News Release

For Immediate Release: December 6, 2006

DBEDT Release 06-34

THIRD ENERGY STRATEGY MEETING ON DEC. 13

Honolulu - The State of Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT) will hold the third of four public meetings to discuss the "Hawaii Energy Strategy 2007" (HES 2007) project on December 13, 2006, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. in Hawaiian Electric Industries Training Room 2, 8th Floor, American Savings Bank Tower, Bishop Square, 1001 Bishop Street, Honolulu.

The December 13 meeting will be the third of four meetings designed to provide Hawaii stakeholders with opportunities to become more familiar with the HES development process and to provide input, comments, and suggestions related to the project. This meeting will provide an update on the current status of the project and present additional results of the ENERGY 2020 model analysis of scenarios of Hawaii's energy future. The presentations will also include initial findings and implications of quantitative policy analyses.

For those not able to attend, copies of presentations and a summary of the discussion will be posted at http://www.hawaii.gov/dbedt/info/energy/planning/hes following the meeting. The presentations and summaries of the discussions of the first two meetings are already posted on the HES web site.

The HES program was initiated in 1992 to increase the understanding of Hawaii's energy situation, formulate State Energy Objectives, and to make recommendations towards achieving those goals. HES 2007 will build upon previous work and the Governor's "Energy for Tomorrow" initiative to chart a clear path to:

? Reduce the state's dependence on oil;

? Protect the environment;

? Reduce negative economic impacts related to use of imported fuels;

? Enhance renewable energy use and energy efficiency; and

? Improve the security and reliability of Hawaii's energy system.

For additional information please call 587-3801 or email hes@rmi.org.

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For more information, contact:

Dave Young

Communications

Phone: (808) 587-1212