Email: "Detailed White Paper Outlines Clean Energy Future For Maui"
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There may be no hotter topic these days than securing clean, renewable energy sources to power our homes and businesses. From geothermal and wind power to hydrogen fuel and solar energy, residents across the Valley Isle are beginning to see the world through green-tinted glasses.

But with so many options to choose from, which is the right one for Maui County?

That is exactly what Creative Conflict Solutions’ Phyllis Robinson and Melanie Stephens set out to find when they compiled a white paper for Maui County and Mayor Charmaine Tavares. Entitled “A Clean Energy Future for Maui and Hawai‘i: Conversations with Key Players,” the 34-page document outlines the issues, interests and solutions at play in a highly intricate—and very exciting—movement to secure renewable energy for the State of Hawai‘i. The objective of the white paper, said Robinson, is to inform the community and encourage public involvement.

“The public needs to know what is going on,” she said. “We took a complex subject and put it into a language that everyone can understand.”

“We wrote this as a gift to the public,” said Stephens.”It’s a bird’s eye view of renewable energy in Hawai‘i.”

Robinson and Stephens interviewed 19 Maui County residents who represent various elements of the renewable energy movement in Hawai‘i. It was a substantial undertaking, as the determined duo began to meet with interviewees in January 2008, painstakingly recording hours of testimony from a roster of experts in sustainability. Interviewees included electric company representatives, cultural activists, county administrators, resource planners, community leaders and owners of solar, wind and biodiesel operations.

The final result is a comprehensive guide that demystifies the array of renewable energy sources available to Maui County residents and businesses. According to Stephens, such a wide variety of resources can be a source of conflict, as renewable energy proponents often become “attached” to their respective energy sources. For instance, fans of wind power may believe that it is the only solution to Maui’s energy woes; whereas advocates of geothermal energy may argue otherwise.

Throughout each interview, Stephens said she began to realize that each person was looking at renewable energy from his or her point of view. “That’s the way humans operate,” she said. “They speak from their own need. We all have our own interests, so it’s completely natural.”

While most of the interviewees were open to integrating other forms of renewable energy, both Robinson and Stephens said they immediately identified a need to create synergy between competing interests in order to reach a mutually beneficial solution. “Negotiation strategies build solutions that work for everyone,” said Robinson. “In this case, our conflict management background helped us to devise an interest-based negotiation strategy.” Additionally, she said, there was a general agreement by all parties that “we have to sit down together and look at different interests, and needs [and] use the criteria to develop a viable solution.”

“We can’t rely on a single source [of renewable energy],” said Stephens. “Everyone agreed that there should be a mix.” However, Robinson and Stephens said the white paper also revealed patterns that some believed to be irreconcilable, in addition to contentious issues such as determining whether energy sources should be distributed or decentralized. Sifting through the assortment of interests, incentives and challenges wasn’t easy, the women discovered: “The key informants in our interviews identified challenges, the greatest of which is the inertia of ‘business as usual’. This was followed closely by an expressed need for major innovation and technological advances in order to achieve these bold goals in a timely way. We also discovered that the many stakeholders to this change, including consumers and the public, hold a variety of other interests and they are: economic sustainability and regulatory considerations, environmental concerns, educational and workforce needs, equity, accessibility and fairness.”

“That’s where interest-based negotiations become so valuable to the process,” said Stephens. “It assists in developing a set of effective recommendations to reach a favorable outcome.”

The set of recommendations are included in the white paper, she said, and they are intended to guide government officials and renewable energy stakeholders in the pursuit of clean energy for Maui County—and beyond.

“All of the critical ingredients agree that this has to happen,” said Robinson. “This is just one step in the right direction.”

“A Clean Energy Future for Maui and Hawai‘i: Conversations with Key Players” is now available on the Creative Conflict Solutions Website, the Maui County Website and the Maui Weekly Website. Robinson and Stephens encourage all Maui County residents to review the document and share their input. “It’s important to remember that this is a bird’s eye view at a given moment,” said Stephens. “Everything is moving so rapidly, things could change at any moment.” But it’s important that we act now, she said, to secure clean, renewable energy for future generations of Maui County residents.

“We need to start getting creative,” she said. “The political will is there at both the county and state levels… so let’s get to work.”

For more information or to view “A Clean Energy Future for Maui and Hawai‘i: Conversations with Key Players,” visit www.creativeconflictsolutions.com, www.mauicounty.gov or www.mauiweekly.com.

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