That was UH Information and Computer Sciences Professor Philip Johnson’s reaction when he attended his first in 2009. BECC stands for Behavior, Energy, and Climate Change. The annual conference focuses on “understanding the behavior and decision-making of individuals and organizations and using that knogwledge to accelerate our transition to an energy-efficient and low-carbon future.”

What Johnson, who heads the Collaborative Software Development Laboratory at Manoa, meant was that when he talked about the open-source application designed by UH software developers to manage an online energy reduction and sustainability competition among campus dorms, nobody mistook “vampire load” for a reference to a Halloween costume mishap.

Instead, the audience understood how helping people to eliminate phantom loads translates into instant energy conservation, and why that is inherently valuable to a place like Hawaii that relies on imported fossil fuels to meet 90 percent of its energy needs. What’s more, they were able to offer their own insight to further inform and improve the project.

During this year’s BECC conference, which took place in Sacramento from Nov. 12-14, University of Hawaii Ph.D. student Yongwen Xu delivered a presentation about the software engine for the game in a session on “Feedback and Response as a Behavioral Trigger.” The forum provided the opportunity for UH to introduce its open-source solution to a relevant international audience.

BECC’s 700 attendees included a diverse group of senior-level policymakers, social and natural scientists, program implementers, media, and energy experts. With sessions that span the range of behavioral impacts on energy and climate change issues 鈥� from marrying EVs with solar PV, to peer-influenced energy consumption habits, to leveraging conspicuous travel choices 鈥� there is an intense cross-pollination of ideas that goes on at BECC. The solutions that are fostered from those ideas benefit from both scientific knowledge and real-world applications that have been closely evaluated.

University of Hawaii Ph.D. student Robert Brewer, one of Johnson’s and Xu’s co-collaborators, points out that conference engagement is a two-way street. “People are blown away when I tell them we pay $0.35 a kilowatt hour,” he said, illustrating how researchers and industry practitioners regard Hawaii’s unique, if not daunting, energy challenge as a ripe opportunity for applying transformational strategies.

“Hawaii is a globally important case study,” offered Mackay Miller, a Technology Innovation Analyst with the National Renewable Energy Lab. The kinds of governance, system planning, and technical quagmires Hawaii finds itself in as it negotiates the transition to clean energy are the same challenges that the mainland will also face on a larger scale, and other places will look to see how Hawaii will effectively “integrate all the moving parts,” he suggested.

Also attending this year’s conference were representatives from and . “Of all the things we can be doing in energy conservation, the future belongs to behavior change,” said Ray Starling, Program Manager for Hawaii Energy, the ratepayer-funded program which administers the energy efficiency program for Hawaii, Maui and Honolulu counties under contract with the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission.

Starling is keen to stem practices that waste electricity, and he believes that behavior modification strategies can be an inexpensive way to turn them around. The success of Hawaii Energy’s energy efficiency programs are critical, not only to achieving the state’s mandate for 30 percent energy efficiency by 2030, but also to relieving the high (and rising) cost of oil-fired electricity borne by ratepayers. After all, the power of efficiency, by definition, is not about sacrifice (as it’s often misperceived), but about doing more with the same amount.

Blue Planet’s Program Director Richard Wallsgrove echoed the sentiments of the other Hawaii attendees. “BECC is a game changer. We met with some of the brightest minds from around the world to discuss simple and innovative ideas for tackling efficiency and solving the riddle of energy waste.”

“Many people we talked to were fascinated by Hawaii’s energy successes and challenges, and they helped us to envision how the concepts from BECC can be applied in Hawai鈥榠,” he continued. “We were inspired, and we are thrilled to bring that inspiration home, along with a wealth of ideas that will help reshape Hawaii鈥檚 energy culture.”

About the author: Catharine Lo is the Communications Director at Blue Planet Foundation.

Community Voices aims to encourage broad discussion on many topics of community interest. It’s kind of a cross between Letters to the Editor and op-eds. We do not solicit particular items and we rarely turn down submissions. This is your space to talk about important issues or interesting people who are making a difference in our world. Columns generally run about 800 words (yes, they can be shorter or longer) and we need a photo of the author and a bio. We welcome video commentary and other multimedia formats. Send to news@civilbeat.com.

