Bill Text: HI SB680 | 2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating To Renewable Energy.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2025-01-23 - Referred to EIG/AEN, CPN. [SB680 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2025-SB680-Introduced.html
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THE SENATE |
S.B. NO. |
680 |
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THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2025 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
RELATING TO RENEWABLE ENERGY.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
In addition, the existing power
plants that burn fossil fuels, wood, or trash are major contributors to climate
change. Climate change is caused
by excessive greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The most prevalent greenhouse gas is carbon
dioxide, which is emitted when trash, trees, coal, oil, or gas, are
burned. According to the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration, once carbon dioxide is emitted, it stays
in the atmosphere for three hundred to one thousand years. Actions taken now to reduce the emission of
carbon dioxide will affect the livability of the planet for generations.
Recent data show that the rate and intensity of climate change is greater than predicted. The years from 2013 to 2021 all rank among the ten warmest years on record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Centers for Environmental Information.
Twenty years ago, the legislature established the State's renewable portfolio standards model to ensure that Hawaii's electric utility companies transition from using fossil fuels to renewable energy. At the time, biomass was considered a "carbon neutral" energy source. Two major sources of biomass combustion are the burning of trees and the burning of waste.
However, burning trees will only contribute to climate change for at least the next several decades or longer. Trees remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and mature trees remove more carbon than saplings. Moreover, it can take decades for trees to grow into mature trees. Burning trees is fifty per cent worse for the climate than burning coal because wood is a less energy-dense fuel, and much more must be burned to get the same amount of energy.
Waste incineration is the most expensive and polluting way to manage waste or generate energy. For the same energy output, trash incineration releases sixty-five per cent more carbon dioxide than burning coal. Compared to landfilling, trash burning releases significantly more carbon pollution and is far more polluting generally.
To reduce both electricity rates and greenhouse gases, the State should immediately disincentivize expensive and polluting biomass incineration by eliminating biomass from the renewable portfolio standard.
Accordingly, the purpose of this Act is to remove biomass from the renewable portfolio standard definition of "renewable energy".
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 biomass crops,
agricultural and animal residues and wastes, and municipal solid waste and
other solid waste;
(8)] (7)
Biofuels; and
[(9)] (8)
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.
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INTRODUCED BY: |
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Report Title:
Renewable Portfolio Standards; Definition; Biomass; Repeal
Description:
Repeals biomass from the renewable portfolio standard definition of "renewable energy".
The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.
