 Bingo, we're back, Think Tech on Wednesday. What is Wednesday? It's energy day. Hawaii is a state of clean energy, and in case you forgot, it's the most important thing happening in Hawaii. It's transforming or it should and will transform our economy, and we really have to pay attention to it. That's why Think Tech likes to have this show. We've got a full house today. Let me go around the table here. We have Matt Lynch. He's the Systems Sustainability Coordinator for the University of Hawaii. There's lots to talk about. Welcome to the show, Matt. And we have Dennis Saleh, and he is the Hawaii Council for Germany in Hawaii. Welcome to the show. We are honored by your honorific person. Thank you, Jay. We have lots of questions to ask you about this program coming up. Okay, and to my left, Lily Koo, and that's with 1L, 2L, it's L-I-L-Y, and her email is cool. Yes, I'm cool. Very cool. She's from Hawaii Energy, and she's going to do the Negawatt moment starting right now. Good. Well, I'm Lily Koo, and then actually I brought in some highlights for an event that actually Illuminating Engineering Society, the IES, hosted a lighting control workshop, and actually co-hosted by Hawaii Energy, and I just wanted you to take a look at it and see the highlights. Okay, so we have a short movie from Hawaii Energy, and let's look at it now. It's good as an electrician to see what kind of product I can advise or I can save, and help us save energy. As far as occupancy, people waste energy all the time. These type of products can help us solve that problem without even having to think about it. Many businesses and contractors have participated in our program, and as a result of this, just last year, a lot of the electricity saved were able to power 4,000 homes here on the Wildham for a year. Controls, you know, provide another layer of energy savings on top of your whatever control they have. That's going to be the next wave of, you know, ways to save energy is going to control some of that. Okay, we're back. We're alive. That was Lily Koo. Oh, great movie. Tell us what that all means, what we should take away from that, Lily. Yes, that one is actually about lighting controls. And as you know that nowadays, buildings, the business buildings, the energy usage for the lighting is approximately between 20 and 40 percent. So, more so, you know, if you want to do energy smart, you have to focus on lighting, plus some kind of controls. And the good thing is, nowadays, you know, controls have wireless and the technology is so advanced that you can actually do a lot of different types of pretty stuff, and with affordable type of projects. So, that's why we want to bring in this lighting, you know, lighting controls workshop to all these professionals, lighting professionals, and also facilities managers to be able to understand what's happening in the real world. Another thing is, there's a code, IECC, IECC code 2015 is going to be in place for lighting controls, probably by... It's part of the building codes. Yes. Power and wig. Exactly. D-bed, yeah. 2017, 2018. And we want to be able to introduce to, you know, this group of facility people to let them know that, hey, you got to get ahead and, you know, be on top of the game, basically. Okay, you were speaking. What were you speaking about? Oh, I was just basically telling what Hawaii Energy is doing and how we can benefit, and also a lot of these lighting controls we're able to give out different types of energy efficiency rebates, and we want to help offset the cost of the project cost. So, the technology has changed, right? Yes. What excites you about it now? It's ever-changing, and it's becoming so smart. For example, they have this integrated control. Nowadays you can put it in an office space. And inside an office space, you know, sometimes it's rainy and sometimes it's sunny. It gets really hot, especially I'm sitting by the window. And when you have this type of controls, it's self-diagnostic and it's able to tell, hey, it's rainy outside and you don't have to have more light or it's sunny outside. You know, it just adjusts the office condition. So it makes its decision on what it learns about the... Exactly. Why do you sound like an engineer to me? You are an engineer, aren't you? I'm actually, I'm one of those oddballs. I'm not an engineer, but I work with all the engineers, yes. And I work with a lot of facility managers. It's rubbing off, yes. Yes. Lily Kuhl of Hawaii Energy, on the Neggawatt moment, thank you so much, Lily. Thank you. We'll take a short break and we're going to meet our friend in the West Coast who is the German-American Chamber of Commerce, that's Rene van de Hovel. We'll get together and we're going to have a discussion about this big program coming up next Wednesday. For now, a short break. Thank you, Lily. Thank you so much. Looking to energize your Friday afternoon? Tune in to Stand the Energy Man at 12 noon. Aloha Friday here on Big Tech Hoy. Aloha. I'm State Senator Russell