Geopolitical economic instability.

The erratic price of oil.

The most abundant element in the universe.

With a little extrapolation, all of us in Hawaii can find the answer to the interrelationships of the above at this weekend’s First Hawaiian International Auto Show at the Hawaii Convention Center. The fact that the show will feature a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle is significant for many reasons.

For the world to make a change to clean energy, the transition can more easily be understood by looking at what our domestic, and the international, auto industries are doing to meet higher fuel economy standards.

Hawaii has but a small number of new car and light truck dealership owners — 39 —who own a total of 70 dealerships out of the 17,986 new car and light truck dealerships in America. The Hawaii dealers, working through their trade association, the Hawaii Automobile Dealers Association (HADA), has been disproportionately influential with regard to the nation’s fuel economy standards.

The late U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, when he co-chaired the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, responded to a HADA request to maintain separate standards for cars and light trucks for a period to allow automakers the time to transition some of their manufacturing to the production of renewable fuel vehicles.

Dealers were encouraged to step up and help Hawaii and America transition to renewable fuels, and they have accepted the tall task.

In order to reach the goals of the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative, 40 percent of all of Hawaii’s vehicles will need to operate on renewable energy by the year 2030, and a 30 percent fuel consumption reduction of fossil fuels will need to be achieved through improvements in fuel efficiency in internal combustion engine vehicles.

The wide array of 2015 and some 2016 vehicles on exhibit feature fuel-saving technology that is helping to meet these goals, and the arrival of the hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle provides another big step forward.

Hydrogen vehicles, unlike the wide array of electric vehicles that tap into the existing electric grid to "fill up," need special hydrogen fueling stations. So HADA dealers, and many others, are supporting legislation in this year’s Legislature that proposes to provide state assistance for erecting a flagship hydrogen fueling station at Fort Armstrong in Honolulu. This station would have a primary role in fueling fleets of government vehicles, which could transition to operating on hydrogen; these vehicles may include buses and even garbage trucks. The hydrogen station could also serve the early private customer’s adoption of hydrogen vehicles that is expected to occur during the next few years.

Next year, Sept. 1-10, delegates from around the world will come to Hawaii for the World Conservation Congress, at the Hawaii Convention Center. It will mark the first time in the international organization’s 60-year history that this prestigious meeting will be held in the United States.

Clean energy cars and Hawaii’s supportive clean energy fueling station infrastructure could provide a story to tell the world.

It’s a story that every isle school child today could eventually help tell, as Hawaii steps up to play a key role as a clean energy leader in the world. This weekend’s auto show, where admission for children up through age 12 is free with a paying adult, offers all residents a look at the role Hawaii is playing in accomplishing the goals for a clean energy future.