Changing Cities: Ending Hawaii's Oil Addiction

[CRT1]

Originally Posted by ItsNotAboutTheMoney

Actually large population centers are useful for wind because it provides somewhere to send a lot of electricity. Maine may add offshore wind but it'll actually go to Boston.

I'll take it!

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Originally Posted by CRT1

I'll take it!

Do you want to pay for it?

People are complaining because there's a lot of investment in on-shore wind in Maine but because of the geography it's spread out and so requires significant build-out of infrastructure. Our distribution charges jumped 19.6% in July, about 1.2c/kWh.

[CRT1]

Originally Posted by ItsNotAboutTheMoney

Do you want to pay for it?

Ha, Ha, actually we have more coming off our roof-top PV array than we can use at home. 734 kWh last month. Whoohoo! But any excess I buy 100% wind from NStar. I think it comes from VT.

We oversized the PV array because we definitely plan on switching our household fleet over to plug-ins over the next few years. I'm test driving the Plug In Prius this weekend.

[bnther]

Originally Posted by CRT1

Ha, Ha, actually we have more coming off our roof-top PV array than we can use at home. 734 kWh last month. Whoohoo! But any excess I buy 100% wind from NStar. I think it comes from VT.

We oversized the PV array because we definitely plan on switching our household fleet over to plug-ins over the next few years. I'm test driving the Plug In Prius this weekend.

Sure...rub it in why don't you!!!

[CRT1]

I used: http://www.alterisinc.com/

Check out the PowerSavings Plan. I put $0 down and pay $45 per month for the PV array and so far the power company pays me $20-40 per month for excess power. Net cost is $5-25 per month.

I used to pay $100 per month ave for 100% wind energy. Would have been $92/mo for standard. Household has 2 adults and a 4-year old.

Obviously you need to have a good site for the install, but they can determine that pretty quickly for you. If you are a renter, it complicates things, but it may still be possible.

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Originally Posted by CRT1

I used: http://www.alterisinc.com/

Check out the PowerSavings Plan. I put $0 down and pay $45 per month for the PV array and so far the power company pays me $20-40 per month for excess power. Net cost is $5-25 per month.

I used to pay $100 per month ave for 100% wind energy. Would have been $92/mo for standard. Household has 2 adults and a 4-year old.

Obviously you need to have a good site for the install, but they can determine that pretty quickly for you. If you are a renter, it complicates things, but it may still be possible.

Maine has regulated monopoloy distribution by region and deregulation of supply. However, I can't buy a 100% renewable supply in my area. There really isn't much competition. There's really one company, Electricity Maine, providing lower-priced competition to the Standard Offer supply, but to do that they use more coal and only meet the New England average on pollution. (They also use more nuclear power, but that's OK). It may simply be that they can't be cleaner than the Standard Offer contract, because that buys most of Maine's renewable capacity (hydro, biomass and wind).

[macword]

It's good to see Hawaii address this problem...they have a lot of obstacles to overcome.

Kauai's electric rates are among the highest in the nation because they historically have generated electricity from diesel fuel. When we lived there, rates approached 50 cents a KW at one point.

Many people do not bake or spend much time cooking because of the high costs of electricity. This would seem to encourage a lot of ready-made foods being shipped in.

Obtaining good FE is difficult because of so much traffic. Lots of 'stop and go' all over the islands.

Many of the cars rented by tourists on not necessarily fuel efficient...many Jeeps and Mustangs.

Many locals are not wealthy enough to own newer fuel efficient cars. Lots of older cars on the islands if you get away from the tourist areas.

Hawaii has a lot going for it in ways to produce energy...they just need to solve some basic infrastructure problems to make it work well.