Historical Context

The main focus of this project is on Pongamia trees. I first heard of these trees when I contacted the company, Terviva, who grows the trees in orchards at North Shore and Kunia in Oahu and also, in Florida. The trees are originally from southeast Asia. Pongamia trees are a leguminous tree that produces an oil seed (seeds that yields oil). Leguminous trees are good for making into biodiesel because of the oil, which explains why soybeans, another leguminous tree, are usually used to produce biodiesel. But, Pongamia trees are even better than soybeans.

Pongamia trees mirror soybeans but are more beneficial because:

- It has a higher oil content, 8x more vegetable oil per acre than soy, more suitable for conversion to liquid fuels, basic chemicals, or high-value molecules (400 gal. vs. 50 gal.)

- Can produce 2x more high-protein de-oiled seedcake per acre than soy that's used for animal feed (2.4 tons vs. 1 ton)

- Only uses 1/4th of the water and chemicals that soy uses

- $2000 of revenue and $1000 of net income per acre

- No bespoke agriculture infrastructure needed

Source: www.hfgfoodfuturist.com

Pongamia trees

The problem with Hawaii's dependence on imported oil and coal affects the whole island and all the people on it. It doesn't just impact Mililani, but changes the lifestyle of all of the citizens.

Oahu is one island in the island chain of the Hawaiian Islands located in the Pacific Ocean. Oahu is around 596.7 square miles and is in the middle of the island chain. The Hawaiian Islands are the most isolated islands in the whole world and that makes it the hardest and most expensive area to transport fossil fuels to.

The island of Oahu has a tropical wet and dry savanna climate with a pronounced dry season in the summer months. There aren't any winter or cold months, but there is a wet season in low-sun months. The average annual temperature is 77.2 degrees fahrenheit. These conditions make it especially good to be used for growing Pongamia trees.