JUL/AUG/SEP 2017
Vol. 9 #3
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A MATTER
Photo: Courtesy Hawaiian Legacy Restoration Initiative
OF FAITH
ADVERTORIAL
Over the past year, Faith Elarionoff was joined by her friends and family on an unforgettable journey to reforest more than 1,000 endemic Hawaiian Legacy Trees.
The first time Faith Elarionoff visited the Hawaiian Legacy Forest on Hawai‘i Island, it was pouring rain. She joined her close friend, who was preparing to move to Honolulu. They planted five koa seedlings to leave a living, growing legacy along the slopes of Mauna Kea. “Even in the rain, with everyone soaking wet, there was this oneness in the forest,” says Elarionoff, whose family has lived in Hawai‘i for generations. “It is so special in the forest. There is an incredible serenity. I wanted to bring more people to plant trees.” Elarionoff is an instructor of Zumba and Tai Chi classes in Hilo. She asked nearly three dozen of her students, family and friends to join her last year as she planted koa and sandalwood Legacy Trees. The Legacy Forest is managed by the nonprofit Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation Initiative (HLRI) and is the first of its kind in the world. “I sponsored five trees for each person who visited with me,” Elarionoff says. “People were enthralled at the idea of helping this place. Everyone talked about how wonderful it felt getting their fingers in the dirt. They want to help leave a better island for future generations.” She now has a Family Forest that encompasses more than 1,000 trees. Most of the trees are dedicated, and each one can be tracked remotely online using RFID technology specially developed by HLRI. Dozens of the trees are dedicated to Elarionoff’s parents, who she describes as her “moral compass.” “Through thousands of individual tree
sponsorships like these and the support of businesses and organizations across Hawai‘i, the growth of the Legacy Forest has exceeded all expectations,” says Jeff Dunster, executive director of HLRI. “We recently started preparations for our next Hawai‘i Island Legacy Forest, which will encompass more than 700 acres in North Kohala’s historic Kahua Ranch.” More than 400,000 native and endemic Legacy Trees have been planted for permanent reforestation over the past seven years. HLRI has returned 1,200 acres of former pastureland above Umikoa Village to the majestic forest it once was. The Legacy Forest is a 34-mile drive from Elarionoff’s home in Hilo. During her visits, she has seen the Legacy Forest apiary, where koa Hawaiian Legacy Honey is cultivated. She’s also wrapped her arms around the old-growth “Lone Koa” tree that serves as a seed source for the newly planted forest. On each trip, she spots wildlife like the rare ‘io, or Hawaiian hawk, and pueo, an endangered owl endemic to Hawai‘i. “When I am in the Legacy Forest, I feel surrounded by life,” she says. “Both the new life that is growing and life that has been there a very, very long time.” To sponsor a Legacy Tree, visit LegacyTrees.org. To tour the forest and plant a koa or sandalwood Legacy Tree as part of an award-winning eco-tour, visit HawaiianLegacyTours.com. Legacy Trees can also be sponsored through the purchase of unique gifts at LegacyForestGifts.com. ADVERTORIAL
TOYOTA IN HAWAI‘I:
Driving the Future Three Ways
Taking big steps today on the path to a sustainable Hawai‘ i If you had a crystal ball that allowed you to look into the future, what do you think you’d see? Forecasting the future is a job that automotive engineers and product planners are tasked with every day. At Toyota, the vision is clear: an automotive world where safety, sustainability and driving comfort are top priorities. Rather than wait, however, Toyota is bringing the future of mobility to Hawai‘i with three advanced vehicles that are either available now or will be very soon—the Prius Prime, the Mirai Fuel Cell Vehicle (FCV) and the 2018 Camry Hybrid.
Toyota Mirai Hawai‘i is one of the first markets in the world to soon offer the new Toyota Mirai FCV, a vehicle that represents a true turning point in automotive technology. Available soon, the Mirai replaces the gasoline-powered internal combustion engine with a 151 HP electric motor powered by an advanced zero-emissions fuel cell. The Mirai’s fuel cell safely combines hydrogen gas stored in secure tanks and oxygen from the atmosphere to produce electricity to power the motor, while emitting
ADVERTORIAL
nothing but pure water. By generating its own electric power within an onboard fuel cell, the Mirai eliminates the constant recharging and range concerns of traditional pure battery electric vehicles. The Mirai can be driven up to 300 miles on a full fill of hydrogen gas, and it takes only five minutes to fill the
specially designed hydrogen tanks. The four-passenger Mirai offers a full range of comfort and convenience features along with standard safety equipment, including a Pre-Collision System, Blind Spot Monitor with Rear Cross-Traffic Alert and eight air bags.
Toyota Prius Prime Simply put, the Prius Prime is the most advanced Toyota hybrid yet. It functions like a pure electric vehicle for everyday commutes yet offers an EPA-estimated 640 miles of total driving range to completely eliminate traditional EV range anxiety. The key to the Prius Prime’s confidence-inspiring performance for extended drives and longer trips is its proven Toyota Hybrid Synergy Drive Technology and an optimized Plug-in Hybrid Vehicle (PHV) system. Fully charged, the Prius Prime uses only emissions-free battery power for the first 25 miles of driving—enough for typical daily use in Hawai‘i—before
2018 Toyota Camry Hybrid Coming to Hawai‘i in early fall of 2017 is the all-new Camry Hybrid. The highly anticipated new-generation Camry features a dramatic new look inside and out, making it the most upscale and sporty-looking Camry ever. Best of all, the environmentally friendly 2018 Camry Hybrid is expected to deliver Prius-like city and highway driving efficiency. Key to the new Camry Hybrid’s projected best-in-class fuel economy is its
next-generation Toyota Hybrid System (THS II), which provides an ideal balance of energy efficiency and superior power output to help maximize driving performance and enjoyment. In addition, the battery pack has been moved from its previous trunk location to beneath the rear passenger seat for a noticeably enriched and balanced handling experience. The Camry Hybrid’s available technologies include a 10-inch color head-up display, a seven-inch multiinformation display and an eightinch audio/navigation display with a
its hybrid system takes over. Once you’re back at home, recharging is quick and easy. No special equipment is required—just a standard household outlet. Full charging takes less than five and a half hours. And there’s more to love about the Prius Prime beyond its 133 MPGe and up to $4,500 in federal tax incentives. Available features include an 11.6-inch HD multimedia display, quad-LED projector headlights and the most standard active safety features of any vehicle in its class. The Prius Prime also qualifies for single-occupancy HOV lane access and free parking at state and county facilities.
smartphone-like interface. Among the new Camry Hybrid’s many safety features is the standard Toyota Safety Sense™ P (TSS-P)—a suite of cutting-edge active safety technologies, including a Pre-Collision System with Pedestrian Detection (PCS w/PD), Full-Speed Range Dynamic Radar Cruise Control (DRCC) and Automatic High Beams (AHB). All 2018 Camry models also come standard with 10 airbags and a backup camera. Three new Toyotas. Three steps forward toward a more sustainable future.
