LIHU‘E — The Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative and the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands announced Monday that they have jointly created an Energy Partnership Charter that will serve as a model to reduce energy costs, support green energy technology, help identify renewable energy projects and showcase the Homestead Energy Program.
“Through this partnership, we will move our island to a more sustainable, environmentally friendly position and ultimately improve the lives of our residents,” said Randy Hee, KIUC president and CEO, in a news release. “We will partner with DHHL to identify opportunities for energy efficiency and to highlight our existing energy savings programs that everyone can take advantage of.”
“The charter is a broad document designed to partner our two organizations with common goals and objectives,” said Micah Kane, chairman of the Hawaiian Homes Commission, in the release. “Ultimately, everyone on Kaua‘i will benefit from our efforts and that makes this exciting.”
The first project the partnership will showcase will be the Homestead Energy Program developed by the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement to install solar water heating systems and compact fluorescent lighting in existing homesteads. Excerpts from the charter document include:
•Building a shared community sense of responsibility for our island environment through leadership by example and education;
•Assist homesteaders in their efforts to affordably incorporate energy efficiency into their own homes;
•Showcase the Homestead Energy Program and the retrofitting of energy saving devices in existing homesteads, including but not limited to solar water heating systems and compact fluorescent light (CFL) fixtures.
•Helping advance the commercialization of developing green energy technology by identifying appropriate opportunities for demonstration of such technology in the Department’s projects;
•Identifying suitable renewable energy projects for the Department’s available lands, with preference to projects that provide benefits to the trust lands, native Hawaiian community, the Department, and Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative;
•Serving the community through public education about the challenges of achieving a preferred energy future for our Islands and how every individual can make a difference in overcoming those challenges; and
•Successfully promoting energy projects or programs that highlight the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands and Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative partnership as examples of what can be achieved through shared vision, mutual trust and collaboration.
“Everyone has a role and kuleana in the Hawai‘i Clean Energy Initiative to get to Hawai‘i’s clean energy future,” said Rep. Hermina Morita, D-14th District, in the release. “This historic agreement reaches out to our Hawaiian communities to demonstrate the importance of key partnerships, good planning and building design and how energy efficiency is a tool for community reinvestment especially in these tough financial times.”
