Hawaii of Tomorrow: Full Series by PacificBasin Communications

HAWAIIAN ELECTRIC PRESENTS

H AWA I ‘ I OF

TO M O R ROW

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Kimberlie Clinthorne-Wong

of advertisements that imagined how Honolulu would emerge from the war years as a thriving, modern city. These pen-andink drawings were infused with idealism and creativity, with the artist and author using what today we would call design thinking to sketch a gleaming Honolulu that was just over the horizon. Seventy-five years later, Hawaiian Electric commissioned Hawaii Business to create a successor that reflects the same kind of optimism and confidence in Hawai‘i’s future as we recover from one of the most disruptive experiences of our lifetime. Honolulu of Tomorrow described a place where the built environment worked in harmony with Hawai‘i’s natural beauty. We wanted a fresh take on this, a Hawai‘i of Tomorrow that envisions resourceful, sustainable islands that adapt to the challenges of the coming decades, especially climate change. We talked to people about what they see for the Hawai‘i of 2050, including experts in design, transportation, agriculture and energy. We received ideas from groups like the Center for Tomorrow’s Leaders and the Office of Indigenous Innovation at University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. While technology is an important element of the future they described, so is the responsible stewardship of our islands’ natural resources. As you will see in the feature on future agriculture, the artists Matthew Kawika Ortiz and Roxanne Ortiz drew inspiration from the ingenuity of Native Hawaiians whose ahupua‘a enabled self-reliance and adaptability to natural events. You can also see the future of electrification of transportation with artist Kimberlie Clinthorne-Wong. In additional features, writer M. Kaulana Ing considers the promise of clean hydrogen production on Hawai‘i Island, with illustration by artist Lauren Trangmar, and imagines how our homes and neighborhoods could become centers of self-sufficiency drawing from streams, watersheds and the sun, illustrated by artist Kate Wadsworth. For the final features, writer M. Kaulana Ing describes how education hubs provide an immersive learning experience, illustrated by artist Xochitl Cornejo, and imagines a dynamic new Waikīkī that has become an amazing model of climate change adaptation, illustrated by artist Solomon Enos. I hope you enjoy this project and that it continues to inspire discussion, as it has at Hawaiian Electric. You can send your comments and ideas to future@hawaiianelectric.com. Our Climate Change Action Plan sees us eliminating carbon emissions from power generation well before 2050 and working closely with our communities to make sure that the clean energy transformation benefits everyone.

Artist of “The Tranquility of Transportation,” Pg.4 Kimberlie Clinthorne-Wong is an illustrator, designer and ceramicist from Hawai‘i. She received a B.F.A. in Drawing from UH Mānoa and a B.F.A. in Illustration from Art Center of Design. Her diverse range of work includes conceptual editorials to whimsically, surreal and playfully imagined worlds for children’s illustrations. Select clients include 7-Eleven Hawai‘i, Starbucks, The Washington Post and World Vision. She is a co-founder and one of the principal artists of Two Hold Studios, a collaborative ceramic design studio.

I N 1947, HAWAI IAN E LECTR IC CO M M I S S IO N E D A S E R I E S

With aloha, SHELEE KIMURA

President and CEO See the full Hawai‘i of Tomorrow project, as well as the 1947 Honolulu of Tomorrow book, at hawaiianelectric.com/hawaiioftomorrow

Excerpts from Hawaiian Electric’s 1947 publication “Honolulu of Tomorrow”

hawaiianelectric.com/ HonoluluTomorrow

E NVI S I O N I N G A HAWAI ‘ I O F TO M O RROW TH ROUG H C REATIVE CO LLABO RATI O N

Hawaii Business Magazine, in partnership with Hawaiian Electric, summons the optimistic spirit of practical imagination to think about what Hawai‘i would look like in 2050, with special consideration on the challenges of the coming decades. Who better to envision this future than homegrown Hawai‘i artists who create beautiful worlds and futures through imagery. The artists featured in “Hawai‘i of Tomorrow” envision Hawai‘i as a place where people, technology, infrastructure and ‘āina somehow function harmoniously together. Let their visions of the future serve as inspirational and aspirational.