ADVERTORIAL
CONTENTS VOLUME 9 NUMBER 3 // JULY/AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017
GREEN ________________________________________________
ENERGY ________________________________________________
10 Climate
35 Solar
12 Cleanup
36 Whole Home
12 Biofuel
40 Pathfinder
Senator Brian Schatz slams climate denier and EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt The 411 on Kewalo Basin’s waste-busting trash skimmer Pacific Biodiesel breaks ground on the state’s largest biofuel crop
Save money and reduce fossil fuel use with help from Solar Cool Hawaii Your guide to sustainable home upgrades for a healthier living environment Kamaka Green helps advance the local clean energy environment
15 Initiative
41 Improvement
18 Food
42 Transportation
Q+A with Governor Ige on his ambitious Sustainable Hawai‘i Initiative How chefs and restaurateurs are shaping the future of farm-to-table
Handy Andy turns former servicemen into green home helpers Hop in with us and test drive the latest EVs and hybrid vehicles available in Hawai‘i
DESIGN ________________________________________________
NATURE ________________________________________________
27 International
48 Reforestation
WATG reimagines hotel environments through the lens of sustainability
ON THE COVER _______________________________ COMPLETE WITH HIKING PATHS AND A 25-FOOT WATERFALL, CLIFFORD PLANNING’S KAPIWAI PROJECT IN PAUOA VALLEY IS A PRIVATE COMMUNITY OF ECO-LUXURY RESIDENCES OVERLOOKING SEVEN ACRES OF NATURAL TERRAIN. PHOTO: Oliver Koning Photography
Gifts from the Hawaiian Legacy Forest, a reforestation initiative on Hawai‘i Island
28 Architect
Dean Sakamoto Architects leads local design projects with a humanitarian focus
30 Masterplan
Clifford Planning brings high-end expertise to affordable workforce housing
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GRE E NM A G A Z I N E H AWA I I .C O M
Photo: Kristen Maize
SHOP ARTISAN-MADE GOODS TO HELP REFOREST HAWAI‘I ISLAND
Powerful. Elegant. Refined.
It’s powerful design and aggressive exterior styling announce your arrival — with authority. A look that’s all at once tempting and tantalizing. Paired with a next-generation Toyota Hybrid System, the all-new 2018 Camry Hybrid is expected to achieve best-in-class fuel economy ratings. And with Toyota Safety SenseTM P (TSS-P) standard, it’s as safe as it is fun.
T HE A L L-NE W 2 018
W H AT MOR E C OUL D YOU A S K F OR ?
Powered by Toyota Hawaii F A
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Published by Element Media, Inc. VOLUME 9 :: NUMBER 3 :: JULY/AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017
President Jamie Giambrone
Art Director Keith Usher
Publisher Naomi Hazelton
Contributing Writers Lindsey Kesel, Danyale Reed, Kim Sloan, Jennifer Sudick
Managing Editor Kevin Whitton Editor Lauren McNally laurenm@elementmediahi.com
Contributing Photographers Aaron Bernard, Dave Miyamoto, Darryl Watanabe
Vice President of Sales and Marketing Nicholas Riopelle nicholas@elementmediahi.com Senior Account Executive Jennifer Dorman Publisher's Assistant Thomas Goodwin Administration Crystal Rogers, Sally Shaner
Subscribe and read online at greenmagazinehawaii.com. Contact Element Media at 1088 Bishop Street, Suite 1130, Honolulu, HI 96813; 808.737.8711. Follow Green on Facebook at facebook.com/GreenMagazineHawaii and on Twitter at @greenmaghawaii.
Green Magazine Hawai‘i is a quarterly publication available through subscription, direct mail and bookstores throughout Hawai‘i. The views expressed within Green Magazine Hawai‘i do not necessarily reflect the opinions of management and ownership. Green Magazine Hawai‘i may not be reproduced without written permission from the publisher.
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CLIMATE // CLEANUP // BIOFUEL // INITIATIVE // FOOD
Photos: Office of U.S. Senator Brian Schatz
GREEN
Above: U.S. Senator Brian Schatz, left, attends the Paris climate talks in December 2015. Left: Schatz, right, visits Kalaupapa on Moloka‘i, where rangers from the National Park Service are working to preserve the region’s natural resources.
| CLIMATE |
SHAME ON YOU SCOTT PRUITT Climate change denial was so pre-Inconvenient Truth
While debating with advisors on withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, Trump signed an executive order rolling back Obama-era climate regulations and the Clean Power Plan in order to sweep away environmental protections on oil drilling and coal mining. Like a tiny middle finger held up to an overwhelming body of scientific evidence (and future generations of global citizens), Trump also tapped climate-denier Scott Pruitt, who has received over 10
GRE E N M A G A Z I N E H AWA I I.C O M
$300,000 in campaign contributions from the oil and gas industry, to run the Environmental Protection Agency. Pruitt claims that carbon dioxide is not a primary contributor to climate change, a view that contradicts the stance of the Environmental Protection Agency, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Hawai‘i Senator Brian Schatz, co-chair of the Senate Climate Action Task Force, spoke out against the decision to appoint
Pruitt and to denounce Pruitt’s view of our global environment. “If there was ever any doubt that Scott Pruitt is a climate denier, this settles it,” said Senator Schatz in an official statement. “Anyone who denies over a century’s worth of established science and basic facts is unqualified to be the administrator of the EPA. Now more than ever, the Senate needs to stand up to Scott Pruitt and his dangerous views. We will do this through the appropriations process, through oversight of his agency, and by making sure that the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts are followed. His views are extreme, but he cannot change the law by virtue of his irresponsible views. He is still obligated to follow the law.” —Kevin Whitton
GREEN
CLIMATE // CLEANUP // BIOFUEL // INITIATIVE // FOOD
| CLEANUP |
TRASH SKIMMER AND KEWALO HARBOR Photo: Pacific Biodiesel
Q+A with Todd Apo, vice president of community development at Ward Village Were there any roadblocks or challenges in launching the trash skimmer? No, it was a relatively new product that someone from our team discovered, and we were able to move pretty quickly to acquire and install it in Kewalo Harbor.
| BIOFUEL |
Is this a temporary fix or will the skimmer become a permanent resident in the harbor?
SEED TO FUEL
Given its success in removing thousands of pounds of trash from Kewalo Harbor, we are proud to say the trash skimmer will become a permanent fixture. The skimmer does sometimes need to be removed for cleaning and upgrades, but we see the health and cleanliness of the ocean as a top priority and are happy to be able to provide this innovative solution to our community. We are continuing to monitor the harbor to determine whether there are areas where an additional skimmer may continue to help the environmental efforts at Kewalo Harbor.
Are there any projections or statistics about the trash skimmer’s environmental benefits?
Photo: The Howard Hughes Corporation
The Ward Village trash skimmer was put into operation in July 2016. So far, the trash skimmer has removed 4,500-plus pounds of trash from the harbor. We anticipate the trash skimmer will continue to remove trash and debris at this rate. Additionally, the trash skimmer better serves the 80 locally owned businesses that operate out of the harbor, the marine enthusiasts who frequent the area and the wildlife that call the harbor home.
