News & Information
Hawaii Information
Hawaii Climate Adaptation Portal, information, tools, meetings, resources, and stories about the impacts of climate change and sea level rise in Hawaii and what we are doing to prepare and adapt.
Honolulu Office of Climate Change, Sustainability and Resiliency, the city & county office focused on climate change adaptation and promoting a sustainable and resilient future for Oahu.
Hawaii Green Growth, a web resource that tracks the state's progress toward the Aloha+ Challenge 2030 sustainability goals.
General Information and Tools
EPA Climate Change Factsheets The US Environmental Protection Agency has created factsheets for every state in the US, including Hawaii. The two-page factsheet for Hawaii has good summary information about how climate change is affecting our state now and what future trends are likely to be.
Climate Change and Public Health
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a really nice website with information about how climate change and weather extremes are likely to affect personal and public health. There are summaries, factsheets, detailed reports, training documents, webinars, and, as you can see on the left, nice graphics.
Global Warming Interactive Temperature Graph How hot has it gotten in your lifetime? How hot will it get by the time you retire? How hot will it be for our children and beyond? This neat little interactive graph shows what is likely to happen if we don't take action as a global community to reduce greenhouse gas emissions: http://kiln.it/embeds/ipcc/
What are the major effects of humans on the health of the planet? How much land, water, and other resources do we require per capita in the US vs China? Global Footprint Network has lots of great data and graphics to show just how we measure up.
Greenhouse Gases and Energy Use in Transportation This website has a collection of great links to various topics related to greenhouse gas emissions and transportation. Special section on "green cars", especially hybrids and electric vehicles.
The Cost ($ and CO2) of Driving in America Check out this web widget that calculates the cost in $ and CO2 of driving your car in the US, including the savings from improving your fuel efficiency. The accompanying text also highlights the overwhelming contribution of driving to a person's annual greenhouse gas emissions. Although sobering, it represents a great opportunity to reduce your C footprint by simply driving less!
Climate News
Best Climate Blogs, as determined by the good folks at www.environmentalsciencedegree.com.
Climate Progress, the climate section of the ThinkProgress news and information site.
Climate Desk, a similar informative blog full of interesting and insightful articles on climate change issues.
Real Climate, a blog about climate change science from scientific experts.
Earth Portal, hosting the Encyclopedia of Earth, the Earth Forum, and Earth News.
Environment News Service, an international daily newswire on the environment.
Living On Earth, a great public radio program that emphasizes climate change issues .
Energy Star website, featuring Energy Star-approved products and information for home improvement, energy efficient buildings and plants, and building Energy Star qualified homes.
EPA Climate Change website.
Helpful Guides and Summaries
Helpful Guides and Summaries
Primers on Power Generation Thanks to some friends for suggesting this link which lists lots of great websites that explain how electricity is generated from various power sources, including many types of renewable sources like wind, solar, geothermal, and wave.
Financing a Photovoltaic System for Your Faith Community In the past few years, local solar companies have been offering power purchase agreements to help non-profits switch to renewable energy. This is essentially a lease agreement, so the faith community does not own the PV system but gets the benefits of using renewable energy installed on its property and paying a discounted rate for it. The California IPL has created a finance guide that describes various ways that faith communities have financed PV systems, including a PPA in which the community members themselves finance the purchase of the system and lease it to the church. The guide contains several case studies to help you make the best choice for your community.
For more technical guides and documents on PPA lease agreements, PV installation & maintenance best practices, and others, visit the Solar Access to Public Capital working group page of the National Renewable Energy Lab.
Hawaii GEMS Solar Financing Program
Hawaii has rolled out the Green Energy Market Securitization (GEMS) program to help non-profits and homeowners finance a photovoltaic system with no up-front cost and a low-interest loan. Visit the official state GEMS website for details or view these pdf presentations for a summary: GEMS summary GEMS loan and PPA FAQ
A Primer on Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs)
You or your faith community have cut back on your energy use through conservation and efficiency upgrades. Maybe you have even taken steps to install a renewable energy system in your home or facilities. How can you offset the remainder of your carbon or energy footprint? HIPL has created a primer on renewable energy certificates as a tool to promote renewable energy generation and offset your carbon footprint.
For a more technical perspective on RECs and a critical perspective on unbundled RECs in voluntary C markets, see this webpage from localcleanenergy.org.