JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM Guy Toyama stands next to the massive solar panels at the Gateway Energy Center complex on the grounds of the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority on the Big Island's Keahole Point. Toyama has been the new executive director of the Friends of NELHA since May. NELHA promotes renewable energy resources and also includes deep water tapping facilities as well as renewable ocean crop farms and labs, all of which are prime candidates for a more conscious and efficient use of the ocean's resources.

Hawaii getting more self-sufficient

The new executive director of Friends of NELHA wants to educate people about renewable energy and aquaculture

ON an 870-acre campus on the Kona coast, Hawaii is becoming more self-sufficient, one microalgae harvest and hydrogen molecule at a time.

Toyama is the public face of the state-run Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority on the Big Island's Keahole Point, where drinking water is pumped from deep below sea level and organisms are farmed for use in food and vitamins.

Named executive director of nonprofit group Friends of NELHA last month, Toyama's job is to help educate its roughly 5,000 annual visitors -- 90 percent of whom are from out of state -- on sustainability, self-sufficiency and the commercial activities at Keahole Point.

Friends of NELHA is housed in the Hawaii Gateway Energy Center, a $4 million green-certified complex where large solar panels provide the power and visitors get their first taste of what NELHA's 33 tenants, ranging from Koyo USA Corp.'s deep water bottling to Cyanotech Corp.'s natural health products, are studying, producing and harvesting.

Toyama, who came to Kona in 2001 as part of the Hawaii Deep Marine Inc. seawater-product company, runs educational sessions three days a week at the center. With enough funding and volunteers -- the group currently has about 25 -- Toyama hopes to expand that to seven days and quadruple the number of yearly visitors.

"The Big Island of Hawaii is quite a laboratory for science, so science tourism is a big industry here," he said.

JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM Guy Toyama is seen through a section of deep-water, high-density polyethylene piping used for gathering deep seawater on the grounds of the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority at Keahole Point on the Big Island. The piping, 55 inches in diameter and 9,000 feet long, is the largest intake pipeline in the world.

Answer: Friends of NELHA is out to educate the public that Hawaii, being an island, is very vulnerable. And we rely so much on imported oil for our energy and imported food for our meals, thus the vulnerability. We need to head more into self-sufficiency. We do this by educating people about renewable energies and aquaculture (sustainable farming of water species). Aquaculture is a big industry here in NELHA. There are more aqua farms here than any other location in the state of Hawaii. In a sense, Keahole Point is an example of how a community is heading into self-sufficiency.

Q: How many people usually come to your public presentations?

A: It really ranges -- it's a little slow right now. On average about 15 to 20 -- recently it's been a little slow.

Q: What are some hot points right now at NELHA?

A: Renewable energy is a real hot point. People drive by on the highway, or they see our ad or our flier in the visitors' rack, and they see the picture of the Gateway Energy Center. That's what really attracts people to come in here. They see those panels and say, 'These people must be doing something interesting.' They are extremely excited about renewable energy, and they seem very passionate. A lot of them are very passionate about doing something to help ease our dependence on oil.

We have a lot more energy-related companies being proposed to come here at NELHA. Some of the proposed technology in energy that we may see shortly include hydrogen, solar thermal and biofuels made with algae.

JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM Guy Toyama demonstrates the temperature difference in deep seawater, left, and surface water, right, on the NELHA grounds.

A: There is a tenant called the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute. They are the first tenant here (at the Hawaii Gateway Energy Center) that is leasing a lab, and they are researching hydrogen applications both in fuel cell technology and storage, and in their plan of building a hydrogen power park here, they are going to be building Hawaii's first hydrogen fueling station. They have an agreement with the Kahua Ranch up in the Kohala mountains where they are using a wind turbine to create electricity to power an electrolizer, which is used to split the hydrogen from oxygen in water. And they will then take that hydrogen to use in their lab for research. That is what is known as green hydrogen or clean hydrogen, versus hydrogen made from a fossil fuel.

Q: What are some common misperceptions of NELHA?

A: When they come here and take a presentation they don't realize that there is so much renewable energy here on the Big Island. That is one thing that surprises a lot of people.

There is hydroelectric power on the Hilo side, wind power on north and south, geothermal power, and growing amounts of solar energy as well. Here at Keahole Point, we have so much sun -- we only get about 10 inches of rain a year. Solar energy is a very viable source of power.

JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM Roy Damron, Gateway ambassador and Friends of NELHA volunteer, lectures on renewable resources at the Gateway Energy Center complex on the NELHA grounds.

A: I'd like to see this organization expand greatly into a major educational organization because I believe we are touching the right subjects right now with self-sufficiency and sustainability issues. Sustainability and self-sufficiency are becoming buzzwords in the media right now, and Friends of NELHA are somewhat in the right place at the right time.

Gov. (Linda) Lingle has a mandate that she would like to see 20,000 people a year go through the Hawaii Gateway Energy Center. Since we are operating the education and outreach programs at the center, that is our goal. We want to be open seven days a week. Right now we are only open three days a week, and unless we get up to seven days a week, we don't get anywhere near what she would like to see at 20,000 -- that's why we are very aggressive about getting new volunteers and getting them trained about the history and activities at NELHA.

Our goal is to build a series of different exhibits highlighting small examples of what the tenants are doing here. People can come in and do a presentation and afterward rotate around the special exhibition area.

Q: Do you see yourself as more of a community or business liaison?

A: We do put on certain types of presentations that would be suitable for companies. For example, we just held a solar energy workshop where a lot of businesses also came to learn how they can take advantage of solar energy tax credits and fit their business or home business with affordable panels. We do, on occasion, these types of workshops that apply to the commercial side, but it doesn't happen that often.

Q: What are the challenges facing Friends of NELHA?

A: Our challenge -- as with every other nonprofit -- is recruiting and retaining volunteers. That is our biggest issue. Funding is always an issue. We would like to field out or exhibit displays quicker, and it takes funding for that to happen.