Island Clean Energy Projects
The islands of Hawai‘i have abundant natural resources, including wind, sunshine, geothermal, hydroelectric, and ocean resources for electricity generation, as well as land for energy crops that can be refined into biofuels to address transportation needs. Hawai‘i's islands also have great potential for increased energy efficiency in buildings and for construction of "net-zero energy" buildings that generate as much energy as they use each year.
Renewable energy resources and energy-efficiency efforts could potentially meet a substantial portion of the current electricity needs of the Hawai‘ian islands.
The islands also have the potential to significantly increase the proportion of clean energy they use for ground transportation through alternative fuels such as biodiesel, ethanol (from sugar and nonfood feedstocks such as banagrass), and electricity (once plug-in electric vehicles become commercially available).
Learn more about energy efficiency and renewable energy generation on each of Hawai‘i's islands:
Please note that the amounts of potential and proposed renewable energy cited for each island are based on a National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) study (PDF 478 KB) requested by the U.S. Congress and on internal state of Hawai‘i presentations. They are rough estimates that factor in only large-scale existing projects and proposed projects that NREL and the state energy office are aware of as of July 2009. Download Adobe Reader.
For more information, see the draft report titled Hawai‘i Clean Energy Initiative Electricity and Transportation Wedge Analysis—Scenarios to illuminate policy needs and inform technical working groups (PDF 370 KB). Download Adobe Reader.
