Guest essay by Lawrence Hamlin
In what has to be a clear indicator that climate alarmism issues are pure politics not science the New York Times, L A Times, Washington Post and many other climate alarmist mainstream media highlighted articles about the state of Hawaii signing a law saying the state would reduce future emissions in support of the Paris agreement which the U.S. is wisely exiting.
According to the EIA Hawaii has the highest electricity rates of all 50 states and obtains more than 80 percent of its energy use from fossil fuels primarily petroleum with this situation having existed for decades.
Hawaii already has laws which supposedly require that 40% of its electricity be provided by renewables by 2030 and 100% by 2045.
Democratic Governor David Ige signed the largely ceremonial new law claiming the usual climate alarmist mantra of flawed assertions of rising sea levels, more extreme weather, shrinking biodiversity, etc, etc. with none of these claims backed up with any scientifically supportable data.
NOAA tide gauge data updated through 2016 shows no sea level rise acceleration taking place anywhere in the Hawaiian Islands over the last 115 years a point which Governor Ige did not discuss. Nor did Governor Ige address Congressional testimony showing no link between emissions data and extreme weather.
Hawaii’s total CO2 emissions amount to about 18 million metric tons annually representing about 0.05 percent of present global emissions.
The fact that so much news media hype was concentrated around such an insignificant amount of emissions tells the real story here which is the climate alarmist mainstream media is conducting a climate alarmism political campaign because they are upset with the decision that the U.S. will exit the badly flawed Paris agreement.
I think this is great. All these states signing on to reduce their emissions…truly noble.
Just one question…how much money are they contributing to the Green Fund?
Anyone?
Beuhler?
Thought so.
The top ten list is:
1. Bloomberg
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
And how many billions did he kick in?
And the chinese must have been laughing their asses off at Moonbeam. ..
Kick in?
Hawaii is probably betting it’ll get a “withdrawal”.
Actually, due to it’s remoteness, location relative to the equator, lack of any natural fuel production, solar and wind might make sense for Hawaii, despite the high cost for little energy.
Diamond Head crater could be easily adapted into a reservoir for solar battery/hydro electric storage. I doubt it’s the only crater handy.
There is no beer on Hawaii,
there is no beer on Hawaii.
There is no beer on Hawaii,
Therefore I remain here.
These are all propagandistic names for a non-binding contract that no one needs to adhere to. Trump knows for sure, and he also knows that this is all a propaganda campaign against him and his politics. In essence, Hawaii and, of course, California, too, will have to bend in a field of his commanding power, in which he and he alone will say: The field of energy and energetic use. However, what can not prevent Hawaii and California, and every inhabitant of that state, from producing and using very expensive, non-economic renewable energies. But already with prohibitions for fossil energies it becomes more difficult, this legislation competence (a prohibition competence) has none of the US states.
The US should leave them to it, they’re only shooting themselves in the foot. As long as Hawaii realizes the US won’t bail them out financially as a result.
The best cure for socialism is to give them what they want, along with the bill.
Portuguese aphorism: “Take what you want, God says, but pay for it.”
Words to live by . . .
Wait until the locals start seeing the windmills and solar panels spoiling their scenery and killing their birds, animals, and vegetation. The locals could care less about their carbon footprint and will revolt when they realize they are the ones that will be paying to support the law. As their energy rates go up and push them back into poverty they’ll start questioning “Climate Change” when they don’t witness sea level change or rise in temperature. But most of all…..they REALLY don’t like outsiders telling them how to live.
Where are they going to put all these scenery busting wind and solar farms?
Probably right next to the OLD windfarms, where apparently old wind turbines go to die.
If HI really wants to do something about emissions, it will require tourists to travel to the Islands only by windjammer or canoe, like the first Hawaiians. No fossil-fueled airliners, cruise ships or other internal combustion-powered transport allowed!
Gabro,
As noted above, other wind-powered vessels are available.
And the hardy, adventure/triathlon types could swim.
I guess 44 would walk home – no holes in h I s feet, so far as we know.
Auto
Hawaii should build some nukes , some undersea interconnects, and some pumped storage.
No need for any windymills or solar panels.
So, there’re going to cap their big volcano ?
Will it cap the homeless too?