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In Part 1 of this series, we gave an overview of the project and explained why it’s being studied. Today, we analyze each of the four components of the project, summarize what needs to be resolved and explain how that might happen, if it’s to go forward.

Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO)

To give a sense of the scale of the challenge for (and its vertically integrated subsidiaries HELCO, MECO, and HECO that operate the independent island grids) of incorporating Big Wind’s 400 megawatts of power into its electric service, consider:

• The Big Island currently leads the renewable energy charge in Hawaii, with 39.5 percent of HELCO’s sales there coming from renewable sources: 33 MW of wind power, 30 MW of geothermal and 16 MW of hydroelectric. In total, that’s about one-fifth of what Big Wind is scheduled to provide.
• On Maui, the state’s largest wind farm at Kaheawa (a First Wind farm) delivers 30 MW to the island鈥檚 grid, and MECO鈥檚 renewable energy portfolio stands at 23.7 percent.
• Oahu, meanwhile, straggles behind 鈥� HECO reports 15.1 percent of sales from renewable sources, a big chunk of which comes from H-POWER鈥檚 46 MW waste-to-energy conversion.
• Almost half of Kauai鈥檚 energy came from sugarcane bagasse in the 鈥�80s, but after the industry crashed, the island was forced to rely on imported fossil fuel, which today comprises 94 percent of its power.
• The least energy-thirsty islands, Molokai and Lanai, have capacities of 12 MW and 9.4 MW, respectively; both islands rely entirely on oil-based power. Together, the two islands would consume only one twentieth of what Big Wind would produce.

According to the 2009 National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) report 鈥�,鈥� the islands鈥� untapped renewable energy potential can yield 2,133 MW of power鈥攚hich approaches the state鈥檚 current total electrical capacity of 2,414 megawatts (83 percent of which is oil-driven). The wind power to be derived from Molokai and Lanai will add 400 MW of power, a giant step toward Hawaiian Electric鈥檚 goal of 1,100 MW of renewable capacity (codified by ) by 2030.

But building (up to 8 stories tall) and transmission lines for Big Wind will pose a large and as yet unknown expense. What could be even more daunting, if not prohibitive, though, is the unknown cost of integrating the added energy into the existing grid and making it work. Because energy must be generated as it鈥檚 needed, modifications must be made to accommodate intermittent power sources like wind, wave and solar. Since the Islands鈥� grids are all isolated, there鈥檚 no way to funnel off surplus power the way inter-connected grids can on the mainland. HECO is experimenting with 鈥渟mart grid鈥� technology that will help monitor and regulate the flow and distribution of added energy. HECO is also studying how much it will ultimately cost to ensure that service can be delivered without failures or interruptions.

UNDERSEA CABLE

What is 65 miles long and packs 660 MW of electricity that can power 600,000 homes? A submarine and subterranean completed in 2007 by a company called PowerBridge that transfers low-cost energy from New Jersey to power-hungry consumers on Long Island. (Here are some of the undersea installation.)

Undersea power cables are not a new technology. In fact, there are across the globe 鈥� beneath the , the , the , the , even . The distance covered by Hawaii鈥檚 proposed cable will depend on the route that鈥檚 chosen. Molokai is about 35 miles, and Lanai about 70 miles, from the proposed landing sites (near Mokapu or Pearl Harbor) on Oahu. From there, the cable would run underground to converter stations that would link the power to Oahu鈥檚 grid.

The state is considering a high-voltage, direct current cable, favored over alternating current for long distance transmissions. To ensure reliability, a 400 MW rating requires the bundling of three or more conductors (like the one pictured), each approximately 4 inches in diameter.

