The Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative's goal is to generate 70
percent of the state's power using clean energy such as wind. |
Photo courtesy of the State of Hawaii. With 90 percent of its
energy coming from oil, Hawaii is the most oil-dependent state
in the nation. The Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative is an
ambitious plan to reverse that. A partnership between the state
and the federal Department of Energy, the HCEI uses a
combination of increased energy efficiency and renewable energy
sources to work toward the state’s goal of meeting at least 70
percent of its energy needs from clean energy - 30 percent from
efficiency and 40 percent from renewables - by 2030. “What we’re
up to is, I think, one of the most daunting transformation
projects in the state’s history,” says Ted Peck, the State of
Hawaii’s Energy Administrator. “We are attempting to totally
shift our energy system to a clean energy system.” Launched in
January of 2008, the HCEI has already helped spur the passage of
multiple bills on clean energy. Amo