Hawaii's Goal: Energy Self‐Sufficiency

Hawaii is the state most vulnerable to dislocation in the global energy market, with more than 91% of its total energy coming into the state as imported oil—two thirds of which is foreign crude. This near‐total dependence on seaborne petroleum is a paradox, since Hawaii has a wide variety of renewable energy resources which can serve as alternatives to oil. These renewable resources have the potential of being less polluting than conventional energy supplies and so are consistent with Hawaii's concern for the quality of life. For the past decade Hawaii has been engaged in a comprehensive program of resource assessment, research, development, demonstration, and commercialization of its indigenous energy resources: direct solar, wind, biomass, ocean thermal, geothermal. Sufficient progress has been made to date with a number of these energy alternatives, so that Hawaii should be able to maintain its momentum toward achieving energy self‐sufficiency—even in the face of drastic reductions in federal support for renewable energy RD&D and the present declining cost of oil.