Actionable Solutions

Current Obstacles

The future of Earth's energy is an important topic and holds a lot of significance to me because I realize how crucial it is that we don't deplete everything. I've taken my own steps toward helping Hawaii save nonrenewable energy and taking up renewable techniques. But, some obstacles can get in the way of reaching our renewable energy future, for example:

- To make plant-based biofuels, you would first need plants that can be made into oil and to grow plants, you need space. There is a need for a lot of land to grow a lot of crops that can make a decent amount of oil. Land is also needed for a factory that can produce the oil into a biofuel.

- Biofuel generating is very expensive because you need to maintain the crops until maturity using water and chemicals. The processing takes money to run the machinery and make it into electricity.

- There isn't enough support or public knowledge about biofuels. Most of the population know about solar and wind power because it's visible, but biofuels is an important renewable source of energy through out the world and should be significant in Hawaii because we have land that can be used for it.

Effective Strategies

Source: www.slideshare.net

Distributed land use among the islands

To address the problem of the public not knowing about biofuels and its benefits, I can use strategies that can create a response among the population. Biofuels can be more known to the public by:

- Putting up informative flyers about biofuel and its advantages around Mililani Town Center

- Educating a elementary school science class about renewable energy and biofuels, so that the new generation realizes that energy is very important to our world.

- Sending a testimony to the state legislature and gaining support from the public to make the bill being supported into a law

Implemented Solutions

Even through these obstacles, solutions have been implemented into our society to help our energy situation. I have done a few things to contribute to our long battle against our reliance on nonrenewable energy like:

- Learning that biomass and biofuels are a reliable source of energy and starting to make a change by giving other people knowledge about this topic

- By sending a testimony in support of S.B. No. 348 that requires all state-owned and operated-on highway diesel motor vehicles to use fuel containing no less than 20% biodiesel by July 1st of 2016.

(Click on the pdf on the right to see it). I sent it to Senator Glenn Wakai, chair of the Committee on Economic Development, Environment, and Technology, who's committee is part of this bill

- Able to create a way to make biodiesel that I can maybe try and put it in a diesel-powered vehicle to run on a nonrenewable energy source

Written Testimony Relating to Biodiesel