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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