The Big Island needs
Honua Ola’s energy
91直播 needs a diversified portfolio of energy producers, including Honua Ola Bioenergy’s firm, emissions-controlled, 24/7 power. Solar panels and wind turbines are forever classified as intermittent, so potentially insufficient.
During the recent kona low rainstorm, my rooftop solar production dropped from about 15 kilowatt-hours/day to only about three kwh/day. During the spring of 2023, Hilo experienced over a month of bad weather. My rooftop solar production dropped from about 440 kwh/month to only 28 kwh/month. Less than 1 kwh/day!
In both instances, my household functioned normally because 91直播an Electric provided needed electricity, generated in part by burning oil, a fossil fuel.
91直播 law, Act 97/HB623 (2015), now 10 years old, mandates ending fossil fuels for electricity production by Dec. 31, 2045, a mere 20 years from now. HECO is already using alternative sources like solar, reducing its use of oil to 41% (2024) and steadily heading lower.
Without oil, what will keep us powered up during bad weather? I sure wouldn’t want to have an emergency after a stretch of rainy days when solar panels aren’t producing and batteries aren’t recharged.
I like solar, but I question whether acres of solar farms are right for a state that needs housing urgently and for half the year lives under hurricane awareness. When (not if) a hurricane hits, solar farm panels could go flying and land everywhere from the mountains to the reefs to our living rooms. Shards of broken glass everywhere. It’ll take a long time to be rebuild.
Going green is good, but safety and security are better. Honua Ola’s energy is literally locally grown and sustainable, not susceptible to world events or disappearing subsidies.
We need Honua Ola more than people may realize. It is 99.5% complete. Approve its completion to start generating dependable power!
Glen Kagamida
Hilo
Response to the editorial
about US education system
America doesn’t need an education moonshot! It needs to get back to basics.
The author of that editorial (Jan. 5, 91直播) admits that America’s education system has been failing long before this new administration, yet spends over half a page blaming this administration and then rehashing the exact programs that were being pushed that made for the failures we currently have.
I’d start with putting back programs that work, such as industrial arts. All industries now have tech, but AI isn’t gonna build a house, install plumping, wire a house and other trades. And college is not for all and is overrated in many disciplines.
Everything new and shiny is great, but does it work? The proof we have seen is it doesn’t.
Steve Kaiser
Hawi
