Ige’s 1,000 cool classrooms face a credibility problem

The mission is obvious: air condition the schools now.

The plan, however, appears more like the smoke one would see reflected in mirrors, rather than a set-in-stone reality.

Gov. David Ige is staking much of his administration’s credibility on his emergency plan to put air conditioners in 1,000 public school classrooms by this December and then pushing ahead to cool all of the state’s 11,000 classrooms ASAP.

It was the cornerstone of his State of the State speech last week, and its success or failure will be the first measure of whether Ige is returned for a second term.

So how is the new governor doing?

So far it looks like a good idea with more holes than substance.

“I like the fact that we are pulling out all the stops to make this happen quicker,” said Senate President Ron Kouchi.

The speed, however, comes with much uncertainty.

According to legislative and industry sources, the initial Ige plan was an agreement between the administration and the electric companies for Ige to declare a state emergency allowing the state’s public utility companies to install the air conditioning in the schools.

A special charge would then be added to consumers’ electric bills to pay for it. Sources said the idea was not approved by the attorney general, and Ige went on to Plan B, which was to tap the “green infrastructure special fund,” the so-called GEMS program, for a $100 million loan.

There are two problems with this, one practical and one philosophical.

First the GEMS fund is paid for by those with electric bills on Oahu, Maui and Hawaii. The Kauai Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC) is separate; it does not pay into the public benefit fund, of which GEMS makes up half of the charge. A spokesman for KIUC did say last week that it would support another mechanism that would allow Kauai to be included, but as it stands, there are no GEMS dollars shining on the Garden Island.

More of a concern is the actual reason for the program, which when it was set up in 2013, was to encourage building for clean energy efficiency, such as solar water heaters and photovoltaic systems.

The enabling legislation, Senate Bill 1087 in 2013, said, “The Legislature finds that building Hawaii’s clean energy infrastructure at the lowest possible cost is vital.”

The GEMS-financed construction would be for “the state’s goals of energy self-sufficiency, greater energy security, and greater energy diversification.”

The new bill offered by Ige, SB 3126, said the state would borrow $100 million from GEMS for the “equipment and installation of air conditioning, energy efficient lighting and other energy efficiency measures.”

Also tacked on the bill is a $7 million payment for the first installment due on the $100 million loan.

Mina Morita, the former chairwoman of the Public Utilities Commission, said in an interview last week that “when you try to piggyback a whole A/C program (which increases demand not reduce) off of GEMS, you lose the purpose and legislative intent of GEMS.”

The issue is simple. If you put photovoltaics on the roof and flip the switch, do you save electricity?

Or if you buy an air conditioner and turn it on every day, did you just start using more or less electricity?

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.