Loving my stay in Honolulu, except for the blazing sun that scorches us, whenever we venture in the city at midday. So much hot energy to harvest year round.
You would think the city would be covered with solar panels. Not so. The big talk in town, is the upcoming election, to decide on the mayor’s proposal for a $4 billion rail transit system. I just wonder what would be the bill for a city-wide solar program? And how fast would the payback be? With, or without subsidies?
Where are the local environmentalists when we need them? Imagine a coalition of concerned Honolulu citizens putting together a solar proposal for their city.
La Marguerite 
Hawaii is the first state to require solar on all new homes by 2010. Law just passed. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/30/hawaii-requires-solar-wat_n_109919.html
Well done Susie for bringing this news back forward !
I guess it will require a lot of time for Hawaii and other states and countries to get a lot of energy from the sun.
Two examples :
– Germany has been making a lot of fuss on solar water heaters for years if not decades and only five tiny percent of households have one (official source)
– It took half a century for Israeli households to have massive use of solar water heaters. 90 percent are now equipped.
See my article on that topic
You may tell me : “Edouard, solar cells are different, it will take less time ”
To which I would like to answer by writing that solar water heaters are much cheaper and easily produced than solar PV panels.
So, it will take a lot of time. For instance new constructions represent in France one percent of the total constructions. So… it would be important to focus on old buildings as well.
On this, I wish you all a great weekend !
Thanks Susie, thanks Edouard, for some great info.
Back to Hawaii, Susie, as Edouard pointed, new constructions represent a very small percentage of all buildings. What is lacking is the local political will. Hence, the need for the citizenry to mobilize and press the issue with politicians. As a great example of citizen’s action on solar front, look up Lisa Max, the grandma who cooked up a great community aggregation solar scheme in her kitchen in Marin County. She created quite a stir last year.
What is often missing from environmental activism is a practical, business approach, and a language that city, state, and federal authorities can relate to.
I agree with you Marguerite on that as well. The trouble I encounter here with ” green activists ” is their total lack of connection with the market economy system and so on.
Indeed, the French greens are more red than truly green.
They may have been having some very good ideas like increasing energy conservation and renewable energies use for decades, but since these ideas are lost in a smörgåsbord of… preposterous ideas I will write to remain polite… they are not heard by government and people alike.
( they did less 1.6 percent during the previous Presidential elections… a historical low… )
Now, we would need people with business degrees or at least an understanding on how economics and politics are done to push forward the “green” agenda.
(I am not fan of this green term… and I don’t consider myself green either for the reasons I outlined above)
Enjoy your time in Hawaii !
Thanks Edouard, for the validation. Bottom line, is empathy, and understanding your target’s need. ‘Green’ may be my agenda, but what good does it do, if the person in front of me does not care? This is where psychology can play such an important role in climate and environmental discussions, at all levels.
damn right.
The main idea we must have when discussing with them is how our values can benefit them.
In terms of business, it is the same as marketing a service a product or else.
In this case : where does Hawaii gets it electricity ? what are the drawbacks of such solutions ? what are their direct and indirects costs ? How could solar improve the current situation ?… the questions to think about are numerous.
If people see direct benefits to them embracing new values/products, they will, provided they have the financial means to do so.
One other, invisible, but very real force to contend with: the hold from special interests on much of the political decisions in Hawaii. Just had dinner last night with informed people here on the island, and learned that things in Hawaii are no different than on the main land. Until we start exposing the real powers behind the scenes, we are wasting a lot of our time, and deluding ourselves into thinking that we can change more than we really can. Hence the crucial role of citizen media and blogs.
If it does not already exist, someone should start a National Whistleblower site to gather all that information and make it available for the public to see.