T
The420Guy
Guest
Waves and cannabis have a long and colorful association, captured memorably
on screen by Sean Penn's stoner-surfer Jeff Spicoli in Fast Times at
Ridgemont High.
Now a Republican State Representative in Hawaii wants to turn waves and hemp
into keywords for responsible cultivation of renewable energy sources. She's
already off to a good start.
Cynthia Thielen was co-sponsor of a state resolution calling for research
into technology that can convert wave action into electricity. She says the
first use of this technology in the United States will be at a Marine base
in Thielen's home district on the windward side of Oahu, the most populous
island in the Hawaiian chain.
Different technologies are being developed to tap the motion of the oceans.
One approach is to convert wave action into electricity through a concrete
tube in which an oscillating column of water first compresses and then
decompresses air trapped in the column. The motion of the air in turn drives
turbines, which generate electricity.
Another approach is to rely on large buoys, which rise and fall with the
action of the waves, propelling built-in pistons that drive generators on
the ocean floor to generate electricity.
"We are ideally located for wave surges," Thielen explained in a phone
interview. "Ultimately, this technology could power 80 to 90 percent of the
island. But that's a long way off. We have a monopoly utility, Hawaiian
Electric, and they don't take well to any other energy source. They only
want to use fossil fuel. That's why the military base works, because they
can do what makes sense."
Thielen has worked hard to establish herself in her district as a champion
of alternative energy, and that applies also to her advocacy of
industrial-hemp cultivation. The local papers dutifully captured her
planting hemp seeds last December in a program made possible by another bill
she sponsored.
"That was the first time hemp seed had been legally planted," she said.
Some might write off talk of hemp's virtues as a little too Woody Harrelson
for their tastes. But when a Republican politician stakes so much of her
credibility on the issue, it's bound to get the attention even of skeptics.
"You have a crop that replaces fiberglass and so many other products that
require petroleum fuels to produce," Thielen said. "Industrial hemp is an
ideal replacement crop. It can produce easily 80 percent of the fiberglass
products on the market, and it is fire retardant, it is lighter weight and
it is stronger, and it never goes into a landfill.
"This is industrial hemp, which is a different variety than your pot stuff.
Industrial hemp we're looking at in Hawaii as a replacement for sugar. The
sugar plantations have gone belly up, the agricultural land is vacant and
we're looking at industrial hemp for a variety reasons. It can be processed
locally. It can be turned into building materials."
Use of industrial hemp, rather than petroleum-fuel products, also has the
benefit of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. Thielen says she supports the
Kyoto Protocol on reducing such emissions, which President Bush has famously
opposed -- but which most of the rest of the world, led by Europe, seems
ready to ratify.
"What I've been doing with wave energy and industrial hemp ties right in
with (Kyoto)," Thielen said.
Europe, where environmental concerns have long been more of a government
priority, has also emerged as a leader in wave technology.
The Oahu facility will not be the first of its kind in the world. That
distinction belongs to a power station that has been in operation since late
last year on the island of Islay off the west coast of Scotland, across the
North Channel from Northern Ireland.
The Scottish project, funded in part by the European Union, was a
collaboration of Queen's University Belfast and WAVEGEN. The Land Installed
Marine Powered Energy Transformer (LIMPET) produces 500 kilowatts of energy,
enough for 400 homes.
Like many alternative energy sources, wave technology has its detractors.
Development costs are high, and no one wants a white elephant on their
hands.
Many have tried and failed to harness the ultimate power source, all the way
back to the wave motor a lumberman and developer named F.A. Hihn tried to
install on the Capitola, California, pier in the 1890s, hoping to power an
electric trolley. The effort was unsuccessful.
But the search for alternate energy sources has gained added impetus with
the war on terrorism potentially spreading to oil-producing heavyweights
like Iraq, and wave energy has suddenly moved from near-obscurity to
interesting-new-idea status.
Just last week, the U.S. Senate introduced an energy bill including
provisions for developing ocean energy, along with more established
renewable-energy sources. Whether the provision makes the cut when the final
form of the bill is hammered out and passed, it's clear ocean energy has
shown up on the official Washington radar.
"It's really exciting," said Debbie Boger, a Washington lobbyist for the
Sierra Club. "Usually when the environmental community talks about
renewable, they talk about solar and wind and maybe biomass and geothermal.
This ocean energy is interesting."
But even Boger cautioned about assuming too much about ocean energy until
more is known about how feasibly it can be tapped.
"I certainly haven't heard that much about it technically," she said. "At
first glance it's interesting. There could be environmental ramifications
that we haven't studied yet. I think we should take this as an interesting
technology, but one that needs to be studied."
Surf 'N Hemp: Feel the Power (Technology)
https://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,49087,00.html?tw=wn20011228
A Hawaii congresswoman is pushing hard for alternative energy sources,
including turning waves into electricity and using industrial hemp as a
replacement for petroleum products. By Steve Kettmann.
