Toxic Waste in Hawaii
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Natural Environment
Ask SmallBiz: Paying for a PV System
Q. As a small-business owner, what are my options to pay for a photovoltaic system? A. Photovoltaic systems are expensive and complex to finance. A typical PV system for a small business could run anywhere from $10,000 to more than a…
Olives: Hawaii’s Latest Farming Gamble
Imagine finding these fine foods at your grocery store: Maui-brand olive oil, jars of savory Kula olives and antioxidant-rich olive-leaf tea grown high on Oahu’s slopes. Even better, imagine stopping on your way home to fill your car with biofuel…
What's New in Hawaii’s Agriculture Scene?
Seeds Seeds are Hawaii’s fastest growing major crop. The value of seeds grown in Hawaii has almost tripled from $77.3 million in the 2005-06 season to an estimated $222.6 million in 2009-10. Harvested acreage was 6,630 – up 11 percent…
More Than Just Farming
Manny Miles and Cheryse Sana were nominated for an award for “Employees that support farm owners and contribute to farm excellence” at this year’s Hawaii Agriculture Conference. Both are in their 20’s and co-managers at an organic farm in the…
Geothermal's Second Chance
When geothermal steam was first harnessed to generate electricity on the Big Island almost three decades ago, the project left many residents with a bitter taste. The technology was substandard, the community wasn’t consulted and environmental protestors became fixtures outside…
SmallBiz Energy Makeover
Transforming your workplace from an electricity-sucking abyss to an energy-efficient operation offers tons of benefits – it’s good for the planet, could increase employee productivity and morale, and may even win you a few new customers. But beyond the “soft”…
Ask SmallBiz: Remodeling a Store and Being Green
Q. We plan to remodel our store. What should we consider to be more sustainable? A. Green build-outs for small businesses are the hot trend these days. But how do you tell between “greenwashing” and truly sustainable design and building? Here…
Innovation: Ship Harvests Ocean Water
Deep Ocean Hawaii is taking Hawaii’s most abundant resource — ocean water — desalinating it and selling the purified product in bulk to companies in countries like China, where water is polluted or in short supply. “Hawaii can become an…
Innovation: Do-It-Yourself Sustainability
Susanne Friend wants Hawaii to take back its food supply. “Over the last 50 or 60 years, we’ve let our food supply be taken over by agro-businesses with massive transportation lines,” Friend says. In response, she and her husband, Tim…
Innovation: Using lasers to measure the wind
Idea Engineers used to rely on meteorological towers to measure wind speed. But “met towers” only give you data for one location; they don’t tell you anything about wind velocities around a valley or along a ridge. Wind 3D, a…
Spin Zone: Does Hawaii need more fishing regulations?
YES Hawaii’s fisheries need adaptive regulations to ensure that we and future generations can continue to catch fish and preserve cultural practices. Fishing has been regulated in Hawaii since ancient times. Long before Western contact, Native Hawaiians regulated catch based…
Building a Smart Grid
High on a ridge overlooking Maalaea Bay, a small group of students from the Horizons Academy scramble out of vans into the vast open space at the top of the Kaheawa wind farm. They gape for a moment in the…
Parting Shot: Fish for Fish
7:00 A.m., Friday Sea Life Park, Waimanalo >> Richard Coughlin, Danielle Holland, Amy Dickson, Stephanie Lawrence and Shanen Langowski break apart frozen capelin before feeding it to the animals living at Sea Life Park. Every day, the park processes about…
Native Hawaiian Businesses
Finding a way to preserve culture Hui Ku Maoli Ola, a native plant nursery nestled deep in Haiku Valley on Windward Oahu, is a kind of island unto itself. Except for the steepest, most inaccessible parts of the Koolau Mountains,…