COMMENTARY
State overlooks rights in mandates to curb energy dependence
By Christine Camp and Karen Nakamura
With all the recent economic turmoil in Hawai'i, we are at a loss to explain the recent trend in government.
This past session the Legislature saw fit to pass Senate Bill 644, which requires that all new single-family residential units constructed after 2010 have thermal solar water heaters.
In passing the Mandatory Solar Bill, the Legislature's intent was to increase the use of renewable energy to protect our environment, reduce pollution, make housing more affordable and enhance Hawai'i's economy.
Government mandates are not limited to the Legislature. The Honolulu City Council, the Department of Business Economic Development and Tourism, and the state Land Use Commission are considering mandating that all new development be constructed to one of the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards.
In 2006, the Legislature passed Act 96 apparently in an effort to "lead by example" in developing standards for energy efficiency and environmental standards for state facilities. The rationale for these government mandates on new development or construction seems to be based on one or more of the following:
No one disagrees with the goal of moving the state toward becoming more energy self-sufficient. The concern is in the manner our elected leaders are choosing to accomplish this goal. Their approach is to mandate that all of the new developments be constructed to a LEED standard, which is currently voluntary and not contained in any building code, and that all single-family units constructed after 2010 must have a solar water heater.
If the goal was really to significantly reduce our 90 percent dependency on imported oil, wouldn't it have made more of an impact on our energy dependency to require all existing housing units (approximately 491,000 as of July 2005) to convert to solar water heaters as opposed to requiring only new units to have solar (approximately 5,700 units in 2006)? Or require that over a fixed period of time, all existing homes be renovated in accordance with certain LEED standards? Why do you think the focus was on new units as opposed to existing?
Also, why is there a different standard for LEED compliance where government projects must comply "to the extent possible" but private developers must comply in all cases?
Perhaps government should create mandates for itself, too. For instance, mandate that we fix all of the public schools so the old schools and new schools have similar learning environments to avoid the new Ocean Pointe Elementary and 'Ewa Beach Elementary school situation.
Or, perhaps we should mandate that government build the infrastructure capacity (i.e. roads, drainage, sewer, water) required for future growth throughout the state.
We should mandate that government dedicate 0.5 percent of the current 4.5 percent general excise tax annually to fix public schools and improve public education in Hawai'i. That percent of the GET, based on the projections for the rail tax, would amount to approximately $150 million per year. If the dedication is fixed for, say, a 10-year period, the Department of Education would have an income stream of $1.5 billion to invest in public education in Hawai'i. The same formula could be done to fix our public infrastructure.
As we collectively do our "group grope" trying to find our way toward energy self-sufficiency, let us not forget that our country and this state were founded on principles that protect individual rights, lest the next mandates will be one hybrid car car per family, employees must bicycle or walk to work a certain number of times per week, energy rationing, etc.
Christine Camp is chairwoman of the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii's Land Use and Transportation Committee. Karen Nakamura is president of the Building Industry Association of Hawaii. They wrote this commentary for The Advertiser.
