Now that a few days have passed since the 6.7-magnitude temblor, let's step back and look at the big picture.

Yes, it triggered a statewide blackout, and yes, O'ahu was left in the dark for at least 12 hours. Yes, Hawaiian Electric Co. could, and should, have done a better job communicating with the public. And yes, it was inconvenient.

But lost in the mire of the HECO blame game is the fact that Sunday's quake highlighted just how reliant Hawai'i is on electricity. And it underscored the need to press hard for alternative energy sources.

On June 2, O'ahu's overtaxed power grid went through its third major electric generator failure in less than a year. Nearly 37,000 customers were left without power for up to four hours. The problem is that the energy demand here has steadily increased, while the company's ability to produce power has remained the same.

HECO has a maximum capacity of about 1,700 mega-watts of electricity on O'ahu. On a peak day, the demand has reached up to 1,327 megawatts, according to HECO spokesman Peter Rosegg.

Given the island's ideal resources, namely wind, ocean and solar, Hawai'i should be a national leader when it comes to alternative energy. There have been some steps toward moving the state forward. New state and federal tax credits pay up to $7,000 of the cost of installation of a photovoltaic system. That helps some, but given the overall cost — $25,000 on average — the alternative is still too costly for many.

The recent formation of windfarms on Maui and the Big Island have added an additional 40 megawatts of power on those islands. And HECO provides 10 percent of electricity from renewables. That's a start.

Let's face it: Sunday's earthquake and subsequent power failure may have been a wake-up call, but the alarm has been going off for a while now. Let's stop pressing the snooze button.