You’d think that with all those tradewinds and sunny skies that Hawaii would already have errected tons of windmills and soar panels. Their electric rates are 37 cents per kWhr the last time I looked, three times the national average, so they certainly can’t make things any worse, one would think, by dumping oil and using LPG to provide stability to their tiny power grid. Hawaii only consumes around 10 1/2 million megawatt hours of electricity
(Georgia consumes 124 million megawatt hours, for comparison). A single nuclear power plant or two small modular reactors, combined with Hawaii’s geothermal capacity is all Hawaii needs, and they will have reached zero emission status. Anyone want to guess what the stupid govt jerks on the islands will actually do? Hawaii is the ideal location for electric cars, since driving ranges are very constricted.
Dumping oil and going to LPG to provide stability …
Perhaps you can explain this, I was of the impression that LPG is more expensive and more difficult to ship. Am I wrong?
So, are they going to Kilauea ?
Yet more QTIIPS.
(QTIIPS stands for Quantitatively Trivial Impact + Intense Political Symbolism) from https://keithhennessey.com/2017/06/01/is-the-paris-agreement-qtiips/
Can anyone think of when the ‘tipping point’ occurred?
The one I mean is where Governments turned from actually & actively *helping* the population, to the place we are now where Governments are actively hindering & stifling the economic activities of the people under their control.
What went wrong? When. Where. Why.
My theory is when saturated fat became taboo and was replaced by sugar (processed carbs) in our diets.
YMMV but something pretty damn big happened at some point
“According to the EIA Hawaii has the highest electricity rates of all 50 states and obtains more than 80 percent of its energy use from fossil fuels primarily petroleum with this situation having existed for decades.”
And now they are well on their way to their 2045 100% renewable electricity target… which will reduce the enormous bill from shipping fossil fuel across to Hawaii and no doubt reduce electricity prices. And of course that means they will reduce CO2.
Hawaii is actually moving to 100% renewable energy, successfully. Get your heads around that.
What Hawaii chooses to do is their own business. Here’s the thing though, they have no business pretending that what they do is “saving the planet”, and acting all smug about how “green” they are, nor should whatever way they choose to supply their energy be subsidized by the rest of us. Hawaii should indeed choose whatever form of energy works for them, as should we all, and that is the point. But you Warmunists don’t don’t want that, and that is also the point. You want choice taken away.
Why do you think the price of electricity will come down? The lower costs will just result in more profit sharing for investors. Perhaps that is the way to go, invest in Hawaii electric companies.
When I was stationed in Hawaii back in the late 70’s there was the first legal case for a home owner claiming a right to sunshine. What happened was he had solar panels on his roof and a new house was built next door, a 2 story job which prevented the sunlight from reaching the solar panels. I was transferred and never found out how that turned out. Anyone know? Ristvan?
In England – probably Wales, too; not sure at all about Scotland – we have the right of Ancient Lights.
If your property, or a part, has had uninterrupted access to light for – I think – 20 years, you must continue to have such a right.
I recall seeing a sign claiming ‘Ancient Lights’ on a building near West Ruislip Tube station in the 1960s and 1970s.
See the incredibly authoritative Wikithingi, that even I can edit: –
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_light
(I take no responsibility for you relying on the Wikithingi . . . None whatsoever. No, not even an atto-smidgen!)
Auto, with shoulders even sloppier than usual!
Based on the proven lack of credibility of the EIA there is no reason to believe the claim they are doing what is claimed. And polluting the hills and mountains of Hawaii with windmills is hardly environmentally friendly.
Well let’s see shall we Griff with the news my windmill State of South Australia has received news our power prices will rise 18% from July1 which means a jump from 37.4c/Kwhr to 44.1c (or 28c to 33.1c in USD) so how does that compare with Hawaii at present?
At present with the spectre of blackouts looming due to a preponderance of these unreliables and coal fired power stations closing our political overlords are getting increasingly worried that the masses are quietly seething at being sold a pup, so naturally they hold an enquiry and try and come up with a fix like so-
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-09/finkel-review-why-should-we-care/8605730
So some of the dearest electricity prices in the world and rising and we’re facing rolling blackouts. Welcome aboard Hawaii should they go down the same path. Perhaps Griff you can explain why the Chief Scientist now wants to see any new Green power projects having to guarantee despatchability and why he’s not applying that same logic and rule to our existing ones?
The Hawaiians are making a religious gesture. Nothing they are doing will impact the climate in any way. But they are bowing to the spirit of climatism and that’s what counts.
I expect they will have 72 Virginians in an afterlife.
They will tell you if it is Heaven or a considerably hotter neighbourhood.