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After validating the technical of such a cable in Hawaiian waters, the state recently selected Los Angeles firm to compile a $2.9 million Environmental Impact Statement for the undersea cable. The company will survey the potential impacts on coral reefs, coastal aquatic ecology, marine life, endangered species, and cultural, historic and archaeological resources. Federal stimulus funds will pay for the 18-month study that will ultimately determine the preferred route(s) and landing sites. Concurrently, a 鈥渟ubject matter expert鈥� will be hired to help gauge the project鈥檚 financial feasibility. The state estimates the cable鈥檚 cost to be $1 billion, to be paid for by 鈥渟ome combination of utility customer and taxpayer funds.鈥� Actual construction of the cable itself鈥攚hich may not begin until three years after the EIS and permits are finalized, could be completed in a matter of months.

Though they can cost twice as much as overhead lines, developers are starting to see submarine cables as an attractive alternative because they don’t engender as much political opposition. According to a 鈥� which mentions that PowerBridge is also considering Hawaii鈥檚 undersea cable project 鈥� the company鈥檚 president Edward Stern points out, 鈥淭he fish don鈥檛 vote.鈥� According to Allen Kam of the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT), the department overseeing the project, the state has not yet contracted with any cable engineer.

鈥淲e are hoping to get our cable developer on board by the end of the year,鈥� Kam says. 鈥淯ntil then there鈥檚 a lot of work to do.鈥�

Hawaii already has about half a dozen interisland communications cables in place, and the environmental impacts of the undersea power cable are expected to be minimal compared to the enormous benefit it can potentially bring. The main question with the cable is whether it makes sense to go forward with it before the wind farm development is secured.

LANAI

What is 260 feet tall, 60 feet wide, and sports three 150-feet-long rotor blades? A wind turbine that will generate between 1.5 to 3.0 MW. Castle & Cooke鈥檚 proposed wind farm in Kaa, the ahupuaa that comprises Lanai鈥檚 northwest corner, could feature between 100 and 200 such turbines spread across as much as 22,000 acres鈥攁lmost one-quarter of the small island.

From its base to the highest arc of the blade, the turbines are 410 feet tall, about 20 feet short of the First Hawaiian Bank tower in Honolulu, the tallest building in Hawaii.

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For the people of Lanai, this is, understandably, a big deal. Donavan Kealoha, president of , says that for the past 18 months the organization has conducted focus groups, 鈥渢alk story鈥� information sessions, and a random survey to assess the community鈥檚 interest in the wind farm. He hesitated to share the results of these efforts without consulting with his board of directors; however, many of the residents鈥� concerns are voiced on the group’s .

Residents remain wary of the operations of Castle & Cooke, which owns 98 percent of the island. The flailing economy 鈥� which presents a funding challenge for the wind project 鈥� has halted construction of resort homes on the island. The company suffered $20 million in losses a year in 2008 and 2007, and $31 million in 2006, and there is uncertainty over who will replace 86-year-old Castle & Cooke owner David Murdock, a decision that will have a tremendous effect on the island鈥檚 future. Some Lanaians also worry that the necessary road and harbor improvements for the wind farm will open the door to more resort and real estate development.

There is also much controversy over the site location, where powerful winds, with gusts reaching 50 mph, shaped the dramatic rock formations at Keahiakawelo, known to visitors as 鈥淭he Garden of the Gods.鈥� This culturally significant area houses heiau (temples), petroglyphs and Hawaiian iwi (bones).

This raises a philosophical debate over which of several competing values are most important: Cultural preservation? Resource protection? Economic growth? Energy security?

The number of successful and proposed wind farm projects shows that by regulatory criteria, the benefits of wind farms outweigh the costs. Harnessing wind from remote areas to serve large populations is a strategy being implemented all over the planet 鈥� most aggressively, in fact, in the ocean. Wind turbines rise from the , the , and in April, the federal government approved , the first offshore wind farm in the U.S. 鈥� 130 turbines that will generate up to 420 MW arrayed in parallel rows across 24 miles in the Nantucket Sound five miles off Cape Cod.

Those models, however, don鈥檛 address the issue of justice that is perhaps the most contentious of all for the Lanai and Molokai residents who will share a disproportionate responsibility for meeting the state鈥檚 energy needs under the Big Wind initiative.

