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TOPICS: ENERGY

2016 Living Shorelines Workshop

Relevance: Living shorelines integrate habitat restoration techniques, coastal engineering, and conservation to mitigate coastal hazards through the incorporation of natural elements. Living shorelines have been used effectively in the US along the eastern, western, and gulf coasts as an effective ...

2017 CReST Conference

Relevance: Aging and failing cesspools, increasingly large episodic storms, and rising groundwater present unprecedented challenges for wastewater management in Hawaiʻi. Concerns remain about the impacts of 90,000 existing on-site wastewater systems on Hawaiʻi’s beaches, aquatic resources, and community health. Response: ...

2017 Energy Simulation Workshop

4-Day Workshop Overview As part of a workshop series on building simulation and lighting and energy analysis, the first workshop consisted of a three half-day sessions and one full-day session, focused on building-level daylighting simulation and energy analysis. This workshop ...

2018-2019 Build and Buy Green Conferences, USGBC Tour of NOAA Regional Facility

Relevance: Knowledge of sustainable and resilient building practices is needed in Hawaiʻi to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and meet the State’s 100% clean energy goal, adapt to a changing climate, and recover from natural and man-made disruptions. Response: To educate ...

About the Center

"Smart Building" is the process of designing and constructing a structure while considering how it will interact with its inhabitants and its environment. Is it a nice place to work? Is it an efficient place to work? Does it take ...

Architecture Lecture October 8, 2020

Architect Weston Walker is Design Principal and Partner in charge of Studio Gang’s New  York office, where he leads a talented team of architects and a diverse portfolio of projects.  Weston’s work spans many different types and scales, including cultural ...

August 6, 2021 Presentation: Rappa Fellowship Integrates School of Architecture, Sea Grant, and Hawaii Natural Energy Institute to Address Transportation Electrification

During the six-week summer program, Rappa Fellows worked on the following projects to advance sustainability and resilience in the built environment. Fellow: Ryan Ringuette Mentors: Eileen Peppard, Hawaiʻi Sea Grant Center for Smart Building and Community Design and School of ...

Can Hawaiian Fishpond Technology Increase Food Security?

by Lurline Wailana McGregor“Wehe i ka mākāhā i komo ka iʻa,” open the fish gate that the fish may enter, is an ʻōlelo noʻeau (Hawaiian proverb) referencing a strategy used to trap fish in the loko iʻa, as well as ...

Data Acquisition Software for Remote Monitoring

Many of our research projects have involve deploying sensors in buildings to measure temperature, humidity, light, and power use. Some of these sensors have been deployed for years and we need reliable, customized software to automatically acquire sensor data and ...

December 2, 2021 Zero Energy Home Design Webinar

This free webinar provides guidance on net zero energy design for architects, contractors and others involved in low-rise residential development. Topics: Recent UH research on how Hawai’i homes consume energy Cost effective beyond-code energy efficiency strategies Integrating solar energy for ...

Energy Efficiency Training

December 2, 2021 – Zero Energy Home Design The need for zero-energy homes is greater than ever as Hawaii transitions to 100 percent clean energy. This webinar provided information to help designers and contractors to integrate efficiency, solar energy, and ...

Energy Monitoring and Simulation Aims to Save Money for Residents

Energy Monitoring and Simulation Aims to Save Money for Residents Relevance: Reducing energy use in buildings is vital to achieve Hawaiʻi’s 100 percent clean energy goal by 2045 and mitigate climate change. Response: Monitoring and simulation of energy use in ...

Energy Performance Recommendations Inform Plans and Incentives for Multi-family Housing Associated with Rail Development

Energy Performance Recommendations Inform Plans and Incentives for Multi-family Housing Associated with Rail Development Assistant professor Wendy Meguro and consultant WSP, an engineering firm, identified energy targets and effective energy efficiency measures in multi-family buildings and estimated the effects of ...

