HECO was No. 7 among the top 10 public power utilities, installing 3.5 megawatts of new capacity in 2008.

California’s Pacific Gas & Electric topped the list, installing 85 megawatts of new capacity in 2008. Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric Co. were ranked No. 2 and No. 3.

Four Hawaii utilities were named among the top utilities when ranked by total solar watts per customer.

Kauai Island Utility Cooperative was ranked No. 2; Maui Electric Co., a subsidiary of Hawaiian Electric Industries (NYSE: HE), was No. 4; Hawaii Electric Light Co., No. 6; and HECO, No. 7.

California and Hawaii dominated the lists, but utilities in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Jersey, New York and Oregon also made rankings.

On the web: www.solarelectricpower.org.

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If you’re on Kauai today, stop by the Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge on the Island’s north shore for the centennial celebration. The Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge (HINWR) is generally closed to all public access, and only accessible by boat or helicopter. Kilauea Point is located a couple hundred miles southeast of the refuge’s easternmost border.
Once a major site of materials for the millinery trade, the HINWR is now largely devoid of human contact. The refuge spans roughly 800 miles in length, northwest of the main Hawaiian Islands—from the ancient Hawaiian settlement of Nihoa to the Pearl and Hermes Atolls. It lies within the boundaries of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument—established in 2006—which stretches a bit further to include Midway and Kure atolls.
Stretching northwest, islands in the HINWR provide habitats for hundreds of species of breeding seabirds, wintering shorebirds and endangered aquatic life such as the Hawaiian monk seal and the green sea turtle, or honu. Its 1,800,000 plus acres of reefs surrounding the islands and atolls are home to over 7,000 species of coral, fish and other marine life.
The refuge was first established by President Theodore Roosevelt on February 3, 1909, as the Hawaiian Islands Reservation in an effort to prevent the over-harvesting of seabirds and to protect seabird nesting sites
Staff of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument will give educational presentations and interactive tours at Kilauea Point today, from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Wildlife authors Mark Rauzon and Patrick Ching, who have spent time traveling the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, will be on hand from 2 to 3 p.m. to sign copies of their latest work and regale the crowd with tales of their journeys.
If you haven’t yet explored Kilauea Point peninsula—which juts out dramatically into the Pacific Ocean like a finger pointed north—you’re in for a treat. The northernmost acreage of the eight main Hawaiian Islands, Kilauea Point is also home to many species of seabirds who nest in the cliffs surrounding the peninsula. This time of year, Kilauea Point is also a great place to spend an afternoon watching humpback whales and their newborn calves breach offshore. Binoculars are made available free at  Kilauea Point’s famed red-domed lighthouse. Tours of the lighthouse will also be offered, as scheduled.
For more information on Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge centennial festivities at Kilauea Point, call (808) 828-1413.

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The soon-to-be systems owners will be selected from a list of those who sign up to be a “friend” of Blue Planet by Dec. 20 at www.blueplanetfoundation.org and the winners will be announced Dec. 22. The installations will take place in early 2009. The solar giveaway is one in a series of programs Blue Planet Foundation will be rolling out over the next year to decrease household energy use in Hawaii.

“Blue Planet Foundation approached us to discuss the best way to help ten families go solar as a holiday gift, and we knew a good idea when we heard it,” says Mark Duda, Suntech Hawaii’s vice president of finance. “By not only doing the system design and installation, but also making a contribution ourselves, Suntech Hawaii is able to drive the system cost down to zero for those 10 families.”

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Say you have an old home, and you want to knock it down and put up a new one. In the past, you didn’t have much choice, it got demolished.

But now, homeowners can reduce what goes into the landfill by deconstructing their old home.

The Re-Use Hawaii crew is hard at work on a Diamond Head house.

But they’re not building it, they’re taking it apart.

“We start with the fixtures, drywall, and things that were put in last and we go to the roof and deconstruct all the way to the ground,” said Co-executive Director, Quinn Vittum.