At a Lanai community meeting, HECO鈥檚 Robbie Alm pointed out that without the rural islands鈥� help, 鈥淥ahu stays on oil, and Oahu鈥檚 economy ultimately can determine their economy. 鈥淏ut at the same time,鈥� he said, 鈥渋f we end up doing this, we really need to talk to those islands about givebacks or some other things to create some level of justice鈥� of having large intrusions on their land for the sake of the state of Hawaii.鈥�

DBEDT鈥檚 facilitator of renewable energy, Joshua Strickler, added, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to give the impression that this cable and these wind farms on the neighbor islands are the only thing we鈥檙e doing.鈥� He listed examples like a wave energy project at Kaneohe, a solar project at Campbell Industrial Park, and the Kahuku wind farm. 鈥淏ut when we look at the resources that are available on Oahu and the demand on Oahu鈥攖his is where the population is, this is where everybody lives鈥攚e don鈥檛 think we can get there on our own.鈥�

A telling local opinion is the single comment that has been posted on the Interisland Wind . The subject line is 鈥渨hy we do not want wind farm.鈥� Besides aesthetic and environmental impacts, it calls to attention a threat to the subsistence lifestyle that many of the island鈥檚 economically downtrodden residents have been forced to adopt: 鈥淓ven if C&C gave access it wouldn鈥檛 be the same for shore fishermen, divers, surfers, or just beachgoers in general. What about hunters? 鈥� In my experience, axis deer and mouflon are not big fans of, well, 鈥楤IG FANS.鈥欌��

This comment raises questions about access and preserving the resources and access to the resources on which islanders rely for their livelihood. State rep. Hermina Morita, who chairs the House Energy Committee, explains that the broader issue that needs to be addressed is the economic future of Lanai and Molokai.

鈥淭hese proposals should not be framed as pitting one island against another.听What is important is building an energy infrastructure where everyone throughout the state can benefit from, not leaving any community behind,鈥� she says. 鈥淟anai and Molokai are equally as dependent on imported fuel and foods as the rest of the state with significantly high energy costs. Their small populations cannot bear the high cost of modernizing their existing electricity infrastructure for their small grids alone should they choose to be independent of a statewide system. In a move towards more decentralized systems, the reality is that only those that can afford to install these systems will benefit. Those who do not have the financing capability will be stuck with maintaining an aging, antiquated infrastructure. These are the equity and social justice issues that have to be carefully considered when moving forward鈥攐r even staying static.鈥�

MOLOKAI

What is 54,000 acres, covers more than a third of Molokai, and is valued by its owner at $300 million?

The answer is the land referred to as Molokai Ranch, held by Molokai Properties Limited (MPL), a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based GuocoLeisure Limited. At the end of March 2008, after a ferocious battle over the development of luxury homes at Laau Point, MPL shut down its operation of Molokai Ranch, putting 120 of the island鈥檚 7,500 residents out of work. It later tried to cease its water and sewage operations, which serve half the island鈥檚 households, but was ordered by the Public Utilities Commission to continue service. It now charges Molokai residents some of the highest rates in the nation. These events were enough to leave a permanent bad taste for multinational, corporate landowners among the tight-knit Molokai community.

When , which controls three wind farms in Hawaii 鈥� Kaheawa I (30 MW) on Maui, and new projects Kahuku Wind (30 MW) on Oahu and Kaheawa II (21 MW) on Maui 鈥� first began exploring the idea of installing a wind farm on Molokai in 2006, it talked with community groups and kept its plans fairly transparent. Initially, the project was to unfold in two parts. First Wind was considering Hawaiian homestead land at Hoolehua for the first phase, and land owned by MPL for the second phase. In mid-June, citing insufficient space, First Wind scrapped the original proposal to set 20 turbines on the Hoolehua homestead land. There was both community support and opposition to the idea, with opponents decrying the detrimental environmental and cultural impacts of the proposed farm.

