Finding the juice to turn on the lights became a bit more complex this week after Gov. David Ige announced that using liquefied natural gas to generate electricity was a no-go with his administration.

Admittedly, a full, frank and vibrant family discussion about LNG is probably not happening at dinner tables across the islands, but for energy professionals, the Ige announcement was either astounding or appalling.

“The governor’s pronouncement, which appears to have no basis in technology or economic analysis, just damaged Hawaii’s credibility in energy and financial markets. The big question now is how big and deep is the damage?” said Hermina Morita, former chairwoman of the state Public Utilities Commission in her blog “Energy Dynamics.”

Ige divulged the change in state direction at the start of the three-day Asia Pacific Resilience Innovation Summit & Expo, a meeting on energy strategies.

“Any time and money spent on LNG is time and money not spent on renewable energy,” said Ige.

Hawaii has to think about LNG because we make about 80 percent of our electricity by burning oil to run generators. It is inefficient, polluting and wildly expensive. Hawaiian Electric, whether owned by Hawaiian Electric Industries or Florida-based NextEra Energy, has been planning to replace the oil-fired generators with LNG-powered plants because LNG is cheaper and the turbines are in need of millions of dollars in EPA-required upgrades.

LNG was supposed to be the so-called “bridge fuel” to move Hawaii to energy independence. If LNG is out, critics now say, what precisely does Ige expect to use to turn the generators?

“We are talking a total energy system transformation to be done in the most affordable way possible. While we need to move on to an integrated systems approach, the governor and his advisers are stuck in linear thinking — we need leadership, collaboration, cooperation and action, not uninformed proclamations,” said Morita.

Others, such as the left- leaning news magazine, The Nation, all but declared Ige a national hero.

“Ige’s decisive and ambitious energy vision is making Hawaii into the world’s most important laboratory for humankind’s fight against climate change,” read The Nation’s account of the Waikiki conference.

Calling it a “sanity check,” Earthjustice attorney Isaac Moriwake said on behalf of the Sierra Club and Earthjustice that “HECO and NextEra want to make a quick buck off of huge LNG investments and get us hooked on another imported fossil fuel.”

What is becoming the hallmark of the Ige administration is the lack of an explana- tion, the backup detail, the follow-through and community outreach needed to sell any of the new governor’s plans.

Ige on energy is always going to raise questions because one of those cooking when his kitchen Cabinet convenes is Robbie Alm, the former executive vice president of HECO, who was responsible for the power company’s plans for alternative energy.

Alm is a study in corporate citizenship. He was an executive VP at First Hawaiian Bank, state director of Commerce and Consumer Affairs and worked for the late U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye. We know he is one of the governor’s closest advisers, but what we don’t know is what he is telling the governor to do.

So far, both Ige and Alm have been mum about Alm’s role in Ige’s desire to tear up the HECO LNG blueprints.

If Ige is going to oppose both the HECO-NextEra merger and HECO’s plans for LNG, somewhere along the way, he has to break out the “Ige energy coloring book” and starting filling inside the lines.

Richard Borreca writes "On Politics" on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.