 This is St. Tech, Hawaii, the Trinity Matters here. Bingo, bingo, bingo, we're back at four o'clock. This is Hawaii, the state of clean energy. Our flagship energy show every Wednesday at 4 p.m. And wow, we're entering into a new month. Okay, so we not only have a special guest next to me, Shayna, but we also have a special co-host, Brian K. Aloha from Hawaii Energy. Brian, can you describe all the wonderful things that are gonna happen on Hawaii State of Clean Energy this month? There's a lot going on this month. October is Energy Action Month. So as a result, we're gonna be talking about a lot of different things. Today we've got Shayna from our program and Kippin from Eolani Palace to talk about some of the events of the month, as well as some of the things that Eolani Palace did to be energy efficient and save money and save energy. And later in the month, we're gonna get into exciting things around codes and standards and things that people can do in their homes and businesses to save money. Exciting times, okay, this is gonna be an interesting month because as you know, you're the first guy to know this. The cheapest kilowatt of all is the one you never use. I've heard that somewhere before, yeah. I may have uttered it a few times too. So introduce Shayna now. So Shayna Doi is our Marketing and Communications Manager at Hawaii Energy, and she's a rock star who's killing it across all of our Marcom efforts to really help get the word out on how people can make smart energy choices save money, save energy. And one of the things that's coming up tomorrow is the second annual National Energy Efficiency Day. There's some cool stuff happening in the state. So I'm not gonna steal Shayna's thunder and introduce the Shayna to you from here. I feel it coming, I feel it coming. Can you tell us what's coming tomorrow? Yeah, so as Brian mentioned, tomorrow is National Energy Efficiency Day across the country, and Hawaii Energy is proud this year to have reached out to each of the four county mayors in our state, and each of them in their respective counties will be proclaiming tomorrow officially as Energy Efficiency Day in their county. So last year we were able to do this on a state level and this year we're doing it on a county level and we're super excited to get them all on board, especially because Hawaii is definitely leading the charge for this Energy Efficiency Day campaign, and it's really awesome to have all of their support as well. Brian, did you tell me that Hawaii is the only state in the union where all the counties are buying in? Am I right about that? That is correct. Once again, we're on the map. Last year we were the first state as a state to proclaim it as Energy Efficiency Day, and then this year on the second annual we're the first state to have all our counties buy into it. So it really just shows how clean energy is at the forefront here, and Hawaii is always a national leader. Better watch out, you're gonna get calls from the media all over the country tomorrow. Broke here first, Jay. Yeah, I know, it's a clue by the way. So what should I expect to see tomorrow, Shane, is there gonna be festivities, parades, people? Oh, well, there won't be big parades or anything like that, but we will be doing our best to break the news to the public. We'll be on KHON tomorrow morning, on their morning show Take Two, talking about what we just talked about here, and hopefully encouraging folks to do their part in Energy Action Month and save energy and make smart energy choices. Later on in the month, we'll be putting together some really awesome things like our own events, just celebrating energy efficiency right here in downtown Honolulu at Tamarind Park on the 18th. I'll be there. You will be, well, that's amazing to hear. And then there are also a lot of other events that are not hosted by us, happening throughout the month, so some technical trainings going on. HIKO has their clean energy fair happening on the 7th, so we're really excited to be a part of all of that. Yeah, yeah. Okay, what can I do, Shane, in order to celebrate, or at least joining the celebration of Energy, let's see, Energy Efficiency Day, just tomorrow and Energy Action Month, the action part is where I'm going here. Yeah, yeah. Well, where do we start? My goodness, there's so many things. What we're asking folks to do just on a national level, I guess one simple step you can take is take a pledge to just switch out one light bulb, upgrade it if you've got an old incandescent. We were talking about Thomas Edison earlier. We don't live in the age of things anymore, unfortunately, so if you could take the pledge and our viewers could take the pledge to just change one light bulb, that would mean a whole lot across the country. Imagine that, everybody change out one light bulb, what a difference it would make. Two in LED, or yeah. Yeah, okay, anything else? Anything else? Well, there's so many different. My refrigerator for two. Yeah, your refrigerator, if you've got an old refrigerator, you can trade that up to an Energy Star model, same with a lot of your appliances in your home, ceiling fans, air conditioning, you could get a solar water heater for your home if you're not, if you're running off an electric one right now. And in your workplace, you know, there's just small things, put timers on your, on your electronics, shut down your computer every day, turn off those power strips. All the things that we, you know, we love to tell people that make a difference and if they want to learn more, they can always check us out more at HawaiiEnergy.com. And they'll see their incentive programs because I know you have incentive programs for a lot of the things you just named. So, Brian, how much of what Shane has said do you agree with? 100%. It's just like our clean energy goal, 100%. Well, that's what you mentioned, and I think that's an important piece is that we have incentives for pretty much everything that Shane laid out. And in addition to that, you know, on our website, you can find a lot of interesting educational pieces too as well. And a lot of times for people when they're in the moment of buying, let's say an appliance, they're not thinking about energy efficiency, right? They're looking at the color, what's gonna match in their home, does it have the space or what they want? And so if tomorrow, if everyone, if they go out and just think about energy for a little bit and get that energy star appliance, get the rebate, that's one of the things that people can do to make a difference. