INDEX - ENERGY
www.islandbreath.org ID# 0807-02
SUBJECT: HAWAII ENERGY INDEPENDENCE

SOURCE: LINDA HARMON harmonl001@hawaii.rr.com

POSTED: 26 MAY 2008- 5:00pm HST

The KIUC Board Apointments

by Judie Lungren on 25 May 2008

THOSE OF US WHO SUPPORT SUSTAINABLE ENERGY PROGRAMS AND OPEN GOVERNANCE HAVE ANOTHER CHANCE TO INFLUENCE THE KIUC BOARD OF DIRECTORS TO SELECT OUR CHOICES. WE NEED YOUR PRESENCE AND YOUR VOICES.

Both Ben Sullivan and Ken Stokes were narrowly defeated in the recent election.

Ben Sullivan was awarded the Sustainablity Steward Award the first year it was awarded by the Kauai Sierra Club. He has served as cofounder and President of the Apollo Kauai Group seeking answers to our energy crisis.
Ken Stokes is a green economist whose business is to advise others about renewable energy and the strategies for oil independence. He has 15 years of active involvement in community groups.

Come out to the KIUC Board meeting on Tuesday May 27th at 1:30pm at the KIUC office in Lihue.

If at all possible speak a few words in their favor and try to stay the entire session. If you can’t make it email the board at KIUCBoD@hawaii.rr.com
Before Tues. noon.

Following are bios for both Ben and Ken for your further information. Feel free to contact either of them if you have questions.


Ben Sullivan for KIUC Board Community Power

The energy decisions faced by our community and our COOP are urgent today. Whether it be a Kaua’i family struggling to pay an electric bill, our community addressing spiraling energy costs, or, on the broadest scale, society trying to change course to avoid global climate change, it is time for Kaua’i to put these issues firmly on the table and to address them together.

Although the actions of the utility are only one piece of this, our COOP is in a position to stand up and galvanize Kaua’i around ending our severe oil dependence. I ask for your vote for the KIUC Board of Directors, and of much greater importance, for your participation in creating a sustainable energy future for Kaua’i.

Ben Sullivan is a husband and father of three young children. Ben has held a lifelong interest in environmental issues, and holds a degree in Environmental Design. In 2005, he helped found the group Apollo Kauai, a grassroots community organization focused on reducing oil dependence and greenhouse gas emissions.

Ben is fearful of the pace of decline on our island and planet, but inspired by the infinite number of simple and beautiful solutions to our local and global challenges, and even more inspired by the people he meets here putting effective solutions in place. Ben feels passionately that community engagement is at the core of solving the urgent problems we face on Kauai, and invites you to join us all in this essential process of reinventing our island energy future. You can reach Ben at ben.sullivan@hawaiiantel.net


Ken Stokes is the best candidate for KIUC Board
Top 10 reasons Why
1 His campaign slogan- "greener, sooner, cheaper"- means he will push for 100%
renewable energy as soon as possible as cheaply as possible, and he knows well how
tough yet crucial that will be.

2. With Hawaii's most widely read blog on sustainability and his sustainability seminar for Kauaian leaders, he is pushing the learning curve for all our citizens, policy wonks, business and community leaders...and we all have so much to learn.

3. As a green economist and sustainability expert now running The Kauaian Institute, it is his business to know and advise others about renewable energy and strategies for oil independence, and he can help KIUC navigate the rough waters just ahead.

4. His 2002 book about sustainability on Kaua'i (called Tending the Garden Island) offers a roadmap for incorporating our renewable energy goals with a broader, inclusive vision for securing our island's future.

5. With more than 15 years of active involvement in community groups, including Rotary, Arts Council, Mokihana Festival, Malama Maha'ulepu, Hanalei Watershed Hui, and the newly forming Wailua-Kapa~ a Neighborhood Association, he knows our community well.

6. With a Stanford MBA, he knows how to review financial statements, assess markets, and develop corporate strategies, and he can help KIUC refine its Strategic Plan.

