11/14/05 Maui wind

Some dear friends are on Maui this week hopefully relaxing, (did you hear that JoAnn) soaking up the sun. I will tell you the last thing they would want is wind. Yet wind in is exactly what the Maui Electric Company is hoping for and lots of it! This laid back island is pretty progressive when it comes to harnessing wind for power. Starting January, twenty turbines are set to generate nine percent of the islands electricity, helping to reduce the high cost of island living by shaving $120 a year off each resident's energy bill. The turbines will also reduce consumption of imported diesel both a financial and environmental benefit. Turbines will be placed high on the West Maui Mountains, amid dense vegetation (if my memory serves me correctly) so if my friends down at Wailea. look really hard they will see them as specks on the horizon. Maui could truly become the environmental jewel of the pacific by rapidly achieving the state wide goal of 20 percent renewable energy use by 2020. Source: Honolulu Star Bulletin vol 10 issue 302-Saturday, Oct 29 2005