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, it's funny, we, you know, in the energy conversation in this state, we spent a lot of time talking about the grid and talking about storage, we talked about renewables, we talked about getting off fossil fuels, we talked about transportation. But we don't actually talk that much, not as much about energy efficiency. And I wonder if you guys could help us put in perspective where the one stands vis-à-vis the whole conversation. How important, what percentage of my energy thought process should I dedicate to energy efficiency? Don't say 100%. I was just gonna say, that's where I was going, back again, 100%. Yeah. Well, put it this way. The latest report out from Hawaiian Electric, in terms of where we are across their utilities, is that we're at 26% renewable energy right now. To put that in perspective, if we hadn't done the energy efficiency programs we have over the past seven years, as a state we'd only be at 22%. So when you think of it from a percentage of where we're at wise, you know, easily in the 10 to 20% part of the conversation of what needs to happen. But most importantly, energy efficiency is the most cost effective resource. The LED light's gonna cost you a lot less than a PV panel. So get your load down first and then put in the clean energy system. Let me add something, see if you agree with me saying that. It's not only cost effective, cheaper cost to the consumer, it's cheaper capital cost. You don't have to build a power plant to be efficient. You don't have to spend millions and billions and whatever to do energy efficiency. All you have to do is hold back a little bit, yeah? So that means it's not just your monthly bill, it's the cost to the whole community, to the economy, if you will, yeah. In terms of energy efficiency, where do you think it plays against what I call the Puerto Rico effect? Because Puerto Rico is having a terrible time and they were not particularly efficient. They didn't have, I think they had 2% of renewables on their grid. They did not have resilient systems that could operate against the storm. We do have more renewables. We do have more resilient systems. We are thinking about it all day. And in that mix somewhere is energy efficiency. Where does it play in case we have a storm? It's not an easy question, by the way. I'm looking at Shayna if she wants to take a stab or if she wants me to do it. I'd rather you do it. All right. Well, I think if you rewind the clock even further back to, if you look at what happened with Superstorm Sandy and how much devastation was wrought on the systems there, as a state, they looked at how do we make our energy systems more resilient? They realized the backbone to everything is making sure that schools are up and running again and they have power. So kids can go back to school. So parents can deal with the recovery efforts and things of that nature, right? So along those same lines, if you're gonna be resilient, that means you'll probably have some form of self-generation and storage. And for you to size those systems, it's gonna be really, as you just said, it's really expensive to buy those things. So if you can implement energy efficiency and bring the load down, then those systems don't have to be as expensive. They don't have to be as big. And hopefully they can then be more resilient when storms happen because it's probably just a matter of time, unfortunately, that we're gonna get hit by some type of storm. And hopefully it's not gonna be too bad, but we need to start preparing for that. Yeah, we do, especially in our thought process. Because it's sort of like the same point, is if you have to rebuild a damaged system, you don't have to rebuild that part of it, which is energy efficiency. Okay, you get to close now. You get to say anything else that you wanna say. And for this, I'm helping you with your own notes. Okay, Shayna? Anything I wanna say. Anything. You can say how much of what Brian said you agree with. Well, I definitely agree with what Brian said. Obviously, he's my boss. I'm not gonna disagree with him on a popular, not on air at least. But I just wanna reiterate for everyone, I think all of our viewers, that all the points that you guys talked about today, the energy efficiency is the cheapest grid resource that we can buy. It doesn't take a lot. Anybody can participate. Like I said before, the pledge of just one light bulb. We can do that. Anybody can do that. Home, office, mom's, parents' kids. Plus, it's better to replace all the bulbs. Well, it is. But if you have to start somewhere, yes, of course. And then just to reiterate that if you're stuck or you wanna learn more, Hawaii Energy is always here to be that resource for you. We have an awesome website, obviously HawaiiEnergy.com. I'm not gonna come on TV and not plug my own website. But really, we do truly mean that. We really wanna be that trusted advisor for all of our business colleagues, everybody who's at home watching