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GEORGE F. LEE / 2001
The Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole Federal Building, above, and the U.S. Courthouse brings to six the number of customers to sign up for a service that proposes to use cold ocean water to provide
air conditioning.
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The Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse is the latest customer to sign up for a service that proposes to use cold ocean water to provide air conditioning for buildings in downtown Honolulu.
The addition of the federal building brings to six the number of customers that have signed agreements to participate in the long-delayed venture scheduled to break ground later this year and be completed by 2016, according to a news release Tuesday from developer Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning.
Other customers signed by HSWAC include Hawaiian Electric Co., Finance Factors Ltd., First Hawaiian Center, One Waterfront Towers and Remington College.
The agreement will make the Kalanianaole Building the first federal government building in the nation to use seawater for cooling purposes, and represents a significant milestone in HSWAC’s 10-year effort to bring to fruition one of the largest energy-efficiency projects in Hawaii, said Eric Masutomi, HSWAC president and chief executive officer.
The incorporation of seawater air conditioning into the $121 million modernization and renovation already underway will help the federal General Services Administration meet its goal of reducing the building’s energy consumption by 30 percent and attaining a silver designation under the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program, according to HSWAC.
The project is expected to allow for expansion of district cooling projects across the state and allow for export of the technology to other Asia-Pacific locations, according to the news release.
HSWAC projects have the potential to reduce electricity use by 77,000 megawatt-hours per year, which is the equivalent of a 30-megawatt wind farm or a 42-megawatt solar farm. The HSWAC system also is expected to reduce consumption of potable water for air conditioning by more than 260 million gallons, cut sewage discharge by up to 84 million gallons and avoid emissions of 84,000 tons of carbon dioxide — the equivalent of removing 15,000 cars from the road — each year, according to HSWAC.