CCL Hawaii Media Contributions

Citizens’ Climate Lobby Hawaii Members are active in the news. We write Letters to the Editor, publish opinion pieces, participate in interviews, and join talk shows. Here are the latest articles from across our chapters.

12/18/22 - Island Voices - 100% renewable energy a realistic goal

By Bill Bugbee, Melodie Aduja and John Kawamoto

Bill Bugbee chairs and Melodie Aduja and John Kawamoto are members of the Clean Power Task Force.

Solar and wind energy costs have declined so dramatically in the past decade that they are now the cheapest of all forms of energy — cheaper than energy produced by fossil fuels, which pollute the environment and warm the planet. That reality counters the recent commentary by Ed MacNaughton and Clint Churchill, which was full of obsolete information used to draw the faulty conclusion that achieving 100% renewable energy is impractical for Hawaii (“Given what’s learned, maybe time to revise ‘100%’ policy, ” Island Voices, Dec. 4).

Cheap, clean, renewable energy is good news for consumers and good news for the Earth. Hawaii should move directly toward a 100% clean, renewable energy future.

Kauai Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC) has demonstrated that the low costs of clean, renewable energy translate to lower electricity rates for customers. In 2011, when KIUC was 92% dependent on fossil fuels, its rates were higher than those of Hawaiian Electric Industries (HEI), which generates electricity for the rest of the state.

Fortunately, KIUC embarked on an intensive effort to transition to renewable energy. Today, 60% of KIUC’s electricity is generated from clean, renewable sources, and KIUC’s rates are lower than those of HEI.

Fossil fuel prices are subject to wide fluctuation, while clean, renewable energy prices continue to drop.

KIUC’s high percentage of clean, renewables buffered the impact of the recent spike in oil prices. The price of oil rose by nearly 75% between March 2021 and March 2022. During that period the average residential bill for HEI customers increased by about 30% because HEI is so dependent on fossil fuels — but during that same period, the average residential bill for KIUC customers increased by only 5%.

The Dec. 4 commentary made the groundless statement that “utility solar farms plus utility battery farms are clearly cost prohibitive.” Again, KIUC proves that the statement is wrong.

KIUC entered into a power-purchase agreement with AES Corp. several years ago, and AES built what was then called “the world’s largest battery plant paired with solar generation.” The facility produces cheap, clean energy and uses batteries to deliver power at night.

KIUC buys electricity from AES for 11 cents per kilowatt hour. Compare that rate with the 34.5 cents per kilowatt hour paid by the average HEI residential customer. Fortunately for its customers, HEI intends to expand solar generation with battery storage to bring down its rates.

As for liquefied natural gas (LNG), which the commentary endorsed as an intermediate step toward transitioning to 100% clean, renewable energy: that concept has been rendered obsolete by the drop in costs of clean, renewable energy. The cost of solar is now competitive with that of LNG, which is a fossil fuel. It makes sense to transition directly to solar.

Hawaii would be foolish to emulate a region — Caribbean countries and territories were cited as dependent on LNG for much or all of their power — that often experiences lengthy, widespread blackouts after hurricanes.

Two proposals that we agree would speed the transition to renewable energy? Rooftop solar should be encouraged in areas that are already urbanized, and efforts to collaborate with the military should be made.

Clean, renewable energy technology has advanced at a dizzying rate, resulting in costs that are plunging. For example, the costs of installing and operating large-scale battery systems declined 72% in a recent four year period. It is not only possible for Hawaii to achieve a 100% clean, renewable energy future, but now we know that the resulting reduction in electricity rates will benefit consumers financially.

12/9/22 - Letters for the Dec. 8 Issue - Carbon Cashback — Good for all of us

By Stephen (Steve) Slater

The 2023 Hawaii State Legislature will have a golden opportunity to help reduce carbon in the atmosphere while offering Hawaii’s families actual money for participating in a new program. The “Carbon Cashback” bill would provide a carbon rebate, or cash back, to all residents. Most importantly, the bill would help transition Hawaii’s economy toward a 100 percent clean, renewable energy future.

Funding for the carbon rebates would be generated by a carbon tax on companies that import fossil fuels to Hawaii. The higher prices resulting from the tax would have the economic effect of reducing fossil fuel consumption, and would therefore reduce greenhouse gas emissions while encouraging companies to invest in renewable alternatives. The State of Hawaii would collect the tax from the oil companies and put it in a fund, and beginning in 2026, would provide a carbon rebate of $360 to all residents, regardless of income.

Adults would be entitled to a full share, and dependent children would be entitled to half a share. The rebate would increase annually, until it would be $480 in 2036, which is when the proposed program would end. Carbon Cashback would increase the purchasing power of Hawaii’s lowest income families by $900 each year, the annual net gain would be about $500 for middle income families, and Hawaii’s wealthiest households would break even.

Oil and other fuel companies would probably raise their prices to pay the tax, but most families would enjoy a net financial gain because their carbon rebate would more than offset higher prices resulting from the carbon tax. In other words, this bill would help low- and middle-income families deal with higher prices caused by inflation.

What’s important to understand is that lower income households spend less than higher income households on energy-intensive goods and services, so they would contribute less to carbon tax revenues, but they would share equally in the carbon rebate. Carbon Cashback is “progressive”.

Visitors would contribute to carbon tax revenues because of the goods and services they purchase while in Hawaii. Those tax revenues would be directly transferred to Hawaii’s households as part of the climate rebate.

This decade is critical. We must make the drastic changes needed to avoid a global climate catastrophe. Hawaii has been a leader in green energy goals.

If we get Carbon Cashback passed, we will be a shining example to the rest of the states, encouraging them to pass similar legislation. It would be a giant step forward in climate control. Encourage your state representative or senator to vote for Carbon Cashback.

STEPHEN SLATER, Kihei

12/9/2022 - Letters to the Editor - Letter: Plenty of time to address clean energy reliability

By Paul Bernstein

The argument that Hawaii should stop pursuing its goal of 100% renewable energy is impractical given the current market for renewable energy (“Given what’s learned, maybe time to revise ‘100%’ policy,” Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, Dec. 4).

As Kauai Island Utility Cooperative has demonstrated, renewable energy results in lower-cost electricity generation without compromising reliability at renewable penetration rates above 60%. Renewable-powered generation also yields far fewer emissions of greenhouse gases and particulate matter. Reliability issues may result as a system approaches 100% renewable. But Hawaiian Electric’s systems are far from that point.

Such reliability concerns are more than a decade away, by which time the Inflation Reduction Act’s tax credits for renewable energy likely will have led to greatly improved energy storage technologies. So why at this time should Hawaii move away from its 100% policy when it’s delivering cleaner and less-costly power without compromising on reliability?

Paul Bernstein

Aina Haina

12/7/2022 - Letters to the Editor - Best response to climate, economic inequality

By Sheryl Roberts

I cannot think of a better or more elegant way to respond to the combination of climate chaos and economic inequality confronting us than to tax price-gouging energy monopolies and redistribute those funds to the people who have been their victims for generations.

The idea that those least responsible for the problems associated with fossil fuel over consumption and most in need of a break would not be asked to take it in the shorts for once is refreshing.

The sliding scale of compensation that would provide more help to those who really need it is a precedent that needs to be followed if we are to ever dig ourselves out of the environmental/economic/monopolistic hole we are in.

While there are few good comprehensive alternatives, these carbon tax and dividend proposals seem fair ingenious and effective.

The additional benefits of funding energy innovation and conservation are exactly what is needed right now.

I hope any of our representatives who are considering these measures are flooded with encouraging calls from their constituents on this subject.

Sheryl Roberts

Makawao

12/4/2022 - Island Voices - Climate action needed now, for sake of isles’ youth

By Logan Lee

As a Native Hawaiian, climate change has a special place in my heart.

When I was young, I would be told that, in turn for the ‘aina taking care of us, we would take care of the ‘aina. I used to think that people were living this mantra; however, as I grew up, I learned this to be untrue. I learned that many in power were taking no action against the causes of climate change, action that would save our future.

Climate change is a widespread issue with effects throughout the world, including sea level rise and increased hurricane threats. These effects are caused in large part by collective inaction and, due to the unique nature of our islands, will deeply affect Hawaii. Predictions for future sea rise indicate a sea level increase of at least 3.2 feet in the next 50-100 years, but many models predict a rise of more than 6 feet.

At this level, all of Waikiki would be underwater. However, this threat is not confined only to Waikiki and the future; sea level rise has already caused flooding of a Maui highway and threatened houses in coastal areas such as Oahu’s North Shore.

In addition to sea level rise is the threat of hurricanes to Hawaii. Though storms occur every year here and may seem like a normal threat, the ocean is growing warmer and creating both stronger and more numerous hurricanes than in previous years. A University of Hawaii study predicts that, due to climate change, tropical cyclone risk could double in the future.

Hawaii residents are well-acquainted with hurricane season and running to the store to stock up on resources. Many times, the forecast danger thankfully did not materialize, and households were left with a surplus of supplies for the next few weeks.

However, in recent years, our state has had many close calls with hurricanes. For example, Hurricane Douglas was the closest hurricane to ever reach Oahu on record. Though its effects were minimal, that close call portends a dangerous future.

Experiences in my life have taught me about the imminent danger of climate change to the future of our islands. However, they have also taught me something else: as a youth, my future is in my hands, and I have the power to change it.

I call upon our legislators to take action in the upcoming legislative session to address the present threat of climate change that will only increase in the future. Fossil fuel emissions are the root of the problem, so if they decrease, temperatures will decline and impacts will lessen. Therefore, passing bills that target fossil fuel usage are the highest priority

— for example, those pertaining to carbon cashback and transitioning to clean energy. We need to take action in every possible place

When I speak to other high schoolers, they are fearful for their future because of climate change. We feel an urgency to take action, to change the course of our future while we still can. I am proud to be able to take action, as both a Native Hawaiian and a member of my generation because it is my future that I am impacting.

However, as strong as my generation’s voices are, we alone cannot make such a big change. We need the help of everyone to make an impact. I am scared for what our future will look like: one full of hope and possibility, or one ravaged by the effects of climate change? The choice is up to you.

Logan Lee is an ‘Iolani School student and a member of the Citizens’ Climate Lobby Youth Action Team.

11/29/22 - Letters to the Editor - More progress needed to fight climate change

By Barry Solomon

The recent international climate conference held in Egypt ended in disappointment, as little was accomplished. But as the daily headlines remind us, more action such as carbon taxation is needed to combat climate change, and it is needed now.

Another writer to this paper recently suggested that carbon tax supporters promote eugenics, and such a tax would radically reduce the human birth rate (Letters to the Editor, Nov. 25). This is nonsense.

Firstly, over two dozen nations already use carbon taxes to help cut emissions, including developing countries like South Africa, and the few experiencing population declines started falling before the new taxes were approved.

Closer to home, the good news is that U.S. federal and Hawaii state legislation proposed in recent years have coupled carbon taxes with dividends to be given to taxpayers to compensate them for higher energy prices.

Fossil fuel consumption would still decline because their relative prices would remain higher than conservation and renewable energy use.

Non-oil-based electric vehicles are becoming an option for more people too as their prices slowly come down and federal tax credits are extended. 

In the 2023 session of Hawaii’s Legislature, carbon “cashback” bills will again be proposed to add a carbon fee on oil usage in the state while refunding equal dividends to taxpayers.

Lower income households would get a net financial gain since they spend less on energy.

Please write to your state senators and representatives and ask them to support these crucial bills. 

Barry Solomon

Waikapu

11/22/2022 - Island Voices - Carbon cashback rebates for all residents, for years to come

By Joe Calavita, Ron Reilly and Bobbie Dee Best

Hawaii’s Legislature was justifiably proud of providing to all residents a rebate this year that benefits low-income families in particular. The amount of the rebate depends on income, with those earning less than $100,000 receiving $300, and those earning $100,000 or more receiving $100.

The Legislature will have the opportunity to do even more for Hawaii’s families in the upcoming session. The “carbon cashback” bill would provide a carbon rebate, or cashback, to all residents. The rebate would continue for at least a decade and increase annually. Perhaps more importantly, the bill would help transition Hawaii’s economy toward a 100% clean, renewable energy future.

After a two-year ramping up of the program, carbon cashback would provide a carbon rebate of $360 in 2026 to all residents, regardless of income. Adults would be entitled to a full share, and dependent children would be entitled to half a share. The rebate would increase annually, until it would be $480 in 2036.

The carbon cashback bill is silent on what would happen after 2036 because of the difficulty in making projections so far into the future. As 2036 approaches, the Legislature would have to determine the amounts of future carbon rebates.

The funding for the carbon rebates would be generated by a carbon tax levied on companies that import fossil fuels to Hawaii. The higher prices resulting from the tax would have the economic effect of reducing fossil fuel consumption. That would reduce greenhouse gas emissions, helping to control climate change.

According to a study on carbon pricing in Hawaii by the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization (UHERO), most families would enjoy a net financial gain because their carbon rebate would more than offset higher prices resulting from the carbon tax. In other words, this bill would help low- and middle-income families deal with the harm caused by the current inflation.

Lower-income households spend less than higher-income households on energy-intensive goods and services, so they would contribute less to carbon tax revenues. Yet they would share equally in the carbon rebate. Therefore, as UHERO found, carbon cashback would be progressive. The UHERO study determined that this rebate would increase the purchasing power of Hawaii’s lowest-income families by $900 each year (in 2012 dollars). The annual net gain would be about $500 for middle-income families, and Hawaii’s wealthiest households would break even.

Visitors would contribute to carbon tax revenues because of the goods and services they purchase while in Hawaii. Those tax revenues would be directly transferred to Hawaii’s households as part of the climate rebate.

The UHERO study determined that a program like carbon cashback would not weaken the economy.

Such programs have proven to be effective in Canada and elsewhere in reducing carbon emissions. If extended through 2045, carbon cashback would reduce Hawaii’s carbon emissions by 13%, which would be equivalent to taking 400,000 gasoline-powered cars off the road.

Hawaii has set a goal of net negative emissions by 2045, so other emissions reduction programs would be needed, and carbon cashback would work in concert with all of them.

Recent climate data show that we have only a few years to make the drastic changes needed to avoid a global climate catastrophe. Hawaii has been a leader in establishing green energy goals. The Legislature has the opportunity in the upcoming session to pass carbon cashback and the multiple bills needed to achieve those goals.

Joe Calavita, left, is a member of Hawaii Environmental Change Agents; Ron Reilly is co-lead of the Hawaii Chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL); Bobbie Dee Best is a longtime environmental advocate. They, along with cosigners Helen Cox and Doug Hagan, represent CCL Hawaii and the Carbon Cashback Task Force.

11/08/2022 - Flip the script’

By Colleen Sack

The Associated Press-NORC’s new poll found that 61% of American adults know little to nothing about the Inflation Reduction Act, while two thirds think the federal government isn’t doing enough on climate.

As the Tribune-Herald reports, even Biden’s supporters seem uninformed about this milestone in the fight against climate change. Where is the disconnect?

The Inflation Reduction Act’s opt-in clean energy incentives are a major step in the right direction. But if less than 40% of Americans know about the Act, its power is diminished. We need a climate bill that will inspire and galvanize the American public. A federal carbon fee and dividend would do just that.

Taxing carbon emissions and returning the revenue to the American people would flip the script and make renewable energy the default choice — not fossil fuels.

Every American would see at least one direct benefit: extra cash in their pocket.

Perhaps more importantly, the renewable energy transition would become a clear national priority and reinvigorate the economy with new jobs and a renewed sense of national purpose. A climate bill like the Inflation Reduction Act that most Americans don’t know much about won’t cut it (emissions, that is).

Colleen Sack

Honolulu

11/05/2022 - Best policy carbon pricing for ending climate crisis

By Bobbie Best

UH Better Tomorrow Speaker Series and the Hawaii Book and Music Festival presented Paul Hawken discussing Ending the Climate Crisis.

He said that all change begins with one individual yet admitted that the best policy is carbon pricing.

Katharine Hayhoe in her book “Saving Us” a climate scientist’s case for hope, suggests joining Citizens Climate Lobby which makes it easy to contact elected representatives to declare support for this policy. In Hawaii, it has passed our Senate but not the House one year and vice-versa the following year. Sen. Rhodes recently wrote a bill like CCL’s Carbon Fee and Dividend to charge fossil fuel emitters the price of its effects, then returning fees to residents.

Hawaii’s economy is flush now, so carbon fee and cash-back could pass, making us the first state to implement it, again being a leader nationally. This revenue-neutral tax, a vital market-based solution to meeting our state and federal emission lowering goals, is endorsed by state, county (including Maui County) and city resolutions, thousands of economists including Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen and several past secretaries, plus faith and business leaders.

After November mid-term elections, please let your representatives and senators know that you support this policy both on the federal and state level.

Also, I heard that Maui News may eliminate local journalists. This is quite disturbing. If there’s any way readers like me can help, please tell us.

Bobbie Best

Wailuku

October 2022 - Youth Citizens Climate Lobby (CCL) Club at Iolani School

The Youth Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) Club, a student climate advocacy club at Iolani led by (in alphabetical order) Audrey, Chisato, Lei, Logan, and Tamara hosted Representative Case at a recent meeting, and Chisato wrote this article for the student newspaper about the visit and also about how Carbon Cashback will reduce emissions and about the Future Climate Forum on Dec 3.

All the club leaders are active writers and event planners; and we appreciate the attention they are bringing to tackling climate change by speaking out and supporting policies that will dramatically reduce emissions.

Thank you and credit to ‘Iolani School, ‘Iolani Imua for permission to post this article which appeared in October 2022

10/30/2022 - Insight - Island Voices - High temperatures, shortage of water threaten forests

By Audrey Lin

Since I was a little girl, growing up in the California Bay Area, my family would take frequent road trips to Yosemite. I still remember driving into Tunnel’s View, basking in the magnitude and sheer size of the valley. I still remember the hike to Artist Point, both arduous and rewarding. And I still remember the respite that the widespread shade of the giant sequoia trees provided from the sun.

The natural beauty of Yosemite National Park has awed generations of visitors. Yet, although they were meant to be preserved forever and unimpaired, the iconic evergreens of Yosemite — giant sequoia, ponderosa pine, white fir – are now facing the unrelenting adversity of climate change. And that is killing them. Climate change has contributed to a 22-year megadrought in that part of the country, which is worse than any other in recorded history. The average temperature is warmer now than it was a hundred years ago. Summers are hotter, and winters are shorter. As a result, trees have been drying up because of warmer temperatures and less precipitation.

Some trees send out a lower branch that will become the tree’s new trunk, but others simply die. Tragically, that is what has happened to millions of Yosemite’s trees.

But what about Hawaii’s forests? According to a University of Hawaii study, water shortage will be the biggest issue that Hawaii’s forests will face in the future, especially because of higher temperatures resulting from climate change.

Already, climate change is affecting Hawaii’s forests by making wildfires more extreme and frequent. For example, wildfires can now occur year-round. Furthermore, wildfires burn grassland and forests alike. From 2001 to 2021 alone, Hawaii has lost a whopping 265,000 acres of tree cover due to these fires.

In Hawaii, climate change is often related to sea level rise. But now, we know how climate change degrades forests as well. It is vital that we recognize how climate change degrades Earth’s entire ecosystem, making the planet significantly less livable for humans and other living creatures.

Climate change is the result of burning fossil fuels that emit greenhouse gases. Controlling climate change requires a quick transition to clean, renewable energy to power everything from our homes, schools, and cars.

In the upcoming state legislative session, perhaps the most consequential bill to reduce the burning of fossil fuel involves “carbon cashback.” This bill not only shifts the entire economy toward clean, renewable energy but also creates a climate rebate in the form of a refundable tax credit that all Hawaii residents would qualify for. This would be funded by a fee on fossil fuel paid by distributors, which would incentivize businesses and households to reduce their consumption of fossil fuels and hence greenhouse gas emissions.

A UH study finds that the majority of Hawaii’s families would experience a net benefit from the carbon cashback bill, as their climate rebate would be larger than the higher prices they pay from the carbon fee. The study estimates that the average family in the lowest income quintile would experience a $900 net annual benefit in the early years of the program.

Carbon cashback is only one of the bills that must be passed for Hawaii to transition to a green future. Today, I write this commentary to maintain these beautiful opportunities for the future — and simultaneously, honor the work done by our ancestors. I hope that generations to come can forever find beauty in their homes, just as I have. As a high school student, I believe that I speak for the youth: We need real change. Our futures depend on it.

Audrey Lin, an ‘Iolani School sophomore, is a youth leader from the Youth Action Team of the Citizens’ Climate Lobby chapter in Honolulu.