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Pacific Biodiesel begins farming the state’s largest biofuel crop Pacific Biodiesel is planting its first biofuel crop on Maui— sunflowers. An eye-catching symbol of sustainability, the acres of sunflowers stand as a solution for energy security while they sequester carbon from the atmosphere. “We’re designing a sustainable, zero-waste and economically viable system to grow food, animal feed and fuel,” says Pacific Biodiesel President Bob King. “Short-term crops that harvest in 100 days or less can be planted, harvested, crushed and converted to biodiesel, all in Hawai‘i.” In February, Pacific Biodiesel Technologies launched the scaled-up farming demonstration to grow sunflowers and other biofuel crops in Maui’s central valley. The initial crop project will expand diversified agriculture by growing combine-harvested oil crops on 115 acres of land previously used for sugar cane production. This is the largest biofuel crop project in Hawai‘i and the only biofuel farming operation in the state running on 100 percent renewable fuel, showcasing the company’s sustainable, community-based model of agriculture and renewable energy. The company expects an initial yield of 100-plus gallons of oil per acre per harvest, with potentially up to three harvests per year. “Think of it as 100-plus acres of energy storage and carbon sequestration,” says Pacific Biodiesel Vice President Kelly King. “There are 36,000 acres of fertile sugar cane lands on Maui that ceased operation at the end of 2016. It is important for the community and the state to keep this land in agriculture to benefit Maui’s economy and environment, and to help the state increase its energy security, reduce reliance on fossil fuel and achieve its 100 percent renewable energy mandate by 2045.” —Kim Sloan
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| INITIATIVE |
THE
SUSTAINABLE HAWAI‘I INITIATIVE
Governor Ige expands the state’s commitment to clean energy and proposes landmark initiatives for watershed protection, marine management, local food production and a new interagency biosecurity plan
Photos: Office of the Governor
By Kevin Whitton
H
awai‘i has been committed to utilizing clean energy for electricity production for nearly a decade. In 2008, the Hawai‘i Clean Energy Initiative was enacted to reduce our heavy dependence on imported fossil fuels. In 2014, the initiative was renewed to achieve the nation’s first-ever 100 percent renewable portfolio standard by 2045. Today, Governor David Ige is taking the state’s sustainability initiatives one step further, extending them to include local food production, watershed and marine protections, and invasive species management. Dubbed the Sustainable Hawai‘i Initiative, Governor Ige looked to pre-contact Native Hawaiian land management practices to develop plans for protecting the state’s valuable natural resources through modernday, community-based stewardship.
What was the impetus for going beyond clean energy to set additional baselines in conservation and local food production? My administration had looked at a couple of things in preparation for the World Conservation Congress [held in Hawai‘i in September 2016]. The state of Hawai‘i had already committed to the Aloha Plus Challenge. We saw the Sustainable Hawai‘i Initiative as the logical next step. Developing an ag loan program is part of your initiative to double local food production. What demographic does the ag loan program target and how does it work? The ag loans create access to capital. To double food production, we need every farmer to commit to do more than they currently do, whether it’s a new farmer starting up or an established GREENMAGAZINE HAWAII.COM
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Double local food production by 2020: Governor Ige at Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company’s final harvest in December 2016.
farmer looking to expand. Many farmers are on lease lands and their ability to finance improvements is limited. We’re not talking about thousands and thousands of acres in production. We’re talking about smaller parcels, developing agricultural parks, facilitating co-ops and helping farmers create markets so that they have a market to sell to. The other part of that is access to water. As industrial agriculture is scaled back and we move to smaller, organic farms, there isn’t that big corporate entity to make investments in critical infrastructure, so the state needs to make those investments so that farmers have access to water. Besides making capital available to help farmers expand production, we have been working with the University of Hawai‘i. Technology is changing agriculture, and we used to have a thriving network of extension agents out of the University of Hawai‘i at Mänoa and at Hilo helping our farmers keep abreast of the latest and greatest products and techniques. A lot of that infrastructure has been allowed to deteriorate. Our focus now is building up that support. Doubling food production is a big challenge, but I feel it’s fundamentally important to set that target at 2020, closer than the others. Are there any interesting local agriculture trends that you came across while doing research for your initiative? We have lots of ag land that’s not in production, but a shortage of farmers. There’s a new program that the Department of Agriculture has initiated with the University of Hawai‘i that connects people who want to learn how to farm with experienced farmers who can serve as mentors. I’m also excited by Aloun Farms and the Ohana Farm Parcels project in Central 16
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O‘ahu, where Alec Sou and his partners are making turnkey farms available for sale or lease. They’re cleared, prepped and have access to water, and he’s willing to share his know-how on making farm products economically viable. That allows us to fasttrack and facilitate getting more acreage in production. The interagency biosecurity plan is new for the state. What does it entail? Hawai‘i has the greatest concentration of endangered plants and animals in the world. What we’ve committed to do is create an interagency plan that has the Department of Land and Natural Resources working with the Department of Agriculture to try to do a better job of keeping invasive species out of Hawai‘i. The plan is to do a better job at ports and airports because those are the most natural points of entry, and to work with shippers and those in the industry so we can be proactive about shipments that would likely have invasive species in them. We’ve expanded funds available to the Invasive Species Council because we’ve begun to see all of the new introductions— the little fire ant, the rhinoceros beetle, rapid ‘öhi‘a death. It’s about building more capacity so that when we see these introductions, we can put together a team
to assess the situation and develop a plan to mitigate and eliminate invasive species before they become established. Is the new agency up and running? There are elements of it in the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Land and Natural Resources, but the goal is to establish one entity that would have the full range of authority to identify the threat and take action. We believe there would be greater efficiency and a more comprehensive and proactive approach to stopping invasive species. According to the state, 15 percent of our watersheds are already protected. Is the plan to expand watershed fencing to 30 percent? There are a couple of things the department is doing. It really is about partnerships, working with private-sector landowners who might own adjacent parcels and getting everyone in an ahupua‘a to work together to collaborate and share funds to do all the things we need to do to manage the watershed. One thing that’s a little different from watershed partnerships in the past is that we are incorporating hunters. We’re looking to create hunting opportunities for
the hunting community and incorporating their activities into our watershed protection areas. I think that’s a win-win in many instances and allows us to move forward more quickly to preserve our watersheds. The Sustainable Hawai‘i Initiative calls for 30 percent of our nearshore waters to be under protection by 2030. Why not push for greater protections? The 30 percent was initiated in part by the United Nations conversation about what constitutes sustainable development. Part of it is based on the notion that if you can effectively manage 30 percent of a resource, that’s significant enough to be sustainable. Hawai‘i has been at the forefront of managing ocean resources in a traditional way. It’s about community-based management, balancing commercial and recreational fishing interests with the communities’ interest in subsistence and preservation. We want to ensure that everyone can continue to have access to the ocean in a sustainable way. The Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative is leading the charge in its transition to clean energy. Is it more difficult to create change on O‘ahu compared to the neighbor islands? Kaua‘i is interesting because it’s a co-op. It used to be a for-profit utility like
the rest of the electric utilities across the state, but there was interest by the previous owner to sell it, and the community got organized and established it as a cooperative. They are managing it well, and it dovetails appropriately with our commitment to achieving 100 percent renewable energy. There’s broad support for 100 percent clean energy and the Kaua‘i Island Utility is evidence of what’s possible when you align the shareholder with the community. I think the challenge for the other counties is that Hawaiian Electric is a for-profit, publicly traded utility. Its stock market performance is measured against traditional utilities all across the country, and there’s no other state committed to 100 percent clean energy. There are no other utilities like the ones that service our communities, where everyone is an independent grid. The challenge is managing all that intermittent clean energy, but the KIUC is demonstrating it can be done without sacrificing reliability. We can be committed to clean energy and reduce costs to the consumer at the same time. Rather than be an import economy that imports goods and fuel, sending $5 billion of our money out of state, we aim to be an internal economy where that money is retained, creating jobs and opportunity in our communities.
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Implement an interagency biosecurity plan by 2027: Governor Ige at a proclamation and awards ceremony as part of Hawai‘i Invasive Species Awareness Week in March 2017.
