Sustainable Hawai'i

Hawaii, the most fossil fuel dependent state in the United States, is determined to become its most sustainable state. Its goal, according to the Hawai'i Clean Energy Initiative home page, is to transform Hawai'i into a world model for energy independence and sustainability with the goal of meeting 70% of Hawai'i's energy needs with clean energy by 2030.

While other states are still debating whether or not we can afford to mitigate the effects of climate change, Hawai'i has stopped hemming and hawing and today, a mere two years into their initiative they've already made noticeable gains.

A state law passed last year calls for at least 10 percent of electricity sales to come from renewable energy sources by the end of this year, and 15 percent by 2015. The state has laid down much of the groundwork for additional renewable power to come online while state regulators are weighing how much to pay businesses and individuals who contribute power to the electrical grid, and Hawai'i now leads the nation in solar water heating.

So what is firing Hawai'i's Sustainability initiative? Pragmatism.

Hawai'i imports oil to provide some 90% of its energy supplies costing it as much as $7 billion dollars a year. T is a significant amount of money to have leave the economic system., and an amount that is likely to rise if the threats of peak oil ring true. Converting to renewable energy keeps more of that money into the local environment.

In addition, Hawai'i is a sustainable developers dream. It has the perfect climate to take advantage of wind, solar and geothermal energy technologies, while home designs can be reasonably retrofitted to take advantage of passive cooling technologies greatly reducing the need for air conditioning. Finally, Hawai'i's natural beauty is unsurpassed and evident from nearly everywhere on the islands: there is a very visceral idea of what they are working to protect and what climate change could destroy.

How successful Hawai'i will be in the long term remains to be seen - they are experiencing push back from the residents of Lanai who don't want a large wind farm built there to benefit residents of Honolulu, while environmentalists are arguing that the undersea transmission line to carry electricity from Lanai to Honolulu isn't necessary - but that they're boldly trying to bring about wide ranging change is something that more states and nations could learn from.