Hawaii is composed of small islands which are surrounded by the sea and away from land. Due to this reason, its 90% of energy relies on importing from outside the island. That is the main reason why the cost of energy in Hawaii is so expensive compare to the mainland. This situation will get even worst if we do not take any further step.
From a long-term livelihood programs, the most fundamental way is to be self-sufficient. To achieve this goal, there are two basic steps we need to do.
The first step is to save energy. I personally believe that now many of Hawaii’s energy consumption are not necessary, like the use of air conditioning. In fact, Hawaii has pleasant climate all year around due to its unique geographical location. In most cases it is not necessary to have air conditioning. But the fact is most of public places are now using A/C. For example, UH consumes so much electricity on A/C every year. But actually, we can just open the windows instead. When I took Calculus in Keller building, there was no AC at all in that classroom. But I never felt hot during the summer time because there was air convection. Therefore, the temperature was just fine and I felt very comfortable because I can absorb the fresh air and felt the cool breeze.
The second step is to develop solar, wind and wave because these are the unique natural resources of Hawaii. We should try to make full use of what we have and I believe that the prospects are optimistic if we can follow all these steps.
