Elon Musk introduced lithium-ion battery named Powerwall – a wall-mounted energy storage unit that can hold 10 kilowatt hours of electric energy, and deliver it at an average of 2 kilowatts, all for US$3,500. This halves the normal cost of a backup battery for a solar or wind installation making it both easier to go off […]
Feds Take Oversight of Ocean Energy Projects
The Energy Policy Act of 2005, passed under former President George Bush gives oversight of ocean energy technologies to the Federal government. Projects in Hawaii that could come under federal oversight include wave energy projects and the proposed interisland cable system. Hawaiian Electric Co. is currently working on putting in place energy projects that can […]
Task force looks at vast Hawaii offshore energy potential
A federal-state offshore renewable energy task force held its first meeting in Hawaii, which may have more wind energy resource within 50 miles of its coasts than any US state other than Alaska. The task force is patterned after others formed with 10 East Coast states and Oregon that allow the Bureau of Ocean Energy […]
County to Allow LED Street Lights
Maui County spends $2 million a year for street lighting. Changing to LED lights could halve that. But as the ordinance is written now, LED lights are not allowed. The Administration wants to change that. Unfortunately LED lights have a lot of the blue spectrum which interferes with the Observatory and distort colors. Read more […]