The first day of the Maui County Energy Expo was energizing in it's own right. With a host of people representing the future Sustainability of Maui, Hawaii.

The opening address by Mayor Charmaine Tavares of Maui County brought on a renewed sense of direction and feeling that Maui, as a whole, is heading in the right direction.

Mayor Tavares Re-dedicated her efforts, despite the bad economic times, to continue on a path of Sustainability and to find the money. She pointed out our responsibilities individually and collectively, government, business and individuals to work towards a goal of a Sustainable Energy Future.

Representing the State of Hawaii, Mr. Theodore Liu, Director of Hawai'i State Deptartment of Business, Economic Development and Tourism mirrored many of Mayor Tavares's statements and feelings. As a State Representative to the Energy Expo, Mr. Liu brought with him Governor Linda Lingle's and Lt. Governor Duke Aiona's commitment towards seeing Hawaii become a place for Sustainable living.

Deidre Tegarden, Coordinator, Office of Economic Development, County of Maui was there to speak about their continuing efforts.

Jeanne Unemori Skog, Coordinator, President and CEO, Maui Economic Development Board, Inc. brought her views to the opening and was referred to as a possible conduit to see through and help create solutions between the Government and the Real World.

Henk Rogers, Hawaii entrepreneur and philanthropist, also founder of Blue Planet Foundation spoke about his vision and efforts towards creating and not just talking about it.

The Morning session was filled with even more people adding to the sense that we as a State in Hawaii are headed towards a Sustainable future no matter what. Hawaii and Maui in particular are great test grounds for new technologies, maybe not the manufacturing so much as the test bed. With short commutes and low highway speeds, the use of electric cars is a great product to demonstrate and explore.

The afternoon session was open to the public and was mostly a Question and Answer session with the Five Maui County Energy Alliance Working Groups.

Dr. Victor Reyes, Energy Commissioner, Maui County, provided an overview and introduction to the groups. The groups comprised of:

• Lee Jakeway, for Renewable Resource Development. 
• Alex De Roode, for Green Force Development.
• Wayne Axelson, for Energy and Transportation Infrastructure.
• Robert Hoonan, for Energy Efficiency and Conservation.
• Milton Arakawa, for Greenhouse Gase and Carbon Emmissions.

There was a lot of information passeded on and questions asked. I will be posting a more complete video compilation to make available to those that sign into my database and allow us to let them know how to watch and hear in more detail what this Conference was all about.

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