Wooden Wave Artist of “Food Powered by ‘Āina,” Pg.6 Matthew Kawika Ortiz and Roxanne Ortiz are a husband-and-wife creative duo who paint under the name Wooden Wave. They draw upon Hawaiian values and concepts to present them in a contemporary context. With conscious attention to detail, their work invites viewers to imagine alternative realities to our current society and environment. They meld elements of the natural world with technology (both, modern and ancestral) to create narratives around mālama ‘ʻāina values. Best known for their large-scale murals depicting sustainable treehouses, Wooden Wave presents a playful perspective that brings hope and joy to those who view their art.

Kate Wadsworth Artist of “Revitalizing Communities with Streams and Sunlight,” Pg.8 Kate Wadsworth is an illustrator, graphic designer and muralist from Kailua, Hawai‘i. She received her B.F.A. in Communication Arts from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. During her time on the East Coast, she strengthened her interest in figurative art and urban sketching. Equally inspired by the natural world, she loves to experiment with bold colors, exaggerated shapes and purposeful line work to tell stories with subtle, deliberate symbolism. Recent clients include the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing and the Sony Open in Hawaii.

Lauren Trangmar Artist of “A Hub for Hydrogen Innovation,” Pg.10 Lauren Trangmar is an artist, illustrator and graphic designer with roots in Hawai‘i and New Zealand. She specializes in highly detailed illustrations that reference historical, scientific illustration with a contemporary, whimsical twist. Her recent work explores themes such as the relationship between storytelling, culture, myths and history, art, science and the study of natural history. Her work is featured in public and private collections throughout the United States and New Zealand including the Honolulu Museum of Art and the Hawai‘i State Foundation of the Arts and Culture.

Solomon Enos Artist of “Oceania’s Climate Renaissance,” Pg.12 Solomon Robert Nui Enos is a Native Hawaiian artist, illustrator and visionary. He hails from the well-known Enos ‘ohana of Mākaha Valley on O‘ahu and has been making art for over 30 years, exploring a wide variety of media including oil painting, book illustration, murals and game design. A self-described “Possibilist” Solomon’s art expresses an informed, aspirational vision of the world at its best via contemporary and traditional art that leans towards Sci-Fi and Fantasy. His work explores themes of collective-consciousness, ancestry and identity, our relationship with the planet, all through the lens of his experience as a person indigenous to Hawai‘i.

Xochitl Cornejo Artist of “Observing Innovators in Bloom,” Pg.14 Xochitl Cornejo is a Mexican-American illustrator and 2D animator from Kailua with a passion for bright colors. Inspired by magical realism, Ghibli movies, and the daily life they experienced growing up in Hawai‘i, they like creating fun and whimsical worlds in their art. Their past work includes animated shorts, children’s book illustration, and background art for the animation industry.

HAWAI‘I OF TOMORROW

TH E TR A N Q U I LIT Y O F TR A N S P O RTATI O N

LE E K E LECTR IC VE H IC LE S ZOO M N O I S E LE S S LY ATO P AL A M OANA BO U LEVAR D, barely one meter apart.

Public, app-summoned carpods glide alongside private vehicles and delivery drones. All are piloted autonomously, orchestrated by the DriveGrid to merge, pass, and re-route with optimized synchronicity. Commute times are shorter with each system upgrade, and it’s been years since the city’s latest traffic fatality. A thin solar substrate coats each vehicle’s tempered glass facade, drinking in sunlight to keep wheels spinning longer. Without bulky engine blocks and steering gears, interiors are roomy and oriented for pau hana conversations and sharing snacks with family on the way home. Smart vehicles valet them-

selves with inhuman precision into ultra-compact, fast-charging stalls; blocks once used for parking lots have been transformed into neighborhood gardens and agroforests. By 2050, the melodic trill of ‘elepaio birds have replaced the roar of combustion engines in Downtown Honolulu. The rail’s Alakea Station has evolved into an urban kīpuka, host to native trees and their natural ecosystems. These days, a rail rider exiting the station can just as easily grab an e-bike from under an ‘ulu tree and freewheel to their front yard or hop onto an autonomous electric bus without having to wave a single transit pass. In the silence of electric streets, most nights are filled only with the sounds of leaves rustled by tradewinds. Even those living near busy roadways sleep soundly and breathe deeply.

