Let"s hear it for Hawaii. The island nation is walking into the future a touch faster than the rest of the United States by pledging to never again build a coal-fired power plant. And since coal plants have a lifespan of between 30 and 50 years, Hawaii will someday be 100% coal free.

Another portion of the pledge is to be 70% powered by renewable energy in 2030. These are big goals, and not simple to achieve. Hawaii has a bit of an advantage over the rest of the U.S. though. First, a small population where power is already far more expensive (due to shipping costs) than elsewhere in America.

They also (obviously) have tremendous geothermal potential, not to mention plenty of windy and sunny days per year. However, they also face some unique challenges. Because the state is geographically divided from itself, it"s difficult to generate power for each individual island. That"s why part of this plan is to create an undersea cable connecting Maui (where lots of renewable power is already generated) to Molokai and Lanai.

The plan includes feed-in tariffs for renewable electricity, tax breaks for biofuels, and a plan to run Hawaii"s many oil-fired power plants on "sustainably harvested" biofuels. This bit is the sketchy. If I know one thing about Hawaii, it"s that it is a biological gem, and we certainly shouldn"t be harming that...even if it means increased carbon emissions.

Details on the plan will continue to emerge, and we"re hoping that other states will be following in Hawaii"s footsteps soon.

Via TreeHugger

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