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	Hawaii Energy Policy Forum > Forum Meetings > April 24, 2009 Hawaii Energy Policy Forum General Membership Meeting Friday April 24, 2009 Plaza Club 1pm - 3pm Agenda and Summary Notes Agenda 11:30 am Lunch & Networking 12:30 pm Forum Business HEPF Evaluation Status of Projects – Sharon Miyashiro UH Outreach College Lecture Series OMPO Transportation Study Report on “Workforce Development & Training Needs” Workshop – Mike Hamnett Report from the Congressional Delegation – Amy Asselbaye (Abercrombie) Legislative Update & Discussion – Warren Bollmeier & Carl Freedman Other Business Next Meeting – August 1:00 pm Announcements Presentation: “The Hawai‘i Energy Efficiency Program” --H. Ray Starling, Administrator, Hawai‘i Public Benefits Fund 2:30 pm Adjourn Summary Notes HEPF Evaluations – Sharon Miyashiro Please fill out the HEPF evaluations – hardcopies are available and it will also be distributed by email. The Steering Committee uses this information to plan for the next year. Also, anyone interested in volunteering for a working group is encouraged to sign up. WG chairs have been the heavy lifters during the legislative session, but could use assistance if anyone is interested in working on specific issues. UH Outreach College Events, Summer 2009 – Sharon Miyashiro HEPF and the UH Outreach College are coordinating a series of events this summer in an effort to make the public more aware of energy issues. A schedule of events and registration form was distributed. Hawai‘i Clean Energy Day – June 6, 2009 from 8:30 am to 3:00 pm The keynote speaker for the Hawai‘i Clean Energy Day (June 6) will be Christine Erwin. She has lots of work with green building, LEED standards and energy efficiency in building codes. We still have an open invitation to Secretary Chu to give a keynote address, but he has not decided yet. There will be space for exhibitors, so members should notify any other interested organizations. Panels will cover policies, on-the-ground applications and what individuals can do regarding renewable energy. Being followed by the Sakamaki Extraordinary Lectures series on Wednesday nights Topics include: ocean thermal energy, Native Hawaiian cultural perspectives (implications from policy arena, how to unify Hawaiian community), GHG emissions and solutions, and biofuel potential for Hawai‘i. If this summer series is successful, the UH Outreach College could be a nice venue for the Forum to reach a broader public audience. (Betsy Cole) Neighbor island professionals may be interested in workshops, but are not able to make it to O‘ahu. OMPO Transportation Study – Sharon Miyashiro Survey questions are currently being drafted for the Energy Efficiency in Transportation study, and should be completed by May. Please let us know if you have comments about the questions. Market Trends is the contractor selected to execute the 20-30 minute telephone survey in June. It will be conducted on a random representative sample (300-400 households) statewide. Preliminary results will be done by September. Right now, funding is primarily from OMPO, so the study currently focuses on O‘ahu. However, we are looking for funds to expand statewide – HECO, Koaniani, possibly DBEDT. A version of the survey will also be available online – it will have more in depth questions and will hopefully connect with the younger population. Results from the online survey will be compared with the random phone survey results. HECO has offered to let us advertise on ConsumerLines, and we welcome assistance from other organizations that want to help. (Larry Lau) There may be a connection with DOH’s built environment working group – focused on promoting physical activity. DOH regularly conducts a large phone survey and could ask how better transportation can improve physical health/fitness. Workforce Development Workshop – Mike Hamnett A workshop entitled “Beginning to Build a 21st Century Workforce for Hawai‘i’s Energy Sector” was held this morning at Honolulu Community College. The goal was to identify workforce training needs for companies and agencies involved in energy efficiency and renewable energy development, and to discuss how these needs may be impacted by upcoming federal and state initiatives, including the ARRA. The workshop was sponsored by RCUH, HEPF, the Hawai‘i Science & Technology Council and DBEDT. 80 people attended, 60% from private companies Breakout session topics included: solar hot water system installation and maintenance, PV system installation and maintenance, energy efficiency and building design (including the LEED Green Building Rating System), energy audits and retrofits. Participants identified a large demand for training/trained employees, standards and training programs (i.e. LEED certification, licensed energy audit home inspectors). Currently, there are standard electricity and plumbing codes, but county governments do not have enough inspectors. The state is working to standardize building and energy conservation codes. This may be a good task for the Forum as part of the HCEI. In the PV/SHWH discussion, participants noted that there needs to be consistent state and county standards for installation before Hawai‘i can utilize federal funds. (Mark D.) There’s a range of professionalism within the solar industry, so everyone would benefit from standardization. However, there’s a tendency to resist standards because the market is policy driven and changes quickly. Workshop steering committee members (Mike Roda, Steve Meder, Mike Hamnett) hoped that the working groups from this meeting would pick up and go with topics. Community colleges (John Morton) are willing to start training, including setting up and funding a program. American Clean Energy & Security Act of 2009 – Amy Asselbaye With regard to the Workforce Development Workshop: Steven Lee has been in touch with Abercrombie’s office. Abercrombie’s office has been in touch with the Department of Labor, so they can help find funding when money is available in early summer. Workshop SC members should send a request for the Department of Labor to do a workshop on technical