as well. Just if you're ever in the need to learn more about energy or you wanna learn how you can pay less every month, that's what we're here for. HawaiiEnergy.com. HawaiiEnergy.com. I heard you say that. Yeah. And follow us on social media. Yeah, follow us on social media. All right, at my Hawaii Energy. You know, Brian, she's great. I told you she was. Okay, I won't deny it. You gotta trust me. You gotta trust me, Jay. We'll take a short break and come back and talk to Kippin from Ilani Palace and find out what's going on there in terms of energy. We'll be right back. This is Think Tech Hawaii, raising public awareness. So hot up in the, nothing is making sense. Good afternoon, my name is Howard Wigg. I am the proud host of Code Green, a program on Think Tech Hawaii. We show at three o'clock in the afternoon every other Monday. My guests are specialists, both from here and the mainland on energy efficiency, which means you do more for less electricity and you're generally safer and more comfortable while you're keeping dollars in your pocket. I told you we'd come back. And indeed, we did. This is Jay Fidel here on Think Tech with our flagship energy show, Hawaii, the State of Clean Energy. And my co-host is Brian Kealoja of Hawaii Energy, and he is now gonna introduce Kippin. Kippin Vandachew. You get that right? The Albatru. Yeah. The Albatru would be make you dush. You're not dush. The Albatru. Who's with Iolani Palace? But, Brian, why don't you introduce? Sure. So Kippin D'Albatru is the Executive Director of Iolani Palace. And one of the reasons why I was hoping to come on today, and I'm very happy he did, was we were just in the last segment talking a little bit about what you can do to save money and save energy and change out one light in your place. Well, Kippin took that to the next level. He changed out every light at Iolani Palace. I'll let him tell a little bit more about his story and what's happened there. Welcome to the show, Kippin. Thank you. Thank you, Jay, and thank you, Brian. So what do you do over there? What do I do? What do you do? Change lights. No, actually, I haven't done that. Basically, we care for Iolani Palace and manage all of the tours and access for people to come in. I haven't done tours. Excellent. Thank you. So why does Iolani Palace care about light bulbs? Well, it's because King Kalakawa cared about the light bulb. He went and visited Tommy Settison in New York City and brought the technology of electricity and the incandescent light bulbs back to Hawaii. So the palace, when it was built, had gas lanterns originally. And then when Kalakawa saw the new technology, he thought, you know what, this is something that we could use at Iolani Palace. So it was extremely fitting that today we are now switching to the newest type of bulb, the LED. Perfect. What took you so long? Actually, it was the technology had to keep up, had to catch up to our exacting demands for a historic site. So we could not put in the first LEDs that came out with this bluish white tint. They were way too harsh. And so we kept testing over the years. It took about five years. So we started back in 2012. We were using samples. And none of them worked until just last year. We finally got, they finally brought the temperatures down, let's say. So it has a warm orange glow of the bulb. You need that because it's an historical museum. Yes. In effect, you know, you can't have it too bright. Yeah, exactly. Did you have to change infrastructure to do this? Did you have to change wiring? Did you have to change the canisters in which the bulbs are seated or anything like that? No, none of that. It was just simply twist off, twist off the new bulb. Okay, there's a rumor you had to do it all yourself. Is it true? Step ladder, I can see it now. At night, right, I just... What's Kip in doing that when he's changing bulbs? Changing bulbs, yeah. Actually, I have to say before the switch, our staff had to change bulbs every two weeks. They would burn out. Because you have a lot of bulbs. Because we had 692 bulbs we changed. Give it a take. Oh no, exactly, 692. And since the change out, we started back in September of last year, at the beginning, the new joke now is how many guys does it take to change a light bulb in Yolani Palace? Zero. Because none of the LED bulbs have burned out. None. It's in September of last year. You heard it here on the big channel. How many guys does it take? None. It's fabulous. So how about the quality of lighting, the temperature, did you achieve what you wanted to that way? Oh, exactly. We did want to increase the lighting in the Palace because it was very dark before. So with incandescence, we were using 15 watt bulbs. That is pretty dark. With the new LEDs, we were able to up that to about 65 watts, but still with a natural looking light. And so when the tourists come in, they don't have to use the flash on their phones because they're not supposed to use flash. But because it was so dark, a lot of people would try to sneak in doing a flash. But now it's well lit. So it's a better experience for them. It's a better museum for them that way. It is better. You can see a lot more detail. And then for us on the other side is we can actually close the shutters for the sunlight because the sunlight is the most damaging on our objects. And so with the higher light, we don't need the sunlight. Brilliant. So think about this, right? It doesn't have to change its light bulbs anymore. It provides a better experience. It preserves everything in the Palace. Yeah. And how much are you saving now a month because you did it? Oh, it was about $1,200. A month. A month we're saving. Wow. Yeah, we have a big bill. That's a lot of money over a year or five or 10 years. Incredible. So you're just