HONOLULU, Feb. 5 (UPI) — Hawaiian officials have concluded that the resource-rich tropical state has little choice but to pursue green ambitions, reports the Los Angeles Times.
Their goal is to transform the nation’s most energy-dependent state into its cleanest and most sustainable. Hawaii aims to obtain 70 percent of its energy needs from clean sources within 20 years.
According to government figures, Hawaii now imports some 51 million barrels of oil at an annual cost of billions of dollars. Because it doesn’t produce any crude oil, the state is particularly vulnerable to the effects of spills, price swings and geopolitics. It depends almost entirely on oil for power plants, and its residents are currently subject to the highest pump prices and electricity rates in the United States.