The energy crisis: The quest

is not for one cure, but many

The following three articles, two from the Pacific and one from mainland USA, strive to come to grips with energy problems faced by Pacific Island and other developing countries. One is an interview by HERBERT LEE, staff correspondent of the US International Communications Agency, with JO BARDACH, assistant director of the East-West Resource Systems Institute, Honolulu. The second is an extract from a paper ‘Research Could Tap a Wealth of “New” Energy Resources’ by ROGER REVELLE, professor of science and public policy at the University of California at San Diego. The paper from which it is taken was also published by USICA. The third, from Papua New Guinea, discusses the potential of using coconut wood charcoal to fuel coastal ships.

\n expert in marine energy ‘eserves says the world’s oceans lold great potential as a future mergy source. But, he adds, for he time being fuel-short Pacific lations and islands will have to idopt new attitudes towards mergy conservation to cope vith the region’s growing en rgy problem.

Jo Bardach, assistant director if the East-West Resource Sys ems Institute in Honolulu, ex iressed these views in an inter iew given recently as the US •enate and Natural Resources ’ommittee prepared to open wo days of hearings in Hono ilu on Pacific energy needs.

Bardach, who was among ;veral official and private 'finesses who testified at the earings, said he saw no single

;chnological breakthrough

merging at any time soon that light serve as a cure-all for Jgional energy problems.

Instead, he believed solutions lay lie in studying and evaluat ig energy requirements for articular defined places, con nued joint co-operative efforts i the islands and territories, id the furthering of an inter itional approach, especially rough involvement of such mntries as New Zealand and ustralia.

On his own institute’s activi js, Bardach said: ‘We are now idertaking a seven-year en gy and raw material develop ent project aimed at reducing pendence on fossil fuels while spending to increasing needs r energy as development ogresses.’ ‘We must do this,’ he went , ‘in as ecologically and socio gically benign a manner as we n. This implies that we must )k at several kinds of renew le energy resources.’

Stressing that there is no macea’ or instant remedy, he ggested that the most likely

approach will be to progress along several lines at once, such as through development of biomass techniques (securing of energy through the total de composition of organic ma terials PIM), geothermal energy, and Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC).

Hawaii, he said, has been an experimental station for OTEC research. However, he added, ocean thermal energy conver sion in the words of Hawaii’s Governor Ariyoshi is now ’where flight was with the Wright brothers’.

Bardach said that although opinions differ and some insist that the first applications of OTEC technology may be available in a few years he believes it may be a full century before the technology is fully

developed.

Until recently, he added, engineers have concentrated on large projects involving several hundred megawatts, but ‘micro technology’ must be developed to supply islands which may need only 50 megawatts.

Bardach cited windmills as one of the more readily avail able applications of renewable natural energy resources. At the same time, he pointed out some drawbacks. ‘Natural’ usually conjures up the idea of ‘no cost’, he said. ‘But the truth is that natural energy resources can be the most costly ... All modes of natural energy generation pose their environmental problems.

Thus, a windmill pre-empts land space, and it needs main tenance.’ ‘ln another sense,’ Bardach added, ‘we are victims of past developments. Almost every island has a central electric generating plant using imported diesel oil. Switching over to wind power means getting away from a central grid. A backstop

is needed if the wind doesn’t blow.’

Beyond those problems, Bardach said. Pacific Islanders have become victims of a rapid change in their culture base a result of ‘modernisation’.

Large cars, air conditioning, and all sorts of energy-using gadgets, he said, have become part of their way of life. ‘And now we are in the position of telling them they must go the other way.’

Bardach said he was not sure whether the islands are suffer ing from a real shortage of diesel fuel, or whether transport failures are to blame. ‘Fuel may appear to be the problem, but it is not,’ he said. ‘They will face a real, and more serious, energy problem at some time in the future.’ Much will have to be done by the islanders them selves, largely through strict conservation, he added.

Bardach said Islanders have already demonstrated a will for collective action in meetings of the South Pacific Forum, and that a number of young Islanders throughout the region are seriously concerned with long-term solutions as opposed to temporary remedies.

Other speakers at the hear ings described the progress in renewable energy development in Hawaii which has the goal of becoming America’s first energy-self-sufficient state and some suggested that Hawaii might become a model for other islands.

Peter Lewis, vice-president of the Hawaiian Electric Com pany, said his firm is moving as rapidly as possible towards the use of alternate energy sources as a substitute for oil.

On the island of Hawaii, Lewis said, work has started on installation of a geothermal turbine generator at a volcano site, with planned completion in

1981. He said the project should provide valuable knowl edge about the problems of geothermal power.

He also noted that a 200kilowatt wind turbine generator was dedicated in Hawaii in July 1980, and the first successful ocean thermal energy conver sion plant was dedicated in 1979 off the island of Hawaii. ‘This should speed up com mercialisation of OTEC by several years,’ he said.

During the first day of hear ings US Deputy Undersecret ary of the Interior for Terri torial and International Affairs Wallace Green told the com mittee that the islands and territories are facing a particu larly severe problem with en ergy shortages and escalating costs because their isolated positions make them dependent on air and sea transport. Such dependence, he said, subjects a territory to greater inflation than on the mainland and, at worst, ‘could result in a crisis situation involving severe short ages in food and a threat to public health’.

Other speakers including officials from American Samoa, Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia (Ponape, Kosrae, Truk, Yap), Palau, and the Northern Mariana Islands agreed that along with re duction of dependence on im ported oil, the islands need to develop new power sources to meet increased energy needs resulting from economic growth.

Hawaii’s Governor Ariyoshi, in a statement submitted to the committee, noted that Hawaii has attracted ‘world attention and admiration’ for its expertise in energy applications. Hawaii expects to share its experience and expertise, he added, with other Pacific Island communi ties.