County, state and federal officials gather with businesses, scholars and community participants to seek renewable energy solutions for Maui. “The time is right, and the planets are aligned.”Maui is currently dependent on offshore sources of energy that are not renewable. In an aim to make Maui more energy-independent and sustainable, Mayor Charmaine Tavares spearheaded an energy expo to explore new ideas to catapult the use of renewable energy.
In partnership with the Maui Economic Development Board, the Maui County Energy Expo 2007 was held at the Grand Wailea Resort Hotel & Spa from Wednesday to Friday, Nov. 7 to 9. The educational forum brought together a myriad of organizations, including nonprofits, businesses, government, community members and schools, to facilitate a future in renewable energy for the County of Maui. Approximately 175 people attended the event.
Hawai‘i State’s goals are to use 20 percent of renewable energy by the year 2020. “We would like to get our own [renewable] goals for Maui County,” said Tavares. “This is the start of our quest for sustainability. Out of this, we hope to have more in the future.”
According to Tavares, the goal of the event was “to get the word out to people to educate them on technology now being used on Maui and future technologies used on Maui.”
Thousands of surveys conducted at the Maui County Fair evidenced a readiness among community members to begin the movement toward renewable energy. These surveys indicated a paradigm shift wherein people are willing to enact energy-responsible behavior. Federal, state and county governments, along with businesses and the educational system, indicated that they are ready to make this shift.
“We need to work on changing public attitudes to create homegrown solutions to energy renewable sources,” said Maui County Council Chair Riki Hokama, citing Pacific Biodiesel as a local example.
“We want to be independent from offshore supplies. The time is right, and the planets are aligned,” Tavares said.
Although State Congress members Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, Sen. Daniel K. Akaka and Rep. Mazie K. Hirono were unable to attend, they provided speeches that encouraged renewable efforts as well.
Ramsay Taum, director of external relations and community partnerships at the University of Hawai‘i School of Travel Industry Management, was the keynote speaker. He is also founder, CEO and president of Hawai‘i-based Life Enhancement Institute of the Pacific LLC, and co-executive director of Sustain Hawai‘i, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting sustainable living and development in Hawai‘i. The cornerstone of his presentation sought to answer two poignant questions: “If not us, who?” and, “If not now, when?”
His inspirational presentation centered on a connection between Hawaiian culture and sustainability. He proposed searching in Hawai‘i’s past for answers for the future, as Hawaiians lived for more than a thousand years in a sustainable manner.
“Coming to Hawai‘i is like coming home to Mom; it’s the closest thing to returning to the womb,” he said, referring to how Hawai‘i is constantly giving birth to new land. He said the undercurrent that is experienced in the ocean is called “nalu” in Hawaiian, translating to amniotic fluid. He used this comparison as a basis to provide a meaningful reason to care for the land and enact sustainability.
Because 85 percent of food and 92 percent of oil is imported in Hawai‘i, Taum encouraged attendees to visit eco2balance.com to calculate carbon expenditures. He applied the concept of ahupua‘a as a creative solution to this imbalance. He said the meaning of ahupua‘a considers upstream and downstream thinking that delineates how one’s actions affect others.
Throughout the expo, dozens of speakers presented information on a variety of topics. Clyde Sakamoto, chancellor of Maui Community College, discussed the transitioning of local educational and career opportunities in renewable energy. Mike Gresham, vice president of UPC Hawai‘i Wind Partners, talked about Hawai‘i’s largest wind energy project on Maui, and Timothy A. Hill, executive vice president of Castle & Cooke Lana‘i, discussed options for making solar photovoltaic development possible for island economies.
Business owners discussed their initiatives, such as James Loux of Bioenergy Systems Inc. and his company’s technology that “prevents massive fires.” Spurred by the Department of Forestry and Wildlife’s interest in mitigation efforts to prevent fires, Bioenergy Systems converts biomass or fallen timber into energy with downdraft gasification.
William Parks Jr., deputy assistant secretary for research and development, Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), offered the closing remarks. He said the DOE sees Hawai‘i as a unique place that is conducive for a test-bed environment where new advanced technologies for renewable energy can be initiated. Saying it will take a willingness to invest in the future, he is requesting information from the DOE encompassing regulatory movements, policies and investments to catalyze changes to make Hawai‘i a place where more renewable energy is utilized.
Tavares closed the forum with a discussion on an enhanced spirit of sharing among Maui residents that would facilitate implementation of renewable energy ideas. “We’re an island; this should be a number-one priority for us,” she said. Further stressing the importance of this shift, she declared a new era of collaboration whereby strategic committees would be employed to activate renewable sources of energy.