As one of the most geographically isolated regions in the world, Â鶹´«Ã½ residents contend with the highest electricity prices in the U.S., about double the national average. This is due largely in part to a heavy dependence on imported petroleum and lack of fossil fuel resources.

However, below the Hawaiian Islands lies a geological hotspot in the Earth’s mantle that has been active for the past 70 million years, formed the island archipelago and continues to fuel Â鶹´«Ã½â€™s active volcanoes. Because of this hotspot and the presence of subsurface heat, the use of geothermal energy can prove to be a viable option to solve some of the state’s energy woes.

Geothermal electricity is clean, inexpensive and firm—with the last meaning that is “always on” regardless of weather conditions or time of day. Geothermal also has the lowest land footprint compared to solar power and wind, and, unlike the other intermittent resources, no battery storage is needed. Currently, the state’s lone geothermal plant on Â鶹´«Ã½ Island produces five times the amount of electricity as one of the state’s largest solar farms, while requiring 80% less land area.

Evidence collected by the University of Â鶹´«Ã½ at ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹ suggests that all of the major Hawaiian Islands may hold the subsurface heat that is necessary to produce geothermal energy. However, the current state of understanding of geothermal potential outside of KÄ«lauea’s East Rift Zone (KERZ), the most active rift of the state’s most active volcano on Â鶹´«Ã½ Island, is very limited. KERZ is where geothermal exploration was focused in the 1970s, and is the only location in the Hawaiian archipelago where geothermal electric power is being produced.

Â鶹´«Ã½ Groundwater and Geothermal Resources Center

As Â鶹´«Ã½ is the only U.S. state without a geological survey, UH ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹ has contributed much of what is known about Â鶹´«Ã½â€™s geology. Since producing Â鶹´«Ã½â€™s first geothermal well in the 1970s, UH ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹ has spearheaded Â鶹´«Ã½â€™s geothermal research, including producing the only two statewide resource assessments by Professors Donald Thomas and Nicole Lautze of the (HIGP) in 1985 and 2017, respectively. HIGP is housed in the UH ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹ .

Realizing the need to provide a central hub from which to disseminate data and information from their numerous geothermal and groundwater research projects throughout the state, Lautze and Thomas founded the (HGGRC) in 2014. HGGRC, led by Lautze, conducts research on Â鶹´«Ã½â€™s fresh groundwater, geothermal (including shallow geothermal heat pump technology for building cooling) and carbon storage potential.

Â鶹´«Ã½ Play Fairway Project

The Â鶹´«Ã½ Play Fairway project was among HGGRC’s most important initiatives. UH ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹ was one of 11 initial phase I projects selected and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy from across the country to identify blind hydrothermal systems (those without surface expression). The project, led by Lautze, received subsequent phase II and III funding from 2014–20 and provided the first statewide geothermal assessment of the Hawaiian Islands since Thomas’ original report in 1985.

Ultimately, the Â鶹´«Ã½ Play Fairway Project provided an updated statewide geothermal resource assessment, expanded understanding of Â鶹´«Ã½â€™s groundwater location and quality, and a roadmap for additional work to better characterize both resources. HGGRC’s philosophy is that more data will bring more knowledge, and that when this knowledge is shared with stakeholders and communities, more informed decisions can be made.

“I think nearly everyone in Â鶹´«Ã½ would value a low cost, low footprint, resilient, Indigenous, energy supply. But there are tradeoffs for some. If geothermal has a chance, community engagement will play a critical role,” said Lautze. “HGGRC will continue to work with stakeholders and local communities to advocate for the necessary funding to move the state one step closer to understanding and realizing its geothermal potential.”

She added, “The global geothermal community wonders why there isn’t more geothermal electricity generation in Â鶹´«Ã½. The answer is complex, but I think that if we could get even a small power plant online in a location where the local community is supportive, I think it would be transformative for our state.”

For more on the Â鶹´«Ã½ Play Fairway Project objectives, . Noelo is UH’s research magazine from the .

At the in May, University of Â鶹´«Ã½ at Mānoa graduate student Isabella Kotsol earned a scholarship and poster presentation award. Kotsol presented research to develop specialized materials for use in air filters for hydrogen fuel cells.

Hydrogen fuel cells generate power from a reaction between hydrogen and oxygen, and produce only electricity, heat and water, making this a critical technology in the transition to clean energy. Typically, the oxygen used is from atmospheric air; however, air pollutants such as sulfur dioxide can enter the fuel cell and damage crucial components, so mitigating sulfur dioxide contamination through air filtration is necessary.