sold on a deal, then. You're not going back. To gas lanterns. Is there anything else you have to do with the Palace now or complete the project? Is it all done or is there more? No, the project is completely done. We are finally finished. So Brian, where does this fit in the larger picture? I mean, certainly it's iconic, right? It is a special place and this is a special project. And you must love this project. Absolutely. Because if Yolani Palace can find a way to change out the lights in, obviously, at the Palace, there's no excuse for any other building not to be able to do it. Because, as Kippin talked about it, that five-year process, and we were going hand-in-hand with that together of, is this the right light? The right temperature? Does it provide the right setting for the curators? Whatever it may be, it was a challenging process. And so needing to preserve that architectural look and the museum look and all those pieces is not easy. So if Yolani Palace can do it, really, we all can do it. Everybody can do it, right? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Exactly. So I hate to tell you this, but you're not the only museum in the state. I know. We know. We can send you a note to that. What about other museums that are like Yolani Palace? I mean, nothing's quite like Yolani Palace. But the Mission House across the street, Bishop Museum, what have you, there are other museums. And my own experience is they could use more light, actually, because I like to see because I'm getting old and I can't see straight. I like to see what I'm reading on the exhibits. So I'd like to see the artifacts there. Where are we on that? Are we doing this in other places, too? So one of the things that's really been exciting what's come out of this is we've been working a lot more with the Historical Preservation Society. And actually, Ramsey Brown, who's on my staff, is going to be presenting again in a couple of weeks. Yeah, he's awesome. And the case study that he's going to be presenting is Yolani Palace. So we're hopeful that this can be kind of a catalyst for a lot of historic buildings as well to see that you can be energy efficient. You can make these smart energy choices and still operate a historic building and preserve what the ambiance and the feel of those facilities are, but save money and save energy in the process. Yeah, so can we say also that there are lessons you have learned in this project with 623? 92. Sorry. As I said, I was getting older. 692 bulbs, what have we learned in terms of dealing with not only an historic building, but any building or any place that has 692 possibilities? In the way we address this, in the way we get the staff aside from you to go out and do the job, the way that we determine the right temperature, one lesson I suppose would be call Brian. Oh, yeah. He and his staff are the best, yeah. What else? This is a profound experience, and we need to share with people what you've learned so they can follow the same path. There are so many benefits that we have noticed from switching to LEDs that they keep coming up. One is the saving in staff time by not having to change bulbs, because we have some bulbs that are pretty high up, and it's going to take a while. So now you pay them less? No, we have to pay them more, because the minimum wage law is going up in January. But it's also there's much less heat, so the air conditioning system has to work less. So you save money on the air conditioning also. Exactly, yeah. And there's a better comfort level, especially in the galleries where we have a lot of spotlights. Those have all been switched to LEDs. So spotlights can be very hot. Exactly, and now we don't have that problem. So there are a lot of benefits. This applies to every building. Not only is that building very building. Exactly. So whose idea was this anyway? Oh, this is Kippen. He's following in the footsteps of Kala Kala. He decided, I'm going to bring the LED to Keelani Palace. This is all Kala Kala's idea. Yeah, he started it. You know this gesture, right? Princess Keelani, right? Keelani, yes. The lighting of Honolulu. But in all seriousness, once he figured that out, he realized he was dealing with a higher energy bill, and what we were going to do. And the first place that we looked at was the lighting. We thought it would be one of the easiest ways to start saving money right away. And I think one of the lessons learned was it's really good to go through the process of putting in samples and getting staff and everyone involved in a decision in a place like Keelani Palace to feel comfortable with what's in there. So while it took a long time to get in, we didn't deal with anything on the back side of, oh, these lights aren't the right color. We don't like it. All of those types of complaints didn't happen. Where if we hadn't gone through this process, I think we would be dealing with it on the back end. Correct. Correct. So you go through a side of the temperature issue. I really appeal, because we have temperature issues around in the studio, the same kind of thing. You have to hit the right temperature. We have what do you call it, gels over our lights to make sure it's the right temperature. But aside from that, how do I make a choice about what kind of LED I'm going to go by? Should I go to one place or the other? Should I go mail order? How much should I expect to spend? You had to go through that, I guess. Oh, yeah, we had to find something that looked like an incandescent bulb. Yeah. Yeah. An LED that where you could see the filaments inside. Yeah. And so that we had to wait till that developed. Because it wasn't out there at the beginning. You know, twisty, depressing kind of thing for it. Yeah, exactly. So you waited. We waited. And finally