RELATING TO RENEWABLE ENERGY.

SB2092

THE SENATE

S.B. NO.

2092

THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2026

STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

RELATING
TO RENEWABLE ENERGY
.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

����
SECTION 1.
�
The
legislature finds that electricity rates are a significant component of
household budgets and should be reduced where feasible.
�
In recent years, the costs of electricity
from alternative energy sources, such as solar and wind power (backed up by
battery and other means of storage), have dropped below the costs of power from
most existing power plants fueled by fossil fuels (i.e. coal, oil, or natural
gas), wood, or trash.
�
For example, the
Kauai Island Utility Cooperative's Lawai Solar and Energy Storage Project
averages a cost of eleven cents per kilowatt hour, which is below the cost of
biomass plants in the state.
�
With improved
battery and storage technologies, alternative renewable sources can be just as
reliable as power plants that burn wood, trash, or fossil fuels.

����
In addition, the existing power
plants that burn fossil fuels, wood, or trash are major contributors to climate
change.
�
Climate change is caused
by excessive greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
�
The most prevalent greenhouse gas is carbon
dioxide, which is emitted when trash, trees, coal, oil, or gas, are burned.
�
According to the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration, once carbon dioxide is emitted, it stays in the
atmosphere for three hundred to one thousand years.
�
Actions taken now to reduce the emission of
carbon dioxide will affect the habitability of the planet for generations.

����
Recent data show that the

rate and
intensity of climate change is greater than predicted.
�
The World Meteorological Organization has
confirmed that the years from 2015 to 2024 are the ten warmest years on record.

����
Twenty years ago, the legislature
established the State's renewable portfolio standards model to ensure that
Hawaii's electric utility companies transition from using fossil fuels to
renewable energy.
�
At the time, biomass
was considered a "carbon neutral" energy source.
�
Two major sources
of biomass combustion are the burning of trees and the burning of waste.

����
However, burning trees will only contribute
to climate change for at least the next several decades or longer.
�
Trees remove greenhouse gases from the
atmosphere, and mature trees remove more carbon than saplings.
�
Moreover, it can take decades for saplings to
grow into mature trees.

�
Burning trees is fifty per cent
worse for the climate than burning coal because wood is a less energy-dense
fuel; much more wood must be burned to get the same amount of energy as burning
coal.

����
Waste incineration is the most expensive
and polluting way to manage waste or generate energy.
�
For the same energy output, trash
incineration releases sixty-five per cent more carbon dioxide than burning
coal.
�
Compared to landfilling, trash
burning releases significantly more carbon pollution and is far more polluting
generally.

����
To reduce both
electricity rates and greenhouse gases, the State
should immediately discourage
expensive and polluting biomass incineration by eliminating biomass from the
renewable portfolio standard.

����
Accordingly, the purpose of this Act is to
remove biomass from the renewable portfolio standard definition of
"renewable energy".

����
SECTION
2
.
�
Section 269-91, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
amended by amending the definition of "renewable energy" to read as
follows:

����
""Renewable
energy" means energy generated or produced using the following sources:

����
(1)
�
Wind;

����
(2)
�
The sun;

����
(3)
�
Falling water;

����
(4)
�
Biogas, including landfill and sewage-based
digester gas;

����
(5)
�
Geothermal;

����
(6)
�
Ocean water, currents, and waves, including
ocean thermal energy conversion;

���
[
(7)
�
Biomass, including biomass crops,
agricultural and animal residues and wastes, and municipal solid waste and
other solid waste;

����
(8)
]

(7)
�

Biofuels; and

���
[
(9)
]

(8)
�

Hydrogen produced from renewable energy sources.
"

����
SECTION 3.
�

Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken.
�
New statutory material is underscored.

����
SECTION 4.
�

This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:

_____________________________

Report Title:

Renewable
Portfolio Standards; Definition; Biomass; Repeal

Description:

Repeals
biomass from the renewable portfolio standard definition of "renewable
energy".

The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.