Green Antilles

The Bahamas Weekly reports on the unprecedented success of the recent Christmas Bird Count event on Grand Bahama:

More than 50.000 observers in Canada, the United States, the Caribbean and the Bahamas participate each year in an all-day census of migratory and resident bird populations. The primary objective of this “Christmas Bird Count” is to monitor the status and distribution of bird populations across the Western Hemisphere.

Grand Bahama Island provided five teams for its eleventh count with a total of 34 local and visiting field observers that were assigned to five different count sections in the Freeport/Lucaya area. The event began Friday evening with an orientation for the participants and a social gathering at Junkanoo Beach Club where delicious hot chili and other refreshments were provided during the chilly evening compliments of the Club and hosted by Club manager, Mark Neely.

The official count began on Saturday morning at sunrise. Teams hardly took time for lunch and birded until sundown. Their efforts were awarded with several unusual species that had not been seen during previous counts.

After an exciting day of birding, teams gathered at Garden of the Groves for the highly anticipated tabulation of the number of species each team had observed during the day. The total count of bird species was 109, however, when 6 additional species that were observed during count week had been added the total reached 115. Bruce Purdy, the count compiler, stated that this had been the highest number for Christmas Bird Count since it began on Grand Bahama eleven years ago. Erika Gates, who organized the counts over the years, commented that she was very excited about the number of birds observed by the teams this year but she was even happier about the number of young persons that are coming out to participate in birdwatching and especially in the Christmas Bird Count.

Read more in the full article.

Last year on Green Antilles: More than 100 species sighted in Christmas Bird Count on Grand Bahama.

[Photo: Erika Gates, via thebahamasweekly.com]

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has highlighted the achievements of a school-based coastal conservation project on the island of Abaco in The Bahamas:

Hope Town Primary School in Abaco, Bahamas has been involved in the UNESCO Sandwatch Project for over 10 years. The 60 students in this 116 year old historic, red and white school have been involved in many activities from creating brochures that teach reef etiquette on sustainable use of their famous patch reef to cutting a huge floating fishing net off their study area reef to writing a comic book for kids on what they can do to feel empowered about saving their environment.

Their very popular, small, 6 mile long island had been struck by 3 major hurricanes since 1999 and a 4th hurricane, Hurricane Irene, just blew through at 115 mph with gusts up to 140 mph on 25 August 2011.

Sandwatch Country Co-ordinator, Mrs. Candace Key, who is also the Hope Town School Principal, is proud of the fact that the area where the school has done several of their UNESCO Sandwatch projects came through the strong storm in great shape. After the last hurricanes washed out much of the beach in front of the Hope Town Harbour Lodge Resort, which is the area they use as their project site, the students were instrumental in replanting the dunes (that were pushed back up into place by beach bulldozers) with sea oats.

Throughout the last 6-8 years the sea oats have matured and covered the dune well. When Hurricane Irene struck this August the dune held very well with no erosion, to the student’s pride! The sea oats took a beating but they will be standing tall and proud again soon guarding their valuable dune.

The students also planted sea oats on the property next to the resort. That property was sold and a very large house was built. In order to extend the property, the new owner plowed sand over the sea oats. Students protested and the owner promised to plant sea oats; he planted a few and filled the rest of the area with the invasive plant known as Hawaiian Sea Grape, which does not have the deep seated roots that sea oats have. During this storm, the whole beach in front of his house washed out. A lot of valuable environmental lessons were learned during this hurricane by Sandwatchers—young and old.

See the original press release at the UNESCO website. Also of interest: the webpage for The Bahamas Sandwatch project. Sandwatch is also active in several other Caribbean territories.

[Photo: via unesco.org]

An article in The Economist this week discusses the potential of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) technology, including a mention of plans to construct a commercial OTEC plant in The Bahamas:

Alternative power sources are back in fashion, though, and OTEC is one of them. A range of companies, from giants such as Lockheed Martin to minnows like the Ocean Thermal Energy Corporation of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, are working on the technology, and this time it might actually come to pass. Most of the bits and pieces required can be borrowed from other areas of engineering, such as deepwater oil drilling. And the idea of a power station whose fuel is free is attractive, as long as the capital cost is not too high.

The most common OTEC design uses a fluid with a low boiling point—typically ammonia—which circulates through a network of pipes. First, it is vaporised in a heat exchanger that is warmed by surface water with a temperature of around 25°C. That puts the gas under sufficient pressure to spin a turbine and thus generate electricity. When it has done so, the gas is sent to a second heat exchanger, where it is cooled by seawater that has been pumped from a depth of a kilometre or so, where the temperature is about 5°C. That condenses it back into a liquid, and the whole process can be repeated. Theoretically, then, an OTEC plant can be built anywhere that the ocean has a surface temperature above 25°C and is more than 1km deep.

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A … modest project is planned by the Ocean Thermal Energy Corporation. It has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Bahamian government to build a fully commercial OTEC plant. Initially, cold water will be pumped from the ocean depths to provide cooling for a holiday resort—a project that will cost $100m. Eventually, the plan is to turn this into a full-fledged 10MW power station. Bolting cooling facilities onto an OTEC generator, and also using some of the resulting power for desalination on islands like the Bahamas that are short of fresh water, helps tip the economic balance in favour of OTEC.