You can find pdf versions of Audrey’s editorial here - Page 1 and Page 2

10/27/22 - Island Voices - Electric vehicles safer, more resilient in a natural disaster

By Matthew Geyer

As an electric car owner, I’ve been watching the recent disasters and wondering how my car would fare in an evacuation. Recently I saw some videos of electric vehicles crossing flooded roads where gas vehicles had become stranded.

While both gas and electric cars can become severely damaged by flooding, the possibility that an electric vehicle (EV) might be able to get myself and my family out of a life threatening situation is important to me, even if the vehicle is damaged afterwards. Aside from this, there are several proven advantages to an EV during natural disasters and other emergencies.

During hurricane season, we are accustomed to seeing reports of long lines of vehicles evacuating from the danger zone. What if I must evacuate using my EV, and I’m caught in that long line? It’s a comfort knowing that an electric car is extremely efficient in stop-and-go traffic, unlike gas-powered cars that continue to burn fuel while idling.

What if there is a power outage in the evacuation area? When I owned a gas car, its gas tank was, on average, about half full. With my electric car, I plug my car in whenever it’s at home, so it’s almost always charged to 80% to 90%.

Even if the power goes out, I will still have a couple of hundred miles worth of battery power stored to evacuate.

In major natural disasters, there can be widespread destruction of infrastructure, e.g., energy production and grid, roads, ports and other major systems. In a situation like this, all transportation systems will be impacted. This includes “fueling” for gas and electric vehicles. An EV can recharge once it’s in a location with power, but because gas stations need electricity to operate their pumps, gas-powered cars will need to find a gas station with both power and fuel supplies remaining. In many disasters, power is restored a long time before gasoline deliveries resume.

Off-grid, solar EV charging solutions are available today. These stations store energy in batteries and are completely independent of the electrical grid. This technology could make EVs an even better choice to help us become more resilient and adaptable to natural disasters. Because this type of station operates independently, it could even be brought into a disaster area to immediately start providing a power source for the impacted area to help recovery.

Some EV owners will not have access to home charging. To enable the broad adoption of EVs and to increase our communities’ resilience to natural disasters, we must accelerate the expansion of our public charging infrastructure, especially in disadvantaged and rural communities and areas with a significant number of apartments and condos. Hawaii will receive more than $17 million over the next five years to fund electric vehicle charging stations statewide.

What if I need to shelter in place? Will my EV still be useful? Many EVs allow owners to “camp” inside the vehicle, providing air conditioning, light, entertainment and mobile device recharging capabilities, with the battery lasting for several days, depending on how much air conditioning is used. The battery could last weeks if air conditioning is not used. Some models allow stored energy in their battery to be accessed through a standard 110v household outlet. There is even an electric truck that can power an entire home for days during an outage.

A 2016 U.S. report from the nonprofit National Association of State Energy Officials emphasized the potential of electric vehicles during disaster relief efforts, saying, “The ability to bring power where it is needed, even on a local scale, can be an invaluable resource during emergencies.”

On top of having almost no maintenance, reduced operating costs and a ton of other benefits, EVs will make my family and me safer and more resilient to natural disasters. Owning an electric car will only get better as more infrastructure is installed over the next

few years.

Matthew Geyer is a founding member of Hawaii Environmental Change Agents.

10/26/22 - Island Voices - A truly sustainable, resilient energy economy

By Noel Morin

Hawaii’s renewable energy transition is progressing well with significant solar, wind and battery deployments. On Kauai, for instance, the grid is already capable of running on 100% renewable energy. We have invested in hydroelectric, pumped storage hydropower, bioenergy and geothermal, but they pale in comparison.

We are also making progress in decarbonizing ground transportation, where electric vehicles, mass transit and active transport are reducing emissions. EVs are now around 2% of Hawaii’s passenger cars, and ownership is accelerating with an annual growth rate of about 30%. Mass transit is gaining traction, and thanks to federal incentives and our statewide transportation decarbonization goals, we will see more zero-emissions buses around the state.

However, for solutions to be truly sustainable, we must focus on their full life-cycle impact — their global carbon emission and environmental impact, based on what’s required to produce, transport, use, recycle and dispose of them. Doing this allows us to understand the “cradle to cradle” costs and dependencies of a solution and helps us deliver those with the lowest environmental costs. It will also ensure that our solutions can be sustained into the distant future.

While progress in energy and transportation is very promising, many renewable energy solutions depend on fossil fuels. Mining, manufacturing and transportation processes use diesel, coal, gas and oil. Many of these processes are difficult to wean from fossils.

Our solutions depend on metals and rare earth minerals from other countries and are subject to growing global demand. This competition for metals, rare earth minerals, and fossil energy can negatively impact the momentum of our efforts.

There are urgent efforts to address these issues, as we’ve seen with the incentives built into the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act to boost domestic mining for essential minerals and U.S. manufacturing. Additionally, we expect technological innovations in materials, manufacturing, recycling and transport will diminish the reliance on key minerals. Still, these improvements will not happen overnight and will not mitigate the global demand for materials in a timely manner.

What do we do? We can expand biogenic, hydroelectric and geothermal energy production. We can invest in gravity storage like pumped hydro. These minimally depend on ongoing material imports and have a lower lifecycle impact. Critically, they can contribute to our resilience since they can run perpetually without significant material inputs.

Geothermal energy can enable Hawaii to play a role in decarbonizing global maritime, aviation and industrial sectors. These sectors are difficult to electrify and will rely on alternative fuels. We already see an emerging global demand for green hydrogen and associated liquid fuels to support these sectors.

Hydrogen can also be used to create aviation fuel, methanol and ammonia. Methanol and ammonia can fuel transoceanic ships. Ammonia is also a critical fertilizer. The challenge is that green hydrogen requires much renewable energy for production. (Almost all hydrogen produced today comes from coal or gas.) Abundant, cheap electricity is needed to run the equipment used to generate hydrogen. With its great renewable energy resources, particularly geothermal, Hawaii can generate renewable energy for green hydrogen. Yes — we can even become a clean energy exporter and contributor to global food production.

Hawaii can create a truly sustainable future that generates more than enough clean energy to sustain its economy, creates economic opportunity, enable food and energy resilience, and contribute meaningfully to the decarbonization of the global economy. We can achieve this by diversifying our energy portfolio, focusing on clean, sustainable indigenous energy.

Doing this will help us create a sustainable and resilient energy system that future generations will appreciate and enjoy.

Noel Morin is chair of Sustainable Energy Hawaii, a nonprofit dedicated to enabling affordable clean energy here.

10/24/22 - Community Voice - Hawaii County Leads The Way On EV Charging Policy

The focus now should be providing reliable and easily accessible public chargers statewide.

By Tam Hunt, Noel Morin, Heather Kimball

By Tam Hunt, Noel Morin and Heather Kimball

As the EV revolution (rEVolution) ramps up in Hawaii and around the world, a common problem facing EV drivers is broken chargers, or simply not enough chargers.

Hawaii has had a law for many years that requires all commercial parking lot owners with 100 stalls or more to install at least one EV charger and dedicated parking stall. We do, however, see a lot of chargers around the state not kept in working order.

This leads to frustration and an underserved bad reputation for EVs, and will deter people who may need to charge at public chargers, rather than at home, from making the leap to an EV.

While most EV owners in Hawaii today still charge primarily at home, as EV penetration increases we will see more renters and others who can’t charge at home buy or lease EVs.

To accelerate that trend and enable an equitable transition to clean transportation state-wide, we must have ubiquitous, reliable, and easily accessible public EV chargers. This will also be critical for the visitor industry to support an electric rental car fleet.

Access to reliable EV charging is a major equity issue as well as an environmental issue. As the EV revolution continues we don’t want to see low and moderate-income residents unable or uninterested in buying or leasing electric vehicles. Making charging easy and widespread is key to avoid creating new inequities and to allow everyone to share in the major benefits of electric cars.

Our organizations, the Hawaii EV Association (Hawaiiev.org) and Think B.I.G. (thinkbighawaii.org), both nonprofits based in Hawaii, worked with Heather Kimball, County Councilmember for District 1 in Hawaii County (also a board member of Think BIG and one of the authors of this essay), to introduce a new bill that would implement state law Act 75 and also fix some of the gaps in the state law as it applied to Hawaii County.

After a two-year journey, we are happy to announce that Bill 120 has become law, having passed its final hearing where it was approved unanimously by the Hawaii County Council on September 9 and is now law.

The bill requires any new commercial parking lot of 50 or more stalls to include at least one dual-port EV charger and two dedicated parking stalls. These requirements increase over time at a reasonable pace. It also requires that these chargers be maintained in working order, at the risk of fines if these requirements are not met.

Maui County is also working on a bill with similar requirements, as part of its broader approach to increase EV adoption, and dialogues are underway with Kauai County and Honolulu County about similar bills – showing well how one county taking the lead can lead to larger impacts beyond that county.

Much More Work Needed

While this new bill is a good first step to accelerate the EV revolution here in Hawaii we need to do much more. The federal Inflation Reduction Act renewed EV tax credits up to $7,500 for new cars and added a new tax credit of up to $4,000 for used EVs. However, the “made in America” provisions for these tax credits are now more stringent and some EV makers won’t qualify.

In order to help defray the upfront cost of EVs, particularly for low and moderate-income households, we are recommending in our work on state policy, through the Hawaii EV Association, that the state bring back EV rebates that expired many years ago.

We will need thousands of new chargers in our county and around the state before 2030.

We also should (again with the help of the IRA and the previous Infrastructure Bill passed earlier in 2022, which provided $7.5 billion for EV charging infrastructure) continue to invest big in public mass transit in the form of more and better buses, and in particular electric buses that have zero emissions.

It should be easy to catch a bus and get to where you need to go. The easier it is the less people will feel the need to drive in individual cars, adding pollution and traffic to our communities (even EVs have some pollution from rubber tire friction leading to micro particles in our environment).

Last, it’s important to work with Hawaiian Electric and other private companies to invest heavily in EV charging infrastructure. The new Bill 120 will be a part of the solution for more chargers in our communities, but not the full solution. As of July 1, there were 368 electric vehicle charging locations and 805 electric vehicle supply equipment ports that provide DC fast charging or Level 2 charging across the state, according to the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure state plan.

We will need thousands of new chargers in our county and around the state before 2030 in order to meet ambitious state and federal EV adoption goals. The state Public Utilities Commission is considering an application from HECO that would allow HECO to invest (using ratepayer funds) heavily in new EV chargers. We support this approach but only if the EV charging market is not otherwise prepared to step up and make such investments on their own.

The rEVolution is rolling but much more work needs to be done if it is to keep on rolling and lead us to a sustainable, resilient and equitable future.

Tam Hunt is a lawyer and activist based on the Big Island. He is co-founder of Think B.I.G. and a board member for the Hawaii Electric Vehicle association.

Noel Morin is a civic leader and environmental activist. He is a board member of both the Hawaii Electric Vehicle Association and Think B.I.G.

Heather Kimball owns a consulting firm supporting communication for science-based policy and decision-making on the issues of climate change. She is also with Think B.I.G.

10/6/2022 - Island Voices - Harness full power of rooftop solar before disaster strikes

By Cory Harden, Melody Aduja and Mark Koppel

It’s hurricane season. Ian has devastated Florida, and before that, Fiona hit Puerto Rico. Recovery efforts have started, but lessons have already been learned, especially about access to electricity.

Hurricanes knock down power lines, leaving homes in the dark. In Puerto Rico, only about half of the customers of the island’s power company had electricity a week after the hurricane.

However, homes with rooftop solar with battery backup were largely unaffected, as 97% of them experienced uninterrupted electricity, although at a lower level than usual during the hurricane.

After Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico five years ago, energy experts and community organizers urged government officials not to build back the existing fossil-fuel-powered grid and instead invest in rooftop solar with battery storage. Unfortunately, those pleas went unheard, and the needed investments did not occur.

But a grassroots effort took hold. Business owners, residents and nonprofits organized a movement that resulted in the installation of tens of thousands of rooftop solar systems with battery backup. Fiona became a test for those systems.

Solar panels were able to continue to generate electricity during Fiona, although at a lower rate than normal because of the dense cloud cover. But for most people, it was sufficient.

The owners of the solar panels had to make adjustments to reduce their usual consumption of electricity during a period of a few days. The sacrifice was worth the effort because now they are back to normal in their use of electricity.

Another lesson learned from Fiona is that homes with solar panels, which comprise a decentralized system, are much more reliable after being hit by a hurricane than the island’s centralized system. Centralized systems depend on power plants that generate electricity and power lines that distribute the electricity. Centralized systems typify electricity delivery in the U.S.

Power plants in centralized systems typically burn fossil fuel, which is considered to be a “firm” source of energy because it is usable 24/7. Hawaiian Electric, which provides electricity to Oahu, Hawaii island and Maui County, generates most of its electricity from fossil fuel. Fiona showed that distribution issues make electricity generated by fossil fuel and other so-called “firm” energy sources unreliable during a hurricane. When power lines go down, many people lose electricity.

We in Hawaii should learn from Puerto Rico because only about one-fifth of the electricity in Hawaii is generated from solar energy. The great majority of households in Hawaii get their electricity from centralized systems, which subject them to the risk of losing electricity in a hurricane.

Fortunately, that risk can be substantially reduced by switching to rooftop solar with battery backup. Their costs have been declining due to advances in technology. In addition, Hawaii offers a 35% tax credit on solar systems. At the federal level, the Inflation Reduction Act will restore and extend the solar tax credit to 30%. Furthermore, banks and credit unions offer solar loans, and solar companies offer financing options.

Of course, rooftop solar has other benefits as well. We know that it does not pollute the air, so replacing fossil fuel with solar mitigates climate change. We know that the cost of solar energy has declined so much that it is now less expensive than energy generated by fossil fuels. Fiona has taught us that rooftop solar is much more reliable during hurricanes than electricity generated by centralized systems.

Hawaii is the top state for per capita solar power production, but we have only just begun to realize the full power of solar.

Martha “Cory” Harden is a Hilo resident active on environmental issues; Melodie Aduja, a former state senator, holds leadership positions in environmental and progressive organizations; Mark Koppel is an emeritus professor of psychology and an environmental advocate.

9/20/22 - Letters to the Editor - Tenacity will power us through to clean energy

By Virginia Tincher

Every step toward 100% renewables matters. Mahalo to Hawaiian Electric for persistence completing clean energy projects (“Energy storage for Oahu taking shape in Kapolei,” Star-Advertiser, Sept. 13).

It’s a daunting task under the best of circumstances.

Add to it the challenges of a pandemic and a war and it takes a tenacious, motivated team to solve problems and push on.

Our residence has rooftop solar and a Tesla battery enrolled in the “Battery Bonus” program, so it’s also good to know the Kapolei Energy Storage project will enable Hawaiian Electric to increase acceptance of renewable energy on Oahu by 10%.

The contribution to grid stability is huge. This is the kind of reliable energy we need — as Hawaiian Electric says in its vision statement — “affordable, reliable, clean energy.”

When the fossil-fuel-generated contribution is eventually replaced by clean energy, we will be truly independent of the supply chain disruptions and price fluctuations of oil.

Virginia Tincher

Aina Haina

9/18/22 - Insight - IRA just start of climate-change fight

By Lei Crowley, Logan Lee and Chisato Tarui

The policies produced by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) will aid the United States in decarbonizing its fossil fuel-dependent economy, and in the process, mitigate its effects that inflict billions of dollars in damage. Thank you to Hawaii’s delegation, all of whom voted to pass the IRA. We know, beyond a doubt, our continued, unsustainable lifestyle as Americans is destroying the planet for life in the future.

As the world’s largest economy and cumulative greenhouse gas emitter, the course of action the U.S. takes now will either significantly dampen or advance the global shift to sustainability. Thus, it is relieving to finally be served legislation that will direct Americans in the latter path. These actions are especially crucial in the eyes of the youth — the next generations whose present and future are dependent on the government taking not one step in the right direction, but carving the path to a brighter future.

We have all personally experienced irreversible damage to our homes as a result of the climate crisis.

In California, wildfires are clouding the sky with smoke, and causing blackouts and evacuations in towns nearby. Along the shores of Oahu, invasive algae and foggy water are ailing previously beautiful beaches.

Throughout the Ala Wai, rising temperatures are causing deadly bacterial blooms that seep into nearby waters. Everyday we see erosion eating away at the foundation of homes and making beaches from our childhoods disappear. We watch as coral bleaching destroys native environments and puts indigenous species at risk. Each consequence means another lost experience, another memory we will never have the opportunity to relieve.

With each sign of inaction, we fear even more for our future.

As high school students, the climate crisis feels like an inescapable fate that will disproportionately impact the most vulnerable. It has found its way into every aspect of our lives: the news, the classroom, conversations with friends and family. In the face of constant disappointment with our legislative reality, the younger generation has become all too familiar with their frustration slipping into hopelessness.

However, this legislative victory reminded us that there are people who will listen. Our resilient voices hold power because we speak the truth. It reminds us to raise our voices even louder than before because there is still more to be done.

Unfortunately, there are flaws within the IRA. Among a handful of other setbacks, these climate measures continue to sustain oil and gas interests by mandating 10 more years worth of new leases for offshore drilling. Furthermore, the increased exporting of fossil fuels will undoubtedly accompany its reduced domestic demand.

Nevertheless, one thing remains certain. The compromises we make now will guarantee, in one way or another, less compromises to be made in the future.

The changes that still need to be made are abundant, yet clear. It is now more evident than ever before that a nationwide carbon cashback mechanism is needed, along with many other sweeping transformations in infrastructure, transportation, and agriculture. We need more reliable methods of transportation, more walkable, sustainable, equitable and livable infrastructure, more sustainable zoning laws, as well as reduced reliance on plastic.

We celebrate the passage of the IRA and our legislators for getting the bill to where it is today. We must remind ourselves, however, that the IRA is not our final destination, but what lays the foundations for more necessary climate policies to come. The fight to secure our future must continue. The ideal time to take action was decades ago. The next best time is now.

Lei Crowley, Logan Lee and Chisato Tarui are members of the Citizens’ Climate Lobby Youth Action Team and sophomores at ‘Iolani School; fellow member and classmate Audrey Lin also signed this piece.

9/16/22 - Letters to the Editor - Big Oil acknowledges truth of climate change

By Paul Bernstein

The Star-Advertiser’s article on Hawaii’s lawsuit against “Big Oil” confirms that the science on climate change is settled (“‘Big Oil’ pushes back in Honolulu suit over climate change,” Star-Advertiser, Sept. 14).

“The Chevron defendants recognize and acknowledge that climate change is a serious issue that warrants serious and meaningful national and international action,” the company said. “Indeed, the Chevron defendants support and are actively working towards today’s energy transition.”

Shell also recognized that there is a direct relationship between “the combustion of fossil fuels and climate change.” Shell further claimed the plaintiffs were aware of this fact, suggesting it was and is common knowledge.

I agree the facts are well known: The science is settled that burning fossil fuels causes climate change. No further discussion needed. Now is the time for action.

Paul Bernstein

Aina Haina

9/14/22 - Island Voices - The fallacy of ‘firm’ energy’s reliability

By David Hunt and John Kawamoto

The claim that “firm” energy guarantees uninterrupted electrical service for customers of electric utilities has recently been disproven.

Hawaiian Electric issued a warning to its Big Island customers of possible rolling blackouts because of the unavailability of electricity from a facility owned by Hamakua Energy Partners, where Hawaiian Electric gets a substantial portion of its electricity. Although the facility has since resumed operations, the warning exposes the fallacy of “firm” energy.

The Hamakua facility shut down because of the unavailability of ammonia, which the facility uses in its operations. Ammonia and most of the components of the fuel mixture that is used by the Hamakua facility must be imported because they are not produced in Hawaii.

The fuel mixture is considered to be “firm” energy because it is supposed to be able to supply uninterrupted power on demand 24/7. Fossil fuels are commonly referred to as firm energy. With the transition to renewable sources of electricity generation, biomass generation has also been referred to as such.

“Firm” energy is a fallacy because, like ammonia, it is subject to supply chain disruptions if it or any of its components must be imported to Hawaii. Hawaii should instead be working toward energy security by developing energy that is locally sourced.

Another disadvantage of “firm” energy is that commonly used sources, such as fossil fuels and biomass, emit greenhouse gases that warm the Earth and cause climate change.

Hawaii’s environmental community was understandably dismayed when the Legislature passed Senate Bill 2510, which would have required “firm” energy to be used to generate electricity. Hawaii’s electric utilities are transitioning in stages to 100% renewable energy by 2045, and the bill requires one-third of the renewable energy to be “firm.”