“If you ever stand at a corner and listen to what’s going on… the sound of transportation can be really loud. It’s not natural. Just that sound can be grating to people’s psychology. But with clean transportation — whether it’s electric vehicles, bicycles, or walking — it’s all very quiet. So, instead of having that white noise of buses and cars, hopefully we’ll have people laughing, people talking, those types of noises that are more human.” – AKI MARCEAU, DIRECTOR OF E LECTRIFICATION OF TR ANSPORTATION , HAWAIIAN E LECTRIC

HAWAI‘I OF TOMORROW

FO O D P OW E R E D BY ‘Ā I N A

S TH E D E S IG NATE D KO N O H I K I WALKS U PSTR E AM FRO M FI S H PO N D TO FAR M ,

his field tablet pings at regular intervals. ‘O‘opu populations in Zone 6, it tells him, have officially tripled since the return of the ahupua‘a’s natural water flows. Community scientists from seven countries, participating in the university’s prestigious climate resilience fellowship, follow along with mud under their fingernails, eager to learn more from the ecosystem manager. He tells them how the sluice gates separating the ‘auwai, arterial valves in the vast circulatory system of agricultural waterways, revolutionized Hawai‘i in the 13th century, an innovation by the chief Mā‘ilikūkahi to cordon waterborne plant diseases and even grow fish within the irrigation system. In 2050, these mākāhā are now solar-automated, he says, and regulate water usage to exactly what each plant needs, no more.

The valley, in turn, bursts with food. Patches of kabocha, sweet potatoes, carrots and lettuce radiate from the banks of the lo‘i kalo. A multicolored canopy of fruit crowns the agroforest, pulling clouds towards the hillside with their leaves and healing abused soil with their nitrogen-fixing roots. Smart solar panels dotting the variegated fields adjust their opacity along the sun’s path, optimizing shade to what the plants beneath them liked best. Any excess power is sold to the island’s power grid. The extra income is reinvested into crop innovation and productivity. The same technology panels the facades of the farm’s kauhale — greenhouses that nurture vast solar-powered aquaponic systems of delicate plants and seedlings. Inside, the konohiki observes the farmed fish that enrich the closed water loop within. He nets a 4-pound adult to cook for his visitors, plucks enough green onions and fern shoots for lunch, and gives thanks to his kūpuna.

‘Umeke: Photosynthetic algaes light night paths. Lupe: Solar kites collect and correlate wind, rain, solar, and lunar crop data to inform when and where to plant.

Kāhili: Vertical axis wind turbines catch the valley breeze without harming birds and pollinators.

HAWAI‘I OF TOMORROW

R EVITALI Z I N G CO M M U N ITI E S WITH STR EAM S AN D S U N LI G HT

U R TOWN MAK E S AN D S HAR E S M U C H O F IT S OWN E N E RGY. Where we grow

our food, where we teach our kids, and where we shop are all close by. And at the center of it all is our stream. By the year 2050, almost half the island had been re-organized from single-use zoning to mixed-use watershed districts. Keiki who splash in the cool waters on weekends know little of the hard work it took to relink our stream’s path from mountain to ocean, nor the scarcity we once felt when seas rose and drinking water dried up. They were born into an age of abundance. Our stream nourishes us, so we keep areas bordering streamside wetlands sacred, reserved for native parks, museums, schools and art collaboratives. Most of our stream flows natural and uncovered, but solar paneled bridges keep stream segments cool in built areas. Some streamside schools have even begun

experimenting with damless micro hydro-turbines. Neighborhoods and shops are situated a short e-bike ride from the stream. Like the forests do with rainwater at the top of our watershed district, our homes, roads, and walkways absorb the sun’s energy from the sky. None is wasted. Oldtimers recognize a bit of each family’s personality in the solar shingles they choose for their roof. Each home, each vehicle is a decentralized node in our SmartGrid network of power storage systems. We store our energy as the aquifer beneath us stores and filters rainwater. The roofs of some homes accommodate solar panels and gardens. Almost all of the multi-story buildings are now kept cool by crowns of fruits and vegetables, leaving the urban zones nearly as green as streamside, despite being furthest from it. Even our windows collect solar heat, the tinted glass adjusting dynamically to keep apartments cooler through the day and also feeding energy to residents’ vehicle charging ports.