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| FOOD |
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GRE EN M A G A Z I N E H AWA I I.C O M
How chefs and restaurateurs are shaping the foodscapes of tomorrow
By Lauren McNally
Pasture to plate, boat to bowl—however you slice it, has the farm-to-table movement made any real impact on the future of our food? According to the National Restaurant Association, hyperlocal sourcing and environmental sustainability top the list of trends sweeping the culinary world in 2017. But for all the organic greens and grass-fed beef popping up on local menus in recent years, there’s still plenty of misconception about what it means to eat sustainably. There’d be less ambiguity if you measured the success of our food system on productivity alone. Agricultural output has nearly tripled in the United States over the last 60 years thanks to chemical inputs, mechanization and other innovations designed to lower costs and increase yields. After all, it had to. The global population grew three times faster over the last century than it has in all of previous human history. Small-scale, diversified farming couldn’t possibly meet that demand. At least, that’s the logic driving the last 50 years of American agribusiness. Economies of scale are a powerful engine for industrial agriculture. In a landscape where competition favors the lowestcost producer, Hawai‘i’s high land and labor costs make it hard for small local farmers to compete. But that’s the fundamental flaw in the system. Conventional metrics don’t account for the tens of trillions of dollars’ worth of services that Earth’s ecosystems contribute to the global economy every year. And they take for granted not only the economic value of the natural resources consumed, but also the environmental cost of how those resources are used. As America gradually relearns to eat and cook from the land, awareness has been growing about everything Big Ag leaves out of the equation, from the hazards of chemical pesticides and genetically modified foods to the ecological impact of monocropping and large-scale meat production. In Hawai‘i, we
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export 80 percent of what we produce and import 90 percent of what we consume. That mind-boggling reality doesn’t buy us very long—about 10 days, by some estimates—in the event of a natural disaster or other disruption to our fragile supply chain. As if the carbon impact of shipping so much food back and forth over thousands of miles of ocean wasn’t enough of a concern. Hunger is a pressing issue for an astounding number of communities in Hawai‘i and beyond, but the real question isn’t how to fill our plates today, it’s how we plan to continue filling them tomorrow. “Much of American agriculture is a business in liquidation,” says New York chef Dan Barber, co-owner of the pioneering farm-to-table restaurant Blue Hill in Manhattan. “A business that’s quickly eroding the ecological capital that makes that very product possible.” So what does it mean to eat sustainably? According to Barber, it depends where you live. In his book, The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food, Barber dissects our food system to determine what a truly sustainable menu looks like, only to find there isn’t one—in fact, there are many. Talking to food producers around the world, Barber concludes there are as many menus of the future as there are ecosystems on the planet. That’s because, he says, a dish is only as sustainable as the environment from which it came. On a visit to Veta la Palma, a commercial fish farm in southern Spain, Barber finds an ecosystem so healthy and self-sufficient that it doubles as a bird sanctuary. That kind of symbiosis doesn’t just speak to the health of the system, it makes the fish taste better, too. Thanks to natural filtration processes, the river that feeds Veta la Palma is purified as it flows through the farm, leaving the fish free of impurities and emerging on the other side, renewed. Stopping in at an organic grain farm in upstate New York, Barber learns that it’s actually an intricate rotation of several crops that gives the farm’s prized emmer wheat its flavor. “I was cherrypicking what I most wanted for my menu without supporting the whole farm,” Barber writes in his New York Times article on the topic, entitled What Farm-to-Table Got Wrong. “In celebrating the All-Stars of the farmers’ market, farm-to-table advocates are often guilty of ignoring a whole class of humbler crops that are required to produce the most delicious food.” As curators of taste, chefs and restaurateurs play a significant role in shaping how and what we eat. Before chefs like Roy Yamaguchi and Alan Wong put Hawai‘i on the map for fresh, flavorful fusion cuisine, local sourcing was far from the norm in Hawai‘i after the 1950s.
Penned by James Beard Award-winning chef Dan Barber, The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food presents three metaphorical plates to discuss American eating habits, past, present and future. The first holds a hulking corn-fed steak with steamed baby carrots; the second, grass-fed beef and a side of organic heirloom veggies; the third, Barber argues, must turn the others on their head to have any real impact on the health and sustainability of our food system.
Photo: Four Seasons Resort
ʻUlu Financier
‘Ulu Andoa chocolate macadamia nut cake, Valrhona Dulcey namelaka cream, Hawaiian chili pepper gelato
KALANI GARCIA, A MAUI NATIVE AND EXECUTIVE PASTRY CHEF AT FOUR SEASONS RESORT HUALALAI’S ‘ULU OCEAN GRILL + SUSHI LOUNGE, wanted to create a dessert that paid homage to breadfruit (‘ulu), the restaurant’s namesake and a staple in the ancient Hawaiian diet. Breadfruit has a long history in the area. Four Seasons Resort Hualalai is located on Ka‘upulehu Drive, Hawaiian for “where the breadfruit was roasted,” and rests on the site of an ancient Hawaiian village. Grown in the resort’s very own garden, the breadfruit used to make the ‘ulu flour in Chef Garcia’s ‘Ulu Financier is roasted, dried and milled in a 10-hour process that’s clearly a labor of love. Garcia says the ‘ulu flour provides good structure and, mixed with almond flour and Cup 4 Cup gluten-free flour, gives the cake enough body so it has the taste, look and texture of a typical cake made with wheat flour. He recommends substituting 30 to 40 percent of the starch in your recipe with ‘ulu flour. Any more than that and the cake will be very dense. Garcia has made ‘ulu churros and even ‘ulu cream puffs, but his favorite breadfruit dessert, by far, is the ‘Ulu Financier.
Photo: Four Seasons Resort
Bringing it back
INGREDIENTS 1 cup sugar 3/4 cup brown sugar 1 cup almond flour 1/4 cup macadamia nut flour 2/3 cup Cup 4 Cup flour 2/3 cup ‘ulu flour 1/4 cup cocoa powder 3/4 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp salt 4 egg whites 2 T invert sugar (or corn syrup) 3/4 cup brown butter 1/3 cup 64% chocolate
DIRECTIONS Pre-heat oven to 350°F. Combine sugars, almond flour and macadamia flour, Cup 4 Cup, ‘ulu flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in a food processor. Combine egg whites and invert sugar and whisk into dry ingredients. Add the brown butter. Melt chocolate in a double boiler and add right before baking. Pour batter into a sheet pan greased with butter and bake for 45 minutes. Cool, cut, then serve with accompaniments of your choice. Serves eight.
