 Good afternoon. Howard Wigg, Think Tech Hawaii. My guest today is Glenn Gabbard of Nature's High Tech Solutions. We're going to talk about the fabulous topic of sewage. No, actually, we're going to talk about a little bit more than that. As you know, I'm a huge fan of Moore's Law where, in essence, technology is improving at a rate that we can barely keep up with, and the same goes for sewer technology. Well, it's a little more than sewer technology. Glenn Gabbard is the Hawaii rep for a new, a biotechnology that involves bacteria which can clean up your water outfall lines. I believe, Glenn, all the way from little individual residences to major city sewer lines. Absolutely right. So thank you so much for being on the program today, because this is, well, how about that collapse? There was a collapse in Kahala Mall of the line that wasn't a sewer line, though. I think that was a much bigger water line. Yes, yes. But up in my neighborhood, we've had a couple of sewer line collapses. So this is, and the reason we're having a very large bill on our water bill is not because we use the water, but because the Board of Water Supply has to put together this huge pot of money in order to keep our sewer lines and our water lines intact now. They got a bit behind on their budget and now they're playing a catch-up in my line. Very true. So why don't you launch in and tell us what in the world these, I would call them, well, biobacteria. Biobacteria is a little bit redundant, but these are bacteria with a very, very special appetite. Absolutely. Well, it's great to be on with you again, Howard, and by way of introduction, as you know, what we do at Gabbard Energy Group with any of our partners in Hawaii is we work to be green, be sustainable, and to use the latest in technology. This particular biotechnology that my partners at Aqua Natural Solutions practice is a technology first that's been around for 40 years. It originally was developed to deal with petrochemical spills in the ocean. I remember those back then. This was the solution. This was a solution. And as you were saying in your introduction that basically what's been created is a good bacteria. Normally when you say to someone, well, I'm going to put some bacteria in your water or in your pipes, that's a scary thing. In this case, it's a good thing because what this bacteria does first in a climate like Hawaii, it's been specially cultured so that it adapts to whatever climate it's in, which has been a problem sometimes in this biotechnology area when you're using this approach that certain bacteria may not adapt to a given climate. It does. And then very simply the problem that we're dealing with on the residential or the commercial area is that in the grease traps, in your pipes, in your septic system, you get grease, you get sludge, as a result you have odors, and quite frankly in some instances those odors could be harmful if they're not neutralized. So very simply what this bacteria does, it's a good bacteria that is introduced into the pipes, into the septic system, into the waste management treatment centers, and literally the bacteria eats the sludge, eats the grease, and takes what could be a harmful and certainly an offensive odor and turns it into harmless odorless gas. And for any particular facility, whether it's a residential home, or whether it's a wastewater treatment plant, or whether it's a large hotel or commercial building, what we do is we go in and we do a customized treatment proposal that occurs on an ongoing basis. And the other thing that I would say is one of the things that, aside from being environmentally friendly, that's a great advantage of this approach is that it significantly reduces the operating cost for dealing with this issue because typically what is done is a commercial building owner will bring in a plumbing company that will do a process I refer to as jet flushing to try to get this sludge out of the pipes. Whereas this particular natural biotechnology is much less expensive. So there is an operating cost advantage to municipality or building owner and the like. Now let me try to give an analogy, see if it's right, and that is to our human circulatory system. We're always talking about clogged arteries and doctors actually go in with stents I think and replace an overly clogged artery. So with your system, instead of doing that we would be say eating the right thing or taking in the right foods which would naturally clear out those arteries and get them good and young again. Is that a good analogy? That's a great analogy. That's exactly right. And that's really the purpose of the good bacteria and so it's an alternative treatment method to use your analogy that has been very effective. I think one of the things we were talking about prior to the show is that there's 28 municipal water districts in California alone that are using this process, many agricultural districts and the like. So the application is very broad. And just another analogy what might be with composting where you take a whole bunch of solid green waste and you let the organisms work on that green waste and the pile goes down, down, down, down, down, down, down. And all you're left with is a handful of nutrients which are actually beneficial. You're absolutely right. This process speeds