With the dust from Laau yet to settle, the idea of siting a wind farm on MPL land has renewed suspicion and again splintered the island鈥檚 population. First Wind had offered, rather generously, to chip in $50 million toward the community鈥檚 ongoing efforts to purchase Molokai Ranch and then lease the land from the community. First Wind actually approached GuocoLeisure with a purchase offer, but it was rejected for falling short of the owner鈥檚 property valuation.

So as it stands, First Wind currently has no place to put its wind farm. Under the Big Wind agreement, if either Castle & Cooke or First Wind is unable to move forward with their wind farm, the other company retains the option to scale its project to 400 MW 鈥� an option that is technically feasible and financially enticing.

Here is where the political strategizing gets interesting. If Castle & Cooke is unable to finance the Lanai farm, or abandons the project in the face of community opposition and company uncertainty, First Wind may expand its initiative to 400 MW 鈥� and MPL would be the beneficiary landowner. That leaves the company in a position where it seems unlikely it would want to sell that land.

MPL certainly realizes the value of that property. According to its , 鈥淭he Group continues to remain positive about the value of its land-holdings in Molokai. Several sales of agriculture land during the fiscal year were transacted at prices well above MPL鈥檚 book value, an indication of the worth of these properties.鈥� One purchaser, incidentally, was another neighbor Molokai residents are wary of: Monsanto, which grows GMO seed corn on the island. Monsanto leases 1,850 acres of Molokai Ranch land.

Interestingly, Monsanto and MPL advocates had joined forces to campaign against the Hoolehua wind farm on homestead land. Also, according to Karen Holt, executive director of the vigilant Molokai Community Service Council, some of the MPL consultants who pushed the development at Laau 鈥� Isaac Hall, Molokai Ranch’s lawyer, and the Hawaii Alliance for Community-Based Economic Development (HACBED) 鈥� have been hired by anti-wind farm groups on Lanai.

鈥淢y best guess is that Molokai Ranch’s strategy is to insure that the only viable site for a large-scale wind farm is their property,鈥� Holt surmises. 鈥淚f neither DHHL (Department of Hawaiian Home Lands) nor Lanai is able to put up windmills, that leaves Molokai Ranch as the default site.鈥�

The Molokai community, Holt continues, is most concerned about 鈥渨hether this community will receive benefits commensurate with the value of this project to the off-island developers and consumers.鈥�

鈥淭he proposed wind farm is a multi-billion dollar project that is only possible on Molokai because its people have successfully resisted large-scale resort and subdivision plans in the areas where the windmills would be constructed,鈥� she explains. 鈥淢olokai has been criticized for decades for taking this protective stand. But without it, the ranch would have succeeded in putting 30,000 people on the West End of Molokai, and there would be no room for windmills.鈥�

Holt believes that most residents will support the wind farm so long as the island receives just compensation. In a letter to the editor in the Molokai News, a group of community members specified what they thought that should be:

鈥淲e do not oppose windmills as an alternative to oil for energy. But we absolutely oppose any deal between Molokai Ranch and First Wind,鈥� the letter reads. 鈥淢olokai is the last Hawaiian island. The assets that we have worked so hard to save are lost forever on other islands, including Oahu, the island that is now asking Molokai to satisfy its ever-growing demands for energy. If Molokai Ranch begins earning new revenue from windmills so that it can fund its development plans, then we can all say aloha `oe to the last Hawaiian island. All of the blood, sweat and tears that went into protecting this special place will have been wasted. As payment for the use of our island to provide power to Honolulu, we humbly ask for the return of foreign-owned Molokai Ranch lands to those of us who live here. We love this island. And we will take good care of it for the sake of our children, our grandchildren and generations to come.鈥�

Unanswered Questions

In the end, Big Wind鈥檚 recipe for renewable energy is simple鈥攁 wind farm to harness power, a cable to channel it, and grid upgrades to accommodate it. The hard part is procuring these ingredients. Think of it this way: There are multiple chefs baking this cake, but the butter鈥檚 too expensive, the sugar cane farmers are on strike, and they鈥檙e still trying to figure out how much flour is needed; meanwhile, the cracked eggs are waiting in the mixing bowl. So what to do?

