Lucky Honolulu Wasn't Founded on Upper Peninsula: The Brookings Metropolitan Carbon Footprint Report

Re: Mayor Hanneman Letter
June 2, 2008

To the Editor
The Honolulu Advertiser

The Mayor boasts about Honolulu’s superior carbon footprint and some boasting is appropriate.

It is no surprise that Honolulu has one of the smaller transportation footprints in the nation. With its bus system, Honolulu often ranks second in the nation in transit market share to the New York area. It is hard to imagine that the proposed, expensive rail system will make that any better.

As for residential energy, had the city founders instead chosen a location on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, things would look much worse. Honolulu’s modest residential carbon footprint is a function of Hawaii’s marvelous climate, which reduces energy demand substantially.

Sincerely,
Wendell Cox
Principal, Demographia, St. Louis