Don Harmon of LiFeBatt, a long-time 2GreenEnergy reader, writes in about my recent video on clean energy:

Good interview. We are currently working on a project in the Caribbean Islands for solar and wind generation. The islands are a very ripe opportunity now for implementing green energy because they are mostly dependent on buying diesel fuel from Hugo Chavez in Venezuela and the cost is atrocious. So, may we see these islands go green way before the U.S. does? Since there is virtually no infrastructure, we have a blank slate to work with, and of course battery storage backup will be a key ingredient.

Thanks, Don. Yes, I think we’ll absolutely see this, for the reasons you name and more.

1) The price of diesel is bad and getting worse.

2) Having all one’s eggs in one basket, in this case, diesel, has hugely negative implications to national security.

3) Having a blank slate means not abandoning existing as-yet-to-be-depreciated assets in terms of investments/infrastructure.

4) Island nations can be corrupt, but at least it’s not corruption built out into a super-bloated bureaucracy like ours.

5) The warmer the surface waters, the more potential ocean thermal has – and OTEC is baseload (24X7).

6) Ocean current is also a possibility for island nations near large, steady currents, e.g., the Gulf  Stream and the Mozambique Current.

7) The intermittencies of solar and wind aren’t as important, since some of these nations are densely populated, and don’t have the land mass for solar anyway. Bermuda is a great example. They’d need almost a square mile of PV to replace their diesel generators, but the land mass simply isn’t there.  I’m good at using prefixes like mega, giga, and tera, but I can’t imagine what a square mile of Bermuda is worth; it’s gigadollars, to be sure.

8) There is some serious money laying around some of these islands. Bermuda’s another good example. Their population of 68,000 or so is one of the wealthiest in the world per capita, and they’re really tired of watching the smoke rise up out of those chimneys, and dumping particulate exhaust all over the island.

Thanks again for writing.

Here’ s a short presentation on hydrokinetics, in particular, a few clean energy business plans that are based on run-of-river, ocean current, wave, tidal, ocean thermal, etc.  This is of particular interest to me as I go about recommending a solution for my friends in Bermuda, which doesn’t really have the land mass to support some of the other renewable energy technolgies. 

I have mentioned that I work with four American and three Bermudan business partners in an effort to bring electric vehicles to this charming island nation. Bermuda has all the potential in the world for a super-steep EV adoption curve: expensive gasoline (imported at great cost), a total of 125 miles of twisty roads (militating low-speed, preferably narrow vehicles), and an off-the-charts wealthy, eco-aware population. I’m confident that we’ll ultimately succeed.

But to what end? I hope to make a buck; I’ve done it before, and folks tell me I’m a good bet to do it again — and that’s all just great.  But though EVs have the potential to provide clean transportation, from an environmental viewpoint, we obviously need to understand the actual source of the energy.

And in Bermuda, that’s not pretty. Two huge smokestacks (soon to become three?) visible from all over the island, tell the story: diesel power plants – among the dirtiest of all the world’s energy sources.  When the wind blows the wrong way, Hamilton (the capital) gets coated in soot.  And to their credit, Bermudans know that there is far more at stake.  In a recent white paper (linked below) we read:

This … will guide Bermuda to take an increasingly sustainable approach toward the production and consumption of energy. The paper outlines how we will begin a path toward an alternate future not bound by fossil fuels, but one where we conserve energy, use energy more efficiently and harness indigenous renewable energy resources.

But underneath the rhetoric, what is Bermuda doing about this issue? Where are they in their migration to renewables? After three full years of being a part of this group, to be honest, I’m not at all sure.

As one can imagine, this is a three-ring political circus, with a constantly changing set of personalities – and even ministries. When I was last “on island” (as they say), I made 30-minute-long presentations to eight different commercial and political groups, including the then-Minister of Energy, Michael Scott and his entourage.   He was a kind and intelligent man with a deeply penetrating glare, completely attentive to every syllable coming out of my mouth.  But as I was to learn later, the talk was totally inconsequential, as Scott was on his way out.

Now, not only is Scott gone, but the whole Ministry has been replaced.  The current Minister of “Environment, Planning and Infrastructure Strategy,” Walter Roban, now offers this 2011 Bermuda Energy White Paper.

Is this whole conversation moving forward with the pace that we would have hoped? No. But is it becoming the political football that clean energy is in the US?  Again, I’m not sure. I’ll ask you to read the white paper, if you want, and be the judge.

The honest answer for Bermuda is so much easier than that which we face in the US, as they have far fewer renewable resources about which to quibble.  They don’t have the landmass or geologic resources we in the US argue about daily: no deserts for solar, no plains for wind, no geothermal, nor attractive amounts of biomass.

If the Bermudans want to solve the problem, let me ask them about the compound they have all around them: water.  Therein lies the answer. If you want my input (at no charge), hit Contact, and ask me to tell you about the latest breakthroughs in hydrokinetics.  All I ask of you is what I request of your American counterparts:  put the politics aside, and let the technology do the talking.