Working with Godwin Severa, assistant researcher at the in the UH Mānoa , Kotsol focuses on a filtration material made of activated carbon that has been coated in chemicals called ionic liquids, which have a high capacity for absorbing sulfur dioxide from the air.

“The findings of my research showed that the ionic liquid-coated activated carbon materials performed better than previously reported materials for sulfur dioxide filtration,” said Kotsol, who is pursuing a master’s degree in and expects to graduate in December 2023.

Kotsol presented research among 12 graduate student presenters from universities across the country. The presentations were judged by industry professionals in the filtrations and separations field.

“As a soon-to-be graduating master’s degree student, the opportunity to attend this conference and network with the people who work in the field of my research was particularly valuable,” said Kotsol, who is part of the ’s accelerated . “I am starting to think about what I will do after graduation, and being able to talk to and exchange information with a variety of professionals has definitely broadened my ideas and access to opportunities in the research field, something I would not have had without the conference experience.”

For the .

An interactive 3D projection-mapped model of Oʻahu developed by students, showing layers of data for the state’s plan to run on 100-percent renewable energy by 2045, generated lots of buzz at a national energy conference in February in Washington, D.C.

“A dozen or more states were interested in adopting the technology,” said Chris Yunker, energy systems and planning branch manager for the . “Assistant Secretary of the Office of Electricity Bruce Walker had come by and he showed interest for the [Department of Energy] to adopt the technology itself.”

Walker tweeted from the 2019 NASEO Energy Policy Outlook Conference in February, “Checking out the 3D modeling capabilities at the Hawaii Visualization Energy Nexus booth at the @NASEO_Energy Conference. As we continue to provide technical assistance to Puerto Rico, tools like this can help determine the best types and locations of generation. #NASEOOutlook19”

The student-built project is called the Â鶹´«Ã½ Advanced Visualization Environmental Nexus (HAVEN). It can show land ownership, and photovoltaic and windmill buildouts over time, among other data projected across a topographical map of the island of Oʻahu. The team has 3D models for data visualization on other islands in the state, too.

HAVEN was developed by a team of UH ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹ students at the (LAVA), under the supervision of LAVA Director Jason Leigh.

• James Hutchison—undergraduate, main developer
• Nurit Kirshenbaum—PhD student, tangible computing advisor
• Ryan Theriot—MS student, visualization
• Kaila Foltz—undergraduate, graphic design (user interface and banner)
• Kari Noe—MS student, graphic design (HAVEN logo)
• Serena Kobayashi—undergraduate, physical structure
• Tyson Seto-Mook—MS student, docent who did the demo in Washington, D.C.

“It was done not just by me, so that’s an important thing. It’s a collaborative effort,” said HAVEN main developer James Hutchison, a UH ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹ computer science undergraduate student. “It’s great. I’m definitely proud of it.”

HAVEN supports thousands of pages of data from the Â鶹´«Ã½ State Energy Office and Hawaiian Electric Industries. It was developed to help decision makers and stakeholders with the energy planning process, with funding support from the state energy office, Department of Energy and the .

“It would make me feel really good that I would have a hand in the future of renewable energy and trying to get away from coal,” said graduate student Ryan Theriot, who did the open-source visualization coding for HAVEN.

Now that the the National Renewable Energy Laboratory has also shown interest in HAVEN, this UH student invention could end up having a significant impact across the nation and possibly beyond.

—By Kelli Trifonovitch

The University of Â鶹´«Ã½ at ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹ (SOEST) was (DOE) to support a project that focuses on advancing marine energy devices. During the three-year innovative project, the team of researchers and engineers led by the (HNEI) will develop a wave-energy converter concept culminating in a set of tests in a sophisticated mainland wave tank.

“Advancing next-generation marine energy will help the U.S. ensure a secure, reliable, and enduring supply of American energy,” said Under Secretary of Energy Mark Menezes. “These early-stage research and development projects are key to the development of water power as part of DOE’s ‘all-of-the-above’ energy strategy.”

The concept, the Wave Focusing Energy Converter, is based on the idea that a submerged disk with an opening at the center will focus wave energy and create concentrated flow through that opening. By placing the device near the surface, and making various shape changes away from a simple disk, the team can alter that flow through the opening such that it moves in one direction only—allowing a conventional hydro turbine to be used to produce energy.

