The Oil Drum

Hawaii seems to come up often in the thinking of people aware of peak oil. On one hand, it seems like an ideal place to relocate after peak oil - no need to worry about heating a house; clothing is mostly for protection from the sun; and crops can be grown year around. On the other hand, it produces no fossil fuel itself, and it is at the end of the supply line for both food and fuel. Hawaii's biggest industry, tourism, is already declining, and with rising fuel costs, can only decline further.

Many of you know that I was recently in Hawaii. After visiting, I thought I might post a few of my thoughts about the situation.

Dave Roberts over at Gristmill has a blog entry about a proposed energy plan by Hawaii's governor Linda Lingle called "Energy for Tomorrow" (press release here, fact sheet here).

The basic gist of it is that Hawaii doesn't have any fossil fuel resources of its own, and it isn't exactly in a prime location to receive cheap imports. However, the state does have a lot of sunlight, and apparently they're interested in increasing their use of ethanol, although neither the press release nor the fact sheet say which crop they intend to use to develop ethanol.