Home & Heart
Kathleen Jarschke-Schultze
c. 1993 Kathleen Jarschke-Schultze
For the fifth time that day I explained what a Sun Oven was, 
and why I was hauling that big box around with my luggage. 
There I was, in Hawaii, at the request of the government, about 
to represent solar cooking to the peoples of the Pacific Islands.
Pacific Islands 
I had been invited to speak on solar cooking at the Renewable 
Energy, Food Processing, and Eco-Tourism for the Pacific 
Islands conference on the island of Hawaii. This was a 
wonderful opportunity for me, so I gathered information and a 
Burns-Milwaukee Global Sun Oven and took to the skies. The 
conference was sponsored by the United States Export Council 
on Renewable Energy and the Committee on Renewable Energy 
Commerce and Trade. Participants and guests represented most 
of the Pacific Islands, including Figi, Papua New Guinea, the 
Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Tonga, Vanuatu, Western 
Samoa, New Zealand, Savaii, and the Virgin Islands.
Eco-Tourism
Tourism has become the largest industry in the world in the 
last decade. An increasingly popular way of making income 
from tourism with little impact on the environment in the 
Pacific Islands is called "Eco-Tourism." Eco-Tourism is 
defined as responsible travel that conserves natural 
environments and sustains the well-being of local people. Guest 
huts or lodges are provided with systems that highlight the use 
of renewable energies (RE). Attention to the existing ecosystem 
and education about the local culture are stressed.
Case studies of RE systems currently in use at tourist sites 
were presented. Workshops on planning critical business 
issues, financing and technical assistance gave the guests real 
information to begin or enhance their projects.
Food Processing
Food processing is often a big business for small Islands. Guest 
speakers addressed the elements of developing a successful 
agribusiness or food processing operation. Reports were 
offered on icemaking for fisheries in Mexico using solar 
thermal technology, wood processing and copra processing, 
ethanol production in Italy, and biomass cogeneration in sugar 
processing.
Mac Nut Factory
Our last day in Hawaii we took a tour of RE sites around the 
island. We visited the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut factory. What a 
treat! A smiling hostess greeted us, holding out a tray of 
macadamia nut truffles.
The plant's biomass generator, which produces 85% of the 
factory's electrical needs (700 kiloWatts), uses both shells and 
husks from the macadamia nuts and used crankcase oil. The Hilo 
site was only one of three factories where the Mauna Loa 
company uses biomass generation for energy production.
Kahua Ranch
Another site, Kahua Ranch used wind power to generate 
electricity. The Kahua Ranch is 22,000 acres of lush pastures 
spreading from summit to the sea, on the slopes of the big 
island's oldest volcano. The Kahua raises cattle, as it has since 
1928. Their herd of registered Avignon Charolais and Angus is 
the state's largest. Sheep are another profitable concern.
The Ranch has diversified and now includes two greenhouses 
totaling over 30,000 square feet under roof. Fifty different 
varieties of long stemmed carnations are grown there for use 
throughout the islands.
Peter Shackelford manages the power system for Kahua. It is a 
grid intertie system employing twenty-one wind turbines, 
(three Carters and eighteen Jacobs) to generate 400 kiloWatts 
(kW). Excess wind energy is used to run a pump that pumps 
water up a 4,400 foot long, 8 inch diameter pipe into an upper 
reservoir. When there is no wind the water runs down into a 
water turbine at 150 psi and ends up in a lower reservoir. The 
lower reservoir is higher than the 50 hp pump intake so there is 
no priming problem when the pump starts. Peter keeps a battery 
bank in the power shed to shut the turbine down slowly in case 
of a power outage.
The local utility sells their power for seventeen cents a 
kiloWatt-hours. They pay Kahua Ranch six cents a kiloWatt-
hour.
Home System
Outside Waimea, Rick Habine has a small RE system installed by 
Peter and his partner, Joe Clarkson. This was more what I was 
familiar with. He had 12 Solarex MSX60 photovoltaic panels on 
a Wattsun tracker. For components he uses a Trace 2524SB 
inverter, a Cruising Equipment Amp/Hour+ meter, a 24 Volt Sun 
Frost RF-16 refrigerator/freezer, and lead acid batteries. It 
would have cost Rick $18,000 to bring power to his house. This 
system cost $20,000. The other tour participants had not seen a 
home system before and were surprised and delighted at the 
efficiency attained.
Hawaiian Hydro
Our RE tour bus took us past some of the most beautiful 
waterfalls on the Hilo side of the island. In Hilo, we visited a 
system Fred Koehnen had engineered. On a well-manicured 
residential street, a black lava flow pours down the slope 
between expensive homes. A cascading waterfall uses the lava 
flow for a stream bed. This grid intertie hydro system uses a 
custom-made Canyon Industries turbine. There is 25 feet of 
head in a 15 inch pipe, which is reduced to 12 inch close to the 
turbine. This system produces 5 kW. The turbine powers two 
homes. Automatic phasing with the utility is also a feature. The 
family uses the small pool at the head of the fall for 
swimming.
Paradise
I met many interesting people, I learned a lot, and I think I 
taught a few things too. Hawaii is the paradise everyone says it 
is. I did feel as if I were in a foreign country though, where the 
US dollar had been devalued. My mainland dollars just didn't 
equal Hawaiian dollars. I had a wonderful time. I want to thank 
Dianne Eppler for making the whole thing such a rewarding 
transference of information and interest.
Old Business
I got the Lehman's catalog. It is just great. I have already 
ordered and received kitchen tools from them. I recommend it 
for anyone looking for non-electric household tools.
You can order replacement trays for the American Harvest food 
dehydrator through J. C. Penny. I used the 15 inch square trays 
in the solar dehydrator I built (HP #30). They are sturdy and 
easy to wash.
Access
Kathleen Jarschke-Schultze, c/o Home Power Magazine, POB 
520, Ashland, OR 97520
Dianne B. Eppler, consultant, Renewable Energy Trade 
Promotion, 11523 Hearthstone Court, Reston, VA 22091 ù 703-
391-0060 ù FAX: 703-264-7729
Peter R. Shackelford, Renewable Energy Services, Inc., P.O. Box 
278, Paauilo, HI 96776 ù 808-775-0852
Kahua Ranch, P.O. Box 837, Kamuela, HI 96743 ù 808-889-6464
Fred Koenen, Wailuku River Hydroelectric Power Co., P.O. Box 
950, Hilo, HI 96749 ù 808-966-9325 ù FAX 808-966-8522
Carla Garrison, The Ecotourism Society, 801 Devon Place, 
Alexandria, VA 22314 ù 703-549-8979 ù FAX: 703-549-2920
Lehman Hardware and Appliances, P.O. Box 41, Kidron, OH 44636 
ù 216-857-5771 ù FAX: 216-857-5785