Here鈥檚 some perspective on where things stand, based on an analysis of the individual challenges facing each stakeholder.

Interisland undersea cable: AECOM will proceed with the EIS, and in the next year and a half, will propose a preferred route informed by cost comparisons, measured impacts on the reef and marine life environment, and practicality of landing site options. Given the success of submarine power cables elsewhere, there鈥檚 little to suggest an interisland cable wouldn鈥檛 be a worthwhile endeavor. The biggest question that remains is how the project will be financed; the state is looking at a combination of utility customer and taxpayer funds, as well as federal assistance and long-term loan guarantees.

HECO improvements: HECO will incur the cost of the associated on-shore infrastructure. This amount is currently under consideration and depends on what technical improvements need to be made to Oahu鈥檚 grid, as well as the location of the landing site, which will determine the length of the transmission lines required. The purchase price for the power, which HECO will negotiate with the providers, will be passed on to utility customers with no mark-up.

Lanai wind farm: Castle & Cooke has yet to announce whether it will proceed with a 200 MW farm in the face of strong community opposition. On the one hand, the project is an opportunity to recoup the $1 billion that has been invested on Lanai. On the other hand, the company has halted its other development projects on the island, and its bleak financial outlook may impede progress. The wind farm is expected to create only 15 to 20 local jobs, with no other tangible benefits to the residents. Without sufficient paybacks, it鈥檚 implausible that the community will support a project that will mar the pristine landscape on a quarter of their island and threaten access to the resources that supplement their livelihood.

Molokai wind farm: A wind farm appeals to Molokai residents more than other types of development, but the present deterrent is that Molokai Ranch owns the land on which it can be sited. Both the Ranch and the community recognize the financial boon a wind farm would provide, which sets up a stalemate between the Ranch, which sees no obligation to sell its land, and residents who will fight tooth and nail against any project that would benefit the Ranch. A proposal from community leaders suggests what would arguably be the most just solution: The state helps purchase Molokai Ranch, to be put in the community trust. The community recoups control over its most precious resource, its land. GuocoLeisure gets its asking price and will have no more wars to wage on Molokai. First Wind leases the land at a generous price and also makes a valuable profit while generating renewable energy. Oahu residents benefit from the clean power. HECO achieves its HCEI goals. The state has compensated the Molokai community for tapping its resources. Really, the only party that doesn鈥檛 stand to gain from this scenario is Castle & Cooke.

The Molokai community鈥檚 proposal promises the most slices of cake, if all the ingredients can come together. There鈥檚 time 鈥� the oven, the state admits, is still preheating.

鈥淪ince we still are at the planning stages of this, we don鈥檛 have all the answers,鈥� DBEDT鈥檚 Allen Kam says. 鈥淲e want to be efficient but we also want to make sure our efforts are fruitful. One of the questions we鈥檙e batting around is, 鈥榃hat鈥檚 the most effective way to figure this out?鈥欌��

The post Big Wind Fuels a Torrent of Big Questions 鈥� Part 2 appeared first on 天美视频.

Towering wind turbines on Molokai and Lanai send electric power via undersea cable to Oahu. The technology has been tested elsewhere. We know it will produce clean, renewable energy. And it would reduce Hawaii’s dependence on foreign oil. Just what government leaders say they want.

But it turns out that the state’s most ambitious renewable energy project, called “Big Wind,” has raised a torrent of big questions.

Big Wind, also known as Interisland Wind, would produce 400 megawatts of power, or roughly one-sixth of the state’s current consumption.

The project, prescribed as part of the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative in 2008, includes four major components:

• A state-funded undersea power cable that will connect Oahu to Molokai, Lanai and potentially Maui
• 鈥檚 development of landing sites, converter stations, transmission lines, and Oahu grid improvements
• Castle & Cooke鈥檚 200-megawatt wind farm on Lanai
• First Wind Hawaii鈥檚 200-megawatt wind farm on Molokai

What makes it especially complicated is that each party is responsible for obtaining the necessary permits, environmental impact studies and approval from the Public Utilities Commission for their individual project components. So what happens, for example, if the undersea cable isn’t approved, but the wind farms are? There would be no channel of distribution, and it鈥檚 far too much power to integrate into the small-capacity grids on Lanai and Molokai. Or what if the cable is approved, but one of the wind farms gets derailed? Or what if everything else progresses as planned, but problems arise integrating the power into Oahu鈥檚 grid?

