• Local alternative-energy development needed Local alternative-energy development needed With gas-pump prices soaring to record highs on Kaua‘i, and the cost of a barrel of oil jumping up and down across the globe, alternative-energy solutions are looking better and better.
• Local alternative-energy development needed
Local alternative-energy development needed
With gas-pump prices soaring to record highs on Kaua‘i, and the cost of a barrel of oil jumping up and down across the globe, alternative-energy solutions are looking better and better.
The island’s electricity grid once was powered by a healthy amount of bagasse-burning when Lihue Plantation was in full operation. The steam turbine fueled by the burning of the fibrous material left behind after sugar molecules were squeezed from cane helped balance the sometimes-erratic operation of the diesel-fuel driven electrical generators at Port Allen.
Today, with high oil costs, 46 cents of every electric-bill dollar goes toward fuel costs, according to Kaua‘i Island Utilities Cooperative officials.
Today, leaders at Gay & Robinson at Kaumakani — Kaua‘i’s last sugar cane plantation — are gearing up to create a fuel additive, ethanol, that will be blended with oil from Alaska, Indonesia and other locations, and ultimately pumped into our vehicles.
This is a good start. But with the increasing likelihood that either a huge demand for oil in the growing economy of China and other Asian nations, or the chance that Middle East tension might cause a serious cutback in global-oil production, it’s time to move on and add more sources of alternative energy.
KIUC leaders are attempting to add alternative-energy projects to its oil-fueled generator mix. One possibility is biodiesel fuel. Some tour-boat companies have already been using converted cooking oil processed on Maui to power their boats.
Biodiesel is a liquid fuel that can replace regular diesel fuel. It’s made from vegetable oil. Biodiesel can run diesel engines that are commonly found in big vehicles such as trucks, buses, or boats. On the island of Maui, biodiesel fuel is already available to county and private fleets.
According to the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism Web site, using biodiesel fuel, or blending it with regular diesel fuel, can reduce the production of oil emissions, making the air healthier, as well as reusing oil used to cook French fries and other food products. This also takes care of the problem of disposing of waste oil, and turning to what’s known as a “renewable fuel” rather than using oil.
Producing biodiesel fuel on Kaua‘i can also add some jobs, taking dollars spent on oil and using them to pay local workers to produce the biodiesel fuel.
Solar-energy panels that convert the sun’s light into electricity are becoming cheaper, too, as more are produced. North Shore resident Charlie Cowden and others have wired homes with these photovoltaic panels. Notably, in the weeks following Hurricane ‘Iniki, Cowden’s home was up and running almost immediately, while others waited and waited for their power to come back online.
One solution that isn’t likely to work on Kaua‘i is wind power.
The massive infrastructure needed wouldn’t fit into our landscape, and projects on O‘ahu’s North Shore and the Big Island’s south coast at Ka‘u have had mixed results at best.
We encourage these forays into the world of alternative energy. They may mean the difference between normal life as we know it, and a lifestyle curtailed by lack of energy sources in the future.