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Now restaurants are becoming increasingly transparent about all aspects of their business, not just where they source their food. They’re going beyond the farmers' market circuit to adopt measures in waste reduction, water conservation and energy efficiency, even sourcing ingredients directly from onsite gardens. The Surfrider Foundation launched its Ocean Friendly Restaurants program to specifically recognize restaurants working to reduce plastic pollution through practices that include recycling, offering reusable tableware and foregoing plastic bags and Styrofoam takeout containers. The nonprofit Hawai‘i Agricultural Foundation (HAF) hosts the public awareness campaign Localicious Hawai‘i every March to encourage the public to support restaurants that buy local. Participating restaurants donate a dollar for every time customers choose the restaurant’s farm-to-table offering that month, with proceeds going to Veggie U, HAF’s youth agricultural education program. Technology is also helping Hawai‘i transition from the old monoculture model to diversified agriculture, giving farmers new tools to make their operations more profitable. But without a blueprint for eating that incentivizes subsistence farming over intensive farming, it’s easy to treat the world’s ecological resources like they’re groceries in one big supermarket. In his quest to upend the traditional American dinner plate, Dan Barber learns that the recipe for sustainable eating includes all the ingredients that comprise a sustainable food system: farms, orchards, fisheries, and the chefs and Chef Ed Kenney preps a coconut from MA‘O Organic Farms to serve on the night’s menu at Mud Hen Water. restaurateurs championing their yields out in the community. “The right kind of menu builds diversity,” Barber says. “It connects the dots, it creates consciousness. Which, when you think those influences into hotels and restaurants, especially using about it, is the most exciting opportunity we can have—to redefine ingredients that were sourced even closer to home. our landscapes and our diets from the ground up.” Besides exposing Hawai‘i rich culinary traditions to the world, Chefs are in a unique position to help turn the tide on how Hawai‘i Regional Cuisine’s popularity helped local sourcing gain people eat, both in restaurants and out. By building their menus in traction beyond the fine-dining sphere. There are now more than a way that not only supports local supply chains but advocates for 200 farmers' markets throughout the islands, where once you’d them on a level that goes all the way back to the soil, restaurants be hard-pressed to find organic produce at your neighborhood have the capacity to not only reduce their ecological impact but supermarket. also be a force of good. Another generation of locavore chefs have helped revive the To sustain us in the long-term, our food has to speak volumes movement in a landscape where farm-to-table is the new normal. about the unique anatomy of where we live, and chefs are some When Chef Ed Kenney opened Town in 2005, chefs like Peter of the best storytellers to weave those elements into a compelling Merriman were already cooking nose-to-tail—that is, utilizing and cohesive narrative. At the root of the matter, that’s really what the entire animal in dishes, not just the most popular cuts—but farm-to-table is all about—a way of eating that recognizes how Kenney’s whole-hog approach was far less common in mainstream individual ingredients are linked inextricably to the health of the eateries. So was his practice of putting less-popular fish, like aku, whole. on the menu to address overfishing. Photo: Dave Miyamoto
Once home to a self-contained local food system, Hawai‘i relied increasingly on imported food to keep up with demand from its rapidly expanding tourism trade. Nearly half of the fruits and vegetables and all of the dairy consumed in Hawai‘i were still grown on island in the 1960s, but more and more were imported as tourism exploded in Hawai‘i in the 1970s and ’80s. By the early 1990s, Hawai‘i had earned a reputation as “a paradise for beaches but a wasteland for food,” writes food writer Janice Wald Henderson in The New Cuisine of Hawaii, a collection of recipes published in 1994 following the advent of Hawai‘i Regional Cuisine. Fusion cuisine was already a part of daily life for people in Hawai‘i, but there was something radical about bringing
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IT TAKES AN ENTIRE COMMUNITY TO FEED AND NOURISH THE PEOPLE OF HAWAI‘I.
HAWAI‘I RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION Working together to produce, prepare and present the freshest ingredients.
Uniting Hawai‘i Restaurants to Go Green & Protect our ‘Aina
Learn More at hawaiirestaurant.org
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Photo: Dave Miyamoto
STEPHEN ALBERT VICE PRESIDENT WATG
| INTERNATIONAL |
THE HOSPITALITY REFORMER
WATG reinvents how guests interact with hotel environments through the lens of sustainability by Lindsey Kesel
A
fter it was commissioned to refurbish Waikiki’s Royal Hawaiian Hotel in 1945, WATG (an amalgam of the four founders’ last names) made a name for itself in hospitality design as a specialist architectural firm with a sustainability focus. Today WATG has offices all over the world, including Beverly Hills, New York, Singapore, London and the founding office in Honolulu. Originally from England, Vice President Stephen Albert draws from the firm’s research studio, WATG labs, which investigates the latest advancements in green design. This includes innovations ranging from fabrics made of synthetic spider threads and products bioengineered from discarded shrimp shells to technologies like self-healing concrete, crushedglass pest control, cardio machines that generate power and gardens that support biodiversity and prevent flooding. Recently, the team has begun
exploring the idea of an “edible “As designers we are in a resort,” where it’s not just farm-totable or ocean-to-plate, but organic unique position to shape golf courses with plant nurseries, the environment." grazing goats and arable landscapes surrounding the fairways and greens. —Stephen Albert WATG’s intelligent urban planning involves the creation of interactive spaces that encourage children to play and allow wildflowers, butterflies and native trees to thrive. The firm studies biomimicry and robotic technology in order to more effectively create harmony and promote symbiosis between users and their physical space. “As designers we are in a unique position to shape the environment,” Albert says. “The most rewarding aspect of the work we do is seeing our designs realized, delighting the users in the places created and enjoying memorable experiences.”
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DESIGN
INTERNATIONAL // ARCHITECT // MASTERPLAN
| ARCHITECT |
THE ALTRUISTIC ARCHITECT
Dean Sakamoto Architects leads local design projects with a humanitarian focus
Photos: Dave Miyamoto
by Lindsey Kesel
W
hen Dean Sakamoto established Dean Sakamoto Architects (DSA) in 1999 while serving on the Yale University School of Architecture faculty, he knew he wanted to effect change in the way buildings and communities were designed and planned in his hometown of Honolulu. In Hawai‘i and the mainland East Coast, his firm is responsible for numerous institutional, commercial, residential and urban projects, including the Juliet Rice Wichman Botanical Research Center at the campus of the National Tropical Botanical Garden on Kaua‘i, a landmark LEED Gold project and a recipient of the AIA Honolulu Award of Excellence in 2010. More than experts in sustainable design, the DSA team are also practitioners of social and cultural sustainability
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DEAN SAKAMOTO
through their humanitarian ARCHITECT approach. In 2015, Sakamoto DEAN SAKAMOTO ARCHITECTS/ founded SHADE (sustainable, humanitarian, architecture SHADE GROUP and design for the earth), a collaborative environmental design practice based in Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) product Honolulu that unites architectural groups to help solve Hawai‘i’s housing crisis. A in a cooperative design studio. Soon prototype display structure and exhibit is after, the nonprofit SHADE Institute planned for late 2017. was created to provide community-based “How we develop our land—especially public interest design (PID) with intern in a place as geographically contained training through professional mentorship. and fragile as Hawai‘i—needs to change The SHADE Institute continues to work for environmental, social and economic with the historic Chinatown and Waipahu reasons,” Sakamoto says. “SHADE is communities on urban design and sitemore than a business and nonprofit. It specific project plans. is a movement and way of thinking and Now SHADE is collaborating with working to create a more sustainable, Bento Box, a New York-based lifestyle equitable and humane environment in design company, to develop a prefabricated Hawai‘i and beyond.”
| MASTERPLAN |
THE CLIFFORD LEGACY Designing high-end structures has provided Janine Clifford with the means to design and build affordable workforce housing
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Photos: Clifford Planning
Janine Clifford has a passion for design. As president of Clifford Planning & Architecture, her passion is apparent in the people she works with, the tools she has invested in and the projects she takes on. Yet her passion goes far deeper than designing luxury homes and resolute high-rises. Clifford believes in complete, sustainable communities. So much so that the high-end luxury projects have become an economic means to fuel her passion to build affordable workforce housing, which is severely lacking across the state—especially on O‘ahu, where residential inventory is at its lowest point in over a decade. The median price for a single-family dwelling was $730,000 in February 2017 and nearly
$400,000 for a condominium. As Clifford puts the finishing touches on Kapiwai, a seven-acre, 24-home urban sanctuary development in upper Pauoa Valley, she is also crunching the numbers down to the half-inch to build and design beautiful affordable housing microunits in Maui and on O‘ahu. “Sustainability is about building integrated, mixed-income communities,” Clifford says. “A whole element of society needs to have a rounded living environment. We can forget that a truly sustainable community provides housing and shelter for everyone, not just those who can afford it.”