The project reveals the complex challenge of making the shift from an oil-dependent society to one based on sustainable energy, while respecting and protecting the unique environmental and cultural characteristics of the islands.

Since Gov. Linda Lingle announced the players in the Big Wind initiative in 2009, the four stakeholders have achieved varying degrees of progress and encountered distinct challenges. The most logical way to untangle this web of projects and get at the significant questions they raise is to look at each separately. But first, it’s important to understand the reason why Big Wind was mandated in the first place.

Why Big Wind

鈥淲hy are we in this?鈥� HECO executive vice president Robbie Alm asked at a public information session on Lanai. 鈥淲e鈥檙e in it because Hawaii is absolutely addicted to oil.鈥�

The figures are stark and oft-cited. Oil accounts for 90 percent of Hawaii鈥檚 energy needs鈥攄ominated by electricity and transportation. Some of that oil comes from U.S.-refined product and crude oil from Alaska, but 75% of it is imported from other countries. Hawaii relies on fossil fuels more than any other state, spending between $6 and $7 billion a year (subject to fluctuating barrel prices), and the cost of electricity in Hawaii is more than double the U.S. average. For every 10 percent increase in world oil prices, there is a 0.5 percent reduction in the state鈥檚 GDP. On top of that, our combustion of fuel contributes 24 million tons of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. California emits 403 million tons of carbon鈥�17 times Hawaii鈥檚 output, but California has 26 times more people.

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鈥淲hen we spend that money to buy oil鈥�$6.2 billion against $61-and-change billion as a gross state product鈥攚e鈥檙e hurting ourselves,鈥� Alm continued, explaining how Hawaii鈥檚 economic security is inextricably tied to our energy security. Congresswoman Mazie Hirono echoed the urgency in her Independence Day essay published on Civil Beat, pleading, 鈥淲e can鈥檛 afford to live like this any longer.鈥�

Perhaps Blue Planet Foundation鈥檚 Jeff Mikulina illustrates the looming danger of our dependence on oil most vividly. Hawaii, he offers, is 鈥渙ne supertanker away from being Amish.鈥�

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Most often, Judge Ibarra says, these ignored notices lead to default summary judgments, and the borrowers lose their homes. In Hawaii, where 115 percent between April 2009 and April 2010, it鈥檚 a crisis that has resulted in a soaring need for legal aid.
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Meanwhile, at the , advocate Antonette Demello has seen the caseload grow steadily over the last 15 years, fueled in part by the crystal meth epidemic. The center receives a couple hundred new clients each month, but turns away the majority of cases because there simply are not enough attorneys to shepherd them all.听

How to address Hawaii鈥檚 unmet legal needs was the topic of the annual summit, held at the University of Hawaii’s on June 25. The one-day conference, attended by more than 250 attorneys, judges, legal aid advocates, and law students, was organized by the Access to Justice Commission, a 22-person coalition formed in 2008 in response to the report 鈥�. Among the 2007 report鈥檚 findings:听

• Only 1 in 5 low- and moderate-income Hawaii residents have their legal needs met.
• Legal service providers are able to help only 1 in 3 of those who contact them for assistance.
• The areas with the greatest unmet civil legal needs are housing (24 percent), family (23 percent), domestic violence (8 percent), and consumer (7 percent).
• There is one legal service attorney for every 4,402 persons living below 200 percent of the federal poverty guideline.