The Caribbean, indeed, seems a popular place to try the technology out. The first OTEC plant, built in 1930, was at Matanzas Bay, just across the Florida straits from the Bahamas, in Cuba. That successfully produced 22kW, though it was eventually destroyed by wind and waves. A mere eight decades later, the technology may at last come to fruition.

For more information, read the full article Power from the sea on the Economist website. See also previous Green Antilles posts: Ocean thermal energy conversion: new renewable energy technology for The Bahamas and Is ocean thermal energy conversion a wise choice for The Bahamas?.

In The Bahamas, there is some scepticism about plans for the construction of ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) plants, especially since large-scale OTEC is a relatively untried alternative energy technology. One commentator writes:

In the absence of any nationally adopted energy code, the Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC) has provided us with electricity using fossil fuels. Up until fairly recently there has been very little pressure on BEC to do things differently through a compelling political mandate or public outcry.

To my surprise, on Sept 22 of this year it was announced that BEC signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ocean Thermal Energy Corporation (OTEC) for the proposed construction of two plants that it, OTEC, would build, own and operate. After I did some very basic research on the topic, I came away, however, with more questions than answers and indeed will look out for more light to be shed on what is exactly being proposed for The Bahamas.

The concept of harnessing electricity that’s free from fossil fuels and can also produce potable water, assist in sustainable food production and even provide sea water district cooling sounds outstanding. This technology was first researched in the 1880s by a French physicist, and in 1930, Cuba built a 22kW plant. Additionally, Japan has had a 120kW operational plant since 1981 and research into this technology is underway in India. Further the possibilities were demonstrated with a pilot 210kW plant in Hawaii in the 1990s.

This gives the technology some track record, but these plants are still rather small. In fairness though, like most other forms of renewable energy, the abundance of inexpensive fossil fuels made it difficult for this technology to gain any traction.

According to the OTEC website, the system works by using heat from warm surface water to boil liquid ammonia, thus producing steam which drives a turbine generator. The process would involve pipes being placed in the ocean and pumping up cold water, the exact location and depths I gather would be revealed in time.

OTEC states that their chief science officer was instrumental in the demonstration of the plant’s capabilities in Hawaii.

I wonder, though, why wasn’t a large scale plant produced in Hawaii or elsewhere in the United States where appropriate conditions exist? It just seems to be a natural progression from pilot study to actual plant. Further, the rules surrounding economies of scale make a compelling argument for starting off where the demand is greater. Why is this technology gaining traction in the Caribbean, but generating little interest elsewhere?

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I would hope that much thought is being given to the location of the plants to reduce vulnerability to storms and hurricanes and reduce impact to ocean life. I certainly trust that discussions are being had around the reliability of this technology. Who needs more blackouts?

Perhaps the answers to all of my questions are in some document somewhere on someone’s desk.

Read more in the complete article by professional engineer Sonia Brown.

Previously on Green Antilles: Ocean thermal energy conversion: new renewable energy technology for The Bahamas.

[Image via: renewableenergymagazine.com]

News of another book about traditional Caribbean natural remedies, this one published in The Bahamas:

An ethnobotanist, a herbalist and a family counsellor have joined forces to publish one of the most comprehensive and scientific books ever on Bahamian bush medicine.

Lead author Dr Jeffrey McCormack is a former faculty member at Middlebury College, and the University of Virginia. He trained in natural products chemistry and physiological plant ecology, and has worked in the fields of sustainable agriculture, genetic preservation, plant breeding, and ethnobotany.

Dr McCormack is the founder and director of the seed company Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, which distributes heirloom vegetable varieties, documenting their origins and uses, and recording the histories associated with heirloom and heritage seeds. His oral history projects were twice featured on National Public Radio, including NPR’s “Living on Earth” programme.

Co-author Kathleen Maier is a widely known in the US as a herbalist, and received the first Medicinal Plant Conservation Award from the United Plant Savers. She is currently director of Sacred Plant Traditions in Charlottesville, Virginia and is a founding board member of Common Ground Healing Arts. Co-author Patty Wallens has a background in child development, family relations, medical interviewing and home-based counseling.

This 400-page book, Bush Medicine of the Bahamas- A Cross-cultural Perspective from San Salvador Island, features a unique multi-dimensional approach. In addition to a list of over 100 medicinal plants, it includes pharmacological notes, oral histories, and cross-cultural uses of Bahamian medicinal plants.

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“This project would not have been possible without the kindness and generosity of the interviewees who welcomed us into their homes, who shared their stories, served us their bush teas, and took us out into the bush to teach us about their knowledge of plant medicine,” Dr McCormack said “This book is our gift to them, and their children.”

He said the book was dedicated to the preservation and continued use of traditional knowledge of medicinal plants in the Bahamas. Chapters explore the cultural roots, principles, and practice of bush medicine. The materia medica covers 120 medicinal plants and 22 non-botanical remedies, including details of administration and dosage, pharmacology, and the cross-cultural uses of bush medicine.

Find out more in the full article at The Bahamas Weekly. There is also a website for Bush Medicine of the Bahamas, where you can read excerpts and purchase a copy of your own.

Earlier on Green Antilles: Medicinal Plants of Trinidad & Tobago and the Caribbean.