Transcending oil

Hawaiʻi is heading towards 100% clean energy.
But until we get there, we spend over a billion dollars per year on foreign oil.

About this Report

Transcending Oil: Hawai‘i’s Path to a Clean Energy Economy assesses the pace and impact of clean energy deployment in Hawai‘i since the launch of the Hawai‘i Clean Energy Initiative in 2008, and explores potential pathways in the decades to come. Choosing the path is up to us. This report presents a quantitative independent assessment of our accomplishments to date and describes the future potential of clean energy deployment in Hawai‘i’s electric power sector and on-road transportation. Commissioned by Elemental Excelerator and independently conducted by Rhodium Group in partnership with Smart Growth America and Sudokrew Solutions, the report finds that the past decade of transition provided a host of economic and environmental benefits. It also forecasts how Hawai‘i can expand these benefits by accelerating the pace of transition in the years ahead.

Data and Methods

To do this, Rhodium Group leveraged state-of-the-art energy system and economic modeling tools, state and federal datasets, existing literature and nearly 200 hours of interviews and meetings with Hawai‘i stakeholders and experts. The findings consider the uncertainty around oil prices and renewable energy costs and conclude that there is a range of cost-effective deployment of renewable energy in Hawai‘i of 58%-84% in 2030. For results from other scenarios and more detailed methodology, see the report and technical appendix at transcendingoil.com.

Elemental Excelerator is a non-profit growth accelerator that helps startups change the world, one community at a time. Each year, it funds 15-20 companies up to $1 million each to improve systems that impact people’s lives: energy, transportation, water, agriculture, and beyond. To date, Elemental Excelerator has provided over $22 million to 63 companies.