Re-Use Hawaii, is a non-profit organization that recycles building materials, which are then resold and re-used. And there is plenty in a old home like this.

“Typically it ranges from 60-85 % of the volume of the house that we can reuse,” said Vittum.

If the home was demolished, the waste would fill up twenty construction dumpsters, all destined for the landfill. But Re-Use Hawaii will only need 5 for the stuff it can’t salvage.

Deconstruction may initially cost more than a demolition, but home owners get more than just a good feeling at the end, they also get a tax break.

“At the end of the year they get a tax deduction for the market value of their donation and on some of these houses it can be substantial,” added Vittum.

This is not only a greener way to go for homeowners, but workers also get a sense of satisfaction from saving the environment.

One ‘used’ board at a time.

“We’re all ecstatic that we’re spending our days making a difference for the community. We’ll be doing it for a lot longer and hopefully getting more people involved and teaching the concept,” said Vittum.

Re-Use Hawaii has only been around for a year, but as more businesses and homeowners find out about this green way to take apart additions or even whole buildings, the number of jobs is steadily increasing.

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Bike sharing, popular in several European countries and in its infancy in many U.S. cities, may be coming to O’ahu next spring in a privately funded pilot program.

Nguyen Le’s Momentum B-cycle proposal would allow people who pay for the service to hop on a bike in Manoa and leave it at a designated rack in Waikiki without worrying about where to park. Riders could also bike to and from Aloha Tower, Ala Moana Center and Downtown.

The rack locations haven’t been secured yet, Le said, but several business owners have expressed interest.

"It’s so early in the process right now that the bikes and racks are still being tested by the national vendor," Le said. "We should have them on order by late November or early December and we’ll have contracts signed soon with businesses who want the racks at their locations."

Momentum B-cycle is targeted to launch June 1. Le’s goal is to eventually have bike racks across O’ahu and within a five-mile radius of rail transit stops.

"The intent is to make it easier for residents and tourists to connect to mass transit and key locations," Le said. "It’s good for the community.

"The beauty of bike sharing is we’re not going to ask people to ride long distances. It’s designed for distances of five miles, max. This program will make it easier for people to use TheBus, TheBoat and the rail."

Chris Sayers, bicycle coordinator for the city Department of Transportation, said the city will monitor bike sharing because it could work well with mass transit.

"The devil is in the details," Sayers said. "Right now, the bike-share program doesn’t have much to do with us, but in theory, it looks really good."

FEES ON SLIDING SCALE

Le said daily, weekly, monthly and yearly bike-sharing passes will be available.

To ensure quick use of the bikes, Le said, the first half-hour of ride time will be free. The next half-hour costs riders $2, the next 30 minutes is $5 and so on. Billing will stop at $100, but if a bike isn’t returned within 48 hours, the user’s credit card will be billed the cost of the bike — currently $900.

"One reason bike sharing has failed in the past is people would keep the bikes overnight," Le said. "The way we’re looking at it is, if you’re not responsible enough to have a credit card, you’re not responsible enough to bike share."

To start, 100 bikes will be available at 10 solar-powered bike racks with locks that are released with the swipe of a bike-share pass or a credit card.

Bikes will be available 24/7.

The startup cost is about $400,000 and will be privately funded, Le said.

Sayers said the state looked into bike sharing about 10 years ago, but it was a modest plan to use older bikes and it had no real security system. It never got off the ground, he said.

Technology, such as being able to connect the bike racks and locks through wireless communication, has given this generation of bike sharing a better chance at succeeding, he said.

Another thing working in favor of Momentum B-cycle is the planned rail system. The city’s master bike plan, scheduled to be released next summer, is expected to include bike paths near rail stops, Sayers said.

"If rail is on schedule and the master bike plan is implemented, the two could come together with bike sharing to make it easier to use mass transit," Sayers said. "With bike sharing you need critical mass to make it work. I know if it were available when transit comes I could see taking the rail to get to Kapolei, then bike share over to the West O’ahu campus."

