Hawaii’s Small Ambitions

The state of Hawaii has an ambition, to get 70% of its energy from renewable sources by 2030.

Pfaw! (This, and other moving images of Hawaii from back in the day, are to be found at JaneResture.com.)

When it comes to renewable energy potential, Hawaii is Kuwait. As our most-southerly state Hawaii has the most intense sunshine in America. Its volcanos and trade winds mean the west side of islands like Hawaii itself are literally desert, perfect for solar energy collection.

Then there are the volcanoes themselves. Geothermal energy so close to the ground you can taste it. And those trade winds, both reliable and often fierce. And those ocean currents.

Hawaii is a laboratory we can use to create energy exports, not just sustain a tourist economy.

I know, from having visited there, that this conclusion may frighten
many Hawaiians. While mainlanders see Hawaii as a land to go to,
Hawaiians know it’s more a land to get away from, if you want to make
something of yourself. Barack Obama isn’t the gentleman from Hawaii,
he’s the gentleman from Illinois — although I wonder if his two girls
don’t dream some cold winter nights of those warm island breezes.

The key to the experiment I want to see in Hawaii is, in a word, hydrogen. The Pacific Ocean can be pumped in, electrolyzed,
the hydrogen contained, used in cars and trucks. The excess beyond this
can be exported to the mainland, and this is going to be the tricky
bit. How should it be transported? As ammonia? By pipeline? As a
liquid? What are the costs, in terms of energy loss — considering that
the standard loss in the production and distribution of electricity is
50%.

Hawaii is a great place to experiment on the economic models of all
forms of alternative energy. It’s compact, everything you need is right in front
of you. Electrolyzing on our great deserts means getting water there to
be separated. Gaining geothermal energy in the eastern U.S. means
drilling thousands of feet. In Hawaii it’s all right there.

Again, this is going to be controversial in Hawaii, where the people
know what they have, and don’t want it disturbed, and who can blame
them? Failure would leave broken equipment everywhere, and success
might be worse. Imagine if energy in Hawaii were cheaper than anywhere
else, rather than more expensive — how many people can the islands
hold?

So the small ambitions are politically palatable.  But they’re still small ambitions.

And I think, deep in their hearts, that many Hawaiians know this.