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KAPIWAI PAUOA VALLEY, OAHU 24 Single-Family Dwellings To be completed in 2017
HALE ILIMA KALUA, OAHU 24 Work Force Multi-Family Rental Apartments Completed 2015
KO‘OLOA‘ULA EAST KAPOLEI, OAHU 300 Affordable Multi-Family Rental Units Completed 2012
“Without subsidies, affordable housing is almost impossible to build out at an economically viable price point.” —Janine Clifford GREENMAGAZINE HAWAII.COM
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KULAMALU KULA, MAUI 56 Affordable Rental Housing Units
MHA MOANALUA, OAHU
487 Work Force Multi-Family Rental Apartments
Concept Image
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SOLAR // WHOLE HOME // PATHFINDER // IMPROVEMENT // TRANSPORTATION
ENERGY
Photo: Dave Miyamoto
MYRON THOMPSON PRESIDENT SOLAR COOL HAWAII
| SOLAR |
THE SOLAR PROBLEM SOLVER
Solar Cool Hawaii finds solar solutions to save money and reduce fossil fuel use by Lindsey Kesel Driven by his desire to care for the ‘aina, Myron Thompson founded Solar Cool Hawaii in 2014. With 20 years of experience in the renewables industry, he set out to provide renewable energy solutions that offer residents both financial and environmental benefits. In addition to offering affordable solar hot-water systems and battery-backup products, Thompson continues to find energy solutions that work well for the islands. After embarking on an extensive search for a product that would allow him to provide customers with better renewable technologies, he discovered a solar thermal panel designed for AC and commercial refrigeration systems that attaches to most mainstream brands of air conditioning units and walk-in freezers and coolers, offering users significant utility bill savings and tax credits, to boot. As an exclusive Hawai‘i dealer for
THERMX solar thermal “We have no choice but to panels for AC and refrigeration, Solar Cool do everything we can to Hawaii has completed over assist the healing process 100 installations on O‘ahu and aims to help as many of planet Earth." people as possible with this —Myron Thompson new technology. Despite changes in the solar industry as of late, Thompson predicts the industry will grow stronger with the advent of more efficient and affordable backupbattery systems and has dedicated his business to helping Hawai‘i achieve its 100 percent renewable energy goal by 2045.
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| WHOLE HOME |
By Danyale Reed
If you’re still living in the dark ages of inefficient electric lighting, old appliances and fossil fuel-derived electricity, it’s time to wise up. Natural energy, cooling and lighting solutions abound, you just have to know how to harness the elements, like sunshine and wind, to create a healthier living environment in your home. Think of your home as a living system much like a rainforest or coral reef. It’s comprised of separate but cooperative networks that interact with each other to create an overall functional environment. When all the networks work together—that’s energy, cooling and lighting for the home—you can create a healthy balance to sustain your demanding life.
cooling SOLAR ATTIC FANS
Sunlight is a double-edged sword in that it provides natural lighting but also brings the heat. Waves of heat from the sun penetrate your roof during the day—warm, moisture-laden air is trapped in the attic and heats up the rest of the house as a result. Proper attic insulation will aid in diminishing radiant heat, but a solar attic fan is the cure. Installing a solar attic fan will constantly ventilate trapped air, allowing other cooling systems to operate as efficiently as possible. Attached to rooftop solar panels, motorized fan blades help push trapped hot air back outside. Solar attic fans are also able to cooperate with existing vents to aid in even greater release of air pressure, lowering your attic temperature by as much as 40 degrees.
WHOLEHOUSE FANS
Whole-house fans work similarly to attic fans. They’re typically located between the attic and the living space, removing undesirables, such as pet dander, mold and VOC gases, from the air inside your home. These fans will go through multiple air changes per hour depending on the size of your house. The fans pull fresh air in and discharge hot air via your home’s attic vents. Differing from its parent exhaust system, it is imperative to open windows throughout the house while operating a whole-house fan. Running whole-house fans at cooler times of day, like during the night, makes it possible to lower the temperature in your house enough to save significantly on cooling costs.
CEILING FANS
Ceiling fans are a low-energy means to create comfort in immediate areas. This cooling feature does not directly change the temperature in a room, but it does create a breeze that can make a room noticeably more comfortable. A good blade pitch—the angle that the blade is parallel to the ground—is 12 to 16 degrees. The greater the blade pitch, the more air a ceiling fan circulates. The best results for indoor air cooling are achieved through a combination of solar attic fans, ceiling fans and a whole-house fan.
CLERESTORY AND JALOUSIE WINDOWS
Clerestory windows are windows located just above eye level to provide light and airflow in a living space. Gaining their appellation and popularity from cathedral architecture, these beautiful lighting and cooling solutions are as stylish as they are cool. Other options for island homeowners include jalousie windows, horizontal panels of glass that are arranged parallel to one another, to open your home to the gift of tropical trade winds. Easily maneuvered, they’re a simple way to bring in a flow of uninterrupted air. In case of troublesome weather, outside shutters come in handy as extra support while adding to facade appeal. Opt for window placement on the north and south sides of the house to avoid direct sunlight and excess heat.
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lighting SKYLIGHTS/ ARTICULATING SKYLIGHTS Why turn on the lights when the sun is shining? Skylights are an easy and affordable way to kick off your smart home improvements. Place skylights in rooms that lack exterior windows to allow natural light inside. Choose ones made of prismatic glass to aid these windows in distributing light. An articulating skylight has the added feature of opening to let in fresh air from the outside. Articulating skylights should be placed on the leeward side of a home for optimal airflow, working with the trade winds to achieve proper ventilation and effectively cool your entire home. Some articulating skylights have automated features that sense moisture and close the skylight at the first sign of rain.
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SOLAR TUBES Solar tubes, also known as sun tunnels, are the cousin of skylights. One large solar tube can put out the same light as a dozen 100-watt light bulbs but only gives off 10 percent of the heat. Solar tubes are ideal for tighter interior spaces, such as closets, hallways and bathrooms. Solar tubes collect light from the roof using a special lens; the light travels through a cylinder until it is finally cast in-home. The shorter and straighter the cylinder, the more efficiently it can distribute light. Providing affordable functionality, solar tubes are perfect for correcting inconsistent lighting and eliminating unwanted glare. Take advantage of the savings by installing multiple tubular skylights in one room, allowing precise control over the room’s lighting environment and adding unique design accents to any space. Lighting kits can be added to solar tubes for lighting at night.
energy SOLAR HOT WATER
ENERGY STORAGE
The greenest houses are primarily fueled using solar power, and that goes for home water heating systems as well. Water heaters can be the largest energy eater in a home. Using photovoltaic (PV) technology to convert sunlight into electricity, a rooftop solar panel helps homeowners cut water-heating costs by 80 to 90 percent, with the system paying for itself in less than five years. Cold water is heated by the solar PV panel on the roof and sent to a hot water tank; as hot water is used throughout the day, the tank is replenished with reserved water heated from the solar panel. Most systems have electrical backups in place for when solar heating isn’t available.