Le said he sees the pilot program in constant growth.

"Our target is to deploy two to three additional bike stations per month continually around Honolulu after the initial launch," Le said, with many more coming with the start of the rail system.

POPULAR ELSEWHERE

Paris launched a bike-sharing system in July 2007 that has doubled in size and now uses 20,000 bikes at 1,450 automated stations, Le said.

He said similar rapid growth has occurred in Barcelona, Spain; Munich, Germany; Helsinki, Finland; Vienna, Austria; and some other European cities.

In the United States, SmartBike was inaugurated in Washington, D.C., this year and Minneapolis, Denver and Portland are developing or using similar programs.

"It really has some interesting merits, especially for short trips in given areas of town," said Ed Kurzenski, an ‘Aina Haina resident who works downtown.

"A rack at the King Street and Punchbowl bus stop would be perfect," he said. "If you work Downtown and need to go to Honolulu Hale, bike sharing is great for that, or to get to Ward or Ala Moana."

Ricky Armstrong is a McCully resident who works for Japan Airlines at Honolulu International Airport. A bicycle enthusiast, Armstrong said that while bike sharing may not be for him, he believes it’s perfect for college students in Manoa who need to get to Waikiki.

"I ride for my health and never catch the bus," Armstrong said. "But for others, this could be great.

"I could see racks used near the zoo in Waikiki and at UH. Downtown, I don’t know. It’s illegal to ride on the sidewalks and those stretches of road are so bad for traffic, it’s dangerous for bike riders."

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The agreement comes less than two weeks after Better Place CEO Shai Agassi and the mayors of Northern California’s three largest cities unveiled a plan to build an electric car infrastructure for the San Francisco Bay Area. Better Place also has signed similar deals with governments in Australia, Denmark and Israel.

Agassi said the network of charging posts and battery swapping stations will be ready by 2012. That’s roughly the target date for Better Place’s other projects, which means the year-old startup will be simultaneously building electric car networks in four countries while raising billions of dollars in project finance.

Renault-Nissan will supply electric cars for the network. Better Place will own the car batteries and charge drivers for the miles (or kilometers) driven. By removing the battery from the purchase price of electric cars – the most expensive component – Better Place hopes to sell vehicles at prices competitive with their fossil-fueled counterparts.

Appearing with Agassi at a press conference at the capitol in Honolulu, Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle said the Better Place partnership offers the state the opportunity to slash the $7 billion it spends annually on imported oil and provide a market for renewable energy. Hawaiians pay some of the highest gasoline prices in the U.S. and the state has set a goal of obtaining 70% of its energy from solar, wind and other renewable sources by 2030.

“It’s not a simple goal – we’re looking to end our dependence on oil,” said Agassi, who shed his customary dark suit for a gray polo shirt and wore a lei. “Any form of renewable energy – wind, solar, geothermal – is here in Hawaii.”

“This will be the blueprint where six or seven million visitors will come and experience first-hand what it’s like to drive an electric car,” added Agassi, 40, a former top executive at business software giant SAP. “You couldn’t ask for a better advertisement.”

Utility Hawaiian Electric (HE), which supplies 95% of the state’s power, will generate renewable electricity equal to what the Better Place network consumes and work with the company on developing the charging infrastructure.

“The price of oil is irrelevant to us – we have to reach a clean and secure energy future,” Lingle said.

Better Place’s latest deal came on the same day that General Motors (GM) and Ford, which have asked for a multi billion-dollar bailout from Congress, (F) announced plans ramp up production of hybrid and electric cars.

“It’s a win-win-win – the only loser in the equation is oil and that’s ok,” said Hawaiian Electric executive vice president Robbie Alm. “Green cars will provide the market for renewable energy.”

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But there he was one morning, pitchfork in hand, composting food scraps from the main chow line and coffee grounds from prison headquarters — doing his part to "green" the prison.

"It’s nice to be out in the elements," said Knowles, 42, stirring dark, rich compost that will amend the soil at the small farm where he and fellow inmates of the Cedar Creek Corrections Center grew 8,000 pounds of organic vegetables this year.