The bill would support the proposed Hu Honua project on the Big Island, which would burn trees to generate electricity. Trees are technically considered to be renewable, but burning trees is even worse for the environment than burning coal, which is one of the dirtiest forms of energy. Many people appealed to Gov. David Ige to veto SB 2510, and, thankfully, he did so.

Fortunately, Hawaii has an abundance of clean, renewable energy resources. Solar energy, for example, is so plentiful and inexpensive that it has already gained broad acceptance. Wind energy is feasible in many areas, but wind farms should be located away from populated areas. Hydroelectric generators are already using water from rivers and streams to generate power.

It is true that solar and wind energy have the downside of being intermittent. However, funding for battery research has accelerated, resulting in battery storage that is increasing and prices that are dropping. Other storage options exist that are clean and could be completely locally sourced, such as pumped storage hydro.

In the upcoming session, the Legislature must take more decisive action to control climate change. For example, a bill should be passed that places a tax on distributors of fossil fuel, which would have the effect of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and shifting the economy to clean, renewable energy. The bill would also rebate the tax revenues to people in equal shares, resulting a net financial gain for most of Hawaii’s families.

Other bills should also be passed to move Hawaii expeditiously toward a clean, renewable energy future. “Firm” energy that is not clean is not part of that desired future.

The actions that we take now to control climate change — or fail to take — will have effects decades into the future. We have a moral obligation to maintain a livable environment for future generations. They are depending on us.

ISLAND VOICES

David Hunt, left, is a retired educator, a musician and environmental advocate; John Kawamoto is a retired legislative analyst and an advocate for a clean, healthy environment.

9/7/22 - Your Views - Avoiding blackouts

By Mark Koppel - HECA Clean Power Task Force (with contributions from John Kawamoto)

Hawaiian Electric warned its Big Island customers last week of possible rolling blackouts because of the unavailability of electricity from Hamakua Energy Partners, where Hawaiian Electric gets a good portion of its electricity. The rolling blackouts would have occurred during periods of peak electricity demand, when Hawaiian Electric would not have enough electricity for all of its customers.

Electric utilities are supposed to have enough backup power that can be deployed when there are unanticipated shortages like this one. The warning of possible rolling blackouts indicates that Hawaiian Electric has not been moving fast enough to develop enough electrical generation.

Electric utilities are required, for environmental reasons, to increase their use of renewable energy sources to generate electricity. The state has set a goal of 100% renewable electricity generation by 2045. The target for 2030 is at least 50% of electricity generation from renewable energy sources. Relatedly, the state has set another goal of net-negative greenhouse gas emissions by 2045.

By 2045, a great proportion of the energy produced in Hawaii should be not just from renewable sources, but from clean, renewable sources. “Clean” means that they do not emit greenhouse gases.

It is worrisome that the Hamakua Energy Partners facility burns “dirty” energy, which warms the Earth and causes climate change.

Alternatives that are much better for the planet are readily available. Solar and wind energy are both clean and renewable. Solar and wind energy, in conjunction with batteries for storage, can provide uninterrupted electrical energy for long periods. The uninterrupted periods are getting longer and longer because battery technology is improving so quickly.

Another benefit of solar and wind energy is that they are considered to be decentralized forms of electricity generation. Decentralized systems are less prone to shortages. Part of a decentralized system may fail, with only a minor effect on the system as a whole.

By contrast, the Hamakua Energy Partners facility represents a form of centralized electricity generation, which is more prone to shortages. The Hamakua Energy Partners example shows that when a generation plant in a centralized system goes offline, the impact on the entire system can be widespread.

The Clean Power Task Force has recently been organized to hasten the transition of Hawaii’s electric utilities to clean, renewable energy generation sources. Fortunately, Hawaii’s weather patterns are conducive to solar and wind energy generation.

Furthermore, the cost of solar energy in particular has declined sharply due to technological advances. Solar and wind are now the cheapest sources of energy, costing less than gas, geothermal, coal, or nuclear.

Climate scientists now say that climate change is happeningmore quickly than we had thought. Drastic action must be taken to control climate change. Hawaii should take a quick, direct path to a clean, renewable energy future.

Mark A. Koppel

Umauma

9/2/22 - Letters to the Editor - Preserving livable world focus of congressional act

By Madeleine Para and Bobbie Best

Those hoping to preserve a livable world for ourselves, our children and our grandchildren can find much to celebrate in the climate provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act recently passed in both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives. The bill, which President Biden has since signed into law, contains a huge investment in low-carbon technologies and is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.

The significance of this legislative victory cannot be overstated. For decades, scientists warned of the dire consequences we face for failing to bring down the heat-trapping emissions that are warming our world. For far too long, those warnings were ignored for lack of political will.

Now, at last, the political will is there. Congress has finally listened and delivered.

Meaningful steps to fight climate change come not a moment too soon. Extreme weather-related disasters made worse by rising temperatures, like flooding this summer that killed dozens in Missouri and Kentucky, are becoming more frequent and could soon outpace our ability to adapt and recover. In Hawaii, the impact of an altered climate is being felt with storms, drought, erosion and possible hurricanes, tsunamis.

The U.S. has been viewed as a laggard on climate change. This legislation will help restore U.S. climate leadership. Greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced in every country around the world, and our example will inspire and motivate other nations to do so.

Madeleine Para and Bobbie Best

Wailuku

8/28/22 -Insight - Island Voices - INFLATION REDUCTION ACT - Green light for greener paths - Hawaii should take full advantage of IRA to reach its emission reduction goals

By Helen Cox

The federal Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that was recently passed takes a monumental step toward preserving a livable Earth for ourselves, our children, our grandchildren and future generations.

The IRA invests $369 billion in numerous energy and climate- change mitigation and adaptation programs. These investments are projected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% below 2005 levels by 2030. Before the act, the projected reduction was only 25%, short of the U.S. goal of 50%.

For consumers, the IRA will provide a 30% tax credit for rooftop solar and storage, rebates for electric appliances, home efficiency enhancements and electrical upgrades. Credits of up to $7,500 will be provided to low- to moderate-income Americans who purchase new or used electric vehicles.

The IRA accelerates the decarbonization of various sectors and boosts domestic innovation, manufacturing and production in clean energy and transportation:

 >> It will create jobs and increase our country’s energy security by investing $60 billion in manufacturing solar panels, batteries and other clean energy technologies in the U.S.

>> $1 billion will be available to purchase school and transit buses powered by clean energy, as well as garbage trucks and other heavy-duty vehicles, prioritizing communities that are overburdened by air pollution.

>> The U.S. Postal Service will receive $3 billion to electrify its fleet of more than 217,000 vehicles.

>> Grants totaling $3 billion will support climate action plans for ports and the purchase of zero-emission technology and equipment.

>> $2.6 billion will be available to conserve, restore and protect coastal and marine habitats and fisheries.

>> $20 billion will help farmers and ranchers shift to sustainable practices such as crop rotation and cover crops.

>> $5 billion in grants will support healthy, fire-resilient forests, forest conservation and urban tree planting.

The IRA also invests in communities and environmental justice. Many of the aforementioned directly benefit disadvantaged communities, which typically bear the greatest burden from climate change and pollution. In addition, they will be eligible for $60 billion in funding for environmental justice programs, of which $25 million is specifically designated for Native Hawaiians.

The IRA moves us more quickly toward our emissions reduction goals and enhances the nation’s ability to influence global climate action. It is not perfect; there are concerns about fossil-fuel incentives and environmental consequences. More work is needed at the federal level to hasten our transition away from fossil fuels and effect

social and environmental justice. It also depends on state-level action to maximize the benefit and minimize undesired consequences.

Our state and county governments must also be fully engaged in mitigating and adapting to climate change. Importantly, it will be up to our state to ensure that we effectively leverage the IRA benefits. The governor and the Legislature, working with Hawaii’s congressional delegation, should collaborate to ensure that Hawaii optimizes its drawdown of federal funds from the IRA.

Hawaii will be competing with the other states for much of the money, and Hawaii must do what is necessary to get its fair share. Furthermore, after Hawaii draws down its share of federal funds, the money must be accounted for to assure the public that it is spent as intended.

Hawaii has been a climate action leader. It was the first to set a goal to reduce emissions by 50% from 2005 levels by 2030. The IRA will make it possible to fund a broad range of programs and projects to make this goal a reality. Hawaii should take full advantage of this unique opportunity.

Helen Cox, former chancellor of Kauai Community College, chairs the Kauai Climate Action Coalition and co-chairs the Kauai Chapter of Citizens Climate Lobby.

8/28/22 - Insight - Island Voices - INFLATION REDUCTION ACT - Collaborating for a livable planet

By Matt Geyer

With President Biden’s signing of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the U.S. has made the most significant federal investment in history to counter climate change. The bill will inject more than $370 billion into climate and energy programs to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Hawaii’s congressional delegation fully supported the IRA.

The IRA’s passage demonstrates that things can happen when environmentalists come together to demand action. It also highlights the action and collaboration needed to make the necessary investments to maintain a livable planet.

It is estimated that this bill will lead to a 40% reduction in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from 2005 levels by 2030. While significant, climate scientists call for global emissions to be cut by 50% by 2030. Many climate incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act will support Hawaii’s state-level actions and proposed policies that will get us to 50%. Hawaii is fortunate to have motivated state and county legislators, nonprofits and citizens who have been working for years on solutions to benefit the oceans, the land, the air and the planet. They are ready to act urgently, just like the federal government did in the past several weeks when the IRA made it to the Senate and House.

Collaboration has been and will be essential.

Several of these motivated citizens have created task forces under Hawaii Environmental Change Agents (HECA), a local coalition focused on maximizing legislation support across various environmental issues.

The task forces:

>> The Decarbonization of Transportation Task Force advocates for legislation accelerating the transition to electric vehicles and reducing emissions from the transportation sector.

>> The Decarbonization of Buildings Task Force supports legislation that increases energy efficiency in the everyday operations of buildings and other bills that encourage using “green” building materials in new buildings and recycling materials from demolished buildings.

>> The Clean Power Task Force advocates for legislation that accelerates the transition of electricity generated by utilities away from fossil fuels to clean, renewable energy.

>> The Carbon Cashback Task Force advocates for legislation that taxes fossil fuel distributors to discourage the consumption of fossil fuels and distributes the tax revenue to people in equal shares, creating a net financial benefit for most Hawaii families.

>> The Sunscreens Task Force supports legislation prohibiting sunscreens with harmful ingredients to reefs.

>> The For The Fishes Task Force advocates for legislation that prohibits the gathering of aquarium fish from Hawaii’s waters.

>> The Cesspools Task Force advocates for legislation accelerating the conversion of Hawaii’s 88,000 cesspools, which are polluting groundwater and surface waters.

>> The Green Fee Task Force supports legislation that creates a fee that visitors would pay, with the revenues used to maintain the environment.

>> The Green Constitutional Amendment Task Force advocates for legislation that would put up for vote an amendment to the Hawaii Constitution to give everyone the right to a clean, healthy environment.

HECA magnifies the impact of these groups by creating the space for collaboration, encouraging mutual support of policies, and educating the public.

As part of its effort to educate, HECA is hosting a free public webinar on Sept. 17 at 10 a.m. (see HawaiiChangeAgents.org). It will feature speakers representing a wide range of perspectives on climate change and the obstacles to passing legislation to address climate change. It is an opportunity to connect with groups advocating for a cleaner, healthier environment and a livable planet.

Matthew Geyer is a founding member of Hawaii Environmental Change Agents.

8/12/22 - What Are We Waiting For? Our Islands Are In Peril - Let’s wisely use Hawaii’s island’s resources — geothermal and the stars above Mauna Kea.

By Richard Ha

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say the sky is falling.

I’m not the only one saying this. Although it’s obvious that exponential growth on a finite planet is not sustainable, we continue to grow exponentially.

We are increasingly warned of the very real problems by credible scientists, but we’re not doing much about it. We just keep drawing down the world’s resources — and we’re in more danger than most of us realize.

Especially here, on an island in the middle of the world’s largest ocean, where we sit at the end of the supply chain and rely on outside sources for 85% of our food.

The decline in fossil fuels is a major part of the problem. It impacts everything from the price of gum all the way up to the conflicts with Russia and China, which are simply fights about the resources and who gets to use them — who has the advantage.

There are solutions, but we need to move on them now. Not in a generation, when our children and grandchildren are already experiencing even worse economic problems and declining lifestyles because of it. Already, more of our youngsters leave the islands when they grow up than stay because they’re looking for work.

What are we waiting for?

We are very fortunate to have two amazing resources here on Hawaii island.

The first is geothermal. This island will sit above the “hot spot” that creates our geothermal resource for one to two million years. We should be using that geothermal energy as our primary energy source.

It costs less than half of any other renewable energy alternative to produce, provides stable power, and generates revenue for the state. It’s a no-brainer.

‘We Have The Resources’

Our second amazing resource? The stars above Mauna Kea. It’s not only the tallest mountain in the world when measured from the sea bottom, but it’s also known as the best place on the globe to view the stars.

Establishing this island as an epicenter of astronomical research and science — as opposed to a place for sun and surf tourism, which brought 1.7 million people to Hawaii island in 2019 to run all over our land — would benefit our children and future generations, not to mention our aina.

The stars are also a tremendous resource to bring together culture and science to help educate our keiki, teach them about science and pride, and give them a sense of their place in the world.

We propose creating Mauna Honua: Culture and Science Center Above the Clouds, not at the summit but on land identified at the Hale Pōhaku level.

Large enough for meaningful work, this substantial, thoughtfully designed center would allow present and future Hawaiians to research and practice cultural preservation, education, language, science and ecology. There would finally be a place on the mountain where Hawaiians are represented and where we can rebrand our island as a place of top-level science and quality.

Hawaiians have always been scientists. In pre-Western times, Hawaiians matched resources with their needs, and they did so with guardrails set up, so it worked. I remember when I heard Haunani Kay-Trask say Hawaiians operated with a gift economy — the more you gave, the more you received. Hawaiians developed a system of reciprocity where they took care of their resources and then matched them with needs.

We need to meet our needs, and we need to start doing that right now.

That was back before the market economy kicked in. But even in a market economy you need to balance your resources and needs.

We have the resources: geothermal and the stars above Mauna Kea.

We need to meet our needs, and we need to start doing that right now. We really can’t wait any longer.

As the great-great-great-grandson of Kamahele Nui, one of many who signed the 1897 Kū‘ē petition protesting the U.S. annexation of Hawaii, I say we need to start now to use these resources smartly and efficiently. Not only for our own benefit, but also so our grandchildren and their grandchildren — something I talk about more in “What Would Our Kupuna Do” — can live their lives here on Hawaii island, as our ancestors did, and thrive.

About the Author

Richard Ha

Big Island resident Richard Ha is president of Sustainable Energy Hawaii and author of “What Would Our Kupuna Do?”

7/24/22 - Tax fossil fuel imports, not food

By David Jantz

Lauren Zirbel, president of the Hawaii Food Industry Association, made excellent arguments regarding the need to remove Hawaii’s general excise tax on food and medicine (“For food security and resilience, cut isles’ most regressive tax,” Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, July 19).

If we are to weather this inflationary economic storm, we should do as she says and eliminate the general excise tax for groceries and medicine. This would lessen the sting of inflation for all of us, particularly low-income households.

One thing she does not mention, however, is how the state ought to compensate for the resulting decrease in tax revenue. One great option would be for the Legislature to levy a tax on fossil fuel imports. This would address the budget shortfall, promote resilience through local energy production (wind, solar, geothermal), and incentivize consumers to emit less planet-warming carbon dioxide. Wins all around!

David Jantz

Kapolei

7/20/22 - Featuring John Latkiewicz in collaboration with Laurel Brier - Climate Action Coalition takes action to sequester carbon - Volunteers plant saplings at Makauwahi Cave Reserve

MAHA‘ULEPU — Capturing the carbon was a main objective of a recent tree planting project at Makauwahi Cave Reserve in Po‘ipu, according to John Latkiewicz, one of the organizers from the Kaua‘i Climate Action Coalition.

KCAC along with the Citizens Forester Program gathered a couple dozen volunteers to plant native saplings under the direction of MCR staff including Billie Dawson and Laura Manser.

“Carbon sequestration is the process of removing carbon dioxide — one of the leading greenhouse gases causing an unstable climate — from the atmosphere,” said Latkiewicz.

”Reducing our GHG by advocating for low-carbon energy sources such as solar, promoting transportation alternatives to single-ownership gas vehicles, supporting regenerative agriculture and other policies and practices is a goal of KCAC and other entities looking to stabilize the climate and have a livable planet,” he said.

”And no matter how much we reduce our emitting of GHG, we also need to eliminate what we have already accumulated, as it does remain in the atmosphere for centuries. Trees are the best way we currently know to sequester carbon. It is nature’s way.

“Trees are good at holding onto carbon for long periods, even after the tree stops growing or is turned into furniture or the like. Roughly 50% of the dry mass of a tree is carbon,” according to Latkiewicz.

The planting of native trees at MCR is part of MCR’s “coping with climate change” project. “MCR’s native reforestation project is based on plant fossil records discovered in the cave sinkhole, restoring abandoned farmland and defunct limestone quarry with the native forests that thrived here for millennia,” said MCR staff person Sequoya.

Tree planting is just one of KCAC’s projects. KCAC is part of a coalition offering educational forums the second Wednesday every month on a variety of topics having to do with the climate crisis. KCAC meets the third Monday of every month at 5 p.m. For more information, email kauaiclimate@gmail.com.

“Citizens Forester Program collects data for Kaua‘i’s tree inventory to inform our community and government leaders, so we can better manage, maintain, replace and plant more trees around the island,” said Sari Pastore, program coordinator.

”Currently, Kaua‘i’s Citizen Foresters are mapping trees in Lydgate Park and Lihu‘e and participating in tree plantings and education opportunities,” said Pastore. For more information, email spastore@smarttreespacific.org.

The next tree planting at MCR will be on Saturday, Aug. 20. Volunteers must register ahead of time, as access to MCR is regulated. For more information or to sign up, email dumpdoctor@gmail.com.

7/12/22 - Community Voice Editorials - Why Aren’t Our Candidates For Governor Discussing Energy? No one is talking about our most critical problem — the high cost of energy

By Richard Ha

As I read through Civil Beat’s account of a recent forum with the three leading Democratic candidates for governor, I was struck by what was missing. And it’s not only the gubernatorial candidates. I never hear any politicians discussing this.

No one is talking about our most critical problem, the high cost of energy, which will only continue to rise. It’s impacting how we live and work, and driving people out of Hawaii.

Energy costs will be even more dire when our children and grandchildren become adults and have to make economic decisions about where to live and work — unless we do something about it now. That’s why it seems crazy to me that not one of the leading Democratic gubernatorial candidates even mentioned it.

In 2011, at a peak oil conference in New York City, speakers talked about how Hawaii is the most oil-dependent state with the highest electricity rates. Eleven years later, absolutely nothing has changed.

Hawaii continues to burn fossil fuels to provide energy, yet geothermal remains a largely untapped resource. There is a smart, obvious, and steady answer to this problem: Geothermal energy. We are so incredibly fortunate to have a geothermal resource right beneath us. Many of us Hawaiians consider it a gift and one that can provide for us for a very long time. Geologists tell us Hawaii Island will sit over the “hot spot” that creates our geothermal resource for one to two million years.

Using geothermal will protect us, forever, from electricity, water, and other bills that just keep getting higher. It’s also stable, generates revenue for the state, creates community benefits, and would make us more competitive with the rest of the world as their fossil fuel-oriented costs continue to rise.

Off-Peak Resource

Geothermal is also, by far, the cheapest base power source. Base power is the amount of power the electric utility needs to meet minimum demands, and it’s what has the most impact on your monthly electric bill. In addition to using geothermal for our base power on Hawaii Island, we could also run a cable to Oahu (it’s doable) and supply them with base power so they don’t remain dependent on oil forever.

And we can use unused geothermal energy produced in off-peak times to produce hydrogen, one of the fastest-growing clean energy technologies, which we could use as transportation fuel for gas and diesel engines.

Geothermal gives off no carbon dioxide, so it’s green energy, and everything it produces, like hydrogen, would also be green and available to us as long as there is geothermal energy (one to two million years).

There are geothermal resources below Hawaiian Home Lands properties, and the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands owns those resources. One idea is that the DHHL could map those sites and contract out energy production to the highest bidder, returning some of the rents and royalties to the native Hawaiian people upon whose land it sits.

Why is geothermal energy not a topic of discussion?

This could be set up like the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation, which pays Alaska citizens yearly dividends based on earnings from the state’s oil revenues. Those checks are getting smaller as oil prices go higher. Here, native Hawaiians could receive more royalties as we use more geothermal energy.

