CAN HAWAII LEAD THE WORLD IN DEVELOPING THE HYDROGEN ECONOMY?

I've long been the primary cheerleader for Hawaii being the world lead in the development of the Blue Revolution.  Watch my TEDx talk of about a year ago.  But this effort "only" began a little more than three decades ago.

My initial crusade, going way back into the 1970s, was hydrogen.  This inspiration came from my assignments at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory working on laser fusion.  After all, hydrogen is the most abundant element in the Universe (73%), through fusion of hydrogen every star generates all the energy we notice in space, and combusted with oxygen from the atmosphere, the products are energy and water.   All fusion processes use isotopes of hydrogen. I mean, if any superior intelligence out there is trying to send us a message, this has to be it.  

When I found myself in 1979 working for U.S. Senator Spark Matsunaga, my top agenda item was to somehow find a way to promote the hydrogen option.  Well, Lockheed just happened to succeed with Mini-OTEC off Keahole Point of the Big Island soon after I got to DC, so I was asked to work with the Energy and Natural Resources Committee to draft a bill for this technology.  This we did, and the legislation became law the following year.  Already in the back of my mind was the possibility of using this source to re-initiate growth at the surface to foster a Blue Revolution.

Hydrogen was somewhat more challenging, for very few knew anything about this gas.  However two other lobbyists from Lockheed, Willis Hawkins (who was a company veep and board member) and Dan Brewer (who later went on to edit the CRC book on Hydrogen Aircraft Technology) convinced me that the future of aviation was a hydrogen jetliner.  

Having just come from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, I arranged for Senator Matsunaga to tour the facility on his way back to Hawaii.  This he did, and when he returned, he asked me to draft a bill on hydrogen.  I asked, isotopes of hydrogen for fusion?  And he said, no...from renewable energy.  Heck, I thought, why not add the future of hydrogen aviation to his renewable legislation, and fused the two into a bill.  So I must give Sparky credit for originating the total concept of hydrogen, which became the Matsunaga Hydrogen Act, sparking the advent of the hydrogen economy.

Thus, Hawaii now has two pathways to a sustainable future, the Blue Revolution and becoming the first Hydrogen Society.  Here is MY STORY OF HYDROGEN.   Also read my posting of 21 December 2022 on WHY HYDROGEN.  

Just being involved with the genesis of anything is not enough.  You can imagine a future, but that is all I've been doing.  Someone has to get the job done, or at least start the transition.

Appropriately enough, Mark Glick (right), who has been sitting in the office next to me on the Manoa Campus for a decade, just moved back to the Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism to again lead the State Energy Office, and has been placed in charge of the State of Hawaii's mission to become a hydrogen center.  Somewhat fortuitous, for I don't think we ever had an in-depth discussion on this subject.

All of this recent local hydrogen activity is reported in Honolulu Civil Beat by Stewart Yerton (right):  Proposed $1 Billion Hydrogen Fuel Hub Signals a New Start for Reenergized Hawaii Agency.

• Hawaii is one of 32 U.S. locations to make the first cut of the Department of Energy's monumental hydrogen program.
• Proposals are due in April to select the top 10.
• The Hawaii Hydrogen Hub, also involving Hawaiian Electric, Hawaii Gas, Oceanit, DIBS Hawaii and other local companies and organizations, will leverage half a billion dollars of federal money with half a billion dollars in matching funds for hydrogen fuel development in Hawaii.  Supposedly:

Oceanit has developed new ways to produce hydrogen from water and to transport hydrogen in innovative fuel cells and tanks. Perhaps more important, the company has devised a way to treat existing natural gas pipelines so they can tolerate carrying hydrogen, which can damage untreated pipes.

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   Reported Pat Sullivan, founder and chief executive of Oceanit.

“We have the technology to make the world better, create jobs and develop the economy.” 

• Hawaii is the only competitor in the middle of the Pacific...and with a military partner, plus native-Hawaiian Company, DIBS Hawaii.  Until you've been part of any major activity in Hawaii you can't imagine the influence of the Hawaiian community.  The Thirty Meter Telescope is just one example.

• Said Chris Sadayasu, who led the effort:

“People are skeptical, let's be honest, because Hawaii might not be ready,” he said. “But we're saying we're going to be ready. We'll get ready. We're going to be ready because we need to be ready.”

Having been involved with hydrogen now for almost half a century, I can empathize with Sadayasu's attitude.  Of course, sometimes I hurt my cause by advocating inane pathways.  I can vividly remember being in Long Beach 17 years ago to receive an award.  Walking up to the stage, I wondered what I could say that might some day be monumental.  It was an inspirational moment, and I blurted out something to the effect of government making hydrogen free.  You can read this revelatory incident in one of my Huffington Post articles:

     What About Free Hydrogen?  (Part 1)

This was not well thought out.  In fact, the concept came to mind while I was on the stage.  However, it made for interesting discussion during the rest of the conference, and pretty much died and became forgotten.  As I think about this incident now, I'm re-beginning to re-think that this might not have been a bad idea at all.

My long-time colleague at the University of Hawaii College of Engineering, Bruce Liebert, sent me this Civil Beat article.  We are both long retired, but Sullivan was his PhD student, and I think I was on the advisory committee.  We are indeed proud of our graduates.  That photo of Bruce is as Chambellan Provincial, or highest officer in the Pacific area for a cuisine society to which I once belonged, Chaine des Rotisseurs.

What do I personally think about the Hawaii Hydrogen Hub?  Certainly more credible than Free Hydrogen.  Unless you try, you get nowhere.  I wish them my very best.  A key factor to remember is that no one just hits a home run the first time you pick up a bat.  For anything grand and prodigious, there is a long and difficult transition.  

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