Ruderman. I represent the Poonit and Kau district on the Big Island and the host of Ruderman Roundtable. We're here on Think Tech Hawaii every other Tuesday at 2 p.m. You can join us at thinktechhawaii.com. You can find a link there to a page where you can see past episodes. And we talk here about good government, environmental issues, and issues of the day facing the state of Hawaii. I'm Russell Ruderman. Please join us for the Ruderman Roundtable. Mahalo. Aloha. I'm Shantel Seville, the host of the Savvy Chick Show, which you can watch every Wednesday at 11 a.m. on thinktechhawaii.com. On the Savvy Chick Show, we are all about inspiring and empowering women and girls to be the best they can be by having amazing guests from all around the world. So we hope you'll join us every Wednesday at 11 a.m. Aloha. Aloha. University of Hawaii football team under Rolovich is going to kick butt this season. In case you didn't understand me, University of Hawaii football team is going to kick butt under Rolovich this season. So be sure to follow us on thinktechhawaii and hibachi top. I'll be at every game. And remember, aloha. One, we're back. We're live. 414 Rock, so to speak. Okay, and there's going to be a short exam. First, who's that? That's Matt Lynch. Right there. And second, that's Dennis Saleh. And by Skype, we have from California and San Francisco, we have Rene van de Hovel, and he is the German-American Chamber of Commerce. And he joins us by Skype. Welcome to the show, Rene. Thanks for having me. So let's do this in two parts real quick. In the system of UH, you're doing zero, what is it? Zero energy. This is very ambitious. It is. It's actually a mandate that was passed to us in 2015 by the state legislature that the university shall produce as much renewable energy as it consumes by 2035. You're the one. You're the man. I'm a part of the team that we're assembling to do this. So actually, the first net zero annual report was delivered to the legislature last year. It says that this is how much we produced and this is how much we consumed, and these are the ongoing efforts. And so that is you every year. Since we've been able to establish a dedicated office of energy management, so you'd probably be really interested to speak with Miles Topping. He's basically a rocket engineer. Really? Yeah, with experience. Is that your way of saying this is difficult? It's rocket science? He's way smarter than I am. I'm really glad to have him. Can you put me in touch? Yeah, absolutely. All right, we'll do a show with that. Miles worked at BA Systems, worked at Boeing, is a UH alumni, sort of the best and brightest. We talked about the brain drain. This is a reverse screen. Good to have that, refreshing. Exactly, exactly. So Miles is the director of energy management. We will be building out a team around him so that there is a dedicated and focused team. And it's that unit that's essentially doing the heavy lifting to achieve the net zero goal. How do you do it? How do you reach net zero? How do you do that? Yeah. I know one kilowatt at a time. That's a great answer. How do you do that? Yeah. So Miles has sort of outlined four overarching sort of strategic initiatives. First and foremost, it's enormously difficult to manage what you're not measuring. So we need to get a control of our data. In fact, right at this moment, Miles is very likely programming meters or pulling wires even. I thought he was watching you talking about it. I certainly hope not. So getting control of our data. And that's a significant project that is currently underway. Secondly, the best return on your investment is obviously with energy efficiency investment. So something that's on our desk that we are preparing to release hopefully by the end of this month if we hit all of our targets is the energy savings performance contract estimated to be in the range of about $100 to $200 million. Overtime. Well, it's a 20-year contract. But as you know, the way that the DOT did one of the largest ones in the nation, the University of Hawaii Community Colleges did one about $30 million worth of construction a few years back. And the construction period on that was essentially over two years. So there's quite some time once the RFP hits the street, people have to respond. We walk the campus, the technical energy assessments that are done. And it'll take a better part of a year or so to get through that process before we're actually turning dirt. So we're anticipating in 2018 that we'll be able to actually start implementing these energy conservation measures across the campus at Manawa. So that's the second sort of strategic initiative or focus. The third obviously is the second part of our mandate, which is the renewable generation portion of it. And so we have a number of renewable projects that have gone on. And as you know, HNEI is a major player in this space as well. It's part of the university, really. Yeah, yeah. And they are really at the leading edge of the research in this area. So