A regular component of Blue Planet's public outreach includes presentations to schools, businesses, and local organizations about Hawaii's energy situation, what's at stake, and why and how we can do something to ensure a sustainable energy future.

We do scores of presentations each year, and I asked our staff to share some pics and remarks to give everyone a sense of what we do out there in the community. Our project specialist David Aquino (aka Tamba) went to Nanakuli Intermediate and HS yesterday and spoke with 80-some 6th, 7th, and 8th graders.

According to Tamba, "It was neat because the teacher had a mini wind turbine and solar panel lab set up, so the students could see firsthand the basics of how the technology works.  It was a dead wind day so the students rigged the solar panel to spin the wind turbine!"

C0ol beans.

During the month of September, if you make a donation to Blue Planet Foundation using your Maika‘i card when you check out, Foodland and Western Union Foundation will match your gift, up to $249. It's part of Foodland's annual Give Aloha campaign, established in 1999 to support Hawaii nonprofits.

To give a gift to Blue Planet Foundation, please specify group number 78620. Hmm, how to remember that? Seven to the eight to the six-two-O. No. Seventy-eight trombones... no. Lucky seven in between 8 and 6, 20 times is the charm. Okay. Well. If you don't remember, just let the cashier know you want the donation to go to Blue Planet Foundation. Thanks for the aloha.

OK, maybe not exactly, but on Aug. 16, electric vehicles arrived on the scene at the Honolulu International Airport and are now available to rent. Just last month Gov. Abercrombie unveiled the first charging station at the State Capitol, and now this month we have an example of the private sector stepping it up with a fleet of Nissan Leafs and charging stations.

As we mentioned before, Better Place had chosen Hawai‘i to have statewide charging stations, and today we got to see it mapped out behind the podium as LG Brian Schatz congratulated the Enterprise team and noted the importance of public and private partnerships.

Better Place has partnered with Enterprise Rent-A-Car, a family-owned business that has decided to take this initiative forward. With 30 Nissan Leafs to hit the streets of Hawai‘i, the Better Place stations will have a total of at least 10-15 electric charging stations with some of the first being installed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, the Royal Hawaiian and Disney's new Aulani Resort on O‘ahu.

With tourism still leading our economy today, it’s interesting to see how green initiatives are creeping into this sector. Today rent an electric vehicle, tomorrow, greening of the Honolulu Airport? Who knows… but until then, I guess we could say that, yes, this was a victory for Enterprise today.

The PUC has opened the docket to investigate a program for on-bill financing, as directed by the recently enacted HB 1520. Blue Planet commends the PUC for acting quickly and with purpose, acknowledging the potential impact this policy will have.

On-bill financing can eliminate the upfront cost of residential solar power and energy-efficient appliances for Hawai‘i households by allowing residents to finance these purchases using the resultant savings on their electric bills.

Blue Planet Foundation is named as a party to the docket on page 6.

Nokero... That's "no kerosene." Pretty cool ~

Bob Tedeshi also offered an entertaining overview of light bulbs on the market in the New York Times' Home and Garden section last week. You can read it here.

Gov. Neil Abercrombie unveiled the first electric charging station at the State Capitol today following an EV press conference. With private companies, state offices, government officials and non-profits it shows the unified commitment to making EVs a reality for Hawai'i. Scott Mercer of Volta, a local company based out of Honolulu that has installed the station said, "It's great to have all this press around electric charging stations but really we haven't succeeded until these charging stations have become boring, monotonous and are ubiquitous." Volta has 3 charging stations up so far and has one on the way for the State Court House. But wait, haven't we heard about some type of charging station network for Hawai'i before? That's right...

It's like Christmas in July: Today, our first group of Hui Up! participants on Moloka‘i picked up their brand-new, ENERGY STAR refrigerators at Kaunakai Regional Park. A total of 56 high-efficiency refrigerators were delivered to the island, a mix of 18.2 cu ft and 25.3 cu ft models that were made available for purchase at $250 and $750, respectively. The volume discount (a la Groupon) negotiated by Blue Planet received enormous interest, and we hope to have a third container ordered in the coming weeks.

What is this Hui Up!, you ask? ...

It's a moment we've been waiting for: Governor Abercrombie signed HB 1520 into law today in front of 250 energy industry leaders at the Hawaii Energy Policy Forum's 3rd annual clean energy symposium at the YWCA today.

After the bill was added to a list of measures that would potentially be vetoed, Blue Planet reacted quickly to address the Governor's concerns and committed to assembling a group of public and private partners that will help fund a thorough investigation of an on-bill financing structure that would be most cost-effective for Hawai‘i so that the PUC can take immediate action on implementing a seriously transformational policy.

On any given day Blue Planet is somewhere doing something to forward our mission of ending mankind's harmful dependency on fossil fuels. We have a backlog of event photos I've been meaning to post, and soon, I promise, I will. For now, a sampling: [Above] Henk inspires fans of Blue Planet in Bhutan. 

Adding some spice to Kahala Mall's Shop Local event on Sunday, our "Be the Change" flash mob encouraged friends and neighbors to drum up support for clean, local, renewable energy. Big mahalos to Tamba for leading the charge. Throughout the day, Kahala Elementary School also hosted a CFL exchange fundraiser with the support of Blue Planet. They swapped 500 bulbs, earning $200 while saving residents $57,500 in electricity costs over the lives of the bulbs and displacing 375 barrels of oil. Nice!