the composting process. And actually creates a lot of rich beneficial biology in the end compost which in turn then when it's utilized increases plant light and lessens the amount of chemicals that need to be used in order to have the plants thrive. One of the other things that happens with this process with composting is it takes the pathogens big word that I had to look up to that basically is any organism that causes disease. And so it removes those in the process as well as it relates to composting. My goodness. So you're starting in some cases with grease which has a lot of hydrocarbon in it or even petrochemicals again hydrocarbons. This is the stuff, the diesel fuel that we put in our truck tanks or whatever. And you end up with a life friendly or growing environment. So it breaks it down, breaks it down probably to its original molecules I would imagine. Yes, yes. And so there are great benefits, indirect benefits from the process as it relates to composting. Well I know we've got some slides. Do you think we're ready to bring them up? Sure. So can you read that? I can and I can kind of summarize it very simply and that is that what we're really talking about here separate from what we've discussed on the biotechnology side. Is that this is really a public health issue and I'll give one simple example. We have a commercial building that we're meeting with here in Hawaii and there not only is a waste management problem but there is a odor problem. Now when we talk about odors, odors of course can be offensive but they also can be hazardous as we know. And so it's critical that pipelines, grease traps, septic lines, wastewater treatment plants are handled as environmentally efficiently and effectively as possible so that we protect the public health. That's really what we're saying, that wastewater and public health if wastewater isn't handled properly in an environmentally sensitive way, public health is at risk. Absolutely and just related to that there was just a few months ago that a dairy farm wanted to set up a big operation on Kauai so that Hawaii might become milk self-sufficient and the neighbors objected and objected and I think it was turned down because they had odor considerations. Could you just apply these bacteria to the cow manure and it would go down? It's a critical issue for instance in California and I'm thinking of Hawaii and the Big Island too. Harris Ranch is a huge facility and that's one of the facilities that Brian Griggs and my partners at Aqua Natural work with along with many agricultural districts. Because the effective treatment of wastewater is a critical issue in terms of public health for people that live around those agricultural areas. And again the odor problem is addressed. The odor problem is addressed again as you deal with the waste problem, you deal with the odor problem at the same time and you take whatever the issue is causing the odor, you neutralize it and it becomes a harmless gas. And then the solids become good compost. Absolutely. So you get multiple benefits in the process. So, well let's move on to our next slide here. A cute little baby. Yes, I was going to say pretty much saying the same thing that in this country, the bottom line is as in every country there's a lot of waste. And so the issue of effectively dealing with waste disposal, whether you're dealing with commercial buildings, whether you're dealing with municipal water districts, waste treatment areas, whether you're dealing with agricultural districts, whether you're dealing with residential homes is huge. And the more effectively we can deal with it, the more environmentally we can deal with it, the more cost effectively we can deal with it than the less the problem. That gives us a really good overview. Why don't we take our break now and then come back and get into some real nitty gritty with bacteria and sludge. This is Howard Wigg. Code green Glenn Gepperd is my guest today. Back in a moment. Looking to energize your Friday afternoon. Tune in to stand the energy man at 12 noon. Aloha Friday here on Think Tech Hawaii. Aloha, how are you doing? Welcome to Iwachi Talk. I'm here at Gordo the Tech Star on Think Tech Hawaii. I'm here with my good old buddy Andrew the security guy. Hey everybody, how are you doing? Aloha. Thanks for watching. Good to have Andrew here in the house. Please join us every Friday from one to one thirty and follow us up on YouTube. And remember as we say at the end of every show. How are you doing? Hello and Aloha. My name is Raya Salter and I am the host of Power of Hawaii. Where Hawaii comes together to figure out how we're going to work towards a clean and renewable energy future. We have exciting conversations with all kinds of stakeholders. Everyone who needs to come together to talk about renewable energy. Be they engineers, advocates, lawyers, utility executives, musicians or artists. To see how we can come together to make a renewable future. Tuesdays at 1 p.m. Good afternoon again. Howard Wiig, Code Green, Glenn Geberd of Geberd Consortium. Geberd Energy Group. Geberd Energy Group is my guest and we are talking sludge. But not just any sludge. We're talking sludge that when mixed with biotechnology. The proper bacteria. We are converting these sometimes hazardous projects and products and certainly disruptive products. I.e. grease in sewer lines or grease in your own residential line. And converting them to good viable stuff like compost. And we're eliminating odors. So Glenn, we covered just the general ground. Why don't we look at the next slide and proceed from there? Absolutely. This is just some quick historical background. I mentioned earlier that originally this technology was developed to deal with the petrochemical spills and issues in the ocean. And so in the process of doing that and the work in the laboratories developing this good bacteria, all of a sudden the applications that we're talking about, the expanded applications were really discovered. And so that's why I think the key thing here is that this is a biotechnology that has been proven in around for 40 years. This is not something that we're doing beta tests with. It's not something that is growing in its application. But like so much else that we do in the green energy efficiency area, it's an educational process. And it's a matter of here in Hawaii as with every other area that we work in, we're working to reach out to the different areas that are all dealing with the same issue of waste management treatment. And you mentioned that you can go all the way from teeny little residential pipes all the way to surge treatment plants. And that's something that we in Honolulu have been very concerned with is the conversion of what was hazardous waste and way back when it just used to be dropped out into the sea. Yes. Now we are recycling water at the Honolulu plant and there's talk of recycling water at the Sand Island treatment plant. Have you been in contact with the city at all about that? We are. We're meeting with the Honolulu water district as a starting point. And we've also been working with others that have actually been consulting and working in Hawaii for the past 10, 15 years. And so we're very interested in trying to positively impact as many of the districts as possible. But as you were saying, when you talk about the waste treatment plants, what it really comes down to is with this kind of process you've got to maintain the flow in the collection system. That's one of the things you're dealing with. Secondly, in the lift and the pumping stations, you need to make sure that again you keep them clear so that they operate effectively. And at the same time the wastewater issue, to address that, that typically in the water districts, the waste management districts that we work with, the goal is to treat the water so that it becomes potable. Potable water, as you know, can then be used for crops. It can also be used by cities and municipalities for irrigation, for watering of parks in a different area. And so once again in terms of conserving water, as well as being environmentally sound, the end result of an effective treatment process that's environmentally sound with a wastewater treatment plant is that all of a sudden we get more use from that particular water in ways that benefit the entire community and every one of the islands. As I understand it, the Hono Uli plant out in the Campbell area, wastewater plant, does process its water and then diverts the potable water off to, I know, golf courses, maybe agricultural areas. Yes. And at the outlet there's a little sign saying do not drink this water because it hasn't been super refined to that level but it's perfectly fine for applications like golf courses. That's exactly right. That's the perfect example of how when treated properly you can reutilize this water for the benefit of the community. Well, I know we've got some more slides and we don't have all the time in the world. Indeed. Yeah. I think this particular slide talks about the pros and cons of bacteria versus enzymes. And clearly as anyone listening to this show can see that we've been talking about the good bacteria approach in terms of doing this. So without not being a chemist and without getting too technical, I can simply say that, you know, that's really the science of bio-augmentation is really what we're talking about in this good bacteria biotechnology. Well, let me intervene and point to our own human bodies. I think I have some of my zeros mixed up, but we've got something like 10 billion cells in our body which contain 100 billion atoms and the bacteria in our body is large in all of that so that we have 1 trillion bacteria. So all we are, we think we're these handsome creatures, but we're just that huge hotel for bacteria. And almost all the bacteria is beneficial. If it wasn't beneficial, we wouldn't be on this planet. Very true. Very true. Good point. So just a little time left. Why don't we go to the next slide here? This talks about kind of a, and there's a picture that shows kind of a before and after. As I mentioned before, whether it's a commercial building owner, a hotel, the water treatment district, an agricultural district, the approach is always the same in the sense that we take a look at the severity of the waste management issue. We come up with a particular treatment plan on an ongoing basis. We modify that as necessary. And the results are pretty dramatic. And this particular slide that we had up before shows the kind of the before and after effect of this kind of biotechnology, the good bacteria. Why don't you describe the top versus the bottom? I don't know that it's all clear. The top is kind of what we inherited in terms of dealing with the kind of sludge and grease and oil and all that you're dealing with in your pipes. And the bottom slide shows the difference after a series of treatments within there. Just to do the artery analogy again, if your artery looked like that top slide, your heart would just be pumping like mad trying to get any blood through. But on the bottom slide, heart would just be cruising along and you'd be healthy as anything. Absolutely. And I'll mention another application that's pretty straightforward. Most people know the name Outback Steakhouse, which is one of the groups that we work with. Every restaurant in Hawaii, like any other restaurant outside of Hawaii, is dealing with their grease trap. And they're dealing with their trying to, again, keep down odor and remove that grease in an environmental way. And they're dealing typically again with a monthly plumbing bill, jet flushing. Pardon me. And this is an alternative. This is a cost-efficient, environmentally safe alternative for it. And you think about the impact if you had any number of restaurants adopting this and tremendous positive benefit there all the way around. I threw a big party not long ago and there was a barbecue there and I had a barbecue guy and he was barbecuing like mad. And it was up to me the next morning to try to clean this thing. And I had my own little mini grease dilemma, what in the world do I do with all this stuff? You're right. I've been there. And that is a great example of what a restaurant or any other commercial facility deals with on a daily basis. In terms of this particular reason. Yeah, multiply my situation by 100 or 500 in a big restaurant. You've got a problem. You've got to do something with this grease. Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. So we have one or two more slides. I know we're getting, well, we've got some time here. Applications, yes. This is, and we've been talking about this throughout the show, but this is really just a summary. And really, I think for our purposes, probably a good ending visual here in terms of just the different application to this process. But as we've talked about before, and you think about Hawaii in all the islands that with all the restaurants, with all the hotels, with all the commercial buildings, with all the condominiums, the agricultural districts, and the water treatment districts. The application applies to any one of those particular areas. And while the treatment may differ, the benefits are the same as we've talked about in terms of compost, in terms of being able to reuse water effectively in an environmentally responsible manner. In terms of guest comfort in a restaurant or a hotel and the elimination of odors in any other issue that might come up from it. Well, you know, the governor and many other of our community leaders keep talking about making Hawaii more friendly to agriculture, and that includes raising animals, cows, chickens, whatever. Yes. We tend to have a residue, and the residue tends to be offensive and problematic and maybe expensive to dispose of. Whereas I'm kind of saying maybe not you, but a farmer just, what would you do to scatter these bacteria over manure piles or something more scientific than that? To say, it's definitely, it's an issue that always needs to be addressed and that the work with agricultural districts is a huge, is a huge and important area. You're doing a lot of work in California. A lot of work in California with the agricultural districts with processing plans with waste treatment facilities throughout the state. And I know that Brian Griggs spent all last week in the state of Washington for the same reason. It was nothing but municipal wastewater districts and agricultural districts. Yeah. So big need. Big need. And I like to say that the current wars are being fought over oil, the future wars will be fought over water. And this sounds like just a really, really good way of taking what would be wastewater, even hazardous water, and converting it back maybe not to water that you and I would want to drink. But we use a heck of a lot more water for agricultural purposes than we do for drinking or human purposes. Absolutely right. And this process gets it to that potable water stage, which for those purposes is environmentally safe and completely appropriate. So are you stationed here? Is this your home or do you travel back and forth? I go back and forth between California in the Sacramento area and Hawaii. And as I say, I do it for two reasons. One, the love of both areas. And secondly, the two states that are most progressive when it comes to energy efficiency, sustainability, green approaches, California and Hawaii. So I consider myself a very blessed person in doing what we do. Well, that brings us to a close thank you so much, Glenn Gabbard. This is, you know, we hear about products like this, old products, ancient products, and gives us hope because we're facing so many environmental problems, but boom, here come the solutions like this. Absolutely. Always great to see you, Howard, and we look forward to helping any way we can. So this is Howard Wake, Code Green with Glenn Gabbard. Thank you very much and see you next time.