There are a wealth of energy storage options on the market, as technology and marketability have finally brought the price for an energy storage system into reach for many homeowners. The most convenient approach for maintenance and safety purposes are battery boxes. Most of these new energy storage systems are modular, so you can store only the amount of energy needed to run your home for a desired timespan. Remember, smart homes are systems with many moving parts. It is important that the chosen battery type compliments the other whole-home strategies you have in place.
SOLAR POOL PUMPS
Solar pool pumps circulate water in your swimming pool using solar energy. Solar pool pumps don’t have components that need to physically move. This means minimal maintenance, a longer lifespan for the filtration system and no operational costs, so it eventually pays for itself. As an added bonus, solar pool pumps are safer and quieter than electricity-dependent systems. Opting for a variable-speed solar pump will increase energy efficiency and savings by up to 90 percent.
ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGER
According to the Department of Energy, Hawai‘i’s gas prices have increased 115 percent since 2003, surpassing the national average. There’s never been a better time to switch to an electric vehicle. If you need any more incentive, EVs also come with other perks, such as free parking and public charging throughout the island. EVs can be charged with a standard household outlet, but take it a step further by installing an EV charging station powered by rooftop solar PV panels. This not only reduces your dependency on nonrenewable and imported fuels, but it cuts down significantly on overall automobile upkeep and fueling expenses.
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ENERGY
SOLAR // WHOLE HOME // PATHFINDER // IMPROVEMENT // TRANSPORTATION
| PATHFINDER |
THE RENEWABLES PATHFINDER
Kamaka Green helps advance the local clean energy environment by Lindsey Kesel
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Photos: Dave Miyamoto
A
dding 30 megawatts of solar power to Hawai‘i’s grid is just one of the ways Carl Campagna is helping to advance the renewables industry with a clear eye towards community needs like food and energy security. This June marks six years in business for his company, Kamaka Green, which develops and builds PV systems for residential, commercial and utility-scale projects in addition to operating as environmental planners performing assessments and impact studies. Kamaka Green was part of the development team for a large-scale 5-megawatt renewable energy interconnection contract for the state, a project that led to the definition and structure of Hawaiian Electric Company’s feed-in tariff program. In the past year, Kamaka Green helped CARL CAMPAGNA to create the framework for a solid VICE PRESIDENT biofuels supply chain based in Hawai‘i, KAMAKA GREEN including writing a resolution that calls for a Hawai‘i Green Initiative for fuel transition. If it passes, Campagna and supporters will be able to help create another bill focused on helping the food and biofuel industries thrive in the islands via incentives. “As we noticed the evolution of the renewable energy industry, we sought to diversify and find other like-minded spaces, such as biofuels and local food growth,” Campagna says. “Through this we forged quality working relationships with many local legislators to help create friendly policy for food, energy and environmentally sound projects.”
SOLAR // WHOLE HOME // PATHFINDER // IMPROVEMENT // TRANSPORTATION
ENERGY
ANDREW COMPEAN FOUNDER HANDY ANDY HAWAII
| IMPROVEMENT |
THE VETERAN HANDYMAN
Handy Andy turns former servicemen into green home helpers by Lindsey Kesel
Photo: Dave Miyamoto
V
eteran Andrew Compean watched many of his fellow soldiers having a tough time transitioning from serving their country to living life as a civilian. “They felt like they lost their purpose, often suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder and depression,” Compean says. “In 2016, it came out that 20 veterans committed suicide each day, and I felt it was my duty to help.” He brainstormed ways to fill this gap in the community and the idea for Handy Andy was born. Today Handy Andy Hawaii provides transitional employment and guidance to help ease the process of reintegration for soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines. Compean and his five full-time veteran handymen provide a wide range of home improvement services, and Compean’s structure of processes and systems help guide his employees toward a favorable
outcome in their new career path. As a LEED-recognized business working towards green certification, Handy Andy is also focused on providing environmentally sound home solutions. When Compean noticed his gardener using toxic pesticides on the ground where his nephew and dog play, he urged the gardener to use organic, nontoxic materials instead. He also did away with
products and materials containing harmful chemicals in his home and business. Now Handy Andy is working with the Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation Initiative, an endemic reforestation project on Hawai‘i Island, on another good-for-theearth move—purchasing carbon credits to offset Handy Andy’s ecological footprint from transportation.
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| TRANSPORTATION |
TOYOTA PRIUS PRIME The Prius Prime is Toyota’s best effort yet at efficiency and performance. A step up from the Prius v in aesthetics and handling, the Prius Prime has a more modern look and sporty feel than its predecessor. The redesigned front and rear aesthetic differentiates the Prime from a standard Prius, and the Prime’s 25 miles of electric-only range give drivers a taste of all-electric driving without sacrificing the flexibility of a quick fill-up when charging isn’t an option. Smooth on the curves and nimble in traffic, the Prius Prime features comfortable bucket seats, a streamlined display in the center of the dash and a wireless smartphone charger in the center counsel (nice). There are three driving modes to choose from: EV mode lets you cruise at highway speeds with a 25-mile electric-only range, hybrid mode gives you an estimated 54 mpg fuel efficiency, and EV auto mode allows the car to select the drive mode for maximum efficiency. The steering-assist safety feature and dynamic cruise-control system use a camera and hidden radar in the front of the vehicle to detect lane markings. All in all, this is Toyota’s most advanced hybrid to date, and that’s saying something considering the company has had a solid footing in the electric vehicle market since unveiling the world’s first mass-produced hybrid in 1997.
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Photos: Toyota
Onboard computers, electric motors and regenerative braking are all standard on EVs and hybrids. When it comes to purchasing a new vehicle, sometimes the selling points can whittle down to trunk space, cup holders and back-up cameras. Last issue we took a spin in the Chevrolet Volt, the Nissan LEAF, the Toyota Prius v and the BMW 7-Series hybrid. Hop in with us as we test drive the Toyota Prius Prime plug-in hybrid, the Mercedes B250e, the Tesla Model 3 and the Audi A3 Sportback e-tron in the final installment of this two-part feature on going green behind the wheel.
PERFORMANCE > 4 UTILITY > 3 STYLE > 3.5
PART II
“The Prime gets double the battery capacity of previous plugin Prius models. Way to step it up, Toyota.” —KW
“An impressive refinement of Toyota’s flagship EV.” —LM
AFFORDABILITY > 4.5 RAD FACTOR > 3.5 GREENMAGAZINE HAWAII.COM
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Photos: Mercedes-Benz
MERCEDES B250E
“With electromechanical power steering, the car feels like it can almost drive itself. It’s easy to maneuver at low speeds, it has great response around the corners, yet it’s so easy to keep it driving straight in the lane.” —KW PERFORMANCE > 4 UTILITY > 3 STYLE > 3 AFFORDABILITY > 3 RAD FACTOR > 3.5 44
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Thanks to the B250e’s ultra-quiet ride, responsive handling and upscale feel, Mercedes drivers can have their cake and eat it, too, when making the switch to electric. This five-door hatchback accelerates from 0 to 60 in 7.9 seconds and can reach top speeds of 100 mph. The B250e can reduce voltage at light loads to increase performance and range, and a power-recuperation system uses radar sensors to capture the optimal amount of energy when you’re braking or coasting to get the most miles from a charge. It’s an industry first. While some EVs feature a digital dash display that looks more computer than car, this dash and display retain a traditional feel with needles and numbers. The LED daytime running lamps on the front bumper, paired with the round air vents, leather upholstery and chrome detail in the interior, says Mercedes luxury and style all the way. Safety is a big component—the B250e comes equipped with nine air bags, collision-prevention assist, blind-spot assist in the side mirrors, active parking assist and attention assist, which monitors up to 70 different parameters of driving behavior and alerts you with visual and audio warnings if it detects signs of drowsiness in the driver. The B250e’s 87 miles of range isn’t the most impressive among similar compact EVs, but when it comes to style and comfort, Mercedes more than delivers.
