The ‘silver bullet’: Our own actions

It is clear that our community concern over electricity costs has once again come to a boil. We are all frustrated with the apparent lack of progress at Kauai Island Utility Cooperative.

Many people feel that we need to find a way to move past all the endless dialogue and planning and more definitively into action. These sentiments were well articulated by Walter Lewis in his column “A plan to reduce power costs,” A Better Kaua‘i, Nov. 15.

After all, what many of us want is a solution to this problem, right? We don’t want to know how difficult it is, how expensive, how many regulations there are, nor do we want to be told that idea after idea is infeasible or implausible or impractical. What we want to hear, to steal a phrase, is “Yes, we can.”

In that spirit, I deeply appreciate the efforts being but forward by Lewis, Jose Bulatao, and others who have chosen to vigorously endorse the WRE project to attempt to convert garbage into electricity. Although I think burning garbage is a terrible idea, I am 100 percent in agreement that we need to take an insistent approach to this problem, to take a stand, and to refuse to back down until we achieve a satisfactory resolution.

Our situation is a perilous one. Not only must we make definitive choices, but we must also make correct choices. We can absolutely not afford to obligate ourselves to tens-of-millions of dollars in future contractual obligations just so we can say we did something.

Due to concerns I had with the WRE proposal being advocated for by Lewis, and many other well intended individuals, I contacted him and challenged the assertions because I believe they are seriously misleading. The basis of my concern was that his recent commentary, and other materials being circulated, give the impression that the WRE project will (almost certainly) save ratepayers substantially.

A part of his response is as follows:

“No reliable assessment can be made as to the user savings that might occur if a WRE supply contract were made. The variables include: the time when WRE output would commence; the price of oil at the time; the scope and terms of the WRE contract; and the accounting changes for KIUC if it ceases to be primarily a power generating utility. However, some range estimates could be permissible. Since the saving could be material, the public ought to be informed.”

This is quite different from his statement in the commentary that “the benefits would be dramatic.”

The reason I am taking the time to write this detailed account is because, as I suspected, people are already joining in to endorse this proposal without due consideration, as in the letter Nov. 17, “Renewable energy plan a winner.”

Such uninformed opinions, taken collectively, are in fact dangerous. In this critical moment, it is imperative to recognize that we need discipline as much as we need action.

As this is an opinion page, and we are certainly in need of solutions, I would like to offer one.

It is not solar, or wind, or biomass (although I do like the potential of hemp as a fuel). It is not the Small Wind Ordinace being proposed by Councilman Tim Bynum (although that’s certainly a good step in the right direction).

I would assert that we should all be capable of reducing our own electricity usage, through conservation and efficiency, by 50 percent. Now that would be a “silver bullet,” and would allow us to practice both discipline and action. I’m not there yet myself so I’m off to get to work on it.

And I promise to write in once I’m closer …

• Ben Sullivan, Lawa‘i
http://kauaiworld.com/articles/2008/11/18/opinion/letters_to_the_editor/...