Inmates of the minimum-security facility, 25 miles from Olympia, the state capital, raise bees, grow organic tomatoes and lettuce, compost 100 percent of food waste and even recycle shoe scraps that are made into playground turf.

"It reduces cost, reduces our damaging impact on the environment, engages inmates as students," said Eldon Vail, secretary of the Washington Department of Corrections, which oversees 15 prisons and 18,000 offenders. "It’s good security."

As around-the-clock operations, prisons are voracious resource hogs, and administrators are under increasing pressure to reduce waste and conserve energy and water.

In 2007, states spent more than $49 billion to feed, house, clothe, treat and supervise 2.3 million offenders, the Pew Center on the States reported this year.

As the prison population has grown this decade, up 76 percent from 1.3 million in 2000, the number of prisons and jails has risen with it. The latest U.S. Bureau of Justice data show 1,821 facilities in 2005, up from 1,668 in 2000.

To keep costs down, the Indiana Department of Corrections installed water boilers that run on waste wood chips, and built a wind turbine at one prison that generates about 10 kilowatts an hour and saves $2,280 a year.

At Ironwood State Prison in Blythe, Calif., 6,200 solar panels send energy back to the grid, enough to power 4,100 homes a year. The prison was trying to meet an executive order requiring state agencies to reduce energy use by 20 percent by 2015, said a spokeswoman, Lt. Sue Smith.

North Carolina’s Department of Corrections switched to chemical-free cleaners and vegetable-based inks. This summer, because of a water shortage, inmates converted 50-gallon pickle barrels into small cisterns that capture rainwater.

Under a state mandate to reduce energy use, the Oregon Department of Corrections replaced old appliances with energy-efficient ones, installed solar water heaters and used a geothermal well to heat water. It also modified washing machines so they could reuse rinse-water to wash about a million pounds of clothes a month.

At Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution in Pendleton, Ore., inmates recycle scraps from old prison blues to make diaper bags for women’s shelters and dog beds for animal shelters.

"We try to model prosocial behavior," said Vern Rowan, business manager for the Oregon Department of Corrections. Being sustainable "is something that everybody should be doing, regardless of where they’re at."

Cedar Creek, in the heart of a forest, feels more like an outdoor retreat than institutional lockup.

Most of the 400 inmates are in a work program, and put in between six and eight hours a day.

The responsibility of caring for the prison’s three hives of Italian honey bees falls mostly to Daniel Travatte, 36, a soft-spoken former drug addict who is serving 10 years for attempted armed robbery.

Under the supervision of prison counselor Vicki Briggs, Travatte has learned to harvest honey — which inmates occasionally eat with breakfast biscuits — and use beeswax to make lotions. He’s become an expert on their habits.

"I’m trying to change myself," said Travatte. "A lot of people go through prison with no intention of changing. I love working with the bees. It keeps me busy. I have a lot of responsibility to take care of."

While there isn’t scientific evidence that such activities are helping inmates, Nalini Nadkarni, an environmental studies professor at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., notes anecdotal evidence that it’s working.

"They were stimulating their minds and having conversations that were different than ‘How much more time we have left’?" said Nadkarni.

One inmate went beyond conversations, enrolling in a doctoral program when he got out and co-authoring a research paper with Nadkarni on a moss-growing project she started to help reduce the impact of wild moss harvesting on forests.

While Cedar Creek went green out of economic necessity — it had to conserve because it didn’t have the wastewater capacity to expand four years ago — it is now embracing other benefits, said Dan Pacholke, a state prison administrator who helped implement many of the practices.

Cedar Creek uses 250,000 fewer gallons of water a year, saves $6,000 to $8,400 annually on garbage bills and avoided a $1.4 million sewage treatment plant upgrade.

A large "Con-Post" marks the prison’s composting station, made of recycled concrete blocks and reclaimed wood, where Knowles spends about six hours a day, making sure the compost gets enough heat, moisture and air to break down food scraps.

