There's a news report out that Hawaii wants to cap the wholesale price of gasoline, because it has gotten too high.

Of course we know that won't work. Refiners will simply ship their product elsewhere if it can get a better price elsewhere.

But ever since I visited the Big Island in 2001 I have felt that Hawaii's energy situation is, frankly, reversed. The island has immense stores of natural energy -- waves, wind, and vulcanism.

All you have to do is tap it.

See if this sounds silly.

Huge slow-moving turbines, under the water, powering faster electric turbines on the land. Water piped near enough lava flows to feel the heat, then pulled back to drive more turbines. Windmills off the Kona coast, sending electricity directly onto the Island.

Yes, Hawaii is isolated, but electricity can do important stuff. Remember junior high school chemistry? Remember electrolysis? Electricity can seperate oxygen from hydrogen, and it can cool that hydrogen for compression. Tankers can take that hydrogen to California, where it will power fuel cells.

Hawaii should be providing Texas with energy, not the other way around. What kind of technology do we need to tap the Earth? How much pollution will we create using electricity, first, to desalinate water, and then to separate its molecules?

Are today's prices enough of an incentive for someone to get busy on this kind of thing? It hasn't seemed practical before because you couldn't get a price for alternative energy. Now you can. If prices can be held here, or near here, that's a lot of incentive for engineers and entrepreneurs.

If Hawaii becomes Texas, and Texans have to buy Hawaiian energy, I wonder if someone from Port Arthur might suggest a price cap?

It might be fun to find out.