Clean Energy Fuels
If our community is to reduce our dependence on imported oil, we must make the most of all available local resources, including solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, ocean energy -- and we must look for ways to use cleaner fuels in our own utility power plants. Biomass and biofuels are two options to achieve that.
In particular, Hawaii has a unique opportunity to take advantage of biofuels to generate electricity because our power plants use liquid fuels. Most fossil fuel power plants in the United States burn coal or natural gas, meaning they cannot use liquid biofuels.
Because we use liquid fuels in Hawaii, we can make the switch to biofuels and make the most use of our existing power plants. Our customers have bought and have paid for billions of dollars in generation infrastructure that burns petroleum products to make electricity. We have the opportunity to maximize that investment by switching from “black” liquid fuel to “green” liquid fuel – that is, biofuel -- without walking away from or making major alterations to our existing facilities and infrastructure.
The conversion will serve as a bridge to the future as we integrate new solar, wind and other renewable resources and as other renewable energy technologies such as Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion become commercially viable.
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Biofuels can be stored, moved and used in present power plants.
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We can sign long-term, FIXED price contracts for biofuel, making the cost of energy more stable and predictable. No one can control, or predict, the cost of oil, which is headed up. A dollar for local biofuel creates jobs and boosts farming here. A dollar spent on oil leaves our state economy.
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Reliable biofuel energy available on demand helps add other renewables to our grids -- like wind and solar that need back up because the wind does not always blow nor does the sun always shine. We can use biofuels in existing and new firm electricity generators as part of a portfolio of renewable resources.
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Biofuels are cleaner and greener than fossil fuels, helping to control our greenhouse gas emissions. |
Learn more about biofuels and why they make sense for Hawaii.
Learn more about biomass used for creation of electricity.
