Talk Friday on ‘The Future Electric Grid is No Grid’

Subscribe Now Choose a package that suits your preferences.
Start Free Account Get access to 7 premium stories every month for FREE!
Already a Subscriber? Current print subscriber? Activate your complimentary Digital account.

Henry Curtis, executive director of Life of the Land, will discuss energy alternatives for Hawaii at 7 p.m. Friday at the Aupuni Center at 101 Pauahi St.

Henry Curtis, executive director of Life of the Land, will discuss energy alternatives for Hawaii at 7 p.m. Friday at the Aupuni Center at 101 Pauahi St.

Curtis proposes that the future grid is no grid at all. Although the state energy office is championing a massive grid with undersea cables connecting all the islands, this kind of central utility is outdated technology, he maintains.

He notes that Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists recently said that a cable from Puna geothermal to Oahu would pass along the northeast flank of Mauna Loa, where there is a “significant likelihood” of lava inundation and resulting in loss of power “possibly for weeks, months or even years.”

Curtis, who has directed Life of the Land since 1994, was recently honored by the League of Women Voters for his outstanding contribution involving public interest planning and environmental issues.

Life of the Land is among Hawaii’s premier environmental and community advocacy organizations. The presentation is sponsored by the Sierra Club Moku Loa Group; contact Deborah Ward at 966-7361 for more information.

A recent report produced by Curtis can be read online at: www.lifeofthelandhawaii.org/Distributed_Generation/Wayfinding_Navigating_Hawaii’s_Energy_Future.