Hawaii's Energy Future - You Can Make A Difference!

You

Can Make A Difference!

IN THE COMMUNITY

Be a voice of change

Help bring about change locally and nationally. Make your voice heard. Your concerns and opinions have power that can extend beyond your personal actions. We can all influence our schools, workplaces, businesses, and society as a whole. Individually our power to buy, invest, vote and encourage others to action can add up to a substantial voice.

1) Fight “NIMBY” the “not-in-my-backyard” attitude. When a renewable energy project is proposed in or near your community, write a letter or call your neighborhood board, community association, city council member, state representative or senator. Too often the only feedback policy makers get is from those who oppose a project.

2) Write a letter to the newspaper to voice your support for proposed projects. It will tell others in the community that they’re not alone in their support.

3) Attend community meetings where renewable projects are discussed. While every project is in someone’s “backyard”, we all have a stake in increasing renewables in Hawaii.

Make sure your voice is heard!

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Give your support

Many organizations provide information and opportunities for action to help our environment. Not all deal directly with energy, but ultimately, most aspects of our environment are inter-connected.

Locally, organizations like Malama Hawaii and the Sierra Club (with chapters on each island) are widely respected, as is the National Sierra Club.

The Natural Resources Defense Council is a million-member strong organization with activities on a broad range of environmental issues, including energy.

The Hawaii Nature Center and the Hawaii chapter of The Nature Conservancy are active and seeking support, though they do not focus primarily on energy.

Organizations involved with sustainability often include information and activities that deal with energy and related matters. Sustainable Saunders at the University of Hawaii is one such organization. Hawaii 2050 is another. The Hawaii Research Center for Futures Studies is still one more.

Explore these and other organizations on the web or through direct contact and decide for yourself which offers the level of information and activism that is useful and comfortable for you.

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Sun Power for Schools

Under Hawaiian Electric’s Sun Power for Schools program, 26 high- or intermediate schools in Hawaii have installed two-kilowatt (2-kW), grid-connected, photovoltaic (PV) electric systems or PV outdoor lighting systems.

In addition to providing a small amount of free energy at these schools, the installations provide the opportunity for students to learn about the production of solar energy.

Adding more schools to the Sun Power for Schools program requires financial support of individuals who become partners with participating schools, the State Department of Education, and the HECO utilities, which provide financial and in-kind support.

To become a Sun Power for Schools partner, either through a one-time donation or through monthly contributions submitted with your electric bill, download an application form or call the numbers below to have one mailed to you:

HECO: (808) 543-7511
HELCO: (808) 969-0137
MECO: (808) 871-8461

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Island Insights

Click on the video links below to learn more about Hawaii residents who are making a difference today. Videos produced by Blue Planet Foundation and Hawaiian Electric Company for PBS Hawaii's Island Insights program. Written and filmed by Stuart Yamane and/or Joy Chong Stannard.

Mark Duda (Solar and PV)

Betty Gearan (Sierra Club Green House, personal sustainability)

Gail Grabowski (Chaminade University professor talks about personal action)

KANU Hawaii (Networking and personal action)

Bill Parks (Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative)

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