Ever wondered where and how Hawaii gets it energy?

[Wao nahele kane]

"With its mild tropical climate, Hawaii had the fourth lowest per capita energy use in the nation in 2012. The transportation sector led Hawaiian energy demand in 2012, due in large part to heavy commercial and military aviation fuel use."

Read more at -
http://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=hi

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Jet fuel is Hawaii's largest export:

It is easier to understand the not-at-the-bottom ranking when one knows that jet fuel refined by Tesoro or Chevron in Kapolei and pumped into planes which then fly to other countries counts as an export. This is in fact Hawaii's biggest export.
http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/12873...n-annually

[terracore]

That data is from 2008. I wonder if it is still relevant 7 years later.

[opihikao]

FYI: Somewhat applicable to this topic. Interesting article.

JMO.

(*Snipped - More at link)

Hawaii Independent Energy, the owner of the state's largest oil refinery, is turning to other markets to keep its business flowing after losing its fuel supply contract with Hawaiian Electric Co. and the impending use of liquefied natural gas for power generation in Hawaii.

http://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/news/...ml?ana=fbk

[ericlp]

Well, besides the limited renewable resources like Wind and Solar that we use, we also have geothermal. But that only makes up for about 1/3 of our power source.

The rest? 2/3's of it here on the big island comes from fossil fuels. AKA Bunker Fuel. Helco in Hilo, uses it to fire big boilers to produce steam to turn small turbines.

So most of the power comes from non renewable crude oil. So what is Bunker Fuel?

The hydrocarbon chains in bunker fuel are very long, and this fuel is highly viscous as a result. It is also heavily contaminated with various substances which cannot be removed, so when it is burned, it pollutes heavily. The thick fuel is difficult for most engines to burn since it must be heated before it will combust, so it tends to be used in large engines like those on board ships. Ships have enough space to heat this type of fuel before feeding it into their engines, and their extremely sophisticated engines are capable of burning a wide range of fuels, including low quality bunker fuel.

Bunker fuel, on the other hand, is a derivative of crude oil. In the simplest and crudest of terms, bunker fuel is the gunk that is leftover after refineries have processed all the more valuable fuels from the crude source. It is thick and heavy and must be heated before it can be used in an engine. It is difficult to store and transport. And it is ideal for large marine going vessels that have the heavy engines and fuel capacity to handle bunker fuel. Because of this, bunker fuel is not readily available like gasoline / petrol. It is mainly stored at or near major ocean ports and primarily sold and delivered via physical contracts to marine vessel interests. Because of this, bunker fuel prices vary widely from port to port. While there certainly are bunker fuel futures they are mainly utilized by the marine community and unlike crude futures the contracts normally entail actual physical delivery of the fuel. Also, like crude, there are a number of bunker fuel price indexes that the maritime community and their financial interests use.

So, seeing a drop in your power bill is unlikely unless they buy a crap load of it while prices are still low. The cost savings per environmental impact ... I sometimes wonder if it's worth it.


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[tada]

Since bunker fuel is "waste product" of refining how do you dispose of it since no place to dump it besides paving the road? So if you burn it for fuel you get rid of it and gain transport and electricity.

Good thing I don't live by the power plant though can see how it make you paranoid.