Why is geothermal energy not a topic of discussion? Because no one is advocating for it, as other types of renewable energy companies advocate for projects that don’t provide nearly the value.

It’s our political leaders that should be having these discussions. They are not seeing the big picture, the forest, but only discussing the trees.

About the Author

Big Island resident Richard Ha is president of Sustainable Energy Hawaii and author of “What Would Our Kupuna Do?”

7/12/22 - Letters to the Editor - Congress can easily fix court’s mistake on climate

By Barry Solomon

On June 30, the Supreme Court in West Virginia et al. vs. Environmental Protection Agency et al. ruled that the EPA overstepped its Congressional authority under the Clean Air Act in attempting to regulate carbon dioxide emissions under its Affordable Clean Energy rule.

This is a serious setback for efforts to address the climate crisis. The problem is that the Clean Air Act, originally passed in 1970 and amended in 1977 and 1990, was not setup to address greenhouse gas control, a problem that only came into focus in the 1990s and is written in an overly prescriptive manner giving the EPA little flexibility.

When President Obama’s EPA wrote the Clean Power Plan in 2015, which after court challenges was replaced by the Affordable Clean Energy Rule in 2019, utilities were given flexibility to find least-cost solutions for lowering carbon emissions.

But the Supreme Court said not so fast because such flexibility was not found in section 111 of the Clean Air Act, the basis for these rules.

Fortunately, there is an easy fix: Congress can pass an amendment to the Clean Air Act that adds a new subsection to 111 that grants EPA that more flexible authority to reduce carbon emissions from power plants.

An even better solution is for Congress to finally approve a price for greenhouse gas emissions to reflect their damages to the environment and human health, something the Citizens’ Climate Lobby has been fighting for over 15 years.

Barry Solomon

Waikapu

7/7/22 - Letters to the Editor - Congress can easily fix court’s climate mistake

By Paul Bernstein

Greenhouse gas emissions, primarily carbon dioxide, are causing disastrous climate impacts now and will for decades more if not reduced quickly.

Unfortunately, on June 30, the U.S. Supreme Court in West Virginia v. EPA limited the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to reduce these emissions from power plants. It ruled that the EPA overstepped its congressional authority under the Clean Air Act in attempting to regulate carbon dioxide emissions.
Therefore, Congress must act immediately either to give EPA authority or enact other regulations to address emissions.

Fortunately, there is an easy fix: Congress can amend the Clean Air Act that grants EPA the flexibility to reduce carbon emissions from power plants. However, a much better solution is for Congress to finally approve a price on greenhouse gas emissions to reflect their damages and return revenues to people, something the Citizens’ Climate Lobby has advocated for years.

Paul Bernstein
Aina Haina

7/3/2022 - Letters to the Editor - Consider cutting green house gases this 4th

By Ruta Jordans

Headline in The Garden Island: “With the COVID-19 pandemic dragging on into its 28th month, the island’s Fourth of July celebrations will again be muted as a result.”

Thank goodness! In case you have not heard, we are now in a climate crisis. And do you know what has brought us to the crisis? Sending green house gases (GHG) into the atmosphere. In case you have difficulty putting two and two together, FIREworks result in smoke.

Our fireworks are supposedly in honor of the Revolutionary War. War is one of the worst causes of GHG emissions. I know — it’s a shame Putin did not get the message or care.

Fireworks commemorating wars continue the emissions. “Oh, but my little firecracker won’t be a problem!” Multiplied by how many others, they will each contribute to together sending more smoky emissions. Then add all the barbecues ….. It is time to look at everything we do with the thought of how can we cut back on our GHG emissions. Our youth are depending on every one of us!

Ruta Jordans

Kapa‘a

6/28/22 - Letters to the Editor - Climate change costs in ways unrecognized

By Bobbie Best

We’re naturally concerned with inflation and want to blame it on politicians and economists, but governments should spend money to prepare for climate catastrophes and to clean them up.

For example, the Department of Defense awarded $1.9 million for Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration to Kauai, which is deserved and to be applauded. Obviously more will need to be spent to mitigate future problems and aid when problems are not averted.

NPR ran a story about how pollen was so pervasive in one area that even opening a front door invited problematic pollen dust into homes, which of course affected people’s health. NPR says, “climate change is making seasonal allergies worse.”

I read a New Yorker article about shipping containers falling into the ocean because of higher winds and less staff due to COVID-related issues. In other words, climate change is affecting our supply chain. And those who’ve been studying climate change predicted transmissible “viral sharing.”

Climate change is costing us in many ways. I urge you to let your congressional senators and representatives know how important it is to pass the budget reconciliation package because it allocates so much money for climate change.

In Hawaii, our leaders are sympathetic to this, so it’s even more important for readers to urge their contacts in red and purple states to do this.

Bobbie Best

Wailuku

6/17/22 - Letters to the Editor - Government protection of ocean must expand

By Carol Cam

Financial leaders often warn there will be economic dangers if we ignore climate change.

Some world leaders are moving to achieve solutions. But U.S. leaders must move faster both to reduce emissions and to protect the natural environment.

While about 12 percent of the land around the world is now under some form of protection, less than 6 percent of the ocean is protected. There are strategic areas for conservation in the ocean that can protect against ocean acidification and climate change.

In 2005, Hawaii Rep. Ed Case introduced the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands National Marine Refuge Act to protect those islands as a national marine refuge.

In 2006, President George W. Bush achieved the bill’s goals by public proclamation to create Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. It is currently the world’s largest protected marine area since it was expanded by President Barack Obama in 2016. Another strategic marine environment that also could be officially protected is the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, which is an even larger area.

On June 1, 2022, the Pacific Remote Islands Coalition, a Hawaii group of researchers, educators, deep-sea voyagers, native and community leaders petitioned President Biden to further expand the monument.

Gov. David Ige also has expressed full support to expand the highly protective monument that is a marine area 900 miles south of Hawaii around Howland and Baker islands, Kingman Reef and Palmyra Atoll.

Urge government to expand protection for the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument.

Carol Cam

Lahaina

6/2/22 - CCL Post - How economists support the fight for a carbon fee and dividend in Hawaii (featuring Paul Bernstein)

By Jonathan Marshall

Since 2019, an exciting drive to enact a statewide carbon fee and dividend has played out in Hawaii. CCL volunteers have been at the forefront of that ongoing effort along with another non-profit called Faith Action and the state’s Environmental Legislative Caucus.

The most recent carbon fee and dividend bill sailed through Hawaii’s House on a 46-3 vote earlier this year, only to get blocked in the Senate, which declined to give it a hearing given the unsettled state of world energy markets. Ironically, two years ago the state Senate passed a $40 carbon fee and dividend bill 23-2, only to have it get stuck in the House.

One sticking point in 2020 was the desire of legislators to wait for the results of a University of Hawaii (UH) study on how a carbon fee would impact the state’s emissions, economy, and household incomes. The legislature had funded it in 2019, but the governor did not release the study until 2021, missing key vote deadlines. However, the study did persuade skeptical legislators in the House to approve a carbon fee and dividend bill overwhelmingly this year.

Reflecting the quality of the UH team’s work, a full report on its underlying model and results has recently been published in the peer-reviewed journal Climate Policy. One of the five co-authors is economist and CCL volunteer Paul Bernstein. I’ve known Paul for a couple of years through our joint participation in CCL’s Economic Policy Network action team.

After graduating from Stanford with his Ph.D. in operations research in 1996, Paul worked for two national economics consulting firms with strong practices in the energy sector. Since 2005, he has also worked part-time for UH. UH has undertaken research for state agencies on topics such as the viability of a major wind energy project, forecasting EV market penetration, and helping the city of Honolulu draft a climate action plan. Paul joined colleagues at UH on the carbon tax study for the Hawaii State Energy Office.

The study is a notable addition to the sparse literature on the impacts of carbon pricing at the state rather than the national level. Unlike many studies, which fail to account for complex feedback effects, the UH team used a more sophisticated Computable General Equilibrium Model to assess the impacts of a carbon tax on Hawaii’s economy, industries, and households. It specifically simulated a tax starting at $56 per metric ton of CO2 in 2025 and rising slowly to $79 by 2045. The team chose $56 as the federal estimate for the “social cost of carbon” reached by the Obama administration and endorsed by the Biden administration.

The results of the study were as notable as its methodology:

• The carbon tax would reduce emissions by a third more than existing state climate policies, which include a mandate for generating all electricity from renewable energy by 2045.

• Total state GDP would shrink a microscopic 0.6% by 2045 relative to the baseline.

• For households, combining the tax with an equal dividend would result in net welfare gains for all income groups, especially the lowest income groups. That’s a better result than forecast by any model of a national carbon fee and dividend. The secret: a significant portion of the tax would be paid by affluent visitors to the islands rather than residents.

• 
  

Change in Hawaii’s GHG Emissions from the Baseline by Sector with a $56+ Carbon Tax

Source: Makena Coffman, et al., “Economic and GHG impacts of a US state-level carbon tax: the case of Hawai‘i,” Climate Policy, epub, April 10, 2022.

Results of the study made their way into the very first paragraph of Hawaii’s carbon tax bill this year. After noting the international success of carbon taxes, and the support they have won from “eminent economists,” the bill cited the UH study as finding that a “carbon tax and dividend policy . . . would substantially reduce the consumption of fossil fuels, while financially benefiting most Hawaii households.”

Next steps for carbon pricing in Hawaii

Given the study’s highly favorable results, and mixed but promising votes in both state chambers, carbon tax legislation still has a chance of being enacted in Hawaii once the panic over soaring oil prices subsides.

Paul vows, “We aren’t giving up.” He and other citizen lobbyists hope their efforts will also inspire national politicians to promote carbon fee and dividend legislation to cover the United States—a goal shared by Hawaii’s Sen. Brian Schatz and Rep. Kai Kahele.

Jonathan Marshall is Economics Research Coordinator for Citizens’ Climate Education and former Economics Editor of the San Francisco Chronicle.

6/10/22 - Letters to the Editor - Bill passed by Legislature could thwart energy policy

by Doug Hagen

Hawaii’s electric utility rates are already the highest in the nation — by a large margin — and SB 2510 is likely to push them up even higher.

This bill, which was recently passed by the Legislature, mandates that one-third of all electricity on each island generated by utilities from renewable energy sources must be from “firm renewable energy.”

The problem is that “firm renewable energy” is, in many cases, more costly than other forms of renewable energy, especially in Maui County.

“Firm renewable energy,” is defined by SB 2510 as uninterruptible renewable energy, although some forms of it are subject to disruption.

Perhaps the most common form of “firm renewable energy” is biomass, which includes the burning of trees. Excluded from “firm renewable energy” are photovoltaic and wind, which are the most common forms of renewable energy in Hawaii.

Hawaiian Electric uses renewable energy to generate half of Maui County’s electricity, and most of it is photovoltaic and wind. Virtually none of the renewable energy generated in Maui County is “firm renewable energy.” Therein lies the problem.

To comply with the one-third mandate of SB 2510, Hawaiian Electric may have to shut down its wind and photovoltaic units until it builds “firm renewable energy” generation facilities.

That would likely disrupt the distribution of electricity to Hawaiian Electric’s Maui County customers. It would also likely increase the cost of generating electricity, and those increased costs would be passed on to consumers in the form of higher electricity rates.

Gov. David Ige should veto SB 2510.

Douglas J. Hagan

Paia

6/7/22 - Your Views - Rooftop solar

By Richard Ha

Did you know that almost a third of Hawaii’s single-family homes have rooftop solar panels now? On May 30, the New York Times published an interesting article featuring one Honolulu woman who decreased her home’s electricity bill from more than $500 a month to only $26 — by installing solar panels and battery storage packs and then recouping most of her costs through state and federal tax credits.

The article discussed how Hawaii has moved from its public utilities fighting rooftop solar to encouraging the use of such small-scale energy systems. The writer did a good job outlining why the state, where we currently pay almost three times the national average for electricity, is now encouraging rooftop solar panels.

Affordable energy for everybody is our goal at Sustainable Energy Hawaii, the grassroots nonprofit where I’m chairman of the board. We aim to raise public awareness and the political will to dramatically increase this island’s capacity for renewable energy, especially geothermal. We want to improve the quality and security of life for Hawaii Island residents by helping the state transition to 100% clean, locally sourced, renewable energy and help create a thriving hydrogen economy.

Hawaii’s electricity rates, already high, jumped 34% in April compared to the year before because so many of our power plants rely on oil, a third of which we’d been buying from Russia. Last year, oil-fueled power plants supplied almost two-thirds of Hawaii’s electricity. That’s down from nearly three-quarters a decade earlier. We’re on the right track for a state that has mandated all its electricity must come from renewable sources by 2045. But there’s still a long way to go.

If you’d like to know more about Sustainable Energy Hawaii, our efforts, and how you can help, you can enter your email at sustainableenergyhawaii.org, and we’ll send you occasional updates.

Richard Ha

Chairman, Sustainable Energy Hawaii

6/5/22 - Letters to the Editor - Ige should sign bills supporting EVs

By Virginia Tincher

The Star-Advertiser synthesized why clean transportation’s time has come when it said that electrification of government vehicles “can be a win-win-win-win by connecting to renewable energy sources, reducing dependency on imported oil, eliminating greenhouse gas emissions and ultimately, costing less” (“Transportation should be cleaner,” Star-Advertiser, Our View, May 27).

The same wins include purchasers of electrics cars, bikes and mopeds. I urge Gov. David Ige to sign all the bills mentioned in the editorial, especially Senate Bill 3158 (electric bike and moped rebates) and SB 2720 (EV charging station rebates).

Rebates and the overall lower cost of EV ownership help when consumers make purchasing decisions.

Virginia Tincher

Aina Haina

6/4/22 - Letters to the Editor - Vital reasons for Ige to veto SB 2510

By Carol Cam

There are vital reasons for Gov. Ige to veto SB 2510 — the 33 percent firm renewables bill.

SB 2510 would force every island grid to use polluting, non-carbon-sequestering biomass.

Of the other 66 percent of each island’s energy grid, each renewable energy, except geothermal, would be limited to 45 percent of the grid’s energy generation.

SB 2510 would be at cross-purposes to the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative, and that could be unconstitutional.

U.N. Climate Action findings stress that the multiple types of biomass are a limited resource. “Renewable energy is energy derived from natural sources that are replenished at a higher rate than they are consumed.”

This is not the case with biomass, which is consumed at a higher rate than it can be replenished or will again be able to sequester carbon.

Scientists wrote in “The Hill” that: “Declaring biomass to be carbon neutral (or renewable) with no regard for the health consequences may set us onto a path toward further investing in an energy system with an already-serious health burden, ambiguous climate benefits and environmental justice issues in the supply chain. Committing to alternatives, or better yet, making major energy decisions using a systems-level approach with both climate and public health in mind, can set us on a pathway toward an energy system that is healthier, more just and more compatible with the recommendations of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.”

If SB 2510 were to pass, it would put thousands at risk, particularly on Maui, where there are fewer renewable energy options.

Carol Cam

Lahaina

6/1/22 - Island Voices - Veto the costly, dirty Senate energy bill

By Noel Morin, Sara Bower and Ted Bohlen

The state Legislature passed Senate Bill 2510, which is likely to increase electricity rates because it mandates that at least one-third of the renewable electricity generated by systems on each island shall be from “firm renewable energy.”

“Firm renewable energy” may have a nice ring to it — until you find out that the definition used in SB 2510 includes biomass, particularly the burning of trees. A recent estimate of the cost of generating energy from biomass is several times higher than that of clean, renewable energy, such as photovoltaic, even with battery storage.

The proposed Hu Honua project on the Big Island illustrates the high cost of biomass energy and why the Consumer Advocate opposes this project. Hu Honua, which would burn trees to generate electricity, estimates its cost per kilowatt-hour to be several times higher than the cost of existing clean, renewable energy.

The state Public Utilities Commission recently ruled against Hu Honua on a particular issue, but the project is still alive. If ultimately approved, Hu Honua would lock in its high cost of electricity for 30 years, which would be passed on in the form of higher electricity rates to customers of Hawaii Electric.

Hawaii has established a goal of 100% renewable energy by 2045. The one-third mandate of SB 2510 for “firm renewable energy” limits the flexibility of electric utilities to achieve this goal in the most cost-effective manner.

For Maui County, the one-third mandate would squeeze out less expensive clean, renewable energy and increase electricity rates. Hawaiian Electric generates half of its electricity in Maui County from renewable sources, but virtually none of it is from “firm renewable energy.” Therefore, to comply with the SB 2510 mandate, Hawaiian Electric may have to shut down its wind and photovoltaic units until it builds “firm renewable energy” generation facilities.

Oahu may face a similar problem in the very near future because it produces only 38% of its renewable energy from “firm renewable energy.” Clean, renewable energy projects that are already in the pipeline may have to be delayed.

Aside from the issue of increasing electricity rates, the mandate for “firm renewable energy” in SB 2510 is harmful to the environment and accelerates climate change. The burning of trees pollutes the air and emits carbon into the atmosphere, which warms the Earth.

It takes decades to grow more trees, and during those many years the carbon stays in the atmosphere. This scenario is distressing because most climate scientists say that we have less than 10 years to take the drastic actions needed to keep the Earth livable.

“Firm renewable energy” is supposedly uninterruptible energy. In reality, however, imported biomass can be interrupted by disruptions in production or supply chains, over which Hawaii has little or no control. There are no guarantees that biomass would be continually imported and available in Hawaii.

We in Hawaii should be sourcing energy locally to build a secure energy future. Local control minimizes disruptions and creates stability. Hawaii is fortunate to have abundant natural resources that can produce multiple forms of clean, renewable energy, such as photovoltaic, wind, geothermal, hydro and ocean.

In addition, technology advancements are increasing the energy storage capacity of batteries while reducing costs. We also can leverage solutions such as gravitational energy storage and green hydrogen. A robust mix of clean, renewable energy and a diverse set of storage solutions can ensure a consistent electricity supply for all of Hawaii’s residents.

Hawaii should strive for energy security while reducing energy rates for our people and protecting our environment and planet. SB 2510 does the opposite. Gov. David Ige should veto the bill.

6/4/22 - Hit hard by high energy costs, Hawaii residents look to the sun (Richard Ha is featured in this article)

The state is seeking to replace coal and oil with solar energy, aiming to rely extensively on rooftop panels on single-family homes.

By Ivan Penn

HONOLULU — Toddi Nakagawa, who lives in a suburb of Honolulu, has spent years battling her family’s high electricity bills, which once topped $500 a month, by gradually buying more solar panels. After accumulating more than 70 panels and three stacks of batteries, she has gotten her family’s monthly bill down to just $26.

Ms. Nakagawa is not alone. Nearly a third of Hawaii’s single-family houses have rooftop solar panels — more than twice the percentage in California — and officials expect many more homes to add panels and batteries in the coming years.

Even before energy prices surged globally this year, homeowners, elected leaders and energy executives in Hawaii had decided that rooftop solar panels were one of the best ways to meet demand for energy and tame the state’s high power costs. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has only strengthened the state’s embrace of renewable energy. Electricity rates in Hawaii jumped 34 percent in April from a year earlier because many of its power plants burn oil, about a third of which came from Russia last year.

While Hawaii faces unique challenges, the state’s reliance on solar carries lessons for other states and countries looking to fight climate change and bring down energy costs. The state has increased the use of renewable energy in large part by getting electric utilities to accept rooftop solar rather than fight it, as energy companies in California, Florida and other states have been doing.

“In Hawaii, we’ve come to the recognition that rooftop solar is going to be an important part of our grid, has to be part of our grid,” said Shelee Kimura, president and chief executive of Hawaiian Electric Company, the state’s largest power provider. “Some people think we’re crazy. Some people think we’re pretty amazing.”

Less than a decade ago, utilities like Ms. Kimura’s pressed state lawmakers to reduce incentives for rooftop solar, a tactic that the utility industry has used across the country, arguing that rooftop solar is not as efficient as large solar and wind farms and can force lower-income households to bear more of the cost of the electric grid. In 2015, Hawaii’s utility regulators reduced how much homeowners were paid for sending the excess energy that their solar panels produced to the electric grid.

Solar panels on Toddi Nakagawa’s home on Oahu have reduced her electricity bill to $26 a month.

Nearly a third of single-family houses in Hawaii have rooftop solar panels.

That change slowed the growth of rooftop solar but did little to bring down energy costs. The state’s electricity rates now stand at 39 cents a kilowatt-hour, nearly three times the national average of 14 cents.

Recognizing that reality, state officials in recent years have gone back to encouraging the use of small-scale energy systems. To manage the supply and demand of electricity, for example, Hawaii offers up to $4,250 to homeowners on Oahu, home to about 70 percent of the state’s population and Honolulu, to install home batteries with their solar systems, defraying as much as third of the cost of doing so. Utilities can tap those batteries for power between 6 and 8:30 p.m., when energy demand typically peaks.

