Rising crude prices pushed the value of Hawaii’s foreign oil imports to a record-high $4.5 billion last year even as consumption by local residents and businesses leveled off.

The amount spent on foreign oil equaled nearly 8 percent of the state’s economic output, highlighting Hawaii’s dubious distinction as being the most oil-dependent state in the nation.

New data from the Census Bureau shows that the value of Hawaii’s crude imports in 2011 rose 44 percent from 2010, surpassing the previous high of $4.1 billion in 2008.

"The high cost of fuel represents a huge tax on Hawaii’s economy and its consumers," said Mark Glick, administrator for the Hawaii State Energy Office. "Reducing the state’s historic reliance of fossil fuels and replacing it with clean energy will not only help keep billions of dollars from leaving the islands, but it will spur Hawaii’s growing green-tech sector."

While more dollars have been spent buying crude oil, consumption generally has been trending lower. After peaking at 49 million barrels in 2006, oil imports have stabilized at around 42 million barrels over the past two years.

The 2008-2009 recession, combined with increases in energy efficiency and the development of alternative energy, has reduced oil consumption. Hawaiian Electric Co. and its subsidiaries generated 12 percent of their electricity sales last year from renewable sources and are on track to meet their goal of 15 percent by 2015, the company said. HECO is pursuing its alternative energy goals in tandem with the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative, a state mandate that calls for achieving 70 percent "clean energy" by 2030 with 30 percent coming from efficiency measures and 40 percent from renewable sources.

Alternative energy has been a top priority for the Abercrombie administration.

A key piece of the governor’s clean energy plan is a controversial undersea cable that proponents envision will link the major Hawaiian Islands into a single electrical grid to transmit renewable energy around the state. The state Legislature last month approved a bill laying out how the cable would be financed and regulated without explicity authorizing the proj­ect itself.

Although the bill names no specific island or alternative energy proj­ects, cable proponents say a potential benefit would be the ability to link Oahu with the vast geothermal potential on Hawaii island.

Hawaii has mounted one of the most aggressive renewable energy campaigns of any state. In addition to having the nation’s second-highest amount of rooftop photovoltaic generating capacity per capita, there are proj­ects in the works around the state that would bring an additional 30 megawatts of utility-scale PV capacity. In addition, Hawaii has 90 megawatts of installed wind generating capacity, with another 110 megawatts due to come on line within the next two years.

Still, Hawaii depends on petroleum to meet 90 percent of its needs, according to the Energy Information Administration. Most of Hawaii’s imported oil — about 60 percent — is used for transportation, including gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. Another 30 percent of the oil imports goes to electricity generation, while the balance is used in commercial and industrial applications.

Indonesia was the leading exporter of crude oil to Hawaii last year, followed by Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Russia, Angola and Vietnam, according to data compiled by the Hawaii Foreign Trade Zone.

Crude oil is by far Hawaii’s largest merchandise import, accounting for 77 percent of all imports from foreign countries in 2011.