Locate an Auto Repair Shop in Kilauea, Hawaii

Gary, I know you are a Geo-Thermal fan....looks like your second state is also a fan. http://ecogeek.org/component/content/article/3587 The Puna Geothermal Venture is run by Ormat Technologies and is located in the Mt. Kilauea East Rift zone. The plant has five wells that bring up 650-degree geothermal fluids to the surface where the steam is separated out and used to drive generators. The plant also captures waste heat from the primary circuit with fluid pentane to increase power output and efficiency. The plant is currently contracted to provide 30 MW of electricity to Hawaii Electric and Light through 2030, but is looking to add another 8 MW of capacity soon, as well as building new reservoirs off the coast of Maui and near Mt. Hualalai to expand its electricity coverage across the islands. They could easily get FAR more from that source I'd bet...

You are in Hawaii today? The air in San Diego is much better than 1975, but "clean and clear?" Actually my last few times in Hawaii the air was less than clear. The man made volcanic VOG was toxic. People were advised to stay indoors. Sulfur levels coming from Kilauea were real bad. I am surprised this Congress has not passed a bill to prevent this from happening. Having lived in So California off and on since 1943, this is a good as I have ever seen it. I moved to Alaska in 1970 and dirty air and too many people were tops on my list. I came back on a regular basis in 1986 and the difference was dramatic. Only place I know that is still horrible is San Bernardino. They get the dirty air coming from the ships in the LA & LB harbor. Something CARB has not done much to alleviate. When you can see the sun glittering off the ocean from 32 air miles, I consider that pretty darn clear. I can see the Pt Loma light house with my naked eyes. Much of the brown haze is from dust. Much of it from unbridled building. You know all about that in Phoenix. Where two mile visibility is a wonderful day in PHX.

The current emissions from Kilauea volcano are greater in one day than all the power generation in the state of CA for a year. In 2006 CA reported 266.3 tons of SO2 from all facilities. By comparison here is the latest from the volcano: The SO2 emission rate remains high; the most recent measurement (April 19) was 1210 tonnes/day This is the major source of acid rain. They had an air quality alert yesterday on Maui because the air was not safe for those with any kind of asthma type conditions. Fortunately the trade winds carry the VOG to the opposite side of the island from me. It has caused problems as far away as Honolulu.

We should ALL want the ocean levels to remain constant and not cause billions of dollars in lost real estate on the coastline. That is totally unrealistic and unnatural. The climate and geography have and always will be in a constant state of change. You might consider the examples Nature provides for you to learn - 1) Kilauea, and Moana Loa deciding which land is habitable and creating new shoreline, and 2) the seismic activity along the West Coast (you do know the continents move, and bang into each? you've heard of Pangea?; well the continents haven't stopped moving!)

A little more data on volcano emissions for Al Gore to contemplate. If you have spent a lot of time in Kona Hawaii as I have you can attest to the VOG that is blown around the island from the Volcano. It is sometimes worse than living in San Bernardino. Not very often though. Anyone who has stood downwind of Kilauea’s vents, and sometimes even people who live in Honolulu, 250 miles away, know first-hand how these emissions can affect air quality and life on the regional scale. It’s a fact that Kilauea has been releasing more than twice the amount of noxious sulfur dioxide gas (SO2) as the single dirtiest power plant on the U.S. mainland. Gas studies at volcanoes worldwide have helped volcanologists tally up a global volcanic CO2 budget in the same way that nations around the globe have cooperated to determine how much CO2 is released by human activity through the burning of fossil fuels. Our studies show that globally, volcanoes on land and under the sea release a total of about 200 million tonnes of CO2 annually.