Energy Targets and Efficiency Measures in Multifamily Subtropical Buildings

The Technology | Architecture + Design journal article by associate professor Wendy Meguro and Elliot Glassman from WSP, "Evaluating Energy Targets and Efficiency Measures in Multifamily Subtropical Buildings through Automated Simulation" (April 2021) is available free online here This study ...

Envisioning In Situ Sea Level Rise Adaptation Strategies for a Densely Developed Coastal Community, Waikīkī

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Wendy Meguro Co-INVESTIGATOR: Charles Fletcher Graduate Fellows: Josephine Briones, Ireland Castillo, Graduate Research Assistants: Eric Teeples, Gerry Failano Junior Research Assistants: Aiko Tells, Desiree Malabed SOEST Partners: Georgina Casey Sea Grant Partners: Eileen Peppard, Dolan Eversole, Melanie Lander ...

Envisioning Sea Level Rise Adaptation in Waikīkī Receives Honorable Mention

"The University of Hawai‘i research titled, “Envisioning Sea Level Rise Adaptation in Waikiki, Hawaiʻi, received Honorable Mention in the Unbuilt Project Category at the 2022 Northwest and Pacific AIA Honors and Design Awards in September 2022 held in Seattle, Washington ...

Envisioning Sea Level Rise Adaptation Strategies in Waikīkī

Waikīkī is the economic hub of Hawai‘i’s tourism industry and is threatened by flooding from sea level rise, king tides, high wave events, rainfall and storm drain backflow, groundwater inundation, and overflow of the Ala Wai canal. This research merges ...

Estimating Thermal Comfort and Energy Use with Future Warmer Weather

Estimating Thermal Comfort and Energy Use with Future Warmer Weather The whole-building energy model estimates that the prototypical, unconditioned multifamily building in Honolulu, HI will be warmer and less comfortable in the future, but ceiling fans and design strategies to ...

Farming on a Loop

by Jake BuehlerIn Hawaiʻi and the Pacific, physical space for agriculture is substantially more limited than on continental landmasses. This has made farming practices that combine efficiency with a low impact on land and water use especially useful for producing ...

Farming the Open Ocean—Is Offshore Aquaculture in Hawaiʻi the Future of Seafood?

by Josh McDanielOn the island of Hawai‘i, about a half mile off Keāhole Point near Kona, nine large net pens teem with hundreds of thousands of kanpachi (Seriola rivoliana, or longfin amberjack). Blue Ocean Mariculture’s kanpachi fish farm is the ...

Flood Hazard and Sea Level Rise Mitigation Standards Incorporated into Updated Waikiki Guidelines

Flood Hazard and Sea Level Rise Mitigation Standards Incorporated into Updated Waikiki Guidelines Relevance: The urgent regional need to address sea level rise is evident in The Hawai'i Sea Level Rise Vulnerability and Adaptation Resport's predicted predicted $19 billion in ...

Going Beyond Code

To support Hawai'i's 100% renewable energy goal by 2045, Hawai'i Sea Grant faculty, their colleagues, and seven student researchers just published a paper to show how house design and construction practices can be modified to meet the newly adopted, more ...

Harnessing the Elements by 2045

by Natasha VizcarraHawai‘i Senator Glenn Wakai was in a Zoom meeting in late January when he noted a kink in the islands’ renewable energy plans. The state’s only coal-fired power station was shutting down in September 2022. However, solar power ...

Home Aquaponics – Your Next Passion?

by Liz ColeyIn 2011, author, educator, entrepreneur Sylvia Bernstein wrote AQUAPONIC GARDENING: A Step by Step Guide to Raising Vegetables and Fish Together to share her passion with the uninitiated. The book offers an engaging and practical deep dive into ...

Net Zero Energy Classrooms: A Living Laboratory

The FROG Classrooms on the UH Manoa College of Education Campus Serve as a Living Laboratory for Sustainable Design Research Energy research at the UH College of Education net-zero energy classrooms is part of an 8-year collaboration between The University ...

