Think outside the barrel for Hawaii's energy future
Heating the globe doesn't come cheap, as Hawaiian Electric Co. once again reminds us with its quiet holiday weekend announcement of a 7.2 percent rate increase (
Star-Bulletin, Dec. 23). Despite the sunny advertisements from HECO, we are still near completely dependent on imported, greenhouse-gas- producing fossil fuels to keep the lights on. On Oahu, HECO produces a ton of heat-trapping gases every four seconds just to keep the juice flowing. It need not be this way.
Common-sense solutions from the old-fashioned (solar water heating) to the new-fashioned (wave energy) are at our doorstep. By thinking outside the barrel, we can help HECO cut our power bills and our carbon.
But wait, what about the new bio-fueled power plant? While ethanol sounds like a reasonable compromise for the new plant, it might effectively be powered by imported Australian coal. Why? Because the likely first local ethanol producer -- Kauai Ethanol LLC -- has proposed to use coal to run its molasses conversion process. When all the other energy inputs are added to the equation, producing ethanol to run the plant might be a net energy loser.
So how can we avoid that situation and other costly central system upgrades? First, developers should get behind legislation to require that all new homes be "energy affordable," where solar water heating and photovoltaic (solar electric) are mandated on new residential housing (this is hardly radical -- the military is already doing it here). Developers will like the added capital cost to the home, and homeowners will enjoy lower monthly mortgage/energy payments over the life of the home. For existing rooftops, homeowners can take advantage of the aggressive new tax credits for both types of solar and even small-scale wind.
Banks have a role here, too. Low- or no-interest loans for clean energy and efficiency investments would eliminate a major barrier to going green. Some innovative solar contractors are already offering deals where homeowners can "purchase" photovoltaic electricity by entering into a contract where they simply pay their current monthly utility bill to the solar installer instead of the utility. And let's "buy local" and make sure that every photovoltaic panel that Hoku Scientific produces finds a roof in the islands.
To move away from our current fossil fuel power plants, we'll need to commit to some larger indigenous energy projects, like windfarms, wave energy and biofuels production (if the energy balance makes sense). These might entail some tradeoffs. The good news? Maui's new wind farm is able to sell power at below the cost of burning carbon to produce electricity.
We'll also require some common-sense solutions from our Legislature and Public Utilities Commission, like requiring "time of use" rates to smooth out the system peaks and take advantage of renewables as they are available -- or better yet, a higher utility rate of return for clean electrons and a lower return for dirty fossil-produced electrons. HECO's bottom line should suffer with each ton of carbon emitted -- but it should be rewarded handsomely with each clean kilowatt created. Short of that, customers should be given the option to buy clean energy if they choose.
If you are tired of watching your money go up in smoke and want to do your part in cutting carbon emissions, check out the Sierra Club's "Lose a Ton" guide at www.hi.sierraclub.org/carbon. Your checkbook -- and your kids' kids -- will say mahalo plenty.
Jeff Mikulina is the director of the Sierra Club, Hawaii Chapter.