Lack of Knowledge and Money Hurt Access

Commission chair Hawaii Supreme Court Associate Justice Simeon R. Acoba opened the summit by explaining that when access to justice is denied, justice is perceived as available only to those who can pay for it, and it 鈥渦ndermines a rule of law that is premised on the principle that all individuals stand equally before the law.鈥� Acoba鈥檚 career began as a clerk to then-Hawaii Supreme Court Chief Justice William Richardson, who died on June 21.

Two of the greatest barriers to access are a lack of knowledge of legal rights and the inability to afford an attorney. Accordingly, promoting public legal awareness and encouraging pro bono work figured prominently at the conference.
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Legislative funding of judiciary initiatives, specifically, was the topic of the first panel, comprised of Representative and House Finance Committee Chair Marcus Oshiro, Senator Suzanne Chun Oakland, and Representative Blake Oshiro. The legislators talked about the budget crunch, emphasizing that it made it extremely unlikely for the judiciary to receive more state funding. They also assessed the feasibility of alternative funding proposals like an increase in a filing fee surcharge that is deposited in the indigent legal assistance fund.

A second panel summarized the progress and recommendations of each of the commission鈥檚 nine advisory committees that were set up to examine various impacts on access鈥攁mong them, education, self-representation, and maximizing use of available resources.

According to Acoba, the approximately 78 percent of legal needs that go unmet in Hawaii is not significantly more or less than the portion of underserved populations in other states. Hawaii, he says, is one of 30 or so states that have established proactive initiatives like the Access to Justice Commission to develop and implement solutions.

Across the board, lack of access is, at its core, a socioeconomic problem that requires examination of what one participant called 鈥渢he elephant in the room鈥濃�攖hat is, the broader issue of poverty.听
鈥淧eople who are poor don鈥檛 have just a legal problem,鈥� said mediation expert and former trial lawyer Charles Hurd, referring to the compounding social issues that reside just beneath the surface of low-income cases.听

鈥淔or a lot of practitioners, there鈥檚 a sense of unease,鈥� added civil litigator and champion of pro bono Derek Kobayashi, referring to the difficulties attorneys confront trying to relate to disadvantaged clients鈥攁 cultural gap, a language gap, a knowledge gap, a technology gap, or all of the above.

Low-income Casework Can be Unfamiliar

Another conferee mentioned that high-powered lawyers might be unfamiliar with low-income casework, pointing out 鈥渢he poor don鈥檛 have a lot of need for help in corporate mergers.鈥澨�

鈥淎s unbelievable as it is to some of us, not everyone knows where the corner of King and Bishop is,鈥� Kobayashi continued. Uninitiated pro bono lawyers often have unrealistic expectations of client preparedness, he said, recounting a story about one of his clients who showed up to court in steel-toed rubber boots, shorts and a tank top鈥攏ot the 鈥渦niform鈥� Kobayashi had expected. (After apologizing for the client鈥檚 inappropriate court attire, the judge, incidentally, told the lawyer, 鈥淣ever be ashamed of your client showing up to court in his daily work attire.鈥�)

During afternoon workshops, conference attendees reviewed initiatives to enhance civil justice, including the benefits of foreclosure mediation (currently being studied in a pilot project in Hilo), expanding the roles of paralegals, and urging Hawaii attorneys to increase their pro bono contributions. Moya Gray, executive director of , suggested that there鈥檚 also a crucial opportunity to get law students involved 鈥渨hen their dreams of changing the world are fresh.鈥�

Circuit Court Judge Michael Town, who also served as a clerk under Chief Justice Richardson, delivered the closing remarks. Town invoked ancient wisdom from Leviticus and Themis (the Greek goddess of justice, whose counterpart is Nemesis), underscoring the age-old mandate to serve society鈥檚 disenfranchised. He also shared specific examples from Hawaiian history that reveal a cultural sensibility toward open access.

Most poignantly, he talked about the enduring philosophy of his own mentor, Justice Richardson, who always reminded him to 鈥渢ake care of the people in the waiting room.鈥� It鈥檚 the people in that literal and figurative place, Judge Town explained, who need the most support and guidance. He concluded by urging the audience to continue the noble pursuit of serving 鈥渢he least, the lost, and the left out.鈥�

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