“It’s a good example of a good policy pivot with utilities and regulators saying, ‘We need to change how we approach this,’” said Bryan White, a senior analyst at Wood Mackenzie, a research and consulting firm.

‘Oil is a finite resource.’

Unlike most of the country, Hawaii burns a lot of oil to generate electricity — a common approach on islands because the fuel is easier and cheaper to ship than natural gas.

“We’re unique in that we’re dependent on oil for more power generation than the rest of the U.S. mainland combined,” Marco Mangelsdorf, a lecturer at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who specializes in the politics of energy and has lived in Hawaii for much of his life.

Power plants fueled by oil supplied nearly two-thirds of Hawaii’s electricity last year, down from nearly three-quarters a decade earlier, according to the Energy Information Administration, a federal agency. Rooftop solar, by comparison, supplied about 14 percent, up from 6 percent in 2014, the earliest year for which the agency has that data.

The state had imported about 80 percent of its oil from Russia, Libya and Argentina, which offer a grade that Hawaii’s refinery can process. The remaining 20 percent came from Alaska.

“Dependence on oil is the wrong path,” said James Griffin, chairman of the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission, who has been working to reduce tensions between utilities and the rooftop solar businesses. It hurts the environment, he added, and is expensive.

Richard Ha, who leads a nonprofit organization that pushed Hawaii to embrace renewable energy, built a hydroelectric plant on his land near Hilo.

The plant, powered by a stream, saves energy costs related to Mr. Ha’s farming.

The plant saves Mr. Ha about $16,000 in electric bills, he said.

After Russia invaded Ukraine, the United States banned Russian oil imports, forcing Hawaii to rely on other suppliers. The price of oil surged, which is why the state’s electricity rates have increased so much more than in the rest of the country, where they are up about 9 percent this year.

This was not the first time Hawaii struggled with energy inflation. In 2008, oil prices jumped above $140, from about $90, in part because of tensions in the Middle East. That forced the state, in collaboration with the federal Department of Energy, to start an initiative to reduce its heavy dependence on fossil fuels. Then, in 2015, Hawaii enacted a law mandating that all its electricity come from renewable sources by 2045.

“We realized that oil is a finite resource,” said Richard Ha, chairman of the board of Sustainable Energy Hawaii, a nonprofit organization that was instrumental in pushing the state to embrace renewable energy.

A fight over which renewable energy sources to use.

Even as Hawaii’s leaders sought to do away with fossil fuels, they disagreed about how. Utilities and many lawmakers wanted to invest in large wind and solar farms and further exploit geothermal and hydroelectric energy.

Rooftop solar was considered inadequate. Many energy companies also felt threatened by small-scale energy systems because they reduce the need for larger power plants and transmission lines. The nation’s investor-owned utilities make their money typically by earning a roughly 10.5 percent return on every dollar they invest in the grid.

But many big renewable energy projects were delayed, in part because of supply chain problems. And the state is expected to soon close its only major coal power plant. Those problems forced regulators and the utilities to rely more on home power systems.

“These big projects, representing hundreds of megawatts, were being pushed out, pushed out, pushed out,” Mr. Mangelsdorf said. “The writing was on the wall.”

Proponents of rooftop solar and home batteries also note that Hawaii does not have lots of cheap, open land needed for large solar and wind farms — a position that Hawaiian Electric, which locals call HECO, came to embrace.

The rooftop solar industry “fought tooth and nail with HECO to get to where we are today,” said Scott Glenn, the state’s chief energy officer. “Not only are their decisions changing, but their attitudes are changing.”

Sheep grazing at a solar farm on Kauai. Cheap, open land for large solar and wind farms is scarce in Hawaii.

Kauai uses a mix of renewable energy sources, ditching much of its longtime reliance on fossil fuels.

Battery storage at the solar farm on Kauai. The island regularly produces 70 percent of its electricity from carbon-free sources.

Many residents also decided that they could not wait for elected officials and utility executives to bring down energy prices.

Ms. Nakagawa, a 54-year-old financial adviser, lives on Oahu, where the electric grid largely relies on oil-fired power plants. The family’s electric bill reached its highest level after the family bought its first set of solar panels in 2009.

“We try to conserve,” Ms. Nakagawa said. “We open up a window and use a fan.” But she added that sometimes it got so hot and humid that she and her family needed the air-conditioner.

They added more solar panels when they built a rental unit. Their home now houses five immediate family members, an uncle and tenants. The Nakagawas spent $74,000 on their energy system — most of which they got back through state and federal tax credits.

New rules reward utilities for advancing use of rooftop solar.

A year ago, regulators in Hawaii created a performance-based system that rewards utility companies for quickly connecting rooftop solar and battery systems to the grid. Utilities can also earn more money by promoting energy efficiency. That has helped make the adversarial relationship between utilities and ratepayers more cooperative.

“We’ve had to reframe the relationship,” said Ms. Kimura of Hawaiian Electric. “You now have so many different players in the energy space. These things have all changed more rapidly than in any time in history.”

In addition to rooftop solar, Hawaii is trying to take advantage of its natural resources.

The Big Island has vast potential for hydroelectric plants. Volcanic activity makes it possible for utilities in some places to produce geothermal energy.

But some of those resources can also turn dangerous. The remnants of the 2018 eruption of the Kilauea volcano — hardened, blackened lava that raised the ground 60 feet — still surround a geothermal energy plant, which has yet to return to full capacity. Steam continues to rise from fissures in the ground. A few homes that survived the devastation that wiped out neighborhoods depend on rooftop solar panels.

Other islands, like Kauai, use various forms of renewable energy. That island’s utility became a community-owned operation 20 years ago when local businesspeople bought it.

Kauai regularly produces 70 percent of its electricity from carbon-free sources. It expects to increase that to as much as 90 percent in 2025, after building a solar farm, batteries and a hydroelectric facility that operates as a giant battery.

“We’re looking at a real 100 percent clean energy,” said David Bissell, chief executive of the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative. “Absent a tragic hurricane, I think we’ll be there within a decade.”

Like Hawaii, states such as New York and California have set ambitious renewable energy targets but are still dependent on fossil fuels. The United States as a whole gets about 40 percent of its electricity from natural gas and about 20 percent from coal.

“They’re like paving the way for how the electric system can change,” Mary Powell, a former president of Green Mountain Power, a Vermont utility, said about Hawaii.

Ms. Powell served on the board of Hawaiian Electric’s parent company before becoming the chief executive of Sunrun, the largest U.S. residential solar company. She said moving to renewable energy would cost a lot of money but help reduce energy price spikes associated with oil, natural gas and coal.

“What we’re seeing happen with fossil fuels and fossil fuel prices, that’s just going to rip its way through the U.S. economy,” Ms. Powell said. “The solution looks obvious to me. It’s painful, but the solution is what Hawaii is doing.”

May 29, 2022 - Letters to the Editor - With climate change, hard choices needed

By Charley Ice,

I’m embarrassed for Clint Churchill and Mark Polivka and their Practical Policy Institute of Hawaii (“Realities of fossil fuels, 100% renewable energy in our future,” Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, May 26).

Queasy bravado and complacency are not appropriate to the horrific future coming, thanks to climate change. Hiding out from hard science is not helpful. Thankfully, the rest of the world is waking up to the hard choices the institute is unwilling to face.

Week after week comes the bad news that we are losing the battle against climate change, that our grandchildren are not going to survive it. Maybe we should get serious and fight back, with the courage and ingenuity that makes us the resilient tribe we are. But the clock is ticking. No more business as usual.

Charley Ice

Aiea

May 24, 2022 - Letters to the Editor - Climate policies demand your input

By Bobbie Best

I couldn’t agree more with OTHER VOICES Laurel Brier,who wrote “Legislature took steps backward on climate change.”

However, the article from Santa Fe, “States struggle to replace fossil fuel tax revenue,” unnerved me.

The tool that is being overlooked is one that has 90 co-sponsors nationally: The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act (H.R.2037), which will help reduce America’s carbon pollution to net zero by 2050.

It puts a fee on carbon pollution, creating a level playing field for clean energy. The money collected from fossil-fuel companies goes to Americans, with a monthly carbon cash back payment so that everyone can afford the transition and would use the money for investments in new technology. (A similar bill began in our state but didn’t proceed because of one congressman.) H.R. 2037 also calls for tariffs to keep businesses competitive.

Carbon pricing is the best approach to cutting emissions with the speed needed — and the consensus is widespread.

A recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report mentions carbon pricing 680 times, calling it a “crucial tool in any cost-effective climate mitigation strate-gy… a mechanism for linking climate action to economic development.” The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget released a report weighing the benefits of a carbon price.

The Electric Power Supply Association and the Business Roundtable have also called for a price on carbon. So it’s not only environmentalists and faith groups who support this policy to protect the health of our planet in a fair, equitable manner. Even the America Petroleum Institute favors it. While our federal congressional representatives would vote for this bill, they would like to know citizens’ views. I not only urge readers to contact them, but also to reach out to people you know in other states to push this policy.

An easy way to do this is to see citizensclimatelobby.org and maybe consider working further with this nationwide group, besides merely contacting your elected representatives. The Citizens Climate Lobby is active in other countries too, and has been effective elsewhere.

Bobbie Best

Wailuku

May 17, 2022 - Community Voice - Maui Power Plant Woes Illustrate Need For Sustainability - Geothermal is a baseload renewable energy that can enable Hawaii to achieve clean energy goals.

By Richard Ha

We were shocked to read that Hawaiian Electric may have to build a whole new power plant on Maui solely because the company that supplies spare parts for its Maalaea power plant generators unexpectedly shut down.

Hawaiian Electric says the four diesel-powered engines, which are capable of supplying nearly a quarter of the island’s electricity, require new parts every two and a half years as part of routine maintenance, and no other manufacturer appears able to provide those parts.

The company has enough spare parts for now but is scrambling to determine how it will keep Maui’s lights on when the engines need servicing in 2027.

It’s a perfect example of why Sustainable Energy Hawaii is working so hard here on the Big Island to plan ahead and keep our electricity on.

None of us at the nonprofit SEH are working for our own gain. Sustainable Energy Hawaii is a group of people trying to make life better for future generations. We know we need to plan for a strong future, and that’s what we’re doing.

Our current priority is to raise awareness and funding for the Hawaii Groundwater and Geothermal Resource Center. This agency, founded by Don Thomas and current director Nicole Lautze, considers geothermal a powerful baseload renewable energy that can enable Hawaii to safely achieve its clean energy goals.

The center provides both new and historical information about groundwater and geothermal resources. By drilling around the island, they map geothermal hotspots, our water resource, and its characteristics (for instance, they know where to find underground superheated water).

Once that research is done, we’ll be ahead of the curve and can standby until the utility asks for more geothermal, at which point we will have good information to work with.

Compare this to Puna Geothermal Venture having been developed in the East Rift zone.

While the planning was made in good faith and based on the best research at the time, look what happened. With another volcanic eruption, it could be covered entirely. We need better information about our island’s resources.

Hawaii Groundwater and Geothermal Resource Center envisions “a sustainable Hawaii that practices responsible and active stewardship over natural resources, and promotes evidence-based energy and management policies that protect the people, land, and future of the islands.”

We need better information about our island’s resources.

The problem is that HGGRC is vastly underfunded. To complete a full assessment of Hawaii Island, it needs $25 million.

Once that assessment is done, future geothermal facilities can be planned using accurate data, meaning people can determine which areas are too close to populations, which are culturally sensitive, and the like.

Both Lautze and Thomas spoke at SEH’s recent geothermal webinars. Their talks are available here.

About the Author

Richard Ha

Big Island resident Richard Ha is president of Sustainable Energy Hawaii.

May 17, 2022 - Other Voices - Legislature took steps backward on climate change

By Laurel Brier

A recent article in TGI (May 10) talked about the legislation the state passed this session regarding the environment and energy.

What should be clarified is these legislative actions are grossly inadequate to address the climate emergency. The most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has declared it is “now or never” if the world is to stave off climate disaster.

Scientists are warning that humanity has less than three years to slash green house gas emissions nearly in half in order to prevent the most catastrophic effects of the climate crisis.

Many parts of the world, including islands in the South Pacific, are already experiencing the catastrophic effects. Hawai‘i legislators declared a climate emergency last session but, more importantly, what are they doing to address that emergency?

What we need is legislation with timelines, measurable required actions and mechanisms to insure enforcement. Rather than bills producing definitive actions, we are getting “aspirational” legislation that is not measurable or meaningful in many cases.

Bills which were introduced with mandates and decisive action were then watered down, rendering them ineffective in addressing the climate crisis.

For example, HB1800 that was mentioned in the 5/10 article was introduced with measurable goals and mandates and tasked the state Department of Health with the authority to establish rules for binding, enforceable carbon reductions. Instead, we ended up with was another study.

HB1801 was also introduced with measurable objectives and timelines for improving state building energy efficiency, but was amended and passed as a platitude for the state to lead by example, to do something, but without any specific required actions.

What we don’t need are bills like SB2510, CD1, which establishes a state energy policy requiring at least 33% of renewable energy to be generated by “firm” renewable energy.

Under the bill’s definition of “firm” it would allow for the commercial burning of trees for energy — which is a disaster for the climate. Burning trees is worse than burning coal, as trees sequester carbon when they are alive and release more carbon than coal when burnt. Renewable to some extent, but consider that trees usually take two decades or more of growth before they actually sequester carbon. And is this best use of our land, growing trees to burn?

We do have a finite supply of invasive albizia trees, but better use of these would be for mulching and specific wood products.

Burning trees is being supported by multi-million-dollar corporate interests like Hu Honua on the Big Island that environmental groups have vehemently opposed for years due to its negative impacts on the climate, air quality and its extraordinary demand for water.

Customers will pay the price, as burning trees is more expensive than utility-scale wind and solar. SB2510 sets arbitrary limits on the allowed percentages of any one type of renewable energy, constraints that are too restrictive and may be harmful to both Hawai‘i rate payers and for Hawai‘i’s energy transition.

The testimonies of University of Hawai‘i, Hawai‘i State Office of Energy, state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs and Hawaiian Electric Company all warned about the adverse and destructive effect of imposing fixed percentages on the renewable-energy transition.

Since we can’t predict what energy sources will be available at the lowest cost and lowest environmental impact for each island, setting such requirements is unwise. Some 350 Hawai‘i groups along with other environmental organizations and residents statewide are asking Gov. David Ige to veto SB2510, CD1.

•••

Laurel Brier is co-founder of the Kaua‘i Climate Action Coalition.

May 11, 2022 - Amid the clean energy push, experts worry some will be left behind -nHawaii Energy Conference panelists mull solutions that won’t burden residents with more costs (Noel Morin is featured in this article)

MAY 11, 2022

DAKOTA GROSSMAN

Staff Writer

dgrossman@mauinews.com

Solar panels are shown on the roof of a Kihei home in October. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photos

As Hawaii races toward electrification, one critical piece to the puzzle of reducing carbon emissions, some communities feel like they can’t keep up.

The state has set a goal of reaching net zero energy, or having 100 percent of its electricity using clean renewable energy sources, by the year 2045, and the largest culprit of greenhouse emissions is coming from the transportation sector, such as cars, ships, airplanes and public transit.

During the first day of the 9th annual Hawaii Energy Conference on Tuesday, panelists discussed ways to reach electrification without burdening the people.

“A key reason for my advocacy is climate change,” Noel Morin, president and founder of the Hawaii Electric Vehicle Association said. “These issues are disproportionately impacting the poor and underprivileged communities and they are also the least capable of adopting some of the much-needed solutions.”

Some of these solutions come from swapping gasoline for electricity. There are more than a million cars and trucks in Hawaii, burning more than 30 million gallons of gasoline each month, Morin said, which contributes “significantly to emission and local pollution.”

“I should stress as well that since gas cars are only 25 percent efficient, our residents also waste a lot of energy and money, since most of the fuel that goes into our gas cars is lost as heat,” he added.

There are changes that can be made to driving habits that can mitigate climate impacts, such as carpooling, implementing a net-zero public transportation system or investing in a full or hybrid electric vehicle, which is 80 percent efficient and can save up to $4,600 over its lifespan compared to gas cars, Morin said.

“There are manufacturers saying that they will be phasing out gas cars in the future. There’s this pressure toward electrification in coming up with models and different points so that different needs are going to be met,” Morin said. “As we know with competition, we will see price points coming down. It’s hard to see right now because the prices of everything are up.”

Still, education, funding and resources are needed to mitigate inequities among communities who have not been able to benefit from the green technology movement.

“Like everything in the energy ecosystem, this is going to take all of us together to make this happen,” said Jim Kelly, vice president of government and community relations and corporate communications for Hawaiian Electric.

For the industry, it’s a challenge to make sure residents of all income levels benefit from the clean energy movement.

“How can you put this together in a package that everybody can participate in without compounding the problems of lower- income people in trying to participate in this well-meaning effort to reduce greenhouse gasses?” said Cynthia Rezentes, a Waianae resident and president of Kealahou West Oahu and Mohala I Ka Wai.

Rezentes shared concerns over the financial feasibility of EVs, EV stations and maintenance, as well as the lack of available infrastructure for charging stations, especially in remote communities.

“The infrastructure in my mind makes the challenge, especially for people who live in more rural areas and are of lower income capacity,” Rezentes said. “It’s a big risk to take whether or not you want to go that route and add that to the cost of your household expenses when you can’t even afford a house, so for me that’s the biggest thing.”

According to PlugShare, which provides a map of charging stations across the globe, the Kahului-Wailuku-Lahaina areas on Maui have 140 public charging stations (16-24 hours to fully recharge the cars), 26 of which are free. Lanai has two and Molokai has one.

According to the Hawaiian Electric map, there are also five DC Fast Chargers (100 miles per 30 minutes), including one at the Queen Kaahumanu Shopping Center, which costs 28 cents per kWh (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.), 40 cents per kWh (5 p.m. to 10 p.m.) or 38 cents per kWh (10 p.m. to 9 a.m.).

To tackle the issue of access, some governments are opting for creative solutions. Hawaii County Energy Specialist Riley Saito described how county facilities, businesses and nonprofits are trying to move toward a net-zero future through “shared use mobility.”

One example is sharing county zero-emission vehicles with the community. During weekday work hours, the officials would use the zero-emission vehicles, but on weekends and holidays, qualified low-income families and nonprofits serving low-income communities could have access to the vehicles to complete their errands or operations.

Outside of transportation, Maui County lawmakers have been pushing for green construction practices and policies to meet net-zero goals and lower costs for residents. Currently, Maui residents struggle under an average electricity rate of 34.85 cents per kilowatt-hour, with rates reaching 38.84 cents on Molokai, according to Hawaiian Electric.

Abigail Anthony of the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission said during her keynote at the conference that the right rates and benefits are needed in order to encourage residents to convert to electrification.

One of the promises of electrification is that the cost of the system would be spread out over more kilowatt hours and therefore result in lower rates for customers.

“Making sure that the power system is no more costly than necessary is important for keeping the cost of electricity, you know, attractive and competitive with those substitute fuels,” Anthony said.

Energy efficiency cannot be achieved unless organizations “manage electric load” through upgraded networks and infrastructure, keeping costs low and competitive, and invest in lower-cost resources. As the smallest state in the country, roughly equivalent to the population size of Oahu, Rhode Island has been investing in long-term, off-shore wind farms.

“Electrification is no longer for early adopters, it’s ready to go to scale, but the way we take it to scale is going to matter for the outcome,” she said. “This is the place where really rigorous policy analysis matters. If we send out the wrong price signals, we will price out electrification as a climate solution and so this means facing the challenge of good market design head on.”

* Dakota Grossman can be reached at dgrossman@mauinews.com.

May 11, 2022 - Community Voice - What Russia’s Ukraine Invasion Tells Us About Hawaii’s Resiliency

It highlights the state’s excessive dependence on global supply chains and imported fuel.

By Tam Hunt, Noel Morin

Russia’s unjustified and illegal invasion of Ukraine has caused upheavals around the world, including in energy and food markets. Russia normally produces about 10% of the world’s oil and exports much of that to Europe and a little to the U.S.

Russia supplies an even larger share of the global natural gas market, at about 20% (second only to the U.S. at about 30%). And about 30% of global wheat supplies come from Russia and Ukraine combined.

Due to disrupted exports, boycotts and embargoes, much of that energy and food supply is now offline or diverted to new locations. These changes are having a predictable impact on prices when we were already experiencing record-setting inflation even before the invasion.

Since the Ukraine invasion, wheat prices have risen by 21%, barley by 33%, and some fertilizers by a whopping 40%, according to the New York Times.

