Maui's New Windmills

I first visited Maui back in 1975 or so as a kid, and I've returned several times since. I'm happy to say that much remains the same. Yes, there are more people, more houses, more traffic, but it still feels like the Maui I've known over the years. The biggest exception this time are the new windmills that are generating power.

You can see them from everywhere along the west coast, giant wind turbines running along a hillside. Here's the view from Kihei, where you can see them running down the spine of the mountain:

I know -- I should crop it to make it clearer. Hey, I'm on vacation. Here's a closer shot passing by them from offshore:

I found myself mixed about how to feel about the windmills. I love windmills. One of my favorite things is driving through the vast windmill farms near Palm Springs, or Tehachapi or Altamont Pass in Northern California. Growing up during the energy crisis of the 1970s, I assumed we'd see windmill farms like these everywhere. But they have seemed slow in coming.

Now they're on Maui, and for the first time I understand some of the concerns of those who have worried they might spoil the landscape. I never felt that an issue in the California locations above, but on this island, they feel odd, strange, out of place.

Still, on the balance, I'm OK with them. One nice thing in looking at them is that they give a visible reminder that there's less pollution being generated, less contribution to global warming and somehow a sense that Maui is being more green.

Wanting to know more, I did some looking about the wind farm. This AP article says the wind turbines went fully operational in July 2006, only three months ago. There are 20 turbines in all, and this article says they generate 9 percent of the island's total power needs. Wow -- that's a big chunk. A second planned wind farm will take overall power generation up to 20 percent.

I didn't come across a ton of stories with opposition to the projects, though I might easily have missed them. This is a 1999 article covering concerns about a wind farm, but it might not have been for the same project. Scroll down here, and it talks about lots of letters to the Maui News against the plan, mostly from mainlanders. Want more -- try this search over at the Maui News, with examples like this and this and this, suggesting that perhaps painting them green might camouflage them better.

Wow!

I learn something new about Hawaii every day.

I go to Maui with the family once and a while but usually spend my time in and around Lahaina and never saw them. They have never made the news that I can recall either. I have never heard a complaint.

I love windmills! Believe it or not... My grandmother gave me a small piece of worthless land in Texas when she passed away. It WAS worthless until I was contacted by an energy company who wanted to placed a windmill on it. Now we get about 7K per year from it. Thanks Grandma!

Here is a little bit of Hawaii SEO trivia.

The keyword "Maui" gets more than it's fare share of search queries based on overall island popularity and visitor statistics, etc. (Whatever number you want to measure)

However... Maui Cities get almost no traffic compared to much less popular destinations.

My assumption for this phenomenon is because Hawaiian Words can be hard to spell and people don't bother searching for words they can't spell or remember.

This places popular Maui locations like Lahaina and Kahului at a disadvantage compared to cities like Kona or Hilo which are easy remember and spell. People are forced to start at the top with the generic keyword "Maui" and drill down from there in the hope of finding something more specific.

IMHO, It's always a good idea to keep this issue in mind when choosing a domain, product or business name, etc.

Have a great vacation!

Aloha,
Dave.

Comment by Hawaii SEO | November 1, 2006 7:58 PM

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