Is it just me? Or am I not being optimistic enoug

[ericlp]

http://www.thenation.com/article/hawaiis...enewables/

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 state’s petroleum-fueled electricity plants, but will make a full-court press toward 100 percent renewables by 2045.

So, Ige, is in bed with Helco... Why not do it in 5 years? Why not do it NOW??? Maybe because Helco wants us on dirty oil for next 30 years? Maybe because Helco can see the handwriting on the wall? As solar panels and green energy become reality and much cheaper more people will convert anyway.

It's funny, they talk about wind and geothermal, tho no one mentions any savings to the consumer... I also find it funny how they talk about the cost of renewables. Gas is what? 2 bucks a gallon on the mainland. Lowest prices it's ever been. Crude oil must be like pennies per gallon. Yet, all this talk about saving money and producing power and YET ... Still NO Savings on electric bill, if anything ... The talk is to raise the rates even more!


"Ige said Monday that LNG (liquefied natural gas) will not save the state money over time, given the plummeting prices of renewables.

*that remains to be seen...

Moreover, “it is a fossil fuel,” i.e., it emits dangerous greenhouse gases.

*how is this any worse than burning bunker fuel? It's not! Bunker fuel is super dirty and very bad for the environment. LNG is way more environmental friendly not just in burning it, but cleanup and spills as well.

He explained that local jurisdictions in Hawaii are putting up a fight against natural gas, making permitting difficult.

*Poor Baby!!!!! Grow a pair! Do you think when google fiber came into town, Comcast and TimeWarner, were rolling out the red carpet?

I guess I don't see much enthusiasm but just another puppet agreeing with big business and giving them the green light the continue to screw us over for the next 30 years. Same Song and Dance as usual.

[dakine]

tho no one mentions any savings to the consumer..

Savings to the consumer is BS compared to world wide climate change that we are experiencing and mankind's contribution to the imbalance. Renewable at all cost is what's needed. Though before anyone gets all woo woo about that statement keep in mine the market place will always find a way to make it better and cheaper over time, regardless of what it is. So for me, renewable is an absolute must!

[leilanidude]

So you would rather see the continued shipping of bunker fuel around the islands' coastlines for the next 25 years as we migrate towards renewable energy, instead of immediately switching out the bunker fuel for very clean burning LNG? That makes no sense.

[DanielP]

The bigger question is will Nextera be allowed to go forward with it's purchase of HECO and how will they run things.

[Mimosa]

When we read subjects such as this,we remind ourselves that one needs to look deeper and sus out where Ige is invested in.If he holds shares in these companies then he is protecting the bottom line and keeping the share holders happy. He may just be a one term Governor.
It is all about profit margins in our perspective.

Mrs.Mimosa

[kalakoa]

immediately switching out the bunker fuel for very clean burning LNG?

The "immediately" is more like a 5-year minimum lead time and millions of dollars to create the necessary infrastructure -- and that infrastructure would "desecrate" someone's "sacred" land, so add a couple more years and a few more million.

Maybe because Helco wants us on dirty oil for next 30 years?

Maybe because everyone involved will be dead by then, so they won't have to suffer the consequences of their environmentally destructive agenda?

[pahoated]

Come on, Punatic land. All Ige is saying is he doesn't want to see one imported fuel replaced with another imported fuel. You have to start looking at Hawaiian Electric being an independent power producer as well as a utility. Most of the IPP are the oil burning plants. HE wants to keep them going as long as possible, switching them to natural gas could extend their operational life indefinitely. Ige is just saying he does not go along with that plan, he wants to see the petroleum base plants to phase out over time. So, things must be slow to dig a Punatic asylum conspiracy out of that.

"Aloha also means goodbye. Aloha!"

[Kapoho Joe]

If anyone really gave a ****, we would be switching to biofuels. Sugar cane should have been an easy switch over but somehow, someway, we still talk about importing juice instead of making it right here at home.

[pahoated]

Sugar cane produces ethanol. ICE (internal combustion engines) have to be greatly modified to burn pure ethanol. Think of ethanol as corn syrup, also a precursor, and going through your fuel injectors. Large sugar cane plantations allowed the growth of huge rat colonies, so only DDT was effective in keeping their numbers down. This DDT was washing down into the ocean. The collapse of the sugar cane plantation business model was the best thing that happened for Hawaii. Most of this sugar cane business went to Brazil where they have almost totally converted to ethanol from sugar cane. But they are headed into a deep recession with the pre-peak oil prices making distilled gasoline cheaper than distilled ethanol.

Food for fuel is a stupid idea that started in the 70's. We are seeing a lot of environmental truisms from the 70's that are total crap. People need to dump this giant plantation idea.


"Aloha also means goodbye. Aloha!"

[tada]

I agree with Ige that to stick with the bunker fuel. I thought bunker fuel was a byproduct of refining oil to gas. So what are you going do with bunker fuel if you don't burn it for electricity??

Also to convert nat gas to LNG gotta liquify to -200 degrees which I guess requires a lot more nat gas. Make LNG less atractive for real cost as well as external cost.

Last week they had a blackout alert on Oahu. Electricity use was maxed out because of the muggy weather. And it was cloudy and still so pv and windmill usage was minimized. So bunker fuel is a good thing??