These events are seriously affecting Hawaii because we import 100% of our oil, and up to 30% of our oil has come from Russia in recent years. After the invasion, Par Petroleum, the state’s sole refinery, decided to source oil from other nations, so we now receive no oil from Russia here in Hawaii.

President Joe Biden also announced in early March that he was going to draw down and eventually ban all Russian oil, coal and natural gas imports to the U.S.

Because oil is a global market, however, this reduction in supply at the same time as global oil demand is bouncing back from severe pandemic-induced depression means oil and gas prices have skyrocketed. Hawaii is now seeing record-high gas prices over $5 a gallon and they may go even higher as the war and global turmoil continue. It is very unlikely that Russia will find itself reintegrated quickly into the global economy after its invasion.

In normal times, Hawaii already suffers from the nation’s highest food and gas prices, and they are now trending even higher. Our electricity prices are also tied to global oil and gas prices due to two factors: 1) Hawaii continues to get most of its electricity from oil-based fuels, and 2) the “avoided cost” contracts for a number of renewable energy projects are based on fluctuating oil and gas prices.

Thankfully, since 2011 all new renewable energy project contracts are based on negotiated rates rather than avoided costs, so we will see increasing independence from oil and oil-based pricing as we move forward on our renewable energy transition.

As tragic as they are, the Ukraine invasion and its fallout globally are just the latest in a series of major crises since World War II. Major tsunamis in the middle of the last century, wars in the Middle East for many decades, the financial crisis of 2008, the Kilauea eruptions of 2018, various hurricanes and tropical storms, and the coronavirus pandemic have significantly disrupted Hawaii.

What should we do here in Hawaii in light of this latest crisis, amid the certainty that this is far from the last crisis we’ll face?

We offer here a few ideas for how the Big Island and the state of Hawaii more generally, could respond proactively to the vast increase in energy and food prices and the uncertainties they bring to make our islands less vulnerable to global issues.

First and foremost is dramatically reducing our dependence on imported energy and food. This is now a widely accepted approach, and the debate is over not whether we should do this, but how do we do this?

We like to start with broad principles and then home in on what specific policies can best support those principles. In the context of reducing dependence on imported energy and food, the principles we generally follow include: first reducing energy demand through cost-effective energy efficiency; expanding green electricity and vehicles that run on alternatives to fossil fuels, like electric vehicles; incentivizing local energy production; not interfering needlessly in private markets; using a policy “scalpel” rather than a “sledgehammer” to achieve desired ends; and, last but not least, thinking through the effect of any policies on equity issues and, more generally, thinking through unintended consequences of any new policies.

These considerations lead to the following five suggestions (among dozens of other good options) that could be implemented in the near term, at both the state and county levels:

Improve energy efficiency

• Increased community and small business education on various strategies to reduce energy waste.

• Increased funding and marketing of Hawaii Energy’s energy efficiency rebate programs.

Increase investment in local food production

• Growing food year-round is an option in Hawaii, but most homes and businesses don’t take advantage of our climate to do this. State and county governments should offer tax incentives, such as tax credits for specific investments, for growing our food locally (at homes and businesses) to make this practice more widespread.

• We suggest that the county or state offer land on cheap leasing terms for developing high-yield vertical agriculture operations or similar agricultural options. This new technology can provide large amounts of food with a very low footprint and no pesticides.

Accelerate Renewable Energy

• Urge the Public Utilities Commission and HECO to find ways to jump start rooftop solar power and onsite battery storage, which has grown at a significantly slower rate since net metering was ended a few years ago. Expanding the “battery bonus” rebate program, which currently applies only to Oahu, to all the major islands, is one good option. And putting in place a state-level battery storage tax credit, which will require legislation, is another good option. Any new programs for accelerating solar and storage should include protections against rate increases for lower-income households.

• Accelerate permitting processes for renewable energy systems, including those that allow for equitable adoption of renewable energy, e.g., community solar and general decarbonization of grid energy. Community solar is particularly important because of its potential in helping renters and those who don’t own a home to “go solar” by investing in community solar projects.

• Fund additional research and development of geothermal, hydroelectric, and waste gas power generation.

Accelerate Clean Transportation

• Reducing vehicle miles traveled through smart city planning, bike lanes, more walking paths, etc., is a key way to clean up transportation and make us more resilient and healthy.

• Dramatically ramp up installation of public chargers — and ensure their continued maintenance and operation over time.

• This year, a bill was proposed that would revive the expired state EV rebate for moderate and low-income households, but, unfortunately, it did not make it into law. With strong public support, it could get through next year.

With these policy changes, we could see a serious acceleration in our transition away from fossil fuels and imported foods and local self-reliance. The time is now!

About the Authors

Tam Hunt

Tam Hunt is a lawyer and activist based on the Big Island. He is co-founder of Think B.I.G. and a board member for the Hawaii Electric Vehicle association.

Noel Morin

Noel Morin is a civic leader and environmental activist. He is a board member of both the Hawaii Electric Vehicle Association and Think B.I.G.

May 2, 2022 - LETTERS TO THE EDITOR - Carbon cashback would address fossil fuels

By Paul Bernstein

The recent commentaries about the problems with our consumption of fossil fuels highlight today’s market failures around fossil-fuel prices (“Climate change wreaks havoc on the environment and our wallets” and “Oil fuels violence and dictators like Russia’s Putin worldwide,” Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, April 28).

Both articles call out the damage, costs and dangers of our overconsumption of fossil fuels, from climate change to international conflict.

Carol Cam and Madeleine Para identify the perfect policy, carbon cashback, which puts a fee on fossil fuels to correct their prices so they would account for the negative environmental and economic impacts of those fuels.

This policy returns the revenues from the fee placed on carbon, which directly addresses Jeff Mikulina’s excellent point that currently “[w]hen the price of oil jumps $10 per barrel, we export an additional half-billion dollars per year — with nothing new to show for it.”

With carbon cashback, the fossil-fuel companies pay the fee, and we receive the benefit.

Paul Bernstein

Aina Haina

May 2, 2022 - Other Voices - Increase electric vehicle infrastructure

Dr. Helen A. Cox

OTHER VOICES

Many people here on Kaua‘i, the state and the nation are increasingly interested in moving from gas-powered cars to electric vehicles (EVs) due to climate change concerns and the energy crisis.

Many with financial means and access to home charging have moved to electric vehicles, but if we are to combat the climate crisis and transition to clean transportation equitably, charging infrastructure is needed.

Support from the construction industry and the government is necessary for a socially equitable transition.

In the recent monthly forum, Climate Legislation 2022, hosted by the Kaua‘i Climate Action Coalition, there was some pushback from well-meaning legislators against the legislation to require EV infrastructure in new, multi-unit buildings.

I wanted to get some clarification, so I reached out to Noel Morin, president of the Hawai‘i EV Association. I hope the following information will help inform them and others about the wisdom of moving forward with EV infrastructure in new construction.

EVs are becoming affordable, and will eventually replace internal combustion cars. Many manufacturers have declared plans to stop producing gas vehicles. At some point, all consumers who must own a car will only have EVs to choose from. The inevitable transition of zero-emission vehicles behooves us to future-proof our housing units.

Unfortunately, the building industry is pushing back on the requirement for EV infrastructure in new construction, arguing that it will increase costs for consumers. However, installing the infrastructure during the construction process is cheaper than retrofitting. Excluding the EV charger infrastructure during construction creates a much larger financial burden for future residents.

Concern was shared about investing in something that will become obsolete, citing experiences with past deployments. Charging stations are more robust, and include networking capabilities that allow for monitoring and better maintenance. Besides, the building requirement deals with the underlying charging infrastructure, not the actual charging stations.

EV charging capabilities in multi-unit housing units are critical to the equitable transition to clean transportation. Access to EV chargers in apartment and condo complexes and ubiquitous public charging will ensure that everyone, including low-to-moderate-income households, can avail of clean, affordable transportation.

The forum referenced above was one of a monthly Zoom forum on the second Wednesday of the month sponsored by Zero Waste Kaua‘i, Surfrider Foundation Kaua‘i, and Kaua‘i Climate Action Coalition.

The next forum, The Importance of Wetlands: How They can Keep us Dry, with Helen Raine, local expert on wetlands and birds, is Wednesday, May 11, hosted by Surfrider Foundation Kaua‘i. Register at https://bit.ly/kauaiwetlands. For further information or to join Kaua‘i Climate Action Coalition, email kauaiclimate@gmail. com.

Dr. Helen A. Cox is chair of the Kaua‘i Climate Action Coalition and co-lead of the Kaua‘i Chapter of the Citizens Climate Lobby. Prior to her retirement she served as chancellor of Kaua‘i Community College for over a decade.

April 30, 2022 - Letters to the Editor - Stop using fossil fuels before it’s too late

By Bobbie Best

Linked to the climate crisis is a rise in heart and lung diseases caused by poor air quality, increased vector-borne diseases spread by ticks and mosquitoes, increased wildfires, hurricanes, floods and droughts, crop failure and food insecurity. 

We must stop using fossil fuels before it’s too late. Not only do we need to travel less, eat more plants instead of animals, use less plastic, buy less unnecessary items, but also governments and corporations must stop supporting fossil fuels and develop sustainable renewable technologies. 

Meanwhile, our federal and local governments must enact a price on carbon so that we make this switch, thereby creating more jobs and healthier air. 

Along with a cashback or dividend feature to alleviate the increase in fuel prices from the fee on carbon to emitters, this strategy is vital because it can help quickly and efficiently. 

The IPCC report supports this: “Explicit carbon prices remain a necessary condition of ambitious climate policies,” the report says. 

Many scientists, 100 municipalities, businesses, 3,500 economists and more than 45 countries, besides two-thirds of Americans, want this. 

We can reach net zero by 2050 with this policy. What are we waiting for? Please ask your governmental representatives, and your friends to ask theirs.

Bobbie Best

Wailuku

April 28, 2022 - Island Voices - The growing costs of burning fossil fuels - Climate change wreaks havoc on the environment and our wallets

By Carol Cam and Madeleine Para

From rising inflation to soaring prices for home and flood insurance to the cost of recovery after unprecedented storms, wildfires, and flooding, climate change creates a huge financial burden for Americans.

International weather events impact raw materials supply, which in turn raises Hawaii prices. The Ukrainian war exacerbates global oil prices along with gas and electricity prices in Hawaii. Extreme weather from CO2 emissions warming our planet played a role in the growth of 2021 inflation.

Gasoline prices hovered near record levels last week in Hawaii. The average price of regular unleaded gasoline was $5.24. In 2021, most Hawaii prices increased: 32.6% for energy; 25.0% for electricity; and 5.2% for all items — less food and energy. If that wasn’t enough, the cost of rebuilding from climate-related storms, floods, and wildfires is skyrocketing.

The increase of Hawaii’s extreme rainstorms has brought more flash floods destroying homes, bridges, dams and causing mass evacuations. Climate scientists say they are occurring more frequently as the planet warms. On Kauai, Hurricane Lane in 2018 brought 49.69 inches of rainfall in 24 hours, breaking the U.S. rainfall record. Flash flooding and landslides covered roads, damaging or destroying 532 houses, and costing over $125 million.

By 2100, with high emissions, sea level could rise 8.2 feet above 2000 levels. With much reduced emissions, it is projected to rise 1-2 feet. Currently, Hawaii expects to spend over $6 billion in sea level rise mitigation, to improve ports and canals, dredge and restore wetlands. Flood-submerged land endangers water, sewage, electrical infrastructure, marine ecosystems and coral reefs.

Moreover, Hawaii wildfires have increased for many years, harming environments from mountains to ocean depths. Fires remove vegetation, and with heavy rainfall, exposed soil gets carried downstream, causing erosion and damage to marine ecosystems and coral reefs.

How much are we willing to let climate change affect our quality of life? Climate catastrophes will soon outpace our ability to recover and adapt, and the financial costs will keep rising.

Air pollution from fossil fuels is linked to millions of deaths globally, yet polluting industries get a free pass to emit heat-trapping gasses, leading to yet more warming, extreme weather and disasters already harming us. This market failure means the true cost of carbon gets paid elsewhere. Frontline communities vulnerable to climate change impacts are burdened with soaring homeowner and flood insurance in places once deemed low risk.

Encouragingly, a new report from Stanford University demonstrates that transitioning from unpredictable fossil fuels to cleaner renewables would reduce per capita household annual energy costs by around 63%. It would create millions of new jobs and save lives by reducing pollution.

The World Bank believes the problem in the U.S. and globally is not carbon pricing, but a lack of it. They cite a large UN study that finds carbon prices can meet the Paris agreement to keep global temperatures below 2°C. The IMF proposes that an international carbon price floor agreement between the largest emitters — Canada, China, European Union, India, United Kingdom and United States, could achieve a 23% reduction in global emissions below baseline by 2030.

With clean energy and electric vehicles destined to become cheaper and more popular, demand for fossil fuels will lessen. A federal carbon fee levied on polluting industries would speed up this essential transition and let the market determine which clean technologies emerge. Monies from the fee could be returned as a “carbon cashback” check to American households, providing invaluable monthly support.

With Congress considering our energy future, Citizens’ Climate Lobby Hawaii urges U.S. Sens. Brian Schatz and Mazie Hirono to support carbon pricing with cashback for households.

ISLAND VOICES

Carol Cam, left, is a volunteer with the Maui chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby; Madeleine Para is executive director of Citizens’ Climate Lobby.

April 26, 2022 - Climate Change Requires Policy Change

If we want our politicians to act, they need to hear from us.

By Sara Bower

Climate change is the result of a structural problem in society. Polluters are not paying for the true cost fossil fuels have on people and the environment.

To truly combat our climate emergency, policy changes need to be made so fossil fuel companies no longer get off scot-free.

Brittany Lyte wrote in her article, “Asking For A Miracle’: Hawaii Evaluates Global Roadmap To Avoid Climate Catastrophe,” that people aren’t waiting for the government to lead on climate change action.

This is true — inspiring entrepreneurs have led innovations in renewable technology, and individuals and nonprofits have led wonderful campaigns to plant thousands of trees. However, the only way that we as a people can mitigate the worst effects of climate change requires structural change.

I am graduating from UH Manoa this spring with a B.S. in global environmental science. I have learned from my years of study that the work required to combat climate change cannot be accomplished on an individual scale.

Of course, you should recycle, compost, use a reusable water bottle, etc., but climate change is the result of decades of burning fossil fuels and even giving those who promote fossil fuels subsidies. The impact that greenhouse gases have on the environment requires new legislation and policies so that it is absolutely necessary to price in negative externalities or the unaccounted-for negative effects like carbon emissions.

While the fault of climate change is not on individuals, we need to work together to get congressional action. If we don’t, our health, our kids and the islands will suffer the consequences of climate change.

Pricing Carbon

Our islands have already felt the consequences of sea-level rise and have seen damage to infrastructure and coastal real estate. The warming of waters will only bring more coral bleaching and declines in fish stocks. Climate inaction will have devastating effects.

As citizens, one of the best things we can do is to contact our representatives in Congress so that they know what we want. We can influence change with our voices and put pressure on our politicians to do what is right for both people and the aina.

A carbon fee and dividend is one of the most effective climate policies — it creates a strong incentive to reduce fossil fuel consumption while caring for low-moderate income households. Here in Hawaii, both the economy and the people could greatly benefit from taxing carbon and returning the money to people in dividends.

By pricing carbon, we would bring a quicker transition to clean energy, and abate carbon emissions faster. Returning the money in dividends makes the policy progressive.

According to a UHERO study, a carbon fee and dividend can benefit low-to-moderate income households. UHERO also concluded that with a carbon tax Hawaii could drop emissions to 40% below 2019 levels.

Unfortunately, Carbon Cashback House Bill 2278, a climate bill that would have introduced a carbon fee and dividend policy in Hawaii, did not receive a hearing in the Senate after passing out of the House.

Climate inaction will have devastating effects.

The climate crisis is a problem and one that needs changes within our systems of governance to address it. However, if we want our politicians to act, they need to hear from us. You can be the difference.

If you want to help combat climate change, call your members of Congress. Just grab your phone and dial one of the numbers below.

Tell them (the staffers who pick up) who you are and tell them that you are concerned about climate change and want them to implement more climate change policies like a carbon fee and dividend.

If you don’t want to speak to anyone, call in the evening and leave a message.

1. Senators: Brian Schatz (808) 523-2061; Mazie Hirono (808) 522-8970

2. Representatives: Ed Case (808) 650-6688; Kai Kahele:(808) 746-6220

About the Author

Sara Bower is a senior at the University of Hawaii Manoa studying global environmental science who also advocates for climate action with Citizens’ Climate Lobby.

April 24, 2022 - Keep up good efforts even after Earth Day

By Virginia Tincher

As I think about how far we have come since the first Earth Day, I extend my thanks to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser for its steady coverage of all aspects of climate change solutions.

For instance, the April 20 edition had three articles. There is national news about restoring environmental reviews, including climate change impacts for major infrastructure projects and funding existing nuclear power plants, a clean energy source. There is local news about what we can do to reduce food waste to reduce emissions from landfills and incinerators and save money.

ADVERTISING

I’m overwhelmed with all the positive projects that are underway. Businesses are taking advantage of the multitrillion-dollar opportunities in energy efficiency, emissions reduction and sustainability that create new jobs. Farmers are getting the support they need to restore soil to sequester carbon, mitigate climate impacts and improve yields.

As citizens, let’s continue support with our voices, letters and spending.

Virginia Tincher

Aina Haina

April 19, 2022 - Climate change panel lauds carbon pricing

By Bobbie Best

The U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change called carbon pricing “the most powerful and efficient” strategy available to reduce emissions. It is effective in cutting carbon pollution, it says. We know that will help us and our fellow living things. Not only improved health through cleaner air but also improved energy security and price stability are other benefits from carbon pricing. Its new report which focuses on mitigation mentions carbon pricing 680 times. It states that emissions are still rising, we have cheap energy solution to save the planet from climate change, but we need the political will. (pbs.org has details under “We have the tools to save the planet from climate change. Politics is getting in the way, a New IPCC report says”.). The report also discusses the importance of coupling carbon pricing with Cashback in order to ensure the low-income households are not unduly burdened by efforts to address the climate crisis, to ensure the policy remains popular, and to realize other benefits like alleviating poverty. The IPCC reports that carbon pricing provides a key financial incentive to spur innovation in new clean technology. It acknowledges complementary policies that must be implemented and warns that pricing it correctly with sufficient tax rates in important, but notes that now is the time. Not only is time running out to meet the Paris target, but with Congress considering serious climate solution and the world is facing the major fossil-fuels problems of inflation and war in Ukraine. We now have a key window of opportunity.

We must reduce the carbon emissions that exacerbate global warming with haste. A bill called Carbon fee and dividend has been promoted by citizensclimatelobby.org for years and I urge readers to see this site which makes it easy to contact Congressional representatives to pass this bill, which is ready to go and all worked out to provide these benefit seamlessly and quickly.

April 13, 2022 - Renewable and affordable

By Noel Morin

Mr. Michael Brestovansky’s April 7 story (Tribune-Herald) on Puna Geothermal Venture’s amended power agreement highlighted opportunities to accelerate our transition to clean, firm energy.

Geothermal energy can enable our energy resilience and improve the cost of living and quality of life for Hawaii Island’s residents. We must explore ways to leverage our gift of energy in a manner acceptable to our communities and sustainable. (By the way, additional geothermal capacity need not be in lower Puna.)

Brestovansky mentioned how the amended power agreement will delink PGV’s power from the oil prices. This would allow for pricing predictability as PGV’s power prices will not be affected by rising oil prices. PGV’s agreement is commendable as it was initiated a few years before the expiration of its existing contract.

There have been other requests to other legacy providers to delink their prices. The Tawhiri Power wind farm at South Point is notable.

Tawhiri’s contract expires in 2027, and our utility has unsuccessfully requested delinking a couple of times over the past decade.

The article did not mention the pricing benefit of the new contract. PGV’s amended agreement calls for 6 cents per kilowatt-hour for the first 227,000 kilowatts, and 4 cents per kilowatt-hour beyond this! This firm power is many times lower than the rates proposed for the tree-burning plant (Honua Ola), starting at 21.5 cents per kilowatt-hour, and rising to 32 cents over the course of the 30-year contract.

Interestingly, PGVs rates are even lower than for solar-plus-storage.

Geothermal development is a complex and costly process. However, geothermal plants can provide an endless supply of affordable energy once deployed.

Of course, new plants can take decades to plan, design and build. This means we will need to rely on near-term solutions — solar, storage, wind and others that don’t emit — as stopgap and diversification measures. These near-term solutions must offer economic relief to our households, boost our local economy, mitigate the climate crisis, and contribute to a more sustainable environment. This also means that we must invest in research and development to determine how best to leverage our geothermal resources.

