A real-time energy monitor, providing data visualization of electricity usage for the island of Oahu
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Data will set you free, or at least provide humans with the right foundation to make objective decisions.
Hawai‘i is the most fossil fuel dependent state in the nation, so we were eager to work with the Blue Planet Foundation to develop a tool that would help to influence legislation that would set a goal for Hawai‘i to achieve 100 percent clean energy usage by 2045.
A seemingly impossible task for the most fossil fuel dependent state in the nation
We worked with the Blue Planet Foundation to help free Hawai‘i from fossil fuels by the year 2045; a seemingly impossible task for the most fossil fuel dependent state in the nation. We set out to address the problem by looking deeply into how people understand energy. For the most part, most consumers lack an understanding of energy metrics; it ends up being a line on a bill that they barely pay attention to once a month, but most people don’t understand the units of energy being used or how much fossil fuel the state is using.
The Hawaiian Electric Company collaborated with the Blue Planet Foundation to provide a live feed of energy data of O‘ahu’s (the most populated island) energy data, along with a break down of energy sources.
We also had to consider an unconventional form factor in Island Pulse, as this is an app that would be placed on large displays; both horizontally and vertically.
Driving the discussion about where Hawai‘i is in regards to energy consumption and what’s possible in the near future—
The objective for Island Pulse is to provide viewers with an understanding of how energy is consumed, and sourced. The Blue Planet Foundation team strategically placed the display in areas frequented by state legislators (including state legislative buildings) to provide law makers with the context necessary to have a discussion in regards to where Hawai‘i is in regards to energy consumption and what’s possible in the near future.
On June 8th, 2015 House Bill 623 was signed into law by Governor David Ige, making Hawai‘i the first state in the nation to adopt a 100 percent renewable energy requirement. We’re quite proud of this project, and are always looking for more ways to liberate humanity with data as a tool.