PACON Meeting Focus Is Energy & Climate Change

Honolulu hosts a four-day conference this week on two of the century's biggest issues, and we’re planning to blog from the Pacific Congress on Marine Science and Technology (PACON) meeting throughout the event, which begins Monday.

The opening keynote address will be by Michael May, president and CEO of Hawaiian Electric Company. HECO is at the center of most discussions about increasing Hawaii’s reliance on renewable energy and getting off oil, so in addition to his prepared remarks, we’re hoping he’ll use the venue to drop a bombshell. (Something about ocean thermal energy conversion would be nice.)

May’s address will be followed by a two-hour panel discussion on various energy topics:
• Terry Surles, Hawaii Natural Energy Institute – “Energy Systems to Address Climate Change and Energy Security Issues”
• Henk Rogers, Blue Planet Foundation – “Maximizing Renewable Energy’s Contribution”
• Arthur Seki, HECO – “Hawaiian Electric Company’s Renewable Energy Activities”
• Andrea T. Gill, Hawaii Department of Business Economic Development & Tourism – “Wave Energy Activities in Hawaii”
• Shanah Trevenna, University of Hawaii at Manoa – “Sustainable Saunders” (an on-campus building)

The complete schedule is found at PACON’s website, and we’ll be posting to this blog according to whatever seems to hold the most interest. If readers have suggestions, insights or curiosity about any of the presentations, leave a comment below and we’ll see if we can satisfy your inquiries.