The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s Inouye Regional Center (IRC) on Ford Island encompasses the adaptive reuse of two historic, World War II-era hangars originally designed by Albert Kahn and linked by a new addition on a national historic landmark site in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The facility consolidates hundreds of employees from 15 existing sites around Oahu into a state-of-the-art, 350,000-sf.-ft. research and office campus.

The project team set out to create a highly sustainable design rooted in NOAA’s mission of environmental stewardship and the cultural traditions of the Pacific Region. Designed through twin lenses of sustainability and historic preser¬vation, the IRC demonstrates contextual, high-per¬formance solutions to modern design challenges. The project earned LEED Gold certification and was named an AIA Committee on the Environment 2017 Top Ten Winner.

Innovative strategies inspired by the island’s ecology informed many of the IRC’s design principles. The morphology of Hawaiian trees, for example, pro¬vided lessons for the design of the building’s passive cooling and lighting systems.

In this offsite tour, the panel will present the overarching goals, vision, program, sustainability strategies and bio-inspired design of the IRC. We will explore with the audience the results of data we have modeled to demonstrate how these design concepts could translate to other projects in different cities and climates around the world. This session is designed to either be presented on-site at the IRC or at the conference with a tour of the facility afterward, so attendees can experience the building firsthand and better understand how it functions.

To sign up for the NOAA tour, click here.

An interactive workshop focused on how to build, operate and scale microgrids for a more energy resilient future. Will include a foundational overview of microgrid types and market solutions, a discussion about how to scalably move microgrids from concept to completion, and a high-level training on microgrid technologies and general operations and maintenance skills.

In 2008, Hawaii signed into law the most aggressive clean energy goals of any state in the Union. It set the islands on a path to clean energy. Ten years later, the four counties matched the State's clean energy goal with a commitment to 100% renewable ground transportation and new data tells the story of how Hawaii can move faster than anyone originally thought, more than doubling its renewable energy potential to up to 84% by 2030. Aggregating technical, economic, policy and social data for ground transportation and electric power, how do the numbers translate into action? Where are there opportunities for innovation? What does this mean for the rest of the country and the world? 

Hawaii is now into its third year of carving a path to achieve its  100% renewable electricity mandate by 2045; Meanwhile, Hawaii recently became the first U.S. state to commit to 100% renewable fuel sources for public and private ground transportation, with a target of 2045. To lead the charge, the City and County of Honolulu, the County of Maui, and the County of Kauai pledged to transition all fleet vehicles to 100% renewable power by 2035. Those leading these ambitious charges discuss how they are tackling the actions necessary to achieve these historic clean energy and clean transportation commitments — including addressing the challenges and opportunities ahead.

This fast-paced start-up competition provides entrepreneurs in energy, transportation, buildings, water and cybersecurity the opportunity to pitch to the VERGE audience. Industry experts provide commentary and audience votes determine the winner.

One of the top data visualization experts in the country demonstrates what happens when you take Hawaii's expansive energy data sets and present them simply and elegantly to help the state's commissioners and policymakers make more informed decisions about models to achieve its clean energy goals.

Over the course of just a few hours, Hurricane Maria exposed how fragile Puerto Rico is. Years of underinvestment in infrastructure and the recent financial crisis let the island languish, making the devastation far worse than it would have been otherwise. The storm caused the island’s entire electric grid to fail, its network of roads and highways to be disrupted, and access to clean drinking water lost. With no shortage of ideas on how to rebuild using better, stronger and cleaner technologies, who decides what gets built? How will it all be financed? And why is it taking so long? Leaders from the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) Transformation Advisory Council and the head of engineering at New York's major utility Con Edison (involved in the recovery of Hurricane Sandy as well as Puerto Rico's recovery) discuss their plans for a future-proofed power system and lessons learned from Puerto Rico so far.

Many experts think that the fastest path to decarbonization is to electrify everything — buildings, transportation and communities. But there is danger in myopic thinking, and systemic challenges lie ahead. California and Hawaii energy leaders share their stories on how each state is tackling these barriers and creating new models to unleash profitable opportunities.

The VP of Operations at the Los Angeles Homeland Security Council explains how a data-driven tool they created for the City and County of L.A. changed her community's ability to respond in emergency situations and redefined its crisis management systems — across the utilities, police, fire and other vital government departments. She tells the stories of accelerated resilience and security across various community groups and shares her lessons and resources for Hawaii and other areas in need.

