Ever since he bought this island I can't get the image of a bearded Lesiure Suit Larry going around the island trying to pick up skanky women.
Oracle's Ellison outlines plans for Hawaiian Electriclarryland
When legendary Texan alt.rock ensemble Butthole Surfers recorded their (NSFW) 1996 opus Electriclarryland they almost certainly did not imagine a billionaire named Larry would one day buy a Hawaiian island and decide to revive its economy with solar-powered desalination plants and battery-powered cars. That billionaire is, of …
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Tuesday 18th June 2013 07:07 GMT Anomalous Cowshed
Island
It's amazing what dreams you can make come true with cash. Some people say: what would you do if you won the Lottery? You wouldn't have a clue, it would change your life forever for the worst...but look at what this man is about to do with his masses of cash!
A few years ago there was an island off Mexico for sale - 99 square km, mountains, beaches, nobody and nothing there, but huge potential for someone with cash to make it into a small country with desalination, etc. It was on for 35 million $...you could have built a whole country there, powered by solar power and desalination. Compared with an island in Hawaii though, it was nothing!
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Tuesday 18th June 2013 14:03 GMT Rampant Spaniel
Re: The whole island
He bought 90% ish of it. It dates back to the mahele (and the ahupua'a system) and how land was divided. Lana'i was pretty much bought up and used for pineapple. Larry just bought that large share. Some folks will own the land their home is on, some will lease but it's fairly sparsely populated.
Lana'i city is ironically named, I can whack a cricket ball from one end of it to the other. Nice place though, awesome kanaka.
The wind farm is a huge mistake, not the principal, but it's location. Potable water has been an issue there, isolation not so much although it is isolated. Gas prices are due as much to the scale / lack of competition than anything else. Hana has similar gas prices, only one station, Lahaina harbour is even more expensive but there isn't much choice if you want to fuel a decent sized boat. The electric car idea sounds funny, I can just imagine all the braddahs trading their raised f350's for a volt. Just isn't happening, might make sense for the touristas and their rentals. Solar could be interesting, but so could geothermal, especially an open geothermal system as that would give you power and potable water.
Lana'i (and to be fair most places here) are stuck between wanting to expand and modernise but not wanting to lose their identity and charm. It's a tough choice, it's always tempting to build another hotel or timeshare, but you go from looking like Lana'i or Moloka'i to looking like Oahu. Folks need work, lets see if Larry manages to do this tastefully without killing the charm of the island.
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Tuesday 18th June 2013 11:42 GMT Ian Michael Gumby
Go nuclear
While an electric island powered by solar sounds nice, the realities will set in. Mother Nature can be a real bitch sometimes.
A small latest generation plant could power Larry's dream. Maybe using wind to augment the power plant would be possible, but I wouldn't bet the future on it.
How long has the US run a nuclear navy? Longer than most readers have been alive.
See also nuclear salt batteries..