assistance and continue the working groups to demonstrate Hawai‘i's interest. If Honolulu Community College is involved, there are teleconferencing facilities available for the workshop. Lot of the ARRA funds are going out competitively, and Hawai‘i is attracting a lot of funds. We need to establish guidelines to finalize working relationship, and continue to work on a proposal for how the federal training money will be used. The State also needs to commit money to the project to make the proposal stronger – it shows private sector/state support. Commerce Committee is in charge of coming out with a cap-trade strategy and is coming out with a draft, despite major disagreements among committee members. This draft does not address how to allocate tradable emissions allowances that restrict the amount of global warming pollution emitted by electric utilities, oil companies and other sources. Appropriations bills won’t be passed until August. Members include representatives from West Virginia that are concerned about coal – aiming for bipartisan. Parts of Abercrombie’s energy bill are in the Clean Energy and Security Act, and other energy bills. He had conversations with Blue Planet and others, and has questioned how this market would work without standards; especially since the housing/stock market did not work out well. Amy welcomes any feedback on the draft via email (Ted P.) The system needs to enable State to sell credits for revenue (Joelle S.) Can legislation be flexible enough to allow other forms of carbon capture to be funded? A lot of money going into coal carbon sequestration, but there is very little money invested in algae. (Larry L.) DOH needs high quality emissions reporting Legislation – Warren Bollimeier & Carl Freedman Omnibus bills – HB 1464, SB 1173, and SB 1258 – are proceeding SB 464 – tax credits for solar – may be difficult to get tax credits monetized HB 611, SB 199 – bills to remove tax credits SB 199 does not include a renewable energy tax credit HB 611: solar/wind tax credits will not come up for review until 2012 HB 1464 – the CD1, by Morita, may remove the “no new fossil fuel” section 36 energy bills (10% of bills in conference); 2 DBEDT reorg bills – SB 294 will enable DBEDT to hire exempt staff with federal money as appropriate. It has not been discussed in conference yet. HB 1271 is still active and has the potential for landmark legislation in energy PUC revitalization in budget bill HB200– Consumer Advocate and PUC may lose 25 positions, even though the Forum wrote letter and Carl has been speaking to Representatives. (Ted P.) DBEDT has been meeting regarding HCEI – strategy with DOH; technical review committee looking at interisland cable and intermittent power; kick off for PBFA; and HCEI working group meetings. There has been a lot of talking about smart grid and transportation. Announcements – Doug Carlson Starting on Monday, July 6th, Hawai‘i Public Radio will do an energy focused weekly radio show every Monday from 5:00 to 6:00 pm. The show will focus on energy technologies, polices and issues, and will feature weekly energy news stories and 2 or 3 guests. The first show to be taped in May and will center on climate adaptation and policy. UH Professor Chip Fletcher will be a guest on the show. In the future, Doug wants to ask Forum for input on program topics. Ray Starling, Program Manager, Hawaii Energy Efficiency Program (Presentation) The Hawai‘i Energy Efficiency Program (HEEP) will combine the current rebate programs, and started because HECO called for a 3rd party to bring efficiency program forward. Along with Ray, Deputy Program Manager John Nicol is from Wisconsin program and will be helping the Hawai‘i program start up. HEEP will be a fundamental part in making HCEI work. It will be a long time before Hawai‘i has enough renewable energy online to make a difference, and permitting and funding projects is difficult. In the meantime, we should keep the load under control through energy efficiency to help us get off of fossil fuel. HEEP will improve the demand side management (DSM) rebate program to maximize awareness and build in sustainable behaviors – new and expanding programs, tax credits. There is a transition period from March 4th to June 30th, and then the official start date is July 1, 2009. A PV program is one of the first items on the transition workplan, as requested by the PUC. (Glenn S.) Will SAIC verify efficiency of products? Yes, they will look at products that save energy and will last. SAIC needs to be satisfied and ensure that PUC is satisfied before any tax credits/rebates are assigned to particular products. Most energy efficiency programs will be across all counties, although other islands did not have access to all programs in the past. However, PUC wants funds collected from counties stay in counties. Under HEEP, application forms will be automated to provide services for less money. There are concerns about switching these programs from the utility to a third-party company. SAIC plans to keep programs that are already running (talking to HECO and Honeywell), and HECO has been sharing information as necessary and as authorized by PUC. People working on the current DSM program will stay in place. HEEP’s goals have been set by Legislature and rolled into the HEEP annual plan. The contract is pre-approval of what will be done all year, but it’s flexible and will be taken to PUC when modifications are necessary. How will this program work into smart grid? It is difficult to bring on renewables because energy density of wind versus coal is different. We need to change the way we handle efficiency, in products and through maintenance. Efficiency is an important piece of HCEI. (Joelle S.) A custom rebate program would be helpful for high-tech industry – differentiate LEED/NUL/Energy Star certification among products. It’s possible that HEEP would be able to work in a validation component to the program, but they would not want to take over the role of a testing lab. HEEP has only one funding source right now, and is unsure if there is a prohibition against bringing in funds from other sources. back to top