“Innovation is restoration. And in restoring the indigenous systems that existed, you have access to thousands of years of R&D from people that have proven that regenerative thinking is possible. Framing innovation in this manner allows us to leverage the deeply held traditions still vibrant in the Native Hawaiian community, and invite them to the design process not only as consumers but as equals and co-leaders. We can be an example, a catalyst to empowering other indigenous peoples around the world to be leaders in co-designing their communities’ futures.” – K AMU E L A E NOS , DIRECTOR , U H OFFICE OF INDIGE NOUS INNOVATION

HAWAI‘I OF TOMORROW

A H U B FO R H Y D RO G E N I N N OVATI O N

from the tailpipe of a flatbed truck. Upslope winds deliver it heavenward, to be adopted by the family of soft cirrus clouds that hang aloft Mount Hualālai. In 2050, hydrogen power complements the array of clean energies that sustain our islands. It is an energy that renews itself within the natural cycle of hydrology: evaporation, condensation, precipitation. The power required to catalyze the hydrogen production process is entirely generated on-site. Below the ground, geothermal heat is the primary resource, concentrated through closed loop compression systems. On the surface, bladeless wind turbines oscillate in the vortices of sea breezes without harming the rare petrels that fly ashore to nest. And hundreds of meters up, airborne wind turbines hover in persistent, high-altitude air currents, transmitting kinetic energy back to earth via hardwired kitelines. Even the research and production facility itself is a battery, every facet coated in a translucent membrane that absorbs solar energy. Here, hydrogen innovations are born, to be later factored into sister facilities on three neighboring islands before meeting energy and transportation demands around the planet. Deriving constituent hydrogen from H2O starts with a process known as electrolysis. Rain catchment systems, wind moisture screens, and stream micro-tributaries channel water through purifiers and TU F T O F PU R E STE AM E M E RG E S

into shallow catalytic pools. Hawai‘i engineers on the verge of a global breakthrough in forward osmosis, say that, soon, even ocean water will be a viable, low-effort input. A strong current of electricity flows through the electrolyzing pools from cathode to anode, splitting water into its base elements. Oxygen (O2), a byproduct, is pumped to feed juvenile fish that swim freely in neighboring incubation tanks. The fingerlings wander into inland fishponds on high tides, and then into the tanks through a series of sluice gates. On a diet of oxygenated water and estuary fauna, they soon grow too fat to return to the ocean, becoming food for the island’s populace. The resulting hydrogen (H2) gas holds three times more potential energy, by mass, than gasoline. What hydrogen is not needed to support heavy equipment on-site awaits transport in sub-zero storage tanks. Far above the tanks, 700-foot-long autonomous air freighters appear as distant nimbus clouds adrift. They soar on high atmosphere jet streams, ferrying crates of local goods and produce, a boon to interisland carrying capacity. At each destination, the air freighters safely dock in a skyport. Sky stevedores pilot lighter-than-air forklifts to unload cargo onto delivery vehicles on the surface. Hydrogen gas is unloaded into local above-ground tanks, where it will fuel delivery vehicles, exit as pure steam emissions, and re-join clouds to return as rain.

HAWAI‘I OF TOMORROW

O C E A N I A’ S C LI M ATE R E N A I S SA N C E

H E N T H E SE A BE G A N T O R ISE , so did our island community, together, in a new era of cooperation. Twenty years have passed since the Pacific began its slow, sure ascent inland, demanding its preeminence be acknowledged by everybody in its expanse. The greatest minds of Oceania, from Aotearoa to Hawai‘i, pooled their political and scientific capital and spearheaded the international effort to stem the tide. Now, in 2050, after a decade of collective reinvention, we have finally turned a corner on climate. We dream new dreams, and from adaptation blooms solutions in resilience that we gift to our children’s future Floating promenades bedeck O‘ahu’s south shore, an ornate shield. As each raised segment of the walkway bobs above the crests and troughs of the king tides, built-in kinetic converters transform wave energy into electricity, powering the pumps that protect coastal infrastructure. We call it The Channel, a place where visitors and residents stroll through artisan maker-markets on sunny afternoons. After we retired our last fossil-fuel generating plant, Hawai‘i began experimenting with new zero-emission solutions. In Waikīkī, a new kind of technology is blossoming, one that uses remnants of ancient litter and living flora as building materials in place of mined ores. In experimental corners of our city, data, water, and energy flow through chloroplast stroma in a vast living network. Root systems move and purify freshwater between buildings, and mycelial threads transmit data faster than fiber optics. One day, the natural chlorophyll of giant leaves will complement solar panels in a

Floraform Architect: Organic tech pioneers upgrade wires with smart roots, solar panels with giant leaves. An AR metalayer translates rhizome exudates (plant-to-plant chatter) to data and power.