Those of you who have been reading this blog for a while may think that you’ve seen this post, as I’ve been mentioning our group and its mission for some time.  But I’m sure you’ve heard the idiom “island time,” commonly used to describe the leisurely pace of life in these tiny, idyllic nations that don’t seek to challenge that of New York City (thank God). And yes, that’s the case here.

So, while we haven’t been moving with the speed of Roadrunner, it remains true that Bermuda is the most perfect place on Earth for electric vehicles: expensive gasoline, a total of 125 miles of roads, and an eco-friendly population of very high net worth per capita people. As I’ve said before, if Bermudians won’t buy EVs, it’s hard to imagine who will.

Ah, the tony island nation of Bermuda. Legendary coral sands. Gently wafting ocean breezes. A climate that defines the word “temperate.” And emissions from gasoline and diesel cars and trucks that can choke a horse.

Enter Island Green, a Bermuda-based corporation of which I’m a partner, with a specific mission: import high-quality electric vehicles that, over a period of just a few years, will replace every one of the 20,000-or-so internal combustion engines on the island.

Does that mission statement sound ambitious? I’m not sure. Think of all the issues with EVs — and then realize that they evaporate on islands like Bermuda:

Range: The entire island (actually, a set of islands connected with bridges) is only 21 miles from end to end.

Cost: Gasoline is $7 a gallon. EV owners enjoy more than twice the savings on fuel than we do here in the US.

Roominess: The roads are terrifyingly narrow. If you haven’t been there, I’ll ask you to trust me on this.  Small is good.

The picture taken here was snapped seconds after a presentation I gave to Bermuda’s Ministry of Energy, headed by Michael Scott, flanked by Island Green partner and MP, Dennis Lister.  We’ll see how this develops.  I’ll keep you posted.

Full disclosure: I’m part of the effort to bring EVs to Bermuda.

Sometimes I challenge myself with tough projects, but sometimes I snap up the easy ones — like this. Hmmm. How to sell EVs in a place that has expensive gasoline, short driving distances, wealthy citizens, huge government incentives, and eco-sensitive tourists?

I’m not sure I need Madison Avenue for this one.

But here’s an interesting wrinkle: What to sell? Sure, the big OEMs are near to their proposed launch dates for cars like the Nissan LEAF and the Chevy Volt – and dozens of others are right behind them. But here’s an opportunity to sell something right now – if we can find the right car. Of course, there are several Chinese EVs rolling off the assembly lines, so why not consider them? In a word: quality.

I just got off the phone with a friend who has a relationship with Chinese manufacturer that’s been cranking these out for years. In fact, we bought one a year ago for a test in the real-world conditions in Bermuda. After about 14 months in that salty environment, it has rust holes the size of baseballs.

“Oh, I think what we have now is far better,” he told me. “You think?” I asked. “Sure, he replied. Why don’t you inspect the new model for yourselves.” Dude: we’re not metallurgists; we’re car dealers.

“Well, you can have some tests done,” he offered. But since when did it become the responsibility of the dealer to test the quality of the cars he sells? Isn’t that what manufacturers do? I know there are issues with China generally, but give me a break. Can he seriously expect us to distribute a product whose quality issues are completely unknown? How many Honda dealers would there be if Honda shifted the responsibility of QC to its dealers? Our job is to sell high-quality, high-value cars. His job is to make damn sure that the cars he’s selling us meets those criteria — regardless of what it takes to do that.

I’m unwilling to paint an entire nation and all of its product with the same brush, but we really do have a quality issue here. Any suggestions?

I may have mentioned that I’m a partner in a consulting company called Island Green, whose purpose is to drive gasoline and diesel from island nations with the same ferocity that the Pied Piper rid Hamelin of its rats.  At issue in today’s talks is a 2010 event in which dozens of different kinds of electric scooters, passenger cars, trucks, ferries, etc. will be featured to approximately 300 participants from Bermuda and the Caribbean. 

Our proposal for sponsorship was received warmly by most of the organizations we met with in this tiring but satisfying day.  As the lady who scheduled the agenda for day told one of my partners and me at breakfast, “The last meeting ends at 5.  You boys’ll probably be ready for a cold beverage.”  She nailed that one. 

More later.

Today’s meeting with rewnable energy legend Bill Paul was amazing.  I’d have to go a long way back to find a time that I learned as much in three short hours.  Hate to use cliche’s, but it was truly like drinking water from a firehose. In brief, we planned a collaboration that will help clean energy investors make better sense of this world that seems to be changing so dramatically every day.

More meetings tomorrow and Wednesday, then off to Bermuda.

I landed in Philadelphia last night to spend some time with my parents and brother’s family before these meetings began.  Driving around, listening to the radio, talking to people, and re-acquainting myself with the flavor of the area in which I grew up gave me a renewed appreciation for the scope of the task facing proponents of clean energy — it’s not at the top of the list of things that occupy people’s attention here.  In fact, very few conversations, advertisements — anything — focus on environmental topics.  A traveller’s tip for those wishing a sure winner as a subject of discussion: the terrible danger represented to us all by the recent failed terrorist attack.