February 16, 2007—Hawaii signed an agreement on February 12 to work with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in developing its own action plan for clean energy through EPA’s Clean Energy-Environment State Partnership.
Hawaii joins 14 other states working with EPA to develop strategies to promote cost-effective energy efficiency, clean distributed generation (consumers generating heat/electricity for their own needs via on-site production), renewable energy, and other clean energy sources that can provide air quality and other benefits.
Hawaii currently imports most of its fuel, but through its work with the partnership, it hopes to reduce its dependence on these imports through increased energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources.
The other states in the partnership are: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Utah.
