The Rainbow Tower at the Hilton Hawaiian Village turned 50 this month.
The tower opened in 1968 with a rainbow mural designed by artist Millard Sheets. It was called the largest tile mosaic in the world at that time. The mural was redone in 2014 with more than 31,000 tiles. Sheets’ son, Tony, helped with the restoration.
The mural has been featured in movies, including “Godzilla,” and on TV, including “Hawaii Five-0.”
Debi Bishop, managing director of Hilton Hawaiian Village, said, “We are honored to be stewards of this historic tower. It truly has become an icon.”
Solar electric systems up 4%
Oahu issued permits for 320 solar electric systems in October, up 4 percent from the 307 issued in October 2017, said Marco Mangelsdorf, who tracks rooftop solar permits and is president of Hilo-based ProVision Solar.
“Over the course of the first ten months of this year, 2,283 PV permits were issued compared to 2,270 in 2017, a bump of 0.57 percent,” Mangelsdorf said.
“On the energy storage front, 56 percent of PV permits included batteries last month with an average of 59.6 percent over the course of the year. Last year, that figure was less than half, demonstrating that the deployment of battery-based PV systems across the state is going mainstream and likely to accelerate,” he said.
