President Packard called the meeting to order at 12:00 pm and asked for general announcements.
Warren Yamamoto made an announcement about the upcoming HCES 2013 Engineer’s Week.
President Packard announced that it was Vice-President Wolfgramm’s 30th birthday and presented her with a lei. Servings of peanut butter pudding, made by Treasurer Toyama and her sister, were distributed for all to enjoy.
Vice-President Wolfgramm introduced the speaker, Peter Rosegg from the Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO).
Mr. Rosegg discussed the formation of HECO and the company’s history of heavy dependence on fossil fuels. He then discussed the clean energy economy and the requirement of 70% clean energy by 2030. HECO is on track to meet the 2015 requirement of 15% energy from renewable sources, but meeting the 2030 requirement will get harder from here. He discussed the challenges of balancing demand for electricity and the uneven nature of renewable electricity production. He also talked about the rising cost of oil worldwide and mentioned HECO’s firm belief that renewables will be cheaper in the future than oil. He summed up HECO’s next steps:
- Make rooftop solar power easier
- Encourage energy efficiency
- Promote electric vehicles
- Seek 400 MW more renewable energy for Oahu; 30 MW more for Maui; 50 MW geothermal for the big island
- Increasing biofuels and biomass
- Evaluating liquefied natural gas to replace oil
President Packard noted that plans for the February meeting were not firm yet, but more information would be forthcoming. The meeting adjourned at 1:10 pm.
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