“The fact that the B250e is higher off the ground to make room for the electric battery is an unexpected bonus for anyone used to driving an SUV.” —LM
TESLA MODEL 3
“The Model 3 is awesome. Now, when are they going to come out with a pickup truck?” —KW
PERFORMANCE > 4 UTILITY > 3 STYLE > 4 AFFORDABILITY > 3.5
“Closing the gap between those who own a Tesla and those of us who wish we did.” —LM
Photos: Tesla Motors
RAD FACTOR > 5
Zero to 60 miles per hour in under six seconds, 215 miles of range per charge, designed to the highest safety ratings in every category and at a price point most of us can afford—this sedan is the cat’s meow of EVs. At $35,000 before tax incentives, this is the car for everyone who thought a Tesla was out of their price range. Elon Musk has made it clear that the Model 3 isn’t intended to be a next-gen Tesla, calling it a “smaller, simpler, more affordable version of our flagship Model S,” but that isn’t to say it’s lacking in utility or performance. What’s nice about the Tesla Model 3 is that it actually looks like a sleek, sporty sedan, not a frumpy, smallish EV. With a tall roof and bobbed nose and tail, it looks like a Model S, but this affordable model comes with Tesla’s autopilot self-driving feature standard in every car. The front seat area of the cabin is roomy at the expense of the rear seats, and it might take some getting used to the oversized 15-inch touchscreen dashboard display, where all the navigation, controls and gauges are located. It’s futuristic, to say the least. There’s even the option for a vegan, non-leather interior. Now that’s staying ahead of the times.
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Don’t mistake the word sport in the Audi A3 Sportback e-tron to mean this vehicle is a sports car. (Sportback refers to the body style of this plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, not its performance and handling.) While the car is very responsive and boasts an incredibly smooth ride, its high marks really come from its ability to blend comfort and utility. The e-tron features four driving modes and can operate on electric power, gas power or a combination of the two. The e-tron reaches a top speed of 127 mph and 20 miles of EV range on a full charge. Between the powerful drivetrain and a “glide” function that allows the vehicle to coast when regenerative braking might otherwise cramp your style, the e-tron is a fun ride and a no-brainer for traditionalists in the market for a luxury EV. The leather seats in the cabin are super comfortable, and the digital dashboard display is a computerized version of a traditional dash yet feels aerodynamic and sleek. The panoramic sunroof, ample cargo space and cleverly hidden charging port are hallmarks of the e-tron’s near-luxury style. The A3 Sportback e-tron is also available with the Audi energy program, which includes a home charger, carbon offset program and solar panel installation, Audi’s comprehensive approach to sustainable mobility. Audi isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel with its first plug-in hybrid—it’s giving drivers a seamless transition into treading lighter on the planet, with plenty of futuristic tech to seal the deal. Many of its comfort, navigation and driverPERFORMANCE > 3.5 assist features come unchanged from the non-electric A3 sedan, UTILITY > 3.5 but that’s perhaps the e-tron’s greatest selling point. STYLE > 4
AFFORDABILITY > 3
“Audi is leading the charge for a new class of vehicles, the near-luxury plug-in hybrid.” —KW
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RAD FACTOR > 3.5
Photos: Audi
AUDI A3 SPORTBACK E-TRON
“The dashboard controls are minimalist and userfriendly—a welcome change from the fighter-jet cockpits typical of many tech-heavy EVs.” —LM
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
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FF&E
FURNITURE, FIXTURES & EQUIPMENT
Microbiology plays a key role in healthy soil. There is a lack of highquality topsoil and planting media here in the islands, but Island Topsoil has been on the cusp of recreating a healthy living soil from recycled sources for island landscapers, developers, contractors and home gardeners. Years of experience, cutting-edge science and local needs have brought us to a new frontier in providing live soils to our gardening community. Learning and utilizing vermicomposting, compost extracts, biochar, fungal/bacterial tinctures and techniques old and new have brought our soil blends and potting mixes to a level unmatched by any other local producers. Visit our website at www.islandtopsoil.com to see for yourself how we’re bringing life back to Hawai‘i’s soils.
REMOVAL Ross’ Appliance & Furniture Mokauea St. 841-7336 • Dillingham Blvd. 841-7331
Lorra Naholowa’a Soil/Compost Specialist Island Topsoil LLC 808.681.2361 islandtopsoil.com
GreenBedCompany.com
Hyatt® and Grand Hyatt® names, designs and related marks are trademarks of Hyatt Corporation. ©2017 Hyatt Corporation. All rights reserved.
GOOD IS nIce. GRAnD IS SublIme. Find your own paradise. Kamaaina receive special pricing on rooms, golf & spa. B O OK YOU R GE TAWAY N OW, CA L L 80 8 74 2 123 4 O R V I S I T K AuA I .G R A nD . H YAT T.cO m Honored with Green Key, Green Business and Green Innovation awards. grand hyatt kaua‘i resort & spa | 1571 poipu road | koloa, hi 96756 ta-207-370-2400-01
NATURE
REFORESTATION
| REFORESTATION |
A WORK OF HEART
The nonprofit Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation Initiative (HLRI) has planted nearly 400,000 endemic and native trees for permanent reforestation across 1,200 acres on Hawai‘i Island. Now, HLRI has launched legacyforestgifts.com, an online store offering artisan-made goods and one-of-a-kind works of art both for purchase and as gifts for the tax-deductible sponsorship of the organization’s koa Legacy Trees. “Legacy Gifts provides the opportunity to put rare trees like koa and Hawaiian sandalwood in the ground while supporting Hawai‘i’s environment and our renowned artisans,” says Jeff Dunster, executive director of HLRI. Handmade items include intricate milo calabashes by award-winning Hawai‘i Island woodworker Scott Hare and vintage signs by renowned Hawai‘i sign maker Steven Neill. While some pieces come free of charge only when you sponsor more than 400 tree plantings, smaller items, like branded leather messenger bags, are available as gifts for sponsoring fewer than two dozen trees. Certain items, including jewelry, water bottles and rare koa blossom honey harvested in the forest, are available only by purchase. All proceeds support HLRI’s reforestation efforts. For more information on sponsoring a Legacy Tree through HLRI, visit legacytrees.org. —Jennifer Sudick
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GRE E N M A G A Z I N E H AWA I I.C O M
Photos: Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation Initiative
A new Hawai‘i website has shoppers seeing green
Special lease and finance offers will be available by BMW of Honolulu through BMW Financial Services. Special and finance offers will be available by [DEALER NAME] through BMW Financial Services. BMW oflease Honolulu 777 Kapiolani Blvd, Honolulu, Hawaii 96813-5211 808-597-1225 BMW of Honolulu bmwhawaii.com 777 Kapiolani Blvd, Honolulu, HI 96813-5211 808-597-1225 bmwhawaii.com