it came out. And so we're using a Phillips bulb that mimics. And so it's beautiful. The bulb is beautiful. And I have to come and look. Will you let me come and look? Yes, of course, yeah. I think a camera can do that. A white camera. No noise. No light. Natural light. Everyone can take photos. Yeah, you post on social media. So Brian, where does this all go? I mean, what's your advice, for example, to me as a homeowner or studio operator or building operator, whatever I mean, how do I start the same project that Kippen started? How do I go down the road on that? What are my considerations? Well, I think one of the first things he did was, again, call Hoi Energy. That was a big step in the process. Very important move. Yeah, right. I mean, you know, Kippen's a smart guy. But he didn't know all the necessary steps on energy efficiency. And he shouldn't. And most people don't need to know that. And that's what Hoi Energy is there for. I mean, everyone pays for it as part of their electric bill. It's a service that we all need to take advantage of. And that's the first part of the process. And when we worked with Kippen, we went through his facility and figured out where are the different areas where they could save money. And like I said, we started with lighting. But Kippen's also doing some things. This is air conditioning system. So there's just a number for efficiency as well. Yeah. So I mean, you helped in a kind of general audit as well. I mean, I call it an energy efficiency audit as well as the bulbs. So once you start looking at the bulbs, you should look at everything. Oh, yeah. Exactly. And so that's your approach. But that's for one iconic project. But what about other? Suppose I own the Davies building. I call you, what happens? Right. So what we usually try to do is we have a number of clean energy allies that are part of our program. And depending on what things you might be wanting to look into install, we can help connect customers with those allies. And they can put together different proposals that will have the costs and the savings. And what we will do is we provide incentives on the project as well to help move it forward. So in the case of Kippen's project, we paid almost $13,000 in rebates to make the project look more cost effective. And it really helped him move forward with some of the initial costs that he needed to get to invest. And so we would do the same thing on other projects as well as we figure out what the scope would be, what the opportunities are, and put together incentive package to help make it happen. Yeah, so you're not only going to come and tell them what it means and how to do it and savings and benefits, you're going to actually help him in American money. Absolutely. And that did help you. Was that a fact? You probably already committed to the thing anyway. But it did help you. It was a tipping point thing that you should also get incentives from Brian. Oh, of course. Definitely. It sounded like a great experience together. It was a great experience. And basically, we will pay for the bulbs in three years, thanks to the savings. That's pretty short turnaround. Yeah, oh yeah. That's with the rebate taken into account. So tell the people why they should come and see Eolani Palace. What do you got going over there? What do we don't have going? So one of the big changes, especially for people who haven't been recently, is we are doing replica gowns of what the elite wore. And these are now on display in the throne room. And they're about, I believe, three or four dresses from various queens that people can see. One is the peacock gown that Kapiolani wore. And again, these are replicas. We don't have the original, but there is close to the original as possible. And that is very exciting for a lot of people to see. And that's under the LED lights, too, by the way. You can see it beautifully. They show better that way. Better that way, yeah. The feathers looks a little different, yeah. Well, you know, Eolani Palace is a tremendous thing for Hawaii. It represents more than just a look back at the monarchy. It represents a kind of, it's a historical turning point. People have different ideas about whether it was a good one or not. But it helps us. It's a lens through which we can understand Hawaiian history and culture. And you're there. My god, I want your job. It was a fantastic job. Yeah. Thank you, Kevin. Thank you. Yeah, thanks, Kevin. So Brian, can you talk about the takeaway here and what we're going to do next time? Sure. So hopefully everyone out there saw some, heard some ideas of what they can do to save money and save energy. And again, energy efficiency is the first place to start to be able to save, to reduce your energy bill and get the process started towards that 100% clean energy goal. As we look forward into the upcoming show, I think on the 18th, we have Ramsay Brown, your favorite. My favorite. He's going to come in and talk about. Aside from Shayna. Yeah. Just don't tell Shayna. He's going to come in and talk about not only the energy codes, which I think we've discussed at length before, but some of the things that we're doing in terms of standards as well to help raise the minimum bar of things so that our incentives can push things to even a higher efficiency. And we can get to that 100% faster. Yeah, that's an interesting point. That efficiency is not static. No. The efficiency that we have today, that we have at Eleni Palace, is better than it was a year or two or five years ago. And you're always looking for ways to make efficiency more efficient. You heard it here on Think Tank. Efficiency more efficient. Yeah. I love it. Thank you, Jake. Great to have you here. Ryan, thanks. And next week. We'll see you then. All right. Aloha. Aloha.