"They trust me to do all this with no supervision," said Knowles, who is serving time for the hit-and-run death of an off-duty police officer.

"I like growing the vegetables," Knowles said. "My mom had a garden. I can see having my own garden."

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“Jeff’s outstanding contributions during the past decade to responsibly manage and conserve Hawaii ‘s environment have made our state a better place to live for years to come. The League is proud to sponsor this event and present the first Donald and Astrid Monson Community Action award to him,” said Piilani Kaopuiki, President of the League of Women Voters of Honolulu.

A reception honoring the late Donald and Astrid Monson and first time recipient Jeff Mikulina, who until recently served as Executive Director of The Sierra Club of Hawaii will be held on November 13, 2008, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Honolulu Elks Club in Waikiki. Reservations are $50 per person and include pupus, one cocktail, live music, and valet parking.

As the Director of The Sierra Club of Hawaii for ten years, where he was the organization’s lobbyist and spokesperson, Mikulina was instrumental in the passing of legislation setting caps on Hawaii ‘s greenhouse gas emissions, making solar water heating a standard feature on new homes, and increasing the funding of natural resource conservation and management through tourism taxes. He has previously served as vice chair of both the Honolulu Planning Commission and Honolulu Charter Commission and was awarded the EPA Region 9 Environmental Hero Award in 2003.

Interested persons may call the League of Women Voters of Honolulu at 531-7448 or email Voters@LWV-Hawaii.com. RSVP by Nov. 10th.

The League of Women Voters of Honolulu was founded in 1948. As part of its mission to encourage citizens to play an active role in elections and promote government oversight, members of the League of Women Voters of Honolulu have been actively involved in issues such as education, planning and zoning, transportation, environmental quality, campaign finance reform, prevention of domestic violence. The League of Women Voters of Honolulu has also provided voter services to the community by registering voters, assisting in vote counts, arranging and moderating campaign debates and forums, holding meetings and conferences on various public issues of the day and serving on State and City and County commissions and advisory committees.

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After a day of interviews, the Pearl City High School graduate had dinner with friends. Conversations floated about careers, Hawaii, lifestyle. An actress at the table talked a lot about money, fame and her latest acquisition, a $90,000 Mercedes Benz.

In contrast, Lee said he was working to simplify his life.

"I want to work when I want to, on films that I want to, and not have to pay for a lifestyle that doesn’t do anything except obligate me to the machine," he said.

The dinner party went quiet. Then Lee continued, mentioning work he’d be turning down: "Too disruptive to what I want to do and where I want to be."

"You’re nuts!" the actress said. "Your brain must be getting moldy up there on the volcano."

"Probably," Lee said, laughing.

In the early ’90s, Lee was the wonder boy of Asian-American actors, wowing audiences with his emotional intensity and physical power in many quality roles. He was an Inuit Eskimo ("Map of the Human Heart"), a Polynesian prince ("Rapa Nui"), an Indian wild boy ("Jungle Book") and an icon ("Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story"). He had five bona fide romantic leads, a major achievement for an Asian actor in Hollywood.

Lee loves acting. But even more, he has another dream: He wants to leave his mark other than on the stage or screen.

Jason Scott Lee catches up on phone calls at his Volcano Village home on the Big Island. The only electricity in the rustic home comes from a 12-volt battery. A solar panel powers a water pump, and a propane tank heats the water. Cooking is done on a wood-burning stove; bathing, in an old horse trough.

Six years ago, Lee bought 25 acres in Volcano, much of it deforested and littered with old paint cans, car parts and other debris. A friend helped him build a modest, two-room house with no electricity, hot water or flush toilet. The elevated house stands at the edge of the rain forest.

Life here is borderline ascetic, especially for a movie star, but Lee lives it most of the year.

Part of his dream was having his family — mom Sylvia, three brothers and a sister — move from Oahu to the Volcano property.

"I thought we could all live a very simple existence — a clean, healