Hawaii’s Governor Dumps Oil and Gas in Favor of 100 Percent Renewables
Source: The Nation
At the Asia Pacific Resilience Innovation Summit held in Honolulu, Hawaii, this week, Governor David Ige dropped a bombshell. His administration will not use natural gas to replace the states petroleum-fueled electricity plants, but will make a full-court press toward 100 percent renewables by 2045. Iges decisive and ambitious energy vision is making Hawaii into the worlds most important laboratory for humankinds fight against climate change. He has, in addition, attracted an unlikely and enthusiastic partner in his embrace of green energythe US military.
Ige said Monday that LNG (liquefied natural gas) will not save the state money over time, given the plummeting prices of renewables. Moreover, it is a fossil fuel, i.e., it emits dangerous greenhouse gases. He explained that local jurisdictions in Hawaii are putting up a fight against natural gas, making permitting difficult. Finally, any money put into retooling electric plants so as to run on gas, he said, is money that would better be invested in the transition to green energy.
Ige, trained as an electrical engineer, is leading his state in the most ambitious clean-energy program in the United States. On June 8, he signed into law a bill calling for Hawaiis electricity to be entirely generated from renewables in only 30 years. He also directed that the University of Hawaii be net carbon zero in just 20 years.
Read more: http://www.thenation.com/article/hawaiis-governor-dumps-oil-and-gas-in-favor-of-100-percent-renewables/
Marrah_G
(28,581 posts)Perhaps if they can pull it off then the continental US will follow.
SunSeeker
(51,559 posts)Cha
(297,261 posts)Bohunk68
(1,364 posts)I will lay odds though, that they will be able to achieve their goal much sooner. Once the job gets rolling, it snowballs and gains speed. This is great news.
turbinetree
(24,703 posts)to build something for -----------------wind power -----------and solar power-------------and it will drive costs down in the long term-------------------there will hardly be any importation of fossilized fuels, except for jets, and boats---------------I love BLUE HAWAII
valerief
(53,235 posts)DhhD
(4,695 posts)operate an electrical grid. The insiders and MIC will hate this.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)No more landfills, syn-gas and syn-diesel fuel and the final by-product slag could build up another island, roads or building material.
Woodwizard
(844 posts)I was stationed at Schofield barracks in the 80s we had solar hot water for our showers in the barracks buildings, the north shore already had wind turbines and the military housing had heat pump hot water heaters.
Having to import all your energy is a motivator.
Tom28
(34 posts)Easy promise. Lots can happen between now and then to render it "inoperable."
MurrayDelph
(5,299 posts)The Big Island has a good source for geothermal. Maui, too.