Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 28, Number 4, 1 April 2011 — Molokaʻi has nation's first off-the- grid home for Habitat for Humanity [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Molokaʻi has nation's first off-the-grid home for Habitat for Humanity

Ka'ai family benefits from OHA support of the homebuilding program

By Ke'alapualoke Hook Since its inception in 1970, Earth Day has served as a global reminder to protect our planet and has mobilized people to support ecological sustainability. For Native Hawaiians, it ean serve as a reminder of traditional sustainability practices and their mod-ern-day application.

One of the best-known archetypes of sustainable communities is the Native Hawaiian ahupua'a system. Traditionally, land was divided into districts that ran from the top of the mountains out to sea. For the most part, districts followed natural boundary lines such as mountain ridges or streams. These divisions allotted the inhabitants of a particular ahupua'a all that they needed to sustain themselves, from timber, pili grass and olonā for housing, to land for kalo production and

seas for fishing. Within the ahupua'a, resources were regulated through kapu, or laws that ensured the viability of limited resources. The same concepts of resource management and sustainability through modern means are growing in both popularity and use. The Office of Hawaiian Affairs in support of both the preservation of 'āina and resources and the needs of the Native Hawaiian people, has continued these traditions through funding of $20,000 to Moloka'i Habitat for Humanity. This led to the completion of their first completely off-the-grid home. After five months of building and more than 1,600 sweat-equity hours, the Ka'ai family home has the distinction of being the first completely off-the-grid home not only for Moloka'i Habitat for

Humanity, but also for Habitat for Humanity nationally. It is also the first off-the-grid home on Hawaiian homelands. Jacob Noury-Adolpho, Executive Director of Moloka'i Habitat for Humanity, explained why off-the-grid is especially significant on Moloka'i: "Moloka'i has the highest cost of living in the state and we are one of the most isolated islands. We wanted to build a home that would be affordable for the family while taking steps to protect

our state and our island community." With the cost of electricity on Moloka'i running anywhere from $200 to $500 per month, the savings generated through sustainable energy becomes significant not only to the environment, but also to the economics of the family. The home, as well as its appliances, windows and doors, is Energy Star-certified and the 21 photovoltaic panels were designed and installed by a volunteer crew from O'ahu solar contractor RevoluSun. While a new off-the-grid home is an extreme example of sustainability, there are small changes that people ean make in their own homes to conserve resources. Instead of running the air conditioner, a family ean open their windows and use our natural Moa'e or trade winds, to eool their homes. Doing so for eight hours a day ean amount to $78 in savings a year. Air drying laundry is another small change that takes advantage of our tropical climate. In a year, a family ean save $348 by line drying eight loads of laundry a week! The illustration helow provides a breakdown of other simple, quick and easy ways to be green while

saving green. As the costs of energy rise across the state, families all over Hawai'i ean benefit from utilizing energy-efficient practices that save money, protect our environment and ensure resources are available for future generations. ■ Ke 'alapualoke Hook is a ResearchAnalyst-Spe-eial Projects at the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

LIVING GREEN

Here are some-energy saving tips provided by the Hawaiian Electric Co. For more energy-saving ideas, visit www.heco.com or the web sites of the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Division, the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy or the Hawai'i : Clean Energy Initiative. Source: http://abit.ly/gn57HP

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