest.

Second, geothermal energy seems attractive, for onsens can be found throughout the country.  Their current geo-production is on the order of 500 megawatts, around half that of one typical nuclear power plant.  So even if they can increase geothermal electricity by a factor of 10 (and this won't happen because very little of this resource approaches the temperatures needed to make the effort worthwhile) they won't even match the production of those nuclear facilities now decommissioned in and around Fukushima.

Third, become truly serious about energy conservation.  Room fans are flying off the shelves, so people are already anticipating an uncomfortable summer.  Escalators and many elevators will no doubt be halted, major cities will become dark at night, companies will face a long recessionary period and life will soon be supremely inconvenient for the populace.  But the character of the nation is such that they will overcome.

Finally, the ocean is the obvious solution for Japan.  They don't have much in terms of current, tidal and salinity gradient resources.  Waves are possible, and this country has had several pioneering projects (Mighty Whale to the right), with yet another one being planned.  Certainly, continue this development, but I've long worried that this option will never become truly competitive, mostly because of the cost required to protect these devices from major storms.

Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) remains as the best marine alternative.  Japan's only successful experiment, led by Toshiba and Tokyo Electric Power Company, occurred thirty years ago on Nauru.  Unfortunately, yet another natural disaster, a hurricane that time, wiped out the effort.  OTEC can be used to power a grazing plantship, where the economic opportunities would include:  next generation fisheries, marine biomass plantations (from which methane and various biofuels can be produced at sea), electricity (from which hydrogen can be electrolyzed) and freshwater.  Certainly, these platforms can be utilized to capture the the sun and winds, too.  Of particular intrigue is the potential to prevent hurricanes and remediate global warming.

Yes, there are, further, at least two exotic options:  

  1.  Solar power plant in space, with Japan already leading the R&D of this option.  But at $21 billion to provide electricity just a fraction of a nuclear facility, the costs are way too high.

  2.  Nuclear fusion remains a long term option.  Japan is leading the international consortium on materials research for this pathway, but commercialization could well be in 2050, and only with much luck.

So, faced with the need to make immediate decisions, the sea around them represents the future of Japan.  It was once the top shipbuilding nation.  South Korea replaced them eight years ago, and China looms to become #1 in 2015.  However, Japan has the basic infrastructure to build those floating platforms, and can thus best return to prominence through the Blue Revolution.  

During the past two decades I have provided at least a dozen lectures in Japan to spark interest in the ocean as an ideal project for international cooperation, most recently to the Japan Marine Technology Society.  The opportunity is now at hand for the country to take the leading role in partnering with the world to develop the Pacific International Ocean Station (PIOS), the proposed ocean version of the International Space Station (ISS).  This space effort cost more than a hundred billion dollars, but produced, essentially, nothing.  

The organizers of Blue Revolution Hawaii have already discussed Japanese participation in PIOS, for Shimizu's Green Float concept (left) is very similar to our vision.  Suddenly, the Great Tohoku Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Disaster has thrust the Blue Revolution as the optimal solution for Japan's future.  For one percent the cost of the ISS, PIOS can establish a marine pathway for economic progress, not only for Japan, but the rest of the world.  Japan can assume the leadership role for this magnificent global enterprise, and take that important step towards a progressive recovery.

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THE PACIFIC INTERNATIONAL OCEAN STATION

           

The next frontier for Humanity is not Space, but the Ocean. 

WHEREAS, 71% of our Earth’s surface is water, and three-quarters of the heat of the Sun shining daily on Earth is stored as thermal energy in the oceans.  By pumping or upwelling cold deep waters to warm surface waters for ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) into electricity, the thermal energy potential of the oceans would in theory be equal to 10,000 times the total energy currently used by mankind, indefinitely, at all times of the day and year.

WHEREAS, just a portion of the energy that could be generated from OTEC conversion could be used to desalinate potable water to supply the needs of human populations of the world.

