Hawai`i Clean Energy Initiative
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Oil pollutes the environment, transfers billions of dollars out of our economy year after year, and leaves us dependent on the goodwill of foreign countries and companies for our very survival. We remain today the most oil-dependent state in America, but we have made great strides over the past few years to change this. Today, windmills hum atop Kaheawa Ridge on Maui delivering clean, plentiful power to that island’s homes and businesses. A 10-acre solar farm now provides a third of Lana`i’s electricity. Geothermal power on the Big Island powers over 30,000 homes. Wave energy is being tested off the North Maui coast and engineers are already figuring out where we will be plugging in the electric cars coming to car showrooms in the near future. In January 2008, Governor Lingle announced the Hawai‘i Clean Energy Initiative, an unprecedented and innovative partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) that aims to have at least 70 percent of Hawai‘i’s power come from clean energy within one generation – by 2030. Reflecting the federal government’s continuing commitment to the Hawai‘i Clean Energy Initiative, the U.S. Department of Energy recently assigned two senior personnel from its National Renewable Energy Laboratory to assist the state in wind and solar systems integration and transmission and energy efficiency. An agreement reached between the Lingle-Aiona Administration, Castle & Cooke, First Wind Hawai‘i and Hawaiian Electric Company, announced March 17, 2009, represents another bold step forward in Hawai‘i’s pursuit of energy independence. The agreement could lead to large wind farms on both Lāna‘i and Moloka‘i providing clean energy to O‘ahu. Moving forward, and working in partnership with the DOE, military, utilities, academic experts, the private sector and the community, our state is well positioned to achieve the ambitious goal established by the Hawai‘i Clean Energy Initiative. To get there will mean changing the way we build new buildings and retrofitting existing structures; it will mean providing incentives and setting requirements for alternative fuel vehicles purchased by families, businesses, and those who operate fleets. And it will mean placing a ban on new fossil fuel power plants in the State of Hawai`i. Implementing these policy changes will require some level of public funding, collaboration with county governments and the business community, and personal sacrifice on everyone’s part. We have a choice to make. We can either work together toward a clean energy future or continue to operate in a business-as-usual fashion in a world where the volatile price of oil is the new normal. The Lingle-Aiona Administration believes the choice is clear. As the world’s most isolated set of islands and oil-dependent state, a clean energy future is no longer simply a desire, it is an absolute necessity. |
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Important Dates »Follow the progress of the Lingle-Aiona Administration's pursuit of energy independence. Read more.
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