Hawaii Energy
Policy Forum > Activities > Challenges Initiative
Background
The Hawaii Energy Policy Forum is seeking ways to establish its public visibility/credibility/authority in the community and to encourage multiple actions as part of its mission “to facilitate the achievement of the preferred energy vision for Hawaii” and its vision: “Smart energy solutions to sustain a healthy, prosperous and secure Hawaii.”
The Policy Forum is committed to moving forward on several fronts:
1) Graphical presentation of our current energy picture, indicating inputs, movements through the system and outputs or end users;
2) A “roadmap” or “blueprint” or “network map” to describe Hawaii energy strategy;
3) and others.
This proposal should be seen as just one part of the Forum’s program, perhaps the most visible but not necessarily the most important.
Proposal
The Hawaii Energy Policy Forum will issue an annual “Hawaii Energy Challenge.” The items on each year’s “Challenge” will be drawn from the evolving “action plan” that the Forum has already begun to develop. The “Challenge” will consist of significant actions that would move our energy vision/mission forward and requires action by various elements in the community – government, energy companies, other businesses, non-profits, citizens as individuals, etc.
For the Policy Forum, the challenge of “Challenge” will be coming to consensus agreement on the priority challenge action. These are proposed criteria for selecting the challenge items:
- Some short-term and some long-term activities;
- Involving various energy sectors: electricity, transportation, etc.;
- Even-handed in challenging government and non-government agencies;
- Includes activities not being done by others;
- Includes actions/activities others should be doing but are not;
- Includes items that are doable or whose progress is reasonably quantifiable.
Big, long-term projects could be “chunked down” to manageable bites, turning some projects into a series of challenges.
Implicit in an annual challenge is an annual report on the progress in meeting the previous challenges. The initial list should be created so there are at least some early “wins.”
The first year’s list is recommended to contain five to seven challenges. Why seven? Seven is a lucky number.
After the Policy Forum agrees on a list of challenges, Forum Steering Committee member(s) or designees will meet with the challenged entities to learn if they are able and willing to respond positively to the challenge. That is, it makes little sense to challenge the Governor to provide full funding for the PUC if the Governor is unwilling or unable to do so, and is going to dismiss the challenge.
Once the Challenge is issued, the Forum will monitor and annually report on the progress and recognize achievers and milestones achieved in a public ceremony (perhaps in October during energy month)
Rationale
Many local and national groups make annual status announcements in their areas of interest for the same purpose, to get public attention, gain credibility and move their agenda forward. Amnesty International (and the U.S. State Department) issue annual reports on the status of torture in the world and how nations compare. The dentists association reports on tooth decay. The product safety people warn about defective or potentially harmful toys at Christmas time. Engineers describe the state of the nation’s bridge or roads annually and call for improvements. This is a program in the same vein.
Example
What follows is a mock press release that might announce the program, to provide a simple idea of what it would “look” like.
UH Hawaii Energy Policy Forum Dares State to Get Energy House in Order
The Hawaii Energy Policy Forum today issued seven challenges to Hawaii leaders and organizations to move forward on an aggressive agenda of improving the way Hawaii gets and uses energy.
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