WHEREAS, deep ocean waters store vast concentrations of dissolved minerals that if brought to the surface could act as natural fertilizer for growing 3.5 billion dry tons of new marine biomass annually from just 1% of the ocean’s surface.  This would be equal to 3 times the total terrestrial biomass that can be collected annually on land in the U.S.  It would also represent about 1 billion tons of carbon sequestration annually.

WHEREAS, each ton of marine biomass could be cleanly processed into 400 gallons of clean fuels such as methanol, green diesel, ammonia or hydrogen, and the biomass residue can be further processed into organic fertilizers, protein-rich animal and fish feeds, bioactive pharmaceuticals and other high-value marine co-products.

WHEREAS, pumping or upwelling cold ocean water to the surface in volumes sufficient for OTEC energy production could improve the world’s environment through cooling surface water temperatures to prevent the formation of typhoons and hurricanes, and absorbing large volumes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to reduce global warming.

WHEREAS, pumping or upwelling cold ocean water to the surface could have a beneficial effect of nutrient enrichment in euphotic zones of ocean waters to stimulate marine life growth and enhance marine food chains to revitalize the world’s wild fish stocks.

WHEREAS, current technologies exist that could be deployed on integrated platforms in the oceans to produce all of these ocean energy, potable water, clean fuels, sea food, and bioproduct benefits.  However, field testing and operational research on these technologies need to be conducted in the ocean in order to refine and optimize them for economically justified, widespread use throughout the world.

            WHEREAS, the State of Hawaii is in an ideal location of tropical ocean waters in the Pacific Ocean, and can build upon its unique assets in ocean and OTEC research, commercial fisheries, traditional and current knowledge in aquaculture, and state and federal government agency support to promote international cooperative research for optimization of ocean resources technologies for the benefit of the world and our Planet Earth.

NOW, THEREFORE, WE SUPPORTERS OF BLUE REVOLUTION HAWAII, (“BRH”) a non-governmental, not-for-profit organization, declare as our vision, that:

1.  We advocate the building of the PACIFIC INTERNATIONAL OCEAN STATION (PIOS) in Hawaii’s ocean waters as the world’s first floating island supporting international cooperative research on sustainable and environmentally beneficial, ocean resources development.

            2.  To promote international cooperation and tap some of the best ocean thermal conditions in the world, PIOS is to be deployed in extra-territorial waters southwest of the Hawaiian Islands in the U.S. exclusive economic zone (out to 200 miles) bounding the State of Hawaii.

            3.  PIOS is to be supported on a large artificial island (about 2 miles in diameter) having a floating understructure engineered to weather ocean waves, storms, and tsunamis.  It could have in the range of 1500 acres of surface area for research activities, and residential quarters sufficient to accommodate 5,000 or more international researchers and visitors.

            4.  To the extent practicable, all live/work activities on PIOS should be designed and managed to be environmentally protective, zero-emission, carbon-reducing, and closed-recycling enabled.

            5.  PIOS will invite and host important research activities of ocean universities, institutions, and agencies from other countries in international partnership under an international cooperative research agreement. 

            6.  BRH will seek to orchestrate private philanthropic, inter-governmental and research partnership funding support for design, building and deployment costs of the PIOS platform.  Research partners will be given priority for conducting research activities on the PIOS platform, and will be assessed only allocated incremental costs of hosting their activities.

            7.  BRH plans as target dates: April 2013 for securing the necessary funding commitments for PIOS platform deployment; April 2014 for start of construction; October 2015 for completion and deployment of the PIOS platform in Hawaii’s ocean waters; and April 2016 for start of research activities of its international research partners.

 

8.  BRH plans to host a Pacific International Ocean Station Summit Conference in October 2013 to promote international cooperation for realization of PIOS, to which its international research partners, funding sources, inter-governmental agencies, and enthusiastic supporters will be invited.

April 29, 2011

THE BLUE REVOLUTION HAWAII TEAM