single electrical system. Autonomous, solar-powered gardener-constructor bots superheat plastics reclaimed from ancient ocean debris. They crawl up and extrude plastic lattices directly onto building exteriors, 3-D printing the honeycomb structures that anchor the roots of hanging gardens. Vertical forests rise from the facades of neighboring buildings, cooling non-permeable hardscapes and drinking flood waters. Bridges 3-D printed between buildings form walkable common greenspaces high above sea level, adding to the buzz of life in the island city by building up instead of out. On these Highline Constellations, neighbors and visitors meet to peruse locally farmed produce and enjoy public performances. Now, as before, people come from around the world to tour this awe of nature we call home. Here, in the cradle of the organic tech revolution, practitioners teach groups through immersive experiences. One group of school children visiting from Fiji takes trowels and spades to plant huli on a fourth floor veranda. A giant technicolor lei swirls above the class and between residences. It is part of the metaverse layer that adorns the town, visible only through augmented reality (AR) lenses. Virtual badges like these are earned — and proudly displayed — by neighborhood blocks and hometown businesses for meeting climate and resiliency goals. It’s three parts cooperation, one part friendly competition. Their kumu describes how their plantings will win points for her Kālia neighborhood in this season’s Resiliency Games. The students swaddle each kalo shoot in soil and laugh as points ping to life on their AR displays.

Gardener-Builders: Children regard the autonomous bots that crawl on building facades as guardian-spirits, imbued with artificial intelligence to tend to the wellbeing of plants and people alike.

HAWAI‘I OF TOMORROW

O B S E RV I N G I N N OVATO R S I N B LO O M

H E POTE NTIAL O F I N N OVATIO N TO B LOS SO M , like a sprout in a garden pot,

is limited by the size of its confines. In 2050, students learn under the infinite sky. In each school complex, outdoor education hubs outnumber placid classrooms, each site a star in a constellation of learning spanning mauka to makai. At Kona’s coastal hub, children wow wide-eyed around a sea cucumber stuck to their classmate’s cupped hands. The kupuna who placed it there smirks as he describes how its alkaline excrement fortifies coral reefs. “Eeew!” they squeal. Another group of kids huddle around a fishbot, tinkering with its robotic innards on the deck of the learning pier. It’s the caudal fin, they agree, that needs tuning in order to make it really swim in biomimicry of the pāpio schooling 20 meters away. Their teacher stands on the edge of a black ‘a‘ā tidepool three steps between either group, jotting observations into her smartware. It’s exactly the kind of qualitative data that enables friendly artificial intel-

ligence to tailor lesson plans individualized to each student’s strengths, joys, and inclinations. In the decade since Hawai‘i became the global leader in climate innovation, the booming industry has transformed the state’s economy and super-charged school capacity. Now, our teachers act as facilitators of personalized revelations, rather than managers of mini-knowledge factories. Each student is prized for the unique and creative potential they bring to their island’s future. Indigenous science, born of hundreds of generations’ ongoing co-creation of regenerative systems thinking, has reclaimed the zeitgeist. Rivers, farmers, dry land forests, and retired neighbors are invaluable resources for innovative ideas and hyperlocal knowledge. Autonomous electric buses safely shuttle students between hubs, and public wifi is as much an afterthought as the fresh air they breathe throughout the school day. At each site, students learn by observing closely the land they will steward into a new age of holistic resilience, their island a microcosm of our shared planet’s potential.

“I would want to see a place that’s surging forward in technology and beauty but also doesn’t forget where they come from. Hawai‘i is a beautiful place with a lot of history, so paying tribute to it would be respectful.” – E RIN SONG , STU DE NT, MCKINLEY HIGH SCHOOL

“In 30 years, I hope to see Hawai‘i using cleaner energy and ... to not see the effects of climate change. I hope there will be changes in our consumption and that we are protecting and preserving the land around us. ... I see Hawai‘i shifting reliance on the tourism industry and to be self-sustaining.” – MARC GAMAYO, STU DE NT, WAIPAHU HIGH SCHOOL

HAWAI‘I OF TOMORROW

PRESENTED BY

PUBLISHER

C R E AT I V E D I R E C T O R

WRITER

Cheryl Oncea cherylo@hawaiibusiness.com (808) 534-7575

Kelsey Ige kelseyi@hawaiibusiness.com (808) 534-7179

M. Kaulana Ing