Thursday, August 27, 2015

USA, Hawaii: Governor Ige Presses for 100% Renewable Energy by 2045

Hawaii’s Governor Dumps Oil and Gas in Favor of 100 Percent Renewables (The Nation)

Governor David Ige dropped a bombshell. His administration will not use natural gas to replace the state’s petroleum-fueled electricity plants, but will make a full-court press toward 100 percent renewables by 2045. Ige’s decisive and ambitious energy vision is making Hawaii into the world’s most important laboratory for humankind’s fight against climate change.
Hawaii Governor David Ige
At the Asia Pacific Resilience Innovation Summit held in Honolulu, Hawaii, this week,

The Big Island of Hawaii has substantial geothermal potential, with an active volcano, but some native Hawaiians object to pursuing it lest the goddess of the volcano, Pele, be desecrated. On the other hand, other Hawaiians have been impressed by the positive experience of fellow Polynesians, the Maori of New Zealand, in profiting from geothermal energy on their land. Geothermal has the advantage for the Hawaiian grid of being steady and so able to provide baseload support offsetting the variability (called “intermittency”) of wind and solar, which can be generated only at some times of the day.

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