Energy and Oil: Hawaii's Faustian Bargain

Sophie Cocke/Civil Beat

Editor's note: Read our blog coverage from the summit to get a day-by-day feel for the event.

Rising oil prices and a growing lack of patience among business and community leaders gave this year's clean energy summit a greater sense of urgency.

Hawaii's near total dependence on oil to power its homes, businesses and transportation needs is putting the state's economy and security in a perilous position, leaders of the renewable energy sector say.

But local residents aren't convinced wind farms and biofuel plants are things they want in their backyards.

The third annual Asia Pacific Clean Energy Expo and Summit at the Hawaii Convention Center in Honolulu this week attracted local and global experts from 13 countries.

Hawaii is dependent on imported oil for 90 percent of its energy needs, and foreign oil didn't fare well in the three days of discussions.

“We borrow a billion dollars a day from people who hate us, pay them (money) in order to buy what they have at a price that they dictate because they run the worldwide cartel and can charge us even more,” said former CIA director, James Woolsey, in reference to OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. “We really outdo [Vladimir] Lenin’s notion of how stupid and greedy capitalists are.”

That was the national view, and then there was the local angle.

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