Oceans of Opportunity for Hawai‘i’s Future

by Cary DeringerHawai‘i, an ocean-bound state, is just beginning to discover the myriad ways the sea can counteract increasing energy demands, dwindling fresh water supplies, and worsening food shortages. To see for yourself, visit Keāhole Point on the west coast ...

On-Demand Webinar: Zero Energy Home Design Webinar

This free webinar provides guidance on net zero energy design for architects, contractors and others involved in low-rise residential development. Topics: Recent UH research on how Hawai’i homes consume energy Cost effective beyond-code energy efficiency strategies Integrating solar energy for ...

Ongoing Projects

Campus Spatial Survey and Integrated Planning Light Pollution in Hawaiʻi Delamping Initiative Forest City Military Community Energy Efficiency Monitoring Kuykendall Hall Water Resources Working Group ...

Past Events: Lectures, Workshops, and Webinars

The Center has been involved in many outreach activities which are linked below ...

Propagating resilience

by Natasha VizcarraIt was a warm, cloudy Saturday at Maunalua Bay Beach Park. Under a blue tent, masked volunteers at the Mālama Maunalua Hana Pūko‘a​ event bent over water saws to gingerly cut coral into large thumb-sized pieces. Under a ...

Q & A with Matthew Gonser

by Cindy Knapman and Kanesa SeraphinMatthew Gonser, former extension faculty with the University of Hawaiʻi Sea Grant College Program, was recently appointed as the chief resilience officer and executive director of the City and County of Honolulu Office of Climate ...

Rainwater Catchment Project

What is Rainwater Catchment? Rainwater catchment is the capture of rainwater, most commonly in barrels or tanks, for household, landscape or commercial use. With proper design, maintenance and water treatment, a rainwater catchment system can provide water that is free ...

Raising the Next Generation of Aquatic Farmers

by Shannon WianeckiThe term “aquaculture” encompasses everything from restoring traditional fishponds to rearing seahorses for aquariums and reducing greenhouse gases with red algae. It’s a diverse field, and it’s booming: it’s the fastest growing sector of the agricultural industry worldwide, ...

Retaining a Healthy Indoor Environment in On-Demand Mixed-Mode Classrooms

Retaining a Healthy Indoor Environment in On-Demand Mixed-Mode ClassroomsA study to measure energy performance and CO2 concentrations was conducted in two Hawai‘i classrooms to determine the impact of user decision-making on adequacy of fresh air. Using CO2 as a marker for indoor ...

Reviving Cultural Practices and Restoring Self: Rosalyn Concepcion

by Stacy KishThe 400-year old stone walls of Waikalua Loko Iʻa, a Hawaiian fishpond in Kāneʻohe, Oʻahu, retain a history that has almost been lost to disrepair during the past century. Rosalyn (Roz) Concepcion has been working to restore the ...

Sharing the Catch

by Robin DonovanIf you read the news, it’s everywhere: rising sea levels, warming oceans, degraded coastlines, and dying coral reefs. The consequences of climate change are apparent around the globe, but for fish-loving island communities like those in American Samoa, ...

Students work on a net zero energy initiative for the UH Manoa campus

Student research assistants study energy consumption patterns of the UH Manoa Campus Sea Grant has teamed up with the UH Office of Sustainability to manage a vast quantity of electricity metering data while also training and educating students. Students have ...

Teaching Science as Inquiry (TSI)

Teaching science as inquiry means teaching science as it is practiced. In this form of learning, content is both an end goal as well as a framework for knowledge construction. By testing principles and connections through the generation and interpretation ...

Turning Down the Temperature on Urban Heat Islands

by Josh McDanielAugust 31, 2019, tied the record for the hottest temperature ever recorded at the Honolulu airport. On the same day, volunteers and city workers placed sensors on their vehicles and drove through O‘ahu neighborhoods throughout the day. Staff ...

Workforce Development

Hawaiʻi Sea Grant and School of Architecture Workforce Development in Sustainability Results in Job Placement for College Students Relevance: A knowledgeable and highly skilled workforce trained to excel in sustainability-related fields is required to meet Hawaiʻi’s goal of 100 percent ...
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