Ka`u News Briefs Nov. 7, 2011

Michael Smith, inventer of the Green Power House, chosen for the U.S. booth at APEC this week.

ALGAE AQUA-CULTURE TECHNOLOGY will be represented by Volcano residents David Howard Donald and Anne Lee at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation’s CEO Summit in Honolulu this week. Lee and Donald are proposing AACT’s Green Power House energy solution in their bid to operate Volcano House. The Green Power House will be one of five innovations displayed in the booth sponsored by the United States at APEC’s Medium Enterprise Innovation Exhibit. Other companies chosen for the U.S. booth are Kai Medical; Oceanit; Open Entry; and Planned Systems Alternative. The companies were chosen after a nationwide search for enterprises in the fields of education and training, health, information and communications, green/clean technology and food and agriculture. 

David Howard Donald

Anne Lee

     AACT’s inventor, Michael Smith, will also be on hand. He described the Green Power House as “three billion years of renewable energy engineering experience at work.” He was referring to the algae, one of the planet’s most ancient and evolved plants. “Algae efficiently converts solar energy into bioenergy. Algae grows faster than most other plants around,” Smith said. 

     The Volcano Project team proposes to meet electrical needs at Volcano House with a Green Power House. “This is an ideal answer for the National Park Service’s need to reduce its carbon footprint,” Donald said.
     Lee said that “the Volcano Project has proposed AACT’s Green Power House as a safe and eco-friendly self-sustaining, self-managing greenhouse using cutting-edge technology and nature’s own processes to generate green electricity, consume invasive species, and provide endemics for reforestation of the Park.”

Mufi Hannemann
Photo by Julia Neal

MUFI HANNEMANN, WHO HELPED BRING APEC TO HAWAI`I when he was mayor of the City & County of Honolulu, traveled through Ka`u over the weekend. Hannemann is running for Congress and hopes to take the seat of Rep. Mazie Hirono, who is running for the Senate. 

     Hannemann helped break ground for the Bay Clinic’s new Ka`u Family Health & Dental Center on Saturday and said he will work for more federal funding for the new facility. The Bay Clinic location is nearly across the street from Hannemann’s former house, which is now Punalu`u Bake Shop. He also lived in Papaikou and was vice-president of Corporate Development and Marketing for C. Brewer, which owned the sugar plantation here and developed Punalu`u Bake Shop.
     Hannemann said he believes he has an understanding of rural Hawai`i and the huge Second Congressional District, which includes four counties and six islands that cannot be neglected.
     He said that one of the best skills he has to offer is the ability to network and pointed to his background in business and government. In addition to being Honolulu’s mayor, he was state director of Business & Economic Development and is currently president and CEO of the Hawai`i Hotel & Lodging Association. He said the organization is now more inclusive. He said tourism is “not an old industry, it is an evolving industry – more green, sustainable and maintaining a sense of place.”
     Hannemann said tourism can help Ka`u Coffee, and he talked about ag-tourism, environmental tourism and health tourism. Hannemann also talked about Hawai`i becoming a showcase for alternative energy, with geothermal, wind, hydroelectric and other alternatives being developed.

Hau trees are members of the hibuscus family.
Photo from University of Hawai`i

THE BIGGEST TREES IN HAWAI`I are the subject of a public search encouraged by the state Department of Land & Natural Resources. 

     DLNR chair William Aila said there are no trees currently on the national register of Big Trees. “We hope that including Hawai`i on the national Big Trees register will help educate and encourage conservation of our native and culturally important trees. It is our goal to eventually create our own State of Hawai`i Big Trees Program,” said Aila.
     The DLNR asks for species and location by GPS, as well as the height, width and size of the tree’s crown. The state is looking for the following species: wauke (Broussonetia papyrifera), coconut (Cocos nucifera), hau (Hibiscus tiliaceus), manele (Sapindus saponaria) and `a`ali`i (Dononaea viscosa). 

`A`ali`i is usually a small tree, but some of the
largest may be in Ka`u.  Photo by
A. Tsuneyoshi

     Candidates for biggest tree can be emailed to Sheri.S.Mann@hawaii.gov. Visit the American Forests website for measuring tips and more on the nationwide contest at www.americanforests.org/our-programs/bigtree/big-tree-measuring-guidelines/.

SPEAKING OF TREES, the proposed Ka`u Forest Reserve Management Plan Environmental Assessment will be the topic of discussion at the Ka`u Chamber of Commerce meeting on Friday, Nov. 18 at 4 p.m. at Punalu`u Bake Shop. The speaker will be Ron Terry, of Geometrician Associates.

INDIGENOUS HEALTH is a new master’s degree planned by the University of Hawai`i School of Medicine. The two-year program will begin in the fall of 2012. It will focus on health care for Pacific Islanders, Native Americans and Maori.

HAWAIIAN AIRLINES is flying 85 percent full, with 16.4 percent more passengers and 20 percent more capacity over October of last year, according to a report in RTT Global Financial Newsletter.

THE KA`U COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN steering committee will meet tomorrow at Ocean View Community Center at 5:30 p.m. The public is invited and can read updates and history of the development plan at hawaiicountycdp.info/kau-cdp.

HAWAI`I’S FIRST VOLCANO HOUSE is the topic at After Dark in the Park tomorrow. William Chapman, of UH-Manoa’s historic preservation program, discusses the history of Volcano House beginning at 7 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Park entrance fees apply.