This fast-paced start-up competition provides entrepreneurs in energy, transportation, buildings, water and cybersecurity the opportunity to pitch to the VERGE audience. Industry experts provide commentary and audience votes determine the winner.

How do tourism industry stakeholders — hotels, business owners, airlines — define "sustainability" from an economic standpoint? How can leaders advance efficiency and conservation without compromising — even increasing — the experience for travelers?  What are the metrics that the industry can align on to demonstrate data-driven progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions while creating new economic opportunities?

For Hawai‘i to achieve its 100% clean energy goal, it cannot rely solely on grid-scale projects, making Distributed Energy Resources and the end-user an important piece of the puzzle. The University of Hawai‘i Community Colleges have launched a comprehensive energy efficiency, renewable energy, and storage project - the largest behind the meter PV + storage project in Hawai‘i.  This panel will dive into the unique financial and technical components of this innovative project – from the enabling technologies to the value stacking of benefits – and share some of the important lessons learned and considerations.  Speakers will also discuss how the operation of these systems could evolve into participation in utility demand side grid services programs.  

While Hawaii’s ambitious 100% RPS goal is a positive market signal for a low-carbon future in the islands, for building owners the way forward isn’t always clear. Adding to this uncertainty is the shifting regulatory landscape of energy markets in Hawaii, which clouds the financial benefits of pursuing clean energy and efficiency. To help guide their decisions, many building owners are turning to data and technology for clarity. However, trying to make sense of this glut of information often leads to further decision-paralysis, or worse — poor decisions. 

Profit-driven carbon elimination, which operates independently of public policy or utility incentives, might be the key to breaking this stalemate. In this session, leaders in asset management, hospitality, and energy services will discuss how profit-driven carbon elimination is helping stakeholders in commercial real estate, hotels, and beyond make better decisions with the data they collect to meet sustainability goals while generating long-term financial value.

On average, the poorest 20% pay the most for electricity — that’s 10% of total household income. Community power and community storage will transform access to affordable clean energy for low-income households, if we deploy equitable project finance models that scale with the market instead of depending on subsidies. Leaders from around the world discuss new project development and finance models that are transforming the economic and energy landscape in their communities. Because the place to begin to drive sharing power as an outcome across urban/rural and diverse state and utility markets is to develop the project shaped by community values, including asking "what do we have in abundance?" Examples connecting beauty to culture and reconciliation will be provided from the southern region of the U.S., Australia and Hawaii. 

Alaska is at ground zero for climate change, yet its mainstay is still oil and gas. It is also the production home to 12% of the world's microgrids. How are these factors contributing toward its cleaner energy future? This is the story of how entrepreneurs, military leaders, utility operators, researchers and thought leaders are fostering an ecosystem of energy innovation in Alaska to address grid resiliency issues locally and globally. From drones to climate change mitigation, and from electrical grids to cyber security, Alaska holds value and experience that a growing entrepreneurial ecosystem is beginning to capture.

Energy and technology leaders from Australia and South Korea share their respective cautionary tales, solutions that have been successful for their respective markets, and explore the strategies and technologies that might work for Hawaii and others.

Hawaii is pursuing a clean energy future that is fast approaching. Those who will carry the renewable electricity torch are just steps away from assuming the responsibility of leading in this industry. The reach of renewables development in Hawaii is broad — from policy to technology and social equity to fragile island ecologies — and tomorrow’s leaders will have a lot to address. So, what is being done to equip future generations with the tools necessary to seamlessly fold into the face-paced, technology-centric clean energy transformation?

This is a snap shot of what Hawaii’s youth envision for their clean energy future. Student leaders from across the state will share how they are preparing to take on the responsibility of equitable renewable energy development, as well as what Hawaii’s Youth need from today’s leaders to secure professionally viable options to remain in Hawaii and thrive in the developing clean energy ecosystem.  

A short, high-energy rock musical number with choreography from Honolulu Theatre for Youth — a professional theatre production. An inspiring case study of how partners nationally and locally can work together to integrate arts and educational messages to inspire multi-generational solutions as the islands transition to 100% clean energy.

Last December, Hawaii became the first U.S. state to commit to 100% renewable fuel sources for public and private ground transportation, with a target of 2045 (and a pledge to transition all fleet vehicles to 100% renewables by 2035). This was not only historic, but an incredibly ambitious proclamation by the state's four mayors. As the cities and counties of Hawaii begin transforming their fleets and infrastructure to meet these goals as well as the Governor's 100% RPS, we close out the show with thoughts from the island leaders about the power of local action in the context of global sustainability, resiliency and economic security.