Postcards from the Planet

While travelling on the Big Island of Hawaii, which is located in the trade wind belt, I saw several wind farms. Wind farms are arrays of wind turbines which capture the energy from local winds and use them to produce electricity.

Windmills near Hawi, Hawaii: photo by Jay Torborg

On the Big Island, electricity is VERY expensive because it has to be locally generated by burning coal or oil. There are no coal mines or oil wells on the Big Island (as Hawaii Island, one of the five bigger islands that make up the state of Hawaii, is known), so all the fuel used to generate electricity is brought in by boat. The boat itself needs fuel and maintenance for the long journey, so the cost of the fuel is very high. Electricity rates on the Big Island are about four times what they are in the Mainland United States. That makes wind power and solar power much more attractive financially. I even saw one house with its own private windmill and solar panels on the roof!

This wind farm at the north end of the island takes advantage of the trade winds that blow across Hawaii. Trade winds are steady winds that blow at 15 to 20 miles per hour, given their energy by the rotation of the earth on its axis.