Biofuels
Biofuels are liquid (and sometimes gaseous) fuels made from plant material including cellulose, corn or vegetable oils, wood and wood waste. Fossil fuels also come from similar biomass that has been pressurized underground for millions of years. But while fossil fuels will eventually run out, biofuels are renewable.
Today’s primary biofuels are ethanol and biodiesel. Biofuels can help reduce dependence on imported oil, limit toxic emissions and greenhouse gas buildup, and support agriculture.
Ethanol is already used in Hawaii. A 2006 State law requires that 85 percent of all gasoline must contain at least 10 percent ethanol, known as E10. Ethanol used in Hawaii today is imported, but sugar plantations on Kauai and Maui are moving toward production of ethanol.
Brazil, with a huge sugar cane industry (and less expensive land, water and labor), has virtually eliminated import of fossil fuels for transportation by converting sugar cane to ethanol. Ethanol has become controversial because use of corn and other edible products has contributed to the rise of food prices around the world. Also, using present technology, ethanol requires about as much energy to make as it yields.
Biodiesel is a renewable fuel made by a chemical reaction of alcohol with plant matter, vegetable oils, or animal oils, fats, or greases. Algae can also be used to make biodiesel. Biodiesel can be used pure or blended with petroleum diesel without changes to the diesel engine. A Maui firm, Pacific Biodiesel, produces biodiesel from waste restaurant oils and from other feed stocks on the Mainland, including from soybeans.
On Maui, Hawaii Island, and Oahu, biodiesel can be mixed with other fuels to generate electricity in existing power plants, reducing our need to import fossil fuels. It is also used in the diesel vehicle fleets at Hawaiian Electric, Hawaii Electric Light and Maui Electric companies and in two of Maui Electric’s generating units during start-up and shut-down operations.
Biodiesel for Maui
Hawaiian Electric and Maui Electric Company, along with HR BioPetroleum, a Hawaii-based company that grew out of research at the University of Hawaii, and Alexander & Baldwin, a long-time Hawaii company that owns the HC&S sugar plantation on Maui have announced the signing of a memoranda of understanding to pursue the joint development of a commercial-scale microalgae facility on Maui to produce oil for conversion to biodiesel and other valuable products, such as animal feed.
Under the agreements:
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HR BioPetroleum will be responsible for overall project management, including obtaining financing, and construction and operation of the microalgae facility. |
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Alexander & Baldwin will provide strategically located land, adjacent to Maui Electric’s Ma’alaea Power Plant, to site the algae production ponds and processing plant, and may provide equity capital to the project. |
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Hawaiian Electric and Maui Electric companies will lead in determining the permitting and construction needs for piping to carry stack gases containing carbon dioxide, which the algae consume, from the Ma’alaea plant to an adjacent algae facility.
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Learn more about this project.
Heavy biofuel such as palm oil can be used directly to generate electricity and Hawaiian Electric is exploring the possibility of using a blend of biofuel in generation units that now use only low-sulfur fuel oil.
Biodiesel for Oahu
In approving Hawaiian Electric’s new Campbell Industrial Park Generating Station, the Public Utilities Commission confirmed an agreement reached between the State Consumer Advocate and Hawaiian Electric, to fuel this new 110-megawatt peaking plant with 100-percent, renewable biofuel.
As on Maui, if a dependable supply of locally grown feedstocks is available, it will have preference. In providing a preference to local feedstocks, the Hawaiian Electric companies hope to create a market that will encourage a local agriculture industry to develop.
The goal is to protect open space and agriculture, create jobs, and keep more of Hawaii’s spending on energy at home – in addition to reducing our use of imported fossil fuel.
The Future of Biofuels
A number of experiments are underway at the Hawaii Agricultural Research Center (formerly the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association research center), at the University of Hawaii at Manoa College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources and at the University of Hawaii at Hilo College of Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resource Management to determine which biofuel feedstocks would be best to grow in Hawaii and under what conditions.
One of the most promising is jatropha, a plant originally from Southeast Asia that has been grown in small quantities in Hawaii for many years. It requires little water and can grow well on marginal lands. At least two jatropha crushers are now in Hawaii for experiments with picking and processing the seeds from the jatropha plant.
Hawaiian Electric is committed to nurturing a local agricultural energy industry to grow as much of our biofuel in the islands as possible. This would increase our energy security, reduce our dependence on fossil fuel and reduce our contribution to global climate change. Hawaii sends three to four billion dollars out of state each year to buy energy fuel, so a local agricultural energy industry would help keep more of those dollars at home, circulating in the economy and creating jobs and opportunity.
Use of biofuels has raised concerns about environmental damage and human rights violations that result from the increasing demand for feed stocks. Hawaiian Electric Company worked with the Natural Resources Defense Council to create a procurement policy to make sure that only sustainable biofuel feedstock is used in Hawaii and that a preference is given to local biofuels as soon as possible.
View the HECO-NRDC Policy Progress Report - February 2010
View the HECO-NRDC sustainable biofuel procurement policy.
View the HECO-NRDC Policy Implementation Report.
View Hawaiian Electric’s position on issues around biofuels.
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