Surf 'N Hemp: Feel the Power
By Steve Kettmann
Dec. 28, 2001
on screen by Sean Penn's stoner-surfer Jeff Spicoli in Fast Times at
Ridgemont High.
Now a Republican State Representative in Hawaii wants to turn waves and hemp
into keywords for responsible cultivation of renewable energy sources. She's
already off to a good start.
Cynthia Thielen was co-sponsor of a state resolution calling for research
into technology that can convert wave action into electricity. She says the
first use of this technology in the United States will be at a Marine base
in Thielen's home district on the windward side of Oahu, the most populous
island in the Hawaiian chain.
Different technologies are being developed to tap the motion of the oceans.
One approach is to convert wave action into electricity through a concrete
tube in which an oscillating column of water first compresses and then
decompresses air trapped in the column. The motion of the air in turn drives
turbines, which generate electricity.
Another approach is to rely on large buoys, which rise and fall with the
action of the waves, propelling built-in pistons that drive generators on
the ocean floor to generate electricity.
"We are ideally located for wave surges," Thielen explained in a phone
interview. "Ultimately, this technology could power 80 to 90 percent of the
island. But that's a long way off. We have a monopoly utility, Hawaiian
Electric, and they don't take well to any other energy source. They only
want to use fossil fuel. That's why the military base works, because they
can do what makes sense."
Thielen has worked hard to establish herself in her district as a champion
of alternative energy, and that applies also to her advocacy of
industrial-hemp cultivation. The local papers dutifully captured her
planting hemp seeds last December in a program made possible by another bill
she sponsored.
"That was the first time hemp seed had been legally planted," she said.
Some might write off talk of hemp's virtues as a little too Woody Harrelson
for their tastes. But when a Republican politician stakes so much of her
credibility on the issue, it's bound to get the attention even of skeptics.
"You have a crop that replaces fiberglass and so many other products that
require petroleum fuels to produce," Thielen said. "Industrial hemp is an
ideal replacement crop. It can produce easily 80 percent of the fiberglass
products on the market, and it is fire retardant, it is lighter weight and
it is stronger, and it never goes into a landfill.
"This is industrial hemp, which is a different variety than your pot stuff.
Industrial hemp we're looking at in Hawaii as a replacement for sugar. The
sugar plantations have gone belly up, the agricultural land is vacant and
we're looking at industrial hemp for a variety reasons. It can be processed
locally. It can be turned into building materials."
Use of industrial hemp, rather than petroleum-fuel products, also has the
benefit of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. Thielen says she supports the
Kyoto Protocol on reducing such emissions, which President Bush has famously
opposed -- but which most of the rest of the world, led by Europe, seems
ready to ratify.
"What I've been doing with wave energy and industrial hemp ties right in
with (Kyoto)," Thielen said.
Europe, where environmental concerns have long been more of a government
priority, has also emerged as a leader in wave technology.
The Oahu facility will not be the first of its kind in the world. That
distinction belongs to a power station that has been in operation since late
last year on the island of Islay off the west coast of Scotland, across the
North Channel from Northern Ireland.
The Scottish project, funded in part by the European Union, was a
collaboration of Queen's University Belfast and WAVEGEN. The Land Installed
Marine Powered Energy Transformer (LIMPET) produces 500 kilowatts of energy,
enough for 400 homes.
Like many alternative energy sources, wave technology has its detractors.
Development costs are high, and no one wants a white elephant on their
hands.
Many have tried and failed to harness the ultimate power source, all the way
back to the wave motor a lumberman and developer named F.A. Hihn tried to
install on the Capitola, California, pier in the 1890s, hoping to power an
electric trolley. The effort was unsuccessful.
But the search for alternate energy sources has gained added impetus with
the war on terrorism potentially spreading to oil-producing heavyweights
like Iraq, and wave energy has suddenly moved from near-obscurity to
interesting-new-idea status.
Just last week, the U.S. Senate introduced an energy bill including
provisions for developing ocean energy, along with more established
renewable-energy sources. Whether the provision makes the cut when the final
form of the bill is hammered out and passed, it's clear ocean energy has
shown up on the official Washington radar.
"It's really exciting," said Debbie Boger, a Washington lobbyist for the
Sierra Club. "Usually when the environmental community talks about
renewable, they talk about solar and wind and maybe biomass and geothermal.
This ocean energy is interesting."
But even Boger cautioned about assuming too much about ocean energy until
more is known about how feasibly it can be tapped.
"I certainly haven't heard that much about it technically," she said. "At
first glance it's interesting. There could be environmental ramifications
that we haven't studied yet. I think we should take this as an interesting
technology, but one that needs to be studied."
Surf 'N Hemp: Feel the Power (Technology)
https://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,49087,00.html?tw=wn20011228
A Hawaii congresswoman is pushing hard for alternative energy sources,
including turning waves into electricity and using industrial hemp as a
replacement for petroleum products. By Steve Kettmann.
Surf 'N Hemp: Feel the Power
By Steve Kettmann
Dec. 28, 2001
