Shifts in federal policy towards clean energy are expected to raise electricity bills across the country.
A new initiative from the Hawaiian Council — formerly the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement — wants to help local households reduce their energy costs, which are already some of the highest in the nation.
The initiative, called Kalāhiki, is lining up a pilot group of about 80 households. To start, the program will prioritize applicants who live on Department of Hawaiian Home Lands properties on Oʻahu.
Participants will receive guidance on how to lower their energy usage and apply for rebates, tax credits, and other financing for rooftop solar systems and energy-efficient appliances.
“We're really focused on all the households that have been overlooked in the energy transition here,” said Josh Stanbro, who is set to serve as the program's chief administrator.
Stanbro is no stranger to launching new energy and climate efforts. In 2017, he was tapped to be Honolulu City and County's first chief resilience officer, where he helped lay the groundwork for the newly created Honolulu Office of Climate Change, Sustainability and Resiliency.
After five years in local government, Stanbro headed to Washington, D.C., to work in climate policy, where he strove to channel resources back to Hawaiʻi.
Stanbro said Kalāhiki is a response to the Trump administration's rollback of federal resources for renewable energy and climate resilience programs.
“The federal government is stepping out of the clean energy space, the climate resilience space,” he said. “The Hawaiian Council is stepping forward to try to build local partnerships and local solutions.”
HPR spoke with Stanbro about federal cuts, energy sovereignty, and climate resilience.
Interview highlights
On federal cuts to clean energy and climate programs
JOSH STANBRO: Honestly, there was a pipeline of hundreds of millions of dollars that was going to benefit low and moderate-income households here in Hawaiʻi that are really struggling economically around these issues. … $62.5 million for the Solar for All program at the Hawaiʻi Green Infrastructure Authority was canceled unilaterally by the EPA. That's a contract that was awarded and was starting to help homes, starting to help people on our island. And so I think my experience working with those federal resources and seeing the promise and the potential that they held, and then have them be pulled back at the last second, really got me fired up about making sure that we are building local partnerships with local funding and local resources to solve the problems that are that our local households face.
On the state's response to the withdrawal of federal resources
STANBRO: In a lot of cases, these cuts are illegal. … Hopefully some of these funds still continue to flow, and I appreciate that the state has stepped up in many of these cases and has challenged this administration about making sure that those resources that were awarded in Hawaiʻi could be, are delivered there as they were supposed to be, as passed by law. That said, I think the other encouraging thing at the state and county level is that funds, local funds, have been set aside to try to fill that gap. Already, the response has been really quick. So you've seen, the state green fee on tourists get passed in the spring, and that potentially opens up a channel of some funds to increase climate resiliency for households. … Also at the City and County of Honolulu, there's a Climate Resiliency Fund that was passed by voters in a charter amendment in 2024 and that provides a little bit of security as well as these federal funds are slashed, and those funds can and should be used for this type of in-home energy security and climate resilience that we need.
On the role Kalāhiki intends to serve
STANBRO: If you think about cordage, there's lots of individual strands that are not that strong, but when you wind them all together, you get a rope you can lash a canoe with, you can lash a home together with, right? And what Kalāhiki is doing is it's winding together all these different programs that, on their own, are difficult for people to access. Maybe they're not worth it for somebody to like, go to five different websites, submit their paperwork five times for a small benefit, but when you wrap it all together, then it's much stronger, and it actually can pay off for a household to do them all at one time, recapture those benefits and those costs and those savings. And so Hawaiian Council is trying to knit that cord and plug households in one time to this suite of benefits and programs that make sense in a linear way, to make it as inexpensive as possible, to get the most home resilience that you can possibly get given your situation.
On how to build a more equitable energy landscape in Hawaiʻi
STANBRO: We've seen solar adoption in a lot of wealthier neighborhoods in Hawaiʻi over the past decade plus, and some folks are paying barely anything on their electric bill now. But the folks who need it the most, who are working two jobs and don't have the upfront resources to pay for that, have been locked out for a long time. And so that's what Kalāhiki does — it opens the door to those other folks that haven't yet got solar and need that backup energy security. More and more we are seeing the grid being shut down during high wind events, during fire danger, and that instability can lead to disruptions for families that have medical devices in their homes, [a] freezer full of food that goes bad. … So really, this is about energy sovereignty, but it's also about climate resilience, because it makes those homes stronger and more resilient in the face of the inevitable extreme weather events and grid shut-offs that we're seeing more and more.
Households interested in participating in the Kalāhiki program can complete this interest form. Questions can be emailed to kalahiki@hawaiiancouncil.org.