we've also been, have a couple of exciting pilot projects underway with some energy accelerator companies that are a great part of the ecosystem. And we're really looking for innovative solutions to help really get this used to. So you're calling for people to come and help you. You're reaching out to all of your scientific capability there in the campus. Yeah, look, none of us as smart as all of us. So it's all hands on deck. We need all the help we can get. So that's really our third initiative is focusing on the renewable generation aspect of it. But you'll notice the sequencing of that. They're sort of happening concurrently, but as far as bang for a buck, energy efficiency measures is really going to start to generate the economic engine that can drive it long term. And then fourth, which is not last, but certainly not least is the sort of end user behavior engagement, right? It's enormously difficult to go in and ask somebody, hey, could you make sure you turn off the lights or turn up the AC or whatnot when they're sitting under T8, old technologies or where they're bringing space heaters in so that their thermal comfort is maintained. So as we start to shift the physical experience of the campus over the next couple of years, then all of a sudden you're creating the conditions for culture to transform. Social engineering. Well, sure. That sounds enormously ambitious, Jay, but yeah, yeah. Working to create conditions for behavior change to occur. That's great. And it's appropriate. In fact, it's more than that. It's a leadership point because what you do is a huge big system, but a cohesive system will inspire the rest of the state to do the same. So if you can do this, you will be demonstrating something that everybody will be impressed and inspired by. Well, that may be the case. I mean, first and foremost, we have an operational need and we have responsibility to our students to bear the burden of the utility costs. So this is a really high priority for us. And we're really very, very focused on it. So along those lines and seeking innovative solutions to this, we jumped at the chance to partner up with the German Chamber of Commerce. I thought you'd never get to that. To try to bring in. See what I did there? Nice. All the segues. Automatic segues. So, you know, I mean, the running jokes are around the table, right? You want to fix the best of the best. You get a German engineer to the table, so... I always say that. Those two miles here, yeah. Very clever, very clever. The Germans are very clever people. So we are beyond thrilled to have this opportunity to host. And for very selfish reasons, I'm excited about this, but I'm also excited about the broader impact because UH has this extraordinary ambitious mandate that we're tasked to meet. And so we want to be able to connect with the leading edge of clean tech. So why not start here? And hey, let's learn together. So we'll throw open the doors and invite the community to come in and kick the tires. That's a great idea. A great idea, not only for the, you know... University, I told you before, I mean, it has an obligation in my view and I think in the policymakers' view to pay back the community. And remember Tom Apple? Tom Apple always said that. He said the university... He wants to see, and I think a lot of people want to see, including David Lazarus, want to see the university, you know, provide value to the community in general. And the program you guys are setting up is exactly right on those lines. Because we're really interested in Germany because Germany has been at the point of discussion about energy since the beginning of our energy initiative. And you guys are doing such creative things. We need to learn from you. We need to know what you're doing. We need to talk to your companies and see, you know... Of course, you'll be interested in some of the things we do, but I think we'll be very interested in some of the things Germany is doing. So tell us about the program, Des. So thanks for saying that, by the way, about the Germans. I appreciate that. You know, the program is actually a symposium or a conference that we're holding on Wednesday the 9th. Next week. Next week. And we have invited eight companies from Germany to join us in this. So they're sending their executives or people that have expertise in the field to showcase what they do in Germany right now. So the idea was, for one, to give these guys an opportunity to meet up with Hawaii energy stakeholders and see if there's synergy, potential synergy. Sure there is. Sure. Yeah, I'm sure there is. You know a little bit about the German energy transformation, which really kicked off decades ago, if you will. And Germany had greater challenges than Hawaii. Of course. It was harder. Of course. I mean, for one, we're a manufacturing country. So we have humongous energy demand. And, you know, there's been a long wave of the attempt to transform Germany. It really only got a lot of traction when the chancellor, Merkel, decided after Fukushima to cut off nuclear power. She's a light hero, by the way. In fact, I'd like to see her run for president of the United States. I don't know if that's going to happen. I don't think she was born here. We're going to have that birth certificate discussion real quick. So what we did is we tried to get a government grant to allow these companies to travel here and to get some funding in place to help build a bridge, a transatlantic, trans-specific bridge, if you will, that will hopefully bear some fruit and create some connections. Fabulous. Okay. So when and where? Let's get to when and where. Again, we're bringing the companies in on Sunday. The Sunday before Wednesday the night. So they'll arrive here on the 6th or 7th. And they'll stay for the whole week. So they're open for meetings with people who are interested. And then the conference itself is a one-day event. It's a free event. And it'll happen in the Kansas Center, the Sullivan Conference Center from 8.30 to 4. That big room in the ground floor. It's a beautiful conference center. We took a long time to find it. There's some fabulous programs in there. So you follow on a good legacy. Yes. And we're hoping to do some energy consulting on that building right away. Because although it does look very modern, it apparently wasn't designed with energy in mind. Careful, careful, careful. I was told. Now we're here. We've got some suggestions for you. We welcome that. Yes. So does Martin de Spang know about this program? Yes. He's one of our hosts. And he's German. He is part of it. He will be holding a speech or a talk. Okay. And he was very excited. Yeah. I know. And with him, that really means something. Because he doesn't usually get excited about it. Okay. And listen. I don't want you to feel that we're not taking attention to you, Renee. But when we come back from this break, we're going to get into you big time. So be prepared. But for now, we're going to take a short break. Hello. This is Martin de Spang. I want to get you excited about my new show, which is called Humane Architecture for Hawaii and Beyond. And it's going to be on Think Tech Hawaii from downtown Honolulu on Tuesday after noon's 5 p.m. And we're going to talk about to make architecture more inclusive on the islands, which is one of the definitions of humane, which is being tolerant of many people, of nature, of many other influences. So we're going to have some great guests, like today's guests, for example, my collaborator, David Rockwood, who's the author of the awesome manifestation of humane architecture in the background. So see you on Tuesdays, 5 p.m. and look forward to... Bingo, we're back. Now that smiling face you just saw, that is Martin de Spang. He runs Humane Architecture, which is really a wonderful show every Tuesday at 4 o'clock. Make that 5 o'clock. Okay, so... And P.S., by the way, before the 9th... No, on the 9th. At the end of the day, we're going to have Dr. Rettberg, who is from Germany, part of the visiting delegation here on Think Tech, Hawaii State of Clean Energy. Thank you to Sharon Moriwaki for having set that up. You are with us always, Sharon. Okay, now let's... Let's get to Rene van de Hovel, who is with the German-American Chamber of Commerce in San Francisco. So you're responsible for bringing all these eight constituents from Germany, and you're going to be nice to them, right? I hope so. We already set up a lot of meetings with them, so there's a lot of interest on the island for these companies, and we have also a lot of people signed up for the conference, and I just want to mention, if people still want to come, they're listening, go to our website, it's the GACCWest.com, and you can sign up for the free conference and meet the German companies and our expert speakers. GACCWest.com, yeah. That's correct. So there we will be able to see the... What kind of companies are there? Can you give us a pricey? Yeah, sure. So it's a very diverse mix of companies. One of the biggest problems that exists right now is for sure when you create a lot of renewable energies, you need storage solutions for that energy. So we have two very prestigious German companies, Sonnen and Mercedes-Benz, and they all offer storage solutions, battery solutions for commercial and private houses. So they will show their product and talk a little bit about what their vision is for the future. But we also have other companies that do fuel sales, for example, for emergency cases. We have a company that has a very innovative product for utilities when you need energy on a very short term. So it's a good mix. On the other hand, we have companies that are actually doing energy efficiency. They consult companies and, for example, universities in their effort to get better. So we bring them over. So I think we have quite a diverse mix of companies, and yeah. So we're looking forward for next week. Okay, well, now I understand, Matt, why you're doing this. You want to merge these two initiatives