True, gasoline prices have dropped but the sinking cost of oil hasn’t made a dent in electric bills. Political pundits chatter about renewable energy and whether or not the new administration will tackle the issue head on in January. According to a recent article in the New York Times, ethanol companies are hurting as much as other businesses because of the credit crisis and rising corn prices. A new report says that research licensed from Los Alamos National Lab is going to produce mini nuclear power plants within five years.

Some people figure the whole business of renewable energy is a fool’s errand. I’m not one of those people. Here are a few of the more interesting pieces of news about renewable.

· Science Daily reported on research conducted by two University of Florida professors on enzymes produced by termites that break down plant materials including wood into simple sugar. The research isn’t complete, but it could lead to a much less costly and more productive way to break down wood and other plant waste that is available and, at least now, expensive to use.

· A researcher at the University of Montana, Gary Strobel, is publishing a paper in Microbiology in November about his discovery of a unique fungus in the Patagonia rainforest that actually makes hydrocarbons and hydrocarbon derivatives. The fungus isn’t ready to be tossed into a gas tank, but its discovery is a reminder that biofuel, corn and ethanol are not interchangeable terms.

· The Anchorage Daily News reported that geothermal energy development is moving forward in Alaska. Part of the state is located along the fabled Ring of Fire, a ridge of volcanic activity.

And, this is the best:

· The State of Hawaii may make the rest of the country look like a bunch of energy laggards, thanks to the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative. The Initiative commits to obtaining 70% of Hawaii’s energy from renewables by 2030. Hawaii imports most of its energy now, so there’s a good incentive for developing island-based alternatives. That may have been an early driver, but the Initiative has moved Hawaii past any other state in the country – including California – by setting a deadline and a firm target for replacing current energy with renewable from biomass, geothermal, hydro, ocean thermal energy conversion, solar, wave power and wind. It’s a demanding program with an ambitious goal. Given Hawaii’s take-charge work so far, I’d bet on the state to meet its goal.