Auto
Hotscot, in your list of “left” regimes, I think you are including three from the right: Italy Germany Spain (if you mean in the period 1936 – 1945). Certainly in Spain the government prior to the civil war was democratic left-leaning, and Franco troops fought against socialist and anarchist groups supporting the Republicans. Post-war, it was therefore a right-leaning conservative, Franco, who created a dictatorship that lasted until 1975. Atrocities were committed by both sides.
But talking about evil empires, and in the context of climate change, I find it interesting that during Mao’s “great leap forward” around 1958-1961, when estimations of starvation range from 30 – 50 million deaths, people who moved to different areas pointing out there was no food where they came from were called “deniers” by the authorities.
Excuse the history from a fellow Scot.
Keith,
I thought the clue may have been in the name:
NAZIonale Sozialiste [if my two years of Deutsch in the 1960s still bear small – and slightly mis-shapen, maybe – fruit].
Auto
Hypothesis: “No action with respect to fossil fuel consumption by any US state would have a measurable effect on global temperatures or sea level rise by the end of this century.”
Anybody want to take a crack at disproving my hypothesis?
Hawaii emissions reductions? Kill campaign for termites? Cap Mauna Loa?
But Hawaii has been installing Wind farms,tried Tidal Power and Sugar Cane as fuel.
If wind or solar was viable,Hawaii would be the perfect customer.
As you visit “the most southern place in the USA” on the Big Island, be sure to observe the two wind farms.
A single picture is worth many words.
Strikes me they would obtain more reliable and cost effective power by installing a lined catch basin on Kauai catching all that lovely rain and generating hydro electric power .
Hasn’t Hawaii been down the twisting road of renewables before? See this article from 2012:
“Broken promises: The rusting wind turbines of Hawaii”
http://www.hawaiifreepress.com/ArticlesMain/tabid/56/ID/6350/Broken-promises-The-rusting-wind-turbines-of-Hawaii.aspx
Wow. A must read for anyone wanting information about the viability of wind farms.
You’ve got to keep it simple for the Twitter touchscreen generation cos that’s too many words at once for them with not enough colours-
http://anero.id/energy/wind-energy/2017/june
http://anero.id/energy/wind-energy/2017/may
I grew up on the Big Island. In the late 60s and early 70s my family would camp for three to four weeks at a time at Ka Lae (aka, South Point), the very southern tip of Big Island. Back then we would see no one, except for the handful of local ahi (yellowfin tuna) fisherman. It was a barren, windswept, magnificent place, and we could scarcely believe we had it all to ourselves. We played in tide pools, hunted for Japanese glass floats, spearfished, and jumped off the cliffs into the crystal clear blue water. It was absolutely heaven, and everyone in my family will tell you it was the best time of his or her life.
Now, apparently, the place is overrun by tourists and SUVs carving scars into the sacred landscape. And to add insult to injury, the skyline is polluted with the rusting hulks of the failed wind farm. Many have asked if I have ever gone back. I refuse to do so. I have been horrified by photos, and instead prefer to keep my precious memories intact.
Hawaii is doing this in the true spirit of the Paris Accords.
1) Claim you are saving the world.
2) Voice your hatred of those opposed to more poverty.
3) Make a non-binding promise to do essentially nothing.
4) Don’t actually contribute any money to anything.
5) Expect the US Federal Government and taxpayers to foot the bill in the future.
They are doing the same thing the Europeans and most other countries are planning to do.
+1 Very well said!
Why don’t they use geothermal and hydro power?
They do use geothermal and will extend it. It appears the resource is not available on all islands:
https://www.hawaiianelectric.com/clean-energy-hawaii/clean-energy-facts/renewable-energy-sources/geothermal
https://www.hawaiianelectric.com/about-us/our-vision/100-percent-renewable-energy
“Our goal is 100 percent renewable energy for electricity by 2045. By achieving this, Hawaii will greatly reduce its dependence on imported oil. This will lower electric bills and provide a cleaner environment for future generations.”
“The model we followed for decades was to generate energy at centralized power plants and distribute it to homes and businesses. This made more sense when oil prices were low and renewable energy was expensive. But this model no longer makes economic sense. Oil is a diminishing resource, so its price will increase over time. As renewable energy technology improves, its price decreases.
Replacing imported oil with renewable energy will have far-reaching economic and environmental benefits. We’ll keep billions of dollars that used to be spent on imported oil here in Hawaii. And as we move toward 100% renewable energy, we’ll greatly reduce Hawaii’s carbon footprint”
Hawaiian electric website
If tourists stopped flying to Hawaii, it’s economy would collapse.