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.

SB 2092: RENEWABLE PORTFOLIO STANDARDS; DEFINITION; BIOMASS; REPEAL

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