Hawaii’s Energy Problems

There is this enormous and dangerous assumption embraced by the Governor that “renewable” energy sources will save the day. They won’t. Of that 141,000 barrels per day which Hawaii imports, 32 percent or 45,000 barrels/day are burned each day for the production of electricity. That’s a great deal of energy to ship to Hawaii with 2-3 thousand mile supply line.

The notion that we can reduce the need for 45,000 barrels/day with conservation, solar, photovoltaics, wind, ethanol, geothermal, etc., is institutional deception. There is a heck of a lot more complexity to energy sources than starry-eyed assertions and heavy handed government demands. Then there are the overlooked areas of engineering, of scaling up from bench top prototypes, of field and operational performance, and the entire list of energy costs involved.

Hawaii Reporter