7. He has carefully studied all major consultant reports to KIUC on assessment of renewable technologies, promotion of energy efficiency, and the need for rate adjustments, as well as all of KIUC's Annual Reports, financial statements, and planning documents

.8. He has kept himself informed on all aspects of KIUC operations through friendships with several of the founders (especially Jim Mayfield, who left the Board last year)

.9. He was first to publicly advocate community acquisition of Kauai Electric back in 1999.

10. It will take forward thinking, environmentally sensitive people like Ken to make our island and state more conscious of the importance of sustainability in our lifetime.

Oh, and... Ken 'walks the talk.He lives in a 750 s.f. Kapa'a treehouse with his wife Sue Dixon, and relies on his electric recumbent bicycle for most local trips.


SUBJECT: HAWAII ENERGY INDEPENDENCE

SOURCE: JONATHAN JAY jonathan@DAkauai.com

POSTED: 23 MARCH 2008- 5:00pm HST

The KIUC Board Elections

by Jonathan Jay on 22 March 2008

Well, 123 more votes and we could have Ben on the board.  With 805 more for both Ken and Ben, then they would have both been in the top three, and so and on the KIUC board.

Is this a great loss? No. Why?

It is very difficult to get over the top on the first try, and extra difficult when the Get Out The Vote (GOTV) apparatus is flabby or virtually non-existent. I suspect this was the weak link, and something to keep in mind as a lesson learned for future elections... we might like to win. Do note they each came within 1% of getting elected.

Bear this too in mind - Neither Ben nor Ken are going anywhere. They will each remain right here working for a better Kaua`i.
Finally, consider this;

Just by participating in the process we have made great impact. If they didn't know it before, they sure know now more than 3,000 Co-op members want:

* more openness in board process
* more community involvement
* more aggressive conservation programs
* faster transition to sustainable local power
* akamai investments to control and reduce future electricity expenses

Island Breath congratulates Ben and Ken for their efforts to shine some light into the Co-op, and as well congratulations to the new board.

We can all look forward to working with them to further green the grid of the garden island.

 

The Voting Results

Registered Voters 24,117  
Voters 7,341 30.44%
Peter Yukimura 3,933 19.63%
Dennis Esaki 3,851 19.22%
Phil Tacbian 3,238 16.16%
Ben Sullivan 3,116 15.55%
Ken Stokes 3,046 15.20%
Thomas Ellis 2,856 14.25%



SUBJECT: HAWAII ENERGY INDEPENDENCE

SOURCE: DAVID WARD sayjaz3@hotmail.com

POSTED: 7 MARCH 2008- 5:00pm HST

The upcoming KIUC Board Elections

image above: The Port Allen KIUC power station fuelled by imported oil produces 80% of our electricity

by David Ward on 7 March 2008

Aloha KIUC Members,

It is increasingly accepted that even with massive and immediate commitment to all known forms of alternative fuel and energy – solar, wind, wave, hydro, biomass, and biofuels we will soon be forced to adapt to massive disruptions to our power and transportation systems in their present forms. As our reliance on distant and dwindling resources to fulfill our needs begin to make less and less sense, we will need new strategies to cope with a slower-paced, less wasteful, and more localized lifestyle.

The first step to easing our inevitable transition away from fossil fuels is to set about developing local solutions to global shortages, while we still can. We are fortunate to have two community leaders that have been stepping up and engaging us in making the transformation to a less energy intensive future.

Ben Sullivan and Ken Stokes are the leaders we need on the KIUC Board of Directors. Please take a few short minutes to vote for these two creative and visionary leaders. Please, urge your friends, family and neighbors to vote for developing sustainable ways to provide for our clean energy needs.

Please note, that you have three votes on the ballot. Only vote for people who you really want on the board. A third vote for a candidate who you are not committed to will actually dilute your vote by possibly swamping your preferred candidates with extranious votes.

If you have not seen the Q&A at The Garden Island web site, a quick look will clearly reveal that both Ben Sullivan and Ken Stokes have the vision we need on the board.

http://www.kauaiworld.com/articles/2008/02/29/news/news04.txt


You may also find Ken Stokes web site to be loaded with the thinking and ideas we need going forward.

http://kauaian.net/blog/

Supporters of Ben & Ken vote:

David Ward
Juan Wilson
Jonathan Jay
Linda Pascaotre



Pau
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