Thursday, April 16, 2009

Letter to Editor Merits Attention for Energy Action

The daily media provide more than their share of inspiration for Hawaii Energy Options. A letter in today’s Honolulu Star-Bulletin is such a case.

Here’s the submission by Alex Woodbury of Kamuela, HI. In the spirit of former Honolulu Mayor Frank Fasi, Alex deserves a “Good Guy” award for recognizing the problem, then doing something about it:

Carbon cap can bring big benefits

Here in Hawaii nearly 90 percent of our electricity is generated from burning fossil fuels. All of the goods shipped to Hawaii are done so by sea or by air with fossil fuels. We are an economy hinged on the availability of fossil fuels. We are an island economy with a huge carbon footprint. It is time for a change.

I decided to do something about it. I installed PV net metering systems on my residence and my office, and I run my company vehicles on biodiesel locally remanufactured from used cooking oil. To date my home and office PV systems have offset more than 25,000 pounds of carbon dioxide and my fuel-efficient biodiesel powered vehicles have reduced my fossil fuel consumption by 10,000 gallons.

A cap on carbon pollution will create tens of thousands of good-paying American jobs that can't be shipped overseas.

Consumers and businesses will benefit from stable energy prices, and with greater energy efficiency, we can get more from the energy we have, which will mean lower electricity bills. My family and my business have benefited thus far; however, in order for our economy to truly benefit, our leaders need to step in and force change.

Alex Woodbury
Kamuela, Hawaii

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