“Our calculations suggest that this can be a power-generation methodology that produces encouragingly low-cost electricity,” said Patrick Cross, HNEI researcher and lead on the project. “To date, wave-energy conversion is still in the category of very early stage research and development, and costs remain quite high. We feel we have an approach that can lead to lowering costs–through high-conversion efficiency and relatively low, up-front costs–as compared to technologies under development elsewhere.”

The origin of the concept was graduate school research conducted by Richard Carter, who completed his doctoral degree in SOEST‘s (ORE). Carter continued to develop the concept as an independent researcher, and joined forces with several experts from UH and ORE to inject additional practical and theoretical insights to mature the concept further.

“This project can be seen as one of many that are building toward Â鶹´«Ã½â€™s renewable energy goals,” said Cross. “Wave energy is likely years away from true commercial viability in terms of grid-scale power production, but other non-grid applications of wave energy may be much more achievable in the near term, and given that the wave energy resource around Â鶹´«Ã½ is excellent, it’s important that we at UH add our talents to the advancement of this emerging field. In concert with our many contributions to Navy and DOE objectives at the Wave Energy Test Site, selection for this award by DOE allows us to take an important additional step toward wave energy advancement at UH ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹ and HNEI.”

Additional investigators and partners on the project are affiliated with the UH ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹ , the National Renewable Energy Lab and Honolulu-based Sea Engineering, Inc.

Naval Facilities Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center (NAVFAC EXWC) in partnership with the University of Â鶹´«Ã½ launched its second round of Wave Energy Converter (WEC) testing at the U.S. Navy’s Wave Energy Test Site off Marine Corps Base Â鶹´«Ã½ on Oʻahu.

This is the world’s first demonstration of the potentially transformative capability for WECs to enable persistent oceanographic observation and unmanned, undersea vehicle recharge without a cable to shore.

In October 2018, the Applied Research Laboratory at the University of Â鶹´«Ã½, with funding from NAVFAC and in partnership with the University of Washington, Fred. Olsen Ltd. and Sea Engineering Inc. began the second round of testing of the “BOLT Lifesaver” WEC device.

The device uses three power take-off units that convert the motion of the passing waves to electrical power using rotary electrical generators. Control and health-monitoring of these on-board systems are housed in the control center. The WEC is not connected to shore, and the power generated is stored in a battery bank.

This phase of Lifesaver testing has two primary aims—to improve device reliability and power performance, through alterations to the device mooring strategy, and to demonstrate an alternative means of powering oceanographic instrumentation without using utility-supplied electrical grid power or single-use batteries.

The instrumentation, known as the Wave-powered Adaptable Monitoring Package (WAMP), is being tested on the BOLT Lifesaver. Receiving its power from the Lifesaver, the WAMP provides persistent underwater sensing and supports unmanned, undersea vehicle recharge using a wireless power transfer system.

The WAMP is the latest in a series of demonstrations and is used in this application to better understand the marine environment around an operational WEC buoy.

The joint Lifesaver-WAMP test is funded by NAVFAC, the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation. The overall effort is part of a larger joint U.S. Navy, Department of Energy, academic (University of Â鶹´«Ã½, Â鶹´«Ã½ Natural Energy Institute and University of Washington) and industry research, development, test and evaluation project.

—

The University of Â鶹´«Ã½ at Hilo will begin offering a certificate in energy science in the fall 2016 semester.

“Energy science is a really critical component of our future,” says , interim dean of the . “It’s tied right in with our local agriculture. Our energy is dependent on outside resources, and nutrients used as fertilizers are derived from outside energy, too. We are so dependent on imported fossil fuel, oil and coal. For us to become self-reliant is extremely critical.”

He says they hope to eventually offer a whole undergraduate degree in energy science; currently, there is no such undergraduate program in the U.S.

Certificate program

The certificate program offers two tracks. The first is for non-science majors and focuses on energy policy and the second is a more rigorous one for people with natural science backgrounds.

While the program officially starts in the fall, two energy science courses will be offered this summer.

, a UH Hilo physics professor, will teach in and has taken the lead on promoting the energy science program. Engineering professor , whose focus is biomass, was recently hired to teach in the new certificate program.

The is a contributor of funds to this program development.

Preparing students for future industry

“The nexus of food, water and energy is the core. We need a lot of energy to grow our food, and we can’t grow the food without water,” Mathews says. “It’s all connected to the future of humanity, and so these are areas that need to be critically protected.”

Mathews says an energy sciences certificate, which will take two to three semesters to complete, will give a student a leg up in terms of entering the energy sector after college.

“Companies like HELCO and those in the solar industry, for instance, will appreciate someone who has training in energy sciences. It’s a starting point.”

Read for more about this program.