together. The German visit and the net zero. It's all combined, isn't it? Like I said earlier, these are pretty big and hairy challenges that we need to solve. And so we're looking for, we're going to need some significant innovation. So we're looking for solutions wherever we can find them. Yeah, so I have a question for Rene. Rene, were you part of the group that selected these eight companies? Who selected them? It wasn't Dennis. So this program, as Dennis mentioned, is part of the government agency. So the German government actually selected them. So we work with a partner in Germany that choose these eight companies for the conference. So the German government is not only doing it for Hawaii. I have to mention that the German government is doing that around the world. So there are similar programs in other cities in the world. And so, yeah, I think Germany is very professional in finding these companies for the markets that are most interesting for them. Why do you know, just between us, just between us, why are they coming? Why is it a long trip? How many, 10,000 miles or something? Why are they coming here? What's in it for them? So for sure, the German government wants to support what we call the German Mittelstand, like German small, middle-sized companies. And that's most of them. And as you maybe also heard, we are like an export nation. And the German government and the companies feel that they have very innovative products because we started that endeavor like 15, 20 years ago. So they have a lot of use cases and a lot of solutions for problems. And we just want to share them. And for sure, they're looking for partners in Hawaii that maybe they can work together with. Maybe even at this table. Not pointing. Okay. So now my question is this. Well, for 20 years they would be aware that Germany is very advanced in clean energy and spends a lot of time, attention and scientific talent developing systems and solutions in clean energy. But when they come here, these eight companies, what should we be looking at? Where are the strongest advances? What's the most advanced technology that we should look for? And what area of the activities covered by these eight companies? So I personally find the energy storage solutions very innovative. For sure. There are some companies, and you know the advantage for them is they have already use cases in Germany. So it's not like a complete new idea. Most of their product they will present or services they will present already on the market in Germany for a long time or in Europe. So I think you can really look for innovative products that come and that are also reliable for end-users for example, or for businesses. Okay. And what's in it for them in terms of learning from us? Do they have any expectations that we will teach them things that they can use in their various enterprises? You know, I think the companies for sure they have more like a business interest but we bring also three experts from Germany and for sure for example, Dr. Retic who will speak on your program next week. And he is from the University of Dortmund for example and he is looking into smart grid solutions. So for sure Hawaii could be a very good case for him to compare the two markets a little bit and maybe you know you have other finance, other problems that he can include in his research. So I think the experts are, you know, more like linked to both sides for sure the company is looking for business opportunities, you know, that's their job. That's great, Renee. And you're coming, you're going to be here, right? I'm coming, flight is booked and I see I have to buy my Hawaii short quite quickly. We're going to be filming the program during that day on the 9th. So we'll find you, we'll look for you and we'll meet you in the flesh. But my question is, you know, you probably expect some pretty nice creature comforts for you and your eight constituent companies. And I wonder what you expect Dennis will provide for you? Or what you expect Matt will provide for you? Is it going to be really nice? What's it going to be? I hope they provide us with a Mai Tai. That's my... I think we can arrange that. I have to say both of them because for sure for us in San Francisco it's a challenge to organize a trip like that. And then Matthew, especially, you know, he organized the location for us and hosted us and introduced us to a lot of people and Dennis, so to speak, in Honolulu helped us also with his connection. So it wouldn't be possible without them. So they did it quite a lot and I heard that you don't have a Trader Joe's in Honolulu. So we have to go shopping on Friday and bring some nuts to Honolulu. René Mandejoval, he's ready for this trip and Dennis, you're going to take care of him. I'll take care of him. Matt, you're going to take care of both Dennis and René, aren't you? Wonderful. It all comes together next week. I know you'll have a great event. Thank you so much for joining us today on Hawaii, the State of Clean Energy. Thank you.