The Future of East Hawaii

[JerryCarr]

While I am a big supporter of just about all alternative energy sources, I think the departure of the large-scale sugar industry has left Hawaii short of the infrastructure needed for significant ethanol production. Everything from harvesting equipment to grinding mills would have to be re-acquired, or at the very least, massively rehabbed. Also, land use patterns have changed and many former sugar plantations are now used for other purposes, including some subdivisions. Despite all that, it just MIGHT be feasible if extreme oil prices made it economically justifiable. There are significant tax breaks for ethanol production that might help, too, although those seem designed to prop up the big Midwest agribusinesses growing and processing corn.

Aloha,
Jerry