Bill Text: HI SB2845 | 2022 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating To Renewable Energy.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-24 - Referred to AEN/EET, JDC. [SB2845 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2022-SB2845-Introduced.html

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THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	2845
THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2022
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

relating to renewable energy.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 

     SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that urgent action is required to avert long-term catastrophic impacts due to the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere.  Carbon dioxide is the most prevalent greenhouse gas.  According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, when carbon dioxide is emitted, it remains in the atmosphere for three hundred to one thousand years.  Other gases, prominently methane, are even more dangerous to climate change.

     Two simultaneous approaches are needed to make the Earth more habitable for future generations:

     (1)  Greenhouse gas emissions must be drastically cut; and

     (2)  Mature forests must be preserved, while new forests must be created to draw greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere.

In addition, oceans must be cleaned of siltation, contamination, and plastics to reduce their warming.

     When the legislature established the renewable portfolio standards model twenty years ago, all biomass was considered to be renewable.  However, recent research confirms that there are vast differences between the carbon capture capacity of herbaceous crops and trees, and forest preservation is a critical strategy for controlling climate change.  The importance of forests has been underscored by scientists and economists across the globe, who wrote to world leaders:

          We urge you not to undermine both climate goals and the world's biodiversity by shifting from burning fossil fuels to burning trees to generate energy.

          For decades, producers of paper and timber products have generated electricity and heat as by-products from their process wastes.  This use does not lead to the additional harvest of wood.  In recent years, however, there has been a misguided move to cut down whole trees or to divert large portions of stem wood for bioenergy, releasing carbon that would otherwise stay locked up in forests.

          The result of this additional wood harvest is a large initial increase in carbon emissions, creating a "carbon debt," which increases over time as more trees are harvested for continuing bioenergy use.  Regrowing trees and displacement of fossil fuels may eventually pay off this carbon debt, but regrowth takes time the world does not have to solve climate change.  As numerous studies have shown, this burning of wood will increase warming for decades to centuries.  That is true even when the wood replaces coal, oil or natural gas.

          The reasons are fundamental.  Forests store carbon — approximately half the weight of dry wood is carbon.

     Accordingly, the purpose of this Act is to exclude trees, wood pellets, and other tree products made for burning, from the types of biomass considered as renewable energy in the determination of the renewable portfolio standard.

     SECTION 2.  Section 269-91, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending the definition of "renewable energy" to read as follows:

     ""Renewable energy" means energy generated or produced using the following sources:

     (1)  Wind;

     (2)  The sun;

     (3)  Falling water;

     (4)  Biogas, including landfill and sewage-based digester gas;

     (5)  Geothermal;

     (6)  Ocean water, currents, and waves, including ocean thermal energy conversion;

     (7)  [Biomass, including] Certain types of biomass, including herbaceous biomass crops, agricultural and animal residues and wastes, and municipal solid waste and other solid waste[;] but excluding trees, wood pellets, and other wood products made for burning;

     (8)  Biofuels; and

     (9)  Hydrogen produced from renewable energy sources."

     SECTION 3.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

 

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

 

 

Report Title:

Renewable Energy; Biomass; Trees; Wood Products

 

Description:

Amends definition of "renewable energy" to exclude trees, wood pellets, and other wood products made for burning.  

 

 

 

The summary description of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.