With the right solutions, we can decarbonize our economy and reduce the cost of energy for everyone. This means affordable electricity bills, clean transportation, affordable food and a sustainable environment.

Noel Morin

President, Big Island EV Association

April 3, 2022 - Urgent action needed

By Noel Morin

I applaud our mayor’s call for an energy emergency in response to the spike in energy prices. This call for action during a crisis is wise, as it creates a good tension for action.

The request to fast-track Public Utilities Commission approvals is notable. Regulatory procedures ensure decisions made are in the best interest of the people. If we can shorten the process without creating unnecessary risks, it will be important to do so.

It is important to note that several of Hawaii Island’s legacy renewable energy contracts are tied to the cost of oil. As oil prices rise, so does the cost of energy from the producers. It’s a double-whammy, as we’re not only paying higher prices for oil imports, but we’re paying renewable energy producers more as oil prices rise.

Fortunately, there are dockets for PGV and Hawi Energy before the PUC that would decouple energy prices from the price of oil for these producers. The good news is that PGV’s docket recently got conditional approval. This paves the way for more stable, cheap energy for Hawaii Island. The new contract promises a blended rate of 5.69 cents per kilowatt-hour!

The call to accelerate the deployment of clean energy (add energy efficiency measures and the electrification of transportation) is welcome, as we need to transition away from fossil fuels ASAP. However, if this is an emergency, we need solutions to ease the near-term pain, especially for our low- to moderate-income residents.

Ideas include a temporary gas tax “holiday” and an emergency decoupling of renewable energy prices from the price of oil for our current renewable energy producers.

An emergency warrants immediate relief. Actions to immediately reduce energy costs will help us do this.

Noel Morin

Hilo

March 28, 2022 - A price on carbon will reduce emissions, make polluters pay

By Molly Whiteley, Ronald Reilly and Keith Neal

Climate change is now a climate emergency, as declared by Hawaii’s Legislature last year. This emergency is clear, as both the Arctic and Antarctic poles are currently well above freezing temperatures. It is unlikely that all the polar ice will melt, but if it did, sea levels would rise 220 feet. Unfortunately, this emergency declaration has not resulted in the legislature passing the bills necessary to aggressively lower our carbon emissions.

However, this inaction is not due to a lack of good ideas. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has produced several reports over the last few decades outlining the dire impacts carbon emissions will have on our world. This body has also said that governments need to put a price on carbon to make polluters pay. This would encourage people and corporations to shift their behavior away from costly carbon eco-friendly ones.

Hawaii’s Legislature has contemplated this activities to more action for years and even commissioned a study to research the results of such a plan. The study showed that this plan could cut Hawaii’s emissions by 40% by 2045 compared to 2019 levels.

Putting a price on carbon leads some to believe they will be worse off financially due to the increased cost of goods. However, when the revenue generated from this plan is rebated back to Hawaii households in equal shares, most people would be wealthier over the next decade.

This is because visitors and the highest income earners are the ones who use the most carbon products and would pay the highest amount towards the carbon price. The highest 20% of income earners in Hawaii consume over twice as much gasoline and natural gas as low and middle-income earners and use more than five times as much air and water transportation.

House Bill 2278, nicknamed the “Carbon Cashback” bill, would implement this program for Hawaii statewide. It passed through the House chamber this year but was never scheduled for a hearing in the Senate. This, despite a similar bill passing through the entire Senate chamber in 2020. With costs rising dramatically across the islands and the world, this plan would start putting extra cash in people’s hands when they need it the most. Beginning our necessary transition away from fossil fuels will shelter our islands from the massive price swings of the global oil market.

In addition, the impacts of climate change will hit the low and middle-income households the hardest as they have fewer resources to protect themselves against the effects of climate change and generally live in areas with higher temperatures. HB 2278 moderates that impact because it gives them a net benefit, because their rebate would be larger than the higher prices they pay resulting from the carbon tax. The average family in the lowest income quintile would have a net benefit of $900 a year early in the program.

Had we implemented this plan decades ago, rising oil and gas costs wouldn’t be something we’d worry about. Our electricity and transportation sectors would have already transitioned away from carbon sources.

Carbon Cashback polls very highly, with over 80% of registered Democrats and two-thirds of all voters supporting the plan. Hawaii’s Democratic Party put its name behind this idea four years ago. Despite this, Democratic legislators have yet to pass this into law.

Although one key deadline for HB 2278 has passed, if it acts now, the Senate still has the power to make sure this bill passes through its chamber and on to the governor’s desk. The climate crisis demands that we act now, or we will pay the price with interest later.

ISLAND VOICES

Molly Whiteley, left, is a former public school teacher/administrator and a state co-coordinator for Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) Hawaii; Ronald Reilly, center, a retired medical lab technologist, co-leads the Hawaii Island chapter of CCL; Keith Neal is a retired aerospace engineer and an environmental, labor and social justice advocate.

March 27, 2022 - Put the women in charge

By Laurel Brier

Women are uniquely critical to addressing climate chaos. The data, social science and history, or maybe we should say herstory, back this up.

Women worldwide are more vulnerable to environmental catastrophe. Fully 80% of those displaced by climate change have been women. In 2020, the Women’s Environment & Development Organization (WEDO) released several dozens of studies showing how women take the risks of climate change much more seriously than men.

Men tend to favor complex geo-engineering solutions, often ignoring the root causes of climate change and giving less attention to the impacts. Men’s views are more-often associated with individualism and women’s views are more egalitarian, with a more-communal lens.

What is needed is a plurality of voices with the prominence of women’s voices. Currently, women are vastly underrepresented in governance and other decision-making bodies related to the environment. When women are included more gets done.

There are a host of studies showing that in countries where women play a prominent political role they are more likely to ratify treaties dealing with the climate crisis. One study found carbon-dioxide emissions per capita are lower in nations where women have higher political status, even when controlling for many other factors. The most-successful climate talks so far, which produced the Paris agreement, was the first and only time a woman, Christiana Figueres, was in charge, and worked with a team of women behind the scenes.

Nations with greater female representation in positions of power have smaller climate footprints. Companies with women on their executive boards are far more likely to invest in renewable energy and develop products that help solve the climate crisis.

Women legislators vote for environmental protections almost twice as frequently as men, and women who lead investment firms are twice as likely to make investment decisions based on how companies treat their employees and the environment. Nations that have higher proportions of women in Parliament and similar bodies are more likely to ratify environmental treaties. The more women in political positions with decision-making power over climate and environmental policy, the stronger and more-robust those policies end up being.

A remarkable example is the leadership of Dr. Wangari Maathai, the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. In the 70s, she started a women’s movement in Kenya to plant trees to counter deforestation and desertification. Their work addressed climate change in a significant way, provided an income and industry for the women, and it also helped make the connection between the environment and poverty and food self-sufficiency. The Greenbelt Movement, as it was named, has involved hundreds of thousands of women, and planted over 51 million trees in Kenya alone. And it has since spread to other African nations.

In complex ways, the Greenbelt Movement also led to a more-democratic Kenya. Maathai made the connection between the environment and peace, understanding that most wars are fought over land and resources. She is the first person to win a Nobel Peace Prize for environmental work.

At the grassroots level, women are leading. Upwards of 60% of community environmental-justice organizations today are spearheaded by women, particularly women of color. In recent climate strikes in the U.S., two-thirds of the organizers were women.

Women are placing themselves in harm’s way to stop climate chaos, but they are not at the decision- making in meaningful numbers yet. Still, women on the frontlines are linking arms, leading with heart and a deep commitment to peace and justice. To do things correctly, or to be pono, as defined by Hawaiian scholar Jonathan Osorio, is to have balance between the masculine and feminine.

Laurel Brier is with Kaua‘i Climate Action Coalition, which meets via Zoom the third Monday of the month. Email kauaiclimate@gmail. com to join and for more information. Education forums are held the second Wednesday of the month at 6 p.m. via Zoom. April 13 will be a legislative update on climate-related bills with state environmental caucus leaders and Kaua‘i legislators. For more information, go to the Zero Waste Kaua‘i FaceBook page or register at bit.ly/climatelegislation.

March 20, 2022 - Pass carbon bill

By Joanna Norton

Russia’s war on Ukraine is spiking gas prices here, as the world attempts to starve Putin of his fossil fuel income.

This might spur a quicker transition to alternative energy sources, and it will certainly spur some level of conservation as people go broke at the gas pump. The pandemic, in its own way, led to a massive downturn in energy usage, for a moment.

Both of these current events have given us a window into a world where we are taking some climate action, if only coincidentally. But we need to be taking these actions consistently, and ramping them up every year to forestall twin threats:

(1) climate change and (2) war from oil-rich autocrats such as Putin.

The “Carbon Cashback Bill,” HB 2278, will wean us gently off fossil fuels while giving us the time to invest in alternatives. With the money collected going back into the hands of each household in Hawaii, most people, especially those that take smart climate actions, will actually come out with more money in their hands.

I implore the state Senate to take up this bill and pass it as the House did.

As a human population we need to start paying the true cost of fossil fuels so that we can begin reaping the true benefits of clean energy.

Let’s do this in a kind and orderly fashion with the Carbon Cashback Bill, rather than letting world disasters and autocrats run the agenda.

Joanna Norton

Hilo

March 16, 2022 - Pass bills to address climate emergency

By Ted Bohlen, Sara Bower and Noel Morin

We are facing a climate emergency, as the state Legislature declared last year by adopting Senate Concurrent Resolution 44. Since then, new research data show that the emergency is even more dire than previously thought.

We have less than 10 years to take the drastic action needed to mitigate climate change and avert the extreme droughts, wildfires, storms, floods, heatwaves and other climate disasters that can end civilization as we know it. The world has been aware of climate change for decades, but too little has been done to mitigate it.

Climate change is a wicked problem because our society is so dependent on energy from fossil fuels. Most of the energy used in homes, businesses and factories is generated from fossil fuels. Nearly every commercial product is made and distributed using fossil fuel.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the major greenhouse gas produced by the burning of fossil fuels, and it has been accumulating in the atmosphere since before the Industrial Revolution. According to NASA, CO2 stays in the atmosphere for up to 1,000 years. The fossil fuel burned today will make climate change worse for many generations to come.

We must face the fact that we have not stabilized greenhouse gas emissions. But even if we do, the Earth will continue to heat up because global warming creates vicious loops that increase temperatures further.

One example is the permafrost of the Arctic tundra, which contains 4% of the Earth’s carbon. This permafrost extends 1,500 feet below the surface. Warmer temperatures are melting the permafrost and causing it to release CO2. This CO2 contributes to global warming, which melts more of the permafrost.

Once started, loops like the warming tundra are self-perpetuating. These loops will increase greenhouse gas emissions, driving the temperature of the Earth upward. Thus, the dire emergency and the need for drastic action.

Many bills were introduced in the state Legislature to reduce the burning of fossil fuels and transition our society toward renewable energy. Sadly, many of those bills have died. Yet many remain alive, and if all of them are passed, Hawaii would be taking a substantial step toward doing its part to mitigate climate change.

Unfortunately, there are obstacles. Decades of climate change denial in misinformation by the fossil fuel industry and the politicization of climate action have hampered efforts to decarbonize. This profit motive imperils humanity — atmospheric CO2 concentrations continue to rise unabated. We must overcome these obstacles.

The following bills are still alive in the Legislature as of this week: 

>> House Bill 1800 sets the goal that by 2030, statewide greenhouse gas emissions will be at least 50% below the 2005 level.

>> HB 2278 reduces the consumption of fossil fuels by assessing a tax on distributors. The tax revenue is distributed in equal shares to families, and most families will experience a net financial gain.

>> HB 2089 and Senate Bill 3057 revise an objective that electric utilities must meet to move more quickly toward using 100% renewable energy to produce electricity.

>> HB 1801 and SB 2963 require buildings owned by the state to implement energy-efficient practices.

>> The following bills help sequester carbon through farming practices and reforestation: HB 2493, SB 3325, SB 2070, SB 2675 and SB 2990.

>> The following bills facilitate the transition to electric vehicles by offering incentives and expanding public chargers: HB 2090, SB 2720, SB 2196, SB 3311 and SB 3158.

All of the bills above will help mitigate climate change and must be passed.

We face a climate emergency that demands urgent action. Our planet is at stake.

ISLAND VOICES

Ted Bohlen, is a former deputy attorney general and an environmental advocate with Climate Protectors Hawaii; Sara Bower is a University of Hawaii-Manoa senior studying global environmental science who advocates with the Citizens’ Climate Lobby; Noel Morin is a climate-action advocate with several organizations.

March 16, 2022 - Support for EVs

By Bobbie Best

Noel Morin brought up more points to consider in Your Views concerning EV charging stations.

Yes, EVs are important, and we need to increase their adoption. The passage of House Bill 2278, a carbon fee and dividend by tax credit, will help EV affordability and help Hawaii get to a clean zero-emission state.

Bobbie Best

Wailuku, Maui

March 10, 2022 - EV charging stations

By Noel Morin

I appreciate James Lehner’s “Free charging stations” letter published in Your Views on Feb. 27.

I agree — electric car charging should not be free. There are costs to operate and maintain the chargers. For them to be sustainable, there must be a fee for use.

Some station owners like Target offer free charging for the first two hours of use and a fee beyond that. However, most stations require payment for use.

Regarding placement, station locations are generally influenced by installation costs. In general, the further from a building and its power supply, the more costly it is. This is one of the reasons we find charging stations close to buildings.

Local businesses have many incentives to host charging stations. There are rebates, tax credits and other benefits that offset costs to property owners.

Additionally, they benefit from the extra revenue from customers who tend to shop longer and are willing to pay for car charging.

Electric cars are very efficient and cost less to maintain. They don’t pollute our air and contribute to emissions. They become cleaner as our grid transitions to renewables. (We are now at 60% renewable.)

Importantly, electrics are becoming very affordable. However, we have a long way to go toward our clean transportation goal. There are fewer than 1,300 electric cars here, less than 1% of the over 185,000 vehicles on our roads.

The case for more public charging stations is to support everyone who needs to own one. Many residents live in apartments, condos and rental homes where installing a home charger is impossible or difficult. They will rely on ubiquitous, reliable public chargers to make the shift.

Public charging allows us to make our transition to clean transportation equitable.

Noel Morin

President, Big Island EV Association

March 10, 2022 - Adopt carbon cashback bill to make transition to clean energy

By Carol Cam

Climate change affects the lives of most Hawaii residents, often in untold ways: elders suffer severe dehydration and strokes, students experience oppressive heat, drought and wildfires occur more often, coral reefs die, and storms damage infrastructure and interrupt goods and services.

Hawaii needs cost-effective climate action that protects low- and middle-income households; it needs to transition quickly to clean energy and transportation. House Bill 2278, a bill in the state Legislature, can accomplish this by putting a gradually rising tax on fossil fuels and passing the collected money to residents as a refundable tax credit. This will help residents adapt to the price increase of goods and services while allowing a dramatic reduction in climate-changing emissions.

HB 2278 is a carbon cashback policy and is the most cost-effective way to reduce carbon emissions at the scale and speed needed to help Hawaii achieve its clean energy goals. The bill has passed all state House committees and has moved to the Senate. It is now vital that all senators support it; the bill must pass, and eventually go to Gov. David Ige to be signed into law.

A carbon fee is the least intrusive government solution. It requires much less government than regulations or government spending. There is broad agreement among thousands of economists that carbon pricing will effectively reduce emissions. Real-world examples back this up. As of September 2021, 27 countries have implemented a carbon tax. There are more than 60 carbon pricing initiatives implemented by governments across the globe, covering 21.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2021.

The consequences of inaction are costly. If we don’t proactively address climate change, we continue to see the rising price tags for disaster response, crop insurance, flood prevention, disease and geopolitical turmoil. By aggressively reducing emissions, we can prevent even more expensive climate disasters afterwards.

Solving climate change will require big investment in new emissions reduction infrastructure and technology:

wind turbines, solar panels, electric vehicles, building retrofits, etc. While most investments in innovation will come from the private sector (corporations, small businesses, households, etc.), some will be funded by public investments at the local, state and national levels. Innovation and investment in clean energy are important but must be focused on rapidly reducing emissions. A price on carbon emissions creates an even marketwide price signal, encouraging all innovations to reduce emissions.

Hawaii has the opportunity to contribute to significant emissions reductions and eliminate its dependence on fossil fuel imports while helping its residents along the way.

All of us need to quit using fossil fuels soon and quickly. Carbon pricing is a very effective and fair way to do this.

Hawaii has been a leader in climate action. When we pass a carbon pricing policy, we will not only contribute to critical climate action. We will inspire our nation to do the same.

I urge all Hawaii senators to vote for HB 2278.

ISLAND VOICES

Carol Cam, a clean-energy advocate, is a co-leader for the Citizens’ Climate Lobby, Maui Chapter

March 9, 2022 - On divesting from the fossil-fuel industry

by Laurel Brier

If you have installed a solar water heater or you are riding the bus, recycling, consuming less, planting trees or cutting meat out of your diet, you are taking personal responsibility for reducing your own carbon footprint. And yet your bank, retirement fund, IRA or other investments may be countering all your good efforts with their investing your money in fossil fuel.

With Congress in a stalemate and greenhouse-gas emissions continuing to rise, there is movement and reason for hope with the divestment campaign. Divestment is moving money away from the fossil-fuel industry and investing in climate solutions which are creating new, safer, better-paying skilled jobs. The biggest block to climate action is the fossil-fuel companies themselves. All institutions, as well as individuals, need to stop supporting their destructive practices by no longer financially investing in fossil- fuel companies. Besides, fiscally, the fossil-fuel industry is becoming an unstable investment with a poor future.

Ten years ago, students in universities around the country started demanding their schools’ rich endowments quit investing in fossil fuels. 350.org helped coordinate the divestment movement, and faith groups soon joined the universities that were divesting. Before long the movement expanded to pension funds, hospitals, cities and philanthropic foundations. In 2014 the movement went global when Bishop Desmond Tutu spoke boldly at the World Summit, calling for all to divest from fossil fuel and invest in climate solutions. The demands from the divest/invest campaign also include investing a minimum of 5% of assets in climate solutions.

The pressure is now on banks, insurers, investors and other financial institutions to divest. Financial firms, with more than $8 trillion in combined assets, have already divested their fossil-fuel holdings.

Some 71 countries have divest/invest campaigns, and $40 trillion has been pledged for divestment. It has become one of the most-successful campaigns in history. In 2016, Peabody, the world’s largest coal company, listed divestment as one of the main reasons they went out of business. The value and credibility of the fossil-fuel industry has plummeted in recent years and, for the first time, in the 2020 presidential election, the majority of the candidates refused to take money from fossil-fuel companies.

A new campaign from 350.org is pushing the Federal Reserve to divest from fossil fuel. The first action is to fill the vacant Federal Reserve Board seats with climate-conscience people.

Most often, people do not know where their bank, IRA or pension fund has invested their money. There are options and resources, such as banking with a local credit union, which invests in the local economy. Or online bank/investors such as Aspiration, Green Century and Amalgamated that have climate-friendly, socially responsible options and transparency. Even big investment firms such as Black-Rock and Vanguard, after public demand, are now offering fossil-free options as well. You can use the site fossilfreefunds.org to see the rate of your investment. Or betterment.com helps you set up your own portfolio to fit your values.

Unfortunately, our Hawai‘i Employee Retirement System still has funds invested in fossil fuels and about $181 million invested in the timber industry, which means continuing destructive deforestation.

ERS leadership has opposed legislative efforts to divest, saying they prefer “engagement” versus divestment. Engagement, as employed by shareholder activists to unseat Exxon board members, can be effective when aggressively pursued. Still, fossil- fuel investments are a risk for both investors and the planet now, and that is why ERS is being pushed to divest from these companies. Divestment bills were introduced this legislative session in the state House and Senate, but both died without hearings.

March 7, 2022 - Canada has success with carbon pricing, rebates

by Virginia Tincher

Thanks to John Cheever for providing correct information about the success of carbon pricing and rebate in the Canadian province of British Columbia (“Carbon tax can have good results in Hawaii,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, March 2).

Seven of the 13 Canadian provinces and territories are now using carbon pricing and rebates. The Canadian Press reports that most households are getting more in rebates than they are paying in higher energy prices. Canadians refer to the rebate as their “climate action incentive.”

Some worry a carbon price might contribute to inflation. It would not. A recent Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) review of carbon pricing systems in Canada and Europe found they are not inflationary. In particular, countries that return carbon tax revenue to households have not seen inflationary effects.

