Maui’s Green Future

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While many Maui Residents are taking steps to make their homes more environmentally friendly, the state of Hawaii is working with the federal government to dramatically increase the island chain’s use of renewable energy resources. On Monday, Governor Linda Lingle and an assistant secretary of energy for the Department of Energy signed a memorandum of understanding for the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative. The goal of the initiative is to have the state of Hawaii powered by 70% “clean” energy by 2030 with some of the smaller islands using 100% clean energy. The project would use solar, wind, wave, geothermal and biofuels to meet those targets. Hawaii is a great area for the federal government to spearhead its renewable energy initiatives. We are located a good distance from any sort of petroleum resources and we have an abundance of wind, sunshine and wave power. As it stands, Maui currently uses over 10% renewable energies with a combination of wind power and burning bagasse a biofuel byproduct from sugar cane production. An expansion of the current wind towers is being discussed as a new wind farm on the slopes of Haleakala. An Australian firm also just announced its interest in creating a wave energy generator somewhere off the North Shore.

Check out the article in yesterday’s Maui News for more information on the wave energy project and the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative.

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