A little sun helps beat the heat

What a cool idea. Or maybe more aptly: That’s hot.

Forgive our ambivalence, but that’s what happens when an ice cream company (Tropical Dreams Custom Ice Cream Co.) wins a $125,000 federal grant to install solar photovoltaic panels (at its Waimea factory).

That’ll allow the company to melt away about $55,000 from its electricity bill yearly, thanks to the panels covering 8,000 square feet of rooftop that will generate 90 percent of its needs. Sun and ice cream do go together — sweet!

In the path of Pele’s wrath, again

Pity the poor Royal Gardens subdivision.

What’s left of the Lower Puna housing development came under siege again last week, as a new lava flow on the east side of Puu Oo crater advanced toward what few structures remain. Royal Gardens originally had 1,827 lots, products of an ill-advised development scheme in the 1950s. Most of that property has since been covered by lava; since 1983, the volcano has destroyed an estimated 63 homes in Royal Gardens. It’s the Big Island equivalent of a trailer park in Tornado Alley.