Hawaii’s carbon pricing and rebate bill, House Bill 2278, has 23 co-sponsors and passed the House with strong support.

March 6, 2022 - The Garden Island - Carbon cash-back works, benefits most families financially

House Bill 2278 is a very-important bill being considered by the state Legislature because it is a crucial tool to address the climate crisis we face.

The bill is designed to reduce the emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The purpose of this letter is to clarify the bill and its beneficial effect on both reducing carbon emissions and helping to put more money in the pockets of the majority of Hawai‘i’s families.

HB2278 assesses a tax on the distributors of fossil fuels, for example, refineries, and returns the total amount of the tax revenue (less administrative fees) to households in Hawai‘i in equal shares. The allocation back to households would be made through refundable tax credits.

This bill applies the carbon fee and dividend model, which has been endorsed by thousands of economists, including 28 Nobel Laureate economists, four former chairs of the Federal Reserve, and 15 former chairs of the Council of Economic Advisors.

This model is the subject of a study by the University of Hawai‘i Economic Research Organization. The Legislature appropriated $150,000 for this study. Unlike other studies, this one is specific to Hawai’i.

The UHERO study reports the economic results of allocating all of the tax revenue (or dividend) to households in equal shares. The study finds that for a carbon fee starting at $50 per metric ton in 2025, rising to $70 in 2045, the average household for the lowest four income quintiles would benefit, with the greatest net gain experienced by households in the lowest income quintile. The fifth and highest quintile would break even. For most households, the dividend would more than compensate for the increase in prices resulting from the carbon tax.

According to the study, the average household in the lowest income quintile would experience a net gain of $900 in the first year of the program. That net gain would decline to $700 in the last year (2045) due to declining tax revenue. The declining tax revenue is consistent with declining fossil-fuel consumption and declining greenhouse-gas emissions, which is the purpose of the tax. So rather than this decline being seen as a negative, it will show that the bill truly has made a difference, lowering our greenhouse-gas emissions substantially.

The UHERO study concludes that the carbon pollution fee along with existing legislation causes emissions to decline by 40% below 1990 levels. Since revenues are distributed to households in equal shares, the policy is progressive.

According to most climate scientists, new data show that we have less time than we previously thought to make the drastic changes needed to avoid a global climate disaster. HB2278 should grab our attention and support because it both effectively reduces greenhouse- gas emissions and benefits Hawai‘i’s families.

Last year the Legislature adopted state Senate Concurrent Resolution 44, which recognizes that we are facing a climate emergency. We need a multi-faceted solution to avert a global climate disaster. HB2278 is an important part of that solution.

Dr. Helen A. Cox is chair of the Kaua‘i Climate Action Coalition and colead of the Kaua‘i Chapter of Citizens Climate Lobby. Prior to her retirement, she served as chancellor of Kaua‘i Community College for over a decade.

March 4, 2022 - Carbon Cashback: Good for the Planet and the Pocketbook

Hawaii’s leaders are moving along one of the most consequential climate policies considered by our Legislature — a carbon fee and refundable tax credit.

The measure, House Bill 2278, promises to create an environment that will accelerate our transition away from fossil fuels, contributing to much-needed emissions reductions while protecting our low-to-moderate income households. It does this by putting a predictable increasing price on carbon pollution.

This will increase the cost of fossil fuels and incentivize reducing their utilization — much as a tax on cigarettes reduced consumption. Furthermore, HB 2278 mandates that the tax revenue be returned to residents to offset the expected increase in prices. This allows the tax to be progressive — it does not grow government but will enable residents, especially those in low-to-moderate income households, to benefit.

More

February 24, 2022 - EV calculator

by Ron Reilly

Thank you for the front-page article, “Isle transition to EVs slow” (Tribune-Herald, Feb. 14).

Regarding the cost-effectiveness comparison between EVs and gasoline cars, there is a free online calculator at https://chooseev.com/savings-calculator/.

Put in the make/model of the EV you may be considering and the make/model of the gas/diesel vehicle you are presently driving.

Enter the local price at the pump and the cost per kilowatt hour of your home electricity from the Hawaiian Electric bill, and up comes the estimated dollar saving per month of driving electric, based on the number of miles per year you drive.

Also, Hawaiian Electric may have a home EV charging program that could work for greater savings.

In Hawaii, with our year-round warm weather, the cost savings will likely be greater than the calculator estimates. And, if you drive conservatively using regenerative braking, your results likely will be even more impressive.

I greatly enjoy the fun, the efficiency and the dollar savings of my Kia Niro EV, not to mention the health benefits of clean air and the environmental benefits compared to burning gas or diesel.

Ron Reilly - Volcano

February 6, 2022 - Tax enables sharing the cost of carbon

by Jaymen Laupola, Barry Solomon, and Noel Morin

Our fossil fuel dependence is responsible for climate change, which is now causing extreme weather and natural disasters worldwide. This existential threat will continue to increase unless urgent action is taken to eliminate our dependence. To remedy this, we must account for fossil fuels’ true cost to society.

Love – Hate Relationship

Fossil fuels have transformed the world’s economies, enabled innovation, increased productivity, and enhanced the quality of life for many. The concentrated energy found in oil, gas, and coal enables the technology, automation, and work that we have grown to cherish and depend upon.

Fossil fuels, however, have contributed to high environmental and societal costs. The extraction, processing, transport, and burning of coal, oil, and gas have resulted in egregious consequences – pollution of our air, land, and water, and climate change. The costs of the resulting diseases and deaths, natural disasters, and the environmental restoration and adaptation measures required to mitigate the impacts are borne by society. This situation contributes to incredible profits for the industry at the expense of everyone else.

Much like the destructive addictions that we’ve seen in history (e.g., the nicotine addiction fueled by Big Tobacco and the recent opioid epidemic spurred on by the pharmaceutical industry), the profit motive and ignorance of social costs have contributed to benefits for a few and an immense burden for many. In the case of our fossil fuel addiction, the profit is at the expense of our planet.

The Social Cost

The fossil fuel industry has avoided an estimated $2.5 trillion in health and environmental costs each year worldwide. This avoidance suppresses the prices of fossil fuels below their true cost, encourages consumption, and escalates climate change. Who pays? We do, and, in many cases, we aren’t even aware of it.

These unaccounted consequences to society factor into the social cost of carbon – the estimate of the damage caused by emitting one additional ton of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The federal government estimates this cost at $51 per ton. 

Sharing the Cost of Carbon

The Hawaii Legislature has introduced SB2732 and HB2278, which will assess taxes on fossil fuels around $51 per ton of carbon dioxide, which the Federal government currently estimates as the marginal cost of carbon emissions. At that rate, fossil fuel companies would be charged for costs currently being shouldered by society - they would be paying their fair share.

A carbon tax would discourage the consumption of fossil fuels and result in price increases for products that are heavily dependent on fossil fuels. The increased (more accurate) costs will lead people to conserve energy, shift to energy-efficient appliances and equipment, adopt electric cars and renewable energy, and other behaviors that will reduce fossil fuel dependence.

This shift is feasible as the needed technologies already exist and are dropping in prices. There are also local and federal incentives to offset the costs. 

It gets better.  

A carbon pricing policy that includes distributing the money back to residents will provide people with cash to adjust to the expected price increases for fuels and energy. Lower and middle-income classes are likely to come out ahead, and they will benefit more if they adopt lower-carbon lifestyles. This distribution of carbon tax revenue to people is a feature of legislative bills SB2732 and HB2278.

Fighting our fossil fuel addiction is about a transition to clean energy options that would allow us to lead a more sustainable lifestyle. It’s a fight to ensure a livable world for our kids and future generations. 

A carbon tax will help us make this transition.

February 6, 2022 - The climate emergency is a health emergency

by Laurel Brier

The climate-change emergency has caused a health emergency for all of us.

Over 46 million health workers worldwide presented a letter to the climate talks at the COP26 in November, calling for climate action for the health and well being of humanity. Under the Global Climate and Health Alliance, their letter outlined the health emergency related to and exacerbated by the same factors driving climate change and have resulted from the impacts of it.

Fossil fuels are the key drivers of climate chaos, and have long been known to be the major pollutants of the air we breathe. They are responsible for nearly 9 million premature deaths a year.

The higher temperatures we are experiencing speed up the hazardous, ground level ozone. Ozone and other pollution make it difficult to breathe, contributing to asthma and other pulmonary diseases.

Air pollution exacerbates coronavirus, making people’s lungs more vulnerable to the effects of the infection. Children are especially susceptible to the effects of heat, asthma, allergies and insect-borne diseases

The first nationwide study on rising temperatures and children shows greater impacts on younger people.

Heat stress and air pollution can lead to preterm labor and increased risk of low birth rates. New findings are showing that air pollution can harm our brains, increasing the risk of dementia and other neurodegenerative disorders in older people, and affect the developing brains and nervous systems of babies in vitro.

Extreme heat increases the likelihood of heart disease and strokes. Worldwide heat waves are now unprecedented, such as the one in western Canada this past year that killed 500 people.

The UN has issued a warning that we have entered the era of pandemics. Global viral outbreaks were rare until recent decades. The primary reason for the appearance of these diseases is a warming planet, which has allowed, and sometimes forced, insects and animals to migrate to new areas.

Diseases that originated in the wild, in animals, and were once contained there, are now infecting humans. Warming conditions of climate change have promoted their spread and dramatically expanded their range. More pandemics, like that of COVID, are predicted.

Floods have led to outbreaks of deadly waterborne illnesses like cholera and typhoid fever when there is resulting sewage overflow and contaminated drinking water supplies. Melting permafrost is also releasing ancient microbes that today’s humans have never been exposed to, and consequently are without resistance.

Behavioral and mental health challenges have been directly linked to a worsening climate. Studies even connect climate change to violent crime. And if all this doesn’t cause you to be anxious and depressed, you’re not paying attention. Critical mental-health issues related to the climate crisis are being given serious attention, and will be discussed in another article.

Climate change is the most-significant public health challenge in the world today. But we can reframe climate solutions as opportunities to invest in public health, which will make our world healthier and safer and more just. if we do what we know needs to be done, there will be immediate benefits, fewer respiratory problems, more green spaces, health care for all, healthier food, more resilient communities, and new and better job opportunities.

Climate change is not a faraway problem that no one can fix, as corporate-sponsored media may lead you to believe. We can be the movement that creates a fossil-fuel-free world. We will see immediate changes, recognize and understand that a low-carbon future is actually good for our health and all other life on our planet.

January 31, 2022 - Let’s Put A Price On Carbon

By Noel Morin

Legislation that would pay people to improve the environment and mitigate climate change has been introduced in Congress and in the Hawaii Legislature — House Bill 2278 and Senate Bill 2732 are the state proposals.

Putting a gradually rising tax on fossil fuels coming into our economy and passing along the collected money to our residents is a strategy that will help us transition to cleaner energy and transportation. Pricing is a powerful solution as it incentivizes a system-wide change in consumer and producer behavior.

More.

January 23, 2022 - To support isle families, enact carbon fee to reduce emissions

By Helen Cox Kalaheo and Susan Gorman-Chang

The Hawaii Tax Review Commission recently recommended that Hawaii implement a carbon fee and dividend to reduce the burning of fossil fuels, which would in turn reduce the devastating effects of climate change. That is first on its list of recommendations. The commission is composed of citizens and is guided by the principles of equity, efficiency and adequacy.

Carbon fee and dividend was also the subject of two extensive studies conducted by the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization (UHERO), which concluded that this model would be effective in reducing fossil fuel emissions. The state Legislature funded the first study by appropriating $150,000 for it.

The basic concept of the carbon fee and dividend model is simple. It rewards people who are low users of fossil fuels, and it penalizes high users. Notably, the study finds that the commission’s proposal would benefit most of Hawaii’s families financially. Although family expenses would increase because of a tax on fossil fuels, these families would also receive a monetary dividend. Most families would receive a larger dividend than the increase in their spending.

Whether a specific family experiences a net gain or a net loss — and the size of the gain or loss — depends on various factors. UHERO estimates that the lowest income quintile of households would experience an average initial net gain of $700 under the commission’s proposal.

Carbon fee and dividend assess a tax on importers and producers of fossil fuels. Most of the tax is expected to be passed down to consumers. The higher prices would discourage consumption, reducing fossil fuel emissions.

To understand what the effect higher prices would have, one can look at what happens when gasoline prices have increased in the past due to market forces. Consumption drops because many people find ways to reduce their driving. In the same way, the tax will reduce consumption of fossil fuels and thus reduce climate changing emissions.

However, that’s only half of the policy story. The commission’s proposal returns 80% of the revenues in equal shares in what they call a “cashback.” This monetary dividend makes the policy progressive rather than regressive. In fact, the great majority of low-income families would come out ahead financially.

The tax revenue can be thought of as a pot of money. Low users of fossil fuels put small amounts of money into the pot in the form of taxes. High users put large amounts into the pot. Despite the different amounts contributed, the pot of money is divided equally for distribution, so that each person or household gets the same amount. Low users get more than they put in, and high users get less than they put in. The methodology creates an incentive to reduce the use of fossil fuels.

Carbon fee and dividend bills introduced in the state Legislature in 2021 are still alive in this 2022 session, and others may be introduced. The bills vary somewhat in the tax rate on fossil fuels, and they vary greatly in the size of the monetary dividends. However, all bills can be amended to replicate the proposal made by the commission or carbon cashback scenarios analyzed by UHERO, thereby making these bills progressive and leaving the average low-income household with more money in their pocket.

Hawaii can demonstrate its continued national leadership on climate change. Hawaii was the first state to set a net zero carbon emissions goal, and the first state to declare a climate emergency. The 2022 legislative session began on Wednesday. Hawaii has the imminent opportunity to be the first state in the nation to pass carbon fee and dividend legislation.

January 15, 2022 - Unite state, country on carbon pricing

by Carol Cam

We see the results of climate change in extreme weather causing crop failures, coral reef die-off, global unrest and migration. People and fellow creatures die from heat and natural disasters. International scientists, economists, military analysts and world leaders agree that global warming beyond 1.5 degrees centigrade will trigger climate tipping points that will threaten life.

The most effective resolution to climate crises is to decrease global warming by ceasing to use fossil fuel. Instead, we must use solar, wind, hydropower, ocean tidal power, geothermal, green hydrogen and other innovative energy tools.

Carbon pricing can effectively discourage and decrease fossil fuel production and use. Twelve states and 23 countries have carbon pricing, yet Hawaii and the U.S. as a whole are slow to adopt it.

In March 2020, Hawaii’s Senate passed a carbon pricing bill that the House still needs to pass. Hawaii has the nation’s highest electricity and natural gas rates, despite having the third-lowest electricity consumption of all states. Hawaii will continue to suffer from high energy prices if it depends on imported fossil fuels.

In Congress, the current Build Back Better bill has more consensus on the climate provisions than on the rest of the bill. Furthermore, climate scientists warn the transition to renewable energy isn’t fast enough. Climate Central news reported that since 2020, a 67 percent increase in major power outages was caused by climate events and the Pentagon said climate change threatens U.S. security.

I suggest readers volunteer with Citizens Climate Lobby.

Carol Cam

Lahaina

January 9, 2022 - Economic interests depend on a healthy planet

By Laurel Brier

Economic interests cannot come at the expense of a livable planet. Indeed, our economic interests depend on a healthy planet. Take a look at the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which caused an immediate loss of an estimated 10,000 jobs and over $1 billion in revenue lost to the commercial fishing industry. Now, a decade later, the area has still not environmentally or economically recovered.

The corporate rhetoric says, “It will cost jobs if we stop manufacturing (guns, plastics, cigarettes, pesticides)”; and “It will hurt businesses if we (regulate, protect, effect change);” and “We can’t afford to (tackle climate change, clean up the air and water, transition to green jobs).”

The corporate narrative has pronounced that climate action will always negatively affect our economic prosperity. It is, in truth, exactly the opposite.

We cannot have a healthy economy, or a healthy, thriving population, without a healthy planet. We need to reverse this thinking. Rather than perceiving the economy as separate from the health of our planet, all our economic planning needs to include analysis of how that planning will affect our planetary environment.

First, we need to reexamine how we talk about the economy and how we measure economic prosperity.

Economics is not a hard science such as physics or chemistry. It is changing models and theories. We currently measure the wellbeing of our economy by the gross domestic product, which calculates all that is produced, manufactured or generated in a country.

For example, following this formula, the more people who are sick and pay for treatment are measured as part of the GDP. More is better utilizing this model, regardless of what it is, as long as it drives up the GDP. We have inherited and accepted an economic model that pursues untethered growth and calls it prosperity and success. As individuals, we work to accumulate more and more ‘stuff,’ and define that as personal prosperity and success.

Self-proclaimed ‘renegade’ economists, such as Kate Raworth, are entertaining different economic models that are based on regenerative and distributive systems that respect the natural finite limits of the environment and the rights of humans to have their basic needs met; models that are circular rather than linear.

These concepts are not new and were the practice in Hawai‘i and elsewhere prior to colonization and the imperialistic practices of extraction, export and import. They do continue to exist despite the dominant culture narrative in many places, and are receiving attention as we struggle to define a sustainable economic model.

We have an opportunity to fix an economic model that is failing the majority of people on multiple fronts — because the factors that are destroying our planet are also destroying people’s quality of life.

We have an opportunity to invest in a better future for all. We can create new jobs with livable wages, rebuild our infrastructure that will be more resilient to the extreme weather that is becoming more prevalent and is now our future. We can reforest lands that have been stripped. We can regenerate soil that has been degraded to grow more-nutritious food. We can look at new economic indicators that take into account the health and wellbeing of the entire planet and all beings.

Systemic change, paradoxically, requires individual change, since economic structures are a product of our way of thinking, writes Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the UN Convention on Climate Change.

We act as though we can extract resources boundlessly, use them inefficiently and then discard carelessly, taking more from the planet than it can regenerate and polluting more than we can clean up.

Natural scientists have provided abundant evidence that we have reached several planetary boundaries, beyond which Earth’s bio systems cannot sustain life. The climate crisis requires a total shift in our thinking. We need to understand ourselves to be deeply connected to all of nature if we are to survive and thrive. And in that lies our wealth.

January 5, 2022 - Climate change requires shared sacrifice

By John Kawamoto

For hundreds of thousands of years, we humans have been looking beyond our own selves to make sacrifices to improve the lives of our children.

Today, as a society, we can improve the lives of our children — and future generations — by making sacrifices that mitigate the effects of climate change. However, powerful interests that benefit financially from the burning of fossil fuels will try to convince us not to make those sacrifices.

The Earth is a Goldilocks planet that is not too hot and not too cold. A very small temperature range is just right to support human life.

For example, an increase in the Earth’s average surface temperature of only half a degree Celsius in the past 20 years has caused wildfires, storms, droughts, floods and heat waves to be more frequent and more extreme. When it comes to climate change, small global temperature differences have enormous effects.

Climate change is largely caused by greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere by the burning of fossil fuels. Carbon dioxide is the main greenhouse gas, and it stays in the atmosphere for 300 to 1,000 years, according to NASA. What we do now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will make the lives of our children better — as well as their children, and their children — for many generations to come.

We, as a society, are trying to control the emission of greenhouse gases. But much more needs to be done to keep Earth within the Goldilocks temperature range. In addition, we must realize that controlling climate change requires sacrifices.

A number of bills that mitigate climate change are expected to be introduced in the upcoming legislative session, including the following:

>> Carbon sequestration, which takes carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere by, for example, planting trees and engaging in certain types of agricultural practices.

>> Climate Justice Action Plan to ensure an equitable transition away from fossil fuels.

>> Green constitutional amendment to create an individual right to a clean, healthy environment.

>> Visitor impact fee, which assesses a fee on tourists, with the revenue used for environmental purposes.

>> Carbon pricing to increase the tax on fossil fuels to discourage consumption. The various bills give some or all of the tax revenue back to people, which they can use for other expenses.

>> Decarbonizing electrical production and transportation, to shift these functions more quickly toward renewable energy sources.

THESE BILLS DESERVE to be passed, but the fossil fuel industry and its supporters are likely to oppose them. Any reduction in the burning of fossil fuels would reduce their collective bottom line, which they would rather maintain, even at the expense of the environment.

However, their public statements are more palatable. They say, for example, that legislation to mitigate climate change will be intrusive and pose difficulties for people.

They hope that we will ignore the disastrous future that would result from their arguments, which would raise the Earth’s temperature beyond the Goldilocks range.

Instead, we should remind ourselves that we are not doing it for ourselves. For hundreds of thousands of years, we humans have been willing to make sacrifices to improve the lives of our children.

Conditions have changed, but it is still true. We are willing to work to create a livable environment for our children and for future generations.

Past media contributions.