How Hawaii Island Will Benefit from Honua Ola’s Tree Planting Commitment

Once approved to begin operations, Honua Ola Bioenergy will be growing trees on Hawaii Island, which will serve as the primary feedstock for the plant to generate renewable energy for homes and businesses, while also providing lumber and other wood products.

Invasive species, such as albizia, strawberry guava and gorse, will also be used to generate energy with the added benefit of removing harmful non-native species from the environment.

Honua Ola is on record guaranteeing that it will plant many more trees than is harvested, enabling its production of renewable energy to become carbon negative after only a few years.

Honua Ola’s Commitment to Sustainability

Because trees capture greenhouse gases, Honua Ola’s tree planting program will capture more carbon than the plant emits. So far, Honua Ola has committed to planting 3.1 million trees as soon as the power purchase agreement becomes effective. Plus, Honua Ola is working to secure agreements to plant additional trees to further reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Honua Ola’s commitment to plant more trees than is harvested means its operations will be truly sustainable, in addition to being socially responsible. Furthermore, the trees planted by Honua Ola will help prevent soil erosion, improve soil quality, contribute to the development and support of other industries, and provide many other economic and environmental benefits.

Stabilizing and Enriching the Soil

Trees provide many benefits to Hawaii’s people and environment. They produce oxygen, store carbon dioxide, provide a home for wildlife, and stabilize the soil. And all sorts of products that improve people’s quality of life are manufactured from trees.

Preventing Soil Erosion

Trees play a substantial role in reducing soil erosion due to their root systems and foliage. Soil erosion is harmful and costly as it can lead to an increase in sediment that ends up in the ocean where it damages marine life and reduces the amount of fertile soil.

Trees reduce soil erosion by preventing rainwater from hitting the soil directly and washing it away. Instead, trees absorb considerable moisture in their foliage, which passes into their trunks and out through their roots.

Tree roots hold soil in place and dramatically improve drainage by preventing soil compaction. This loosening of the soil allows water to percolate through the soil and into the freshwater aquifer, instead of flowing over the surface of the ground, causing erosion.

Improving Soil Quality

Improving Soil QualityTrees significantly improve the quality of soil. Planting trees maintains and improves the fertility of the land by maximizing the soil’s ability to absorb and retain water. Deep layers of underground soil contain enormous amounts of nutrients that trees recycle by pulling nutrients from decomposed material to the surface to support soil formation. Trees also capture nutrients from the atmosphere and deliver them to the soil.

Trees serve as a source of nutrients used by crops. The integration of trees and crops improves the quality and availability of nutrients in the soil. Integrating forestry with other types of agriculture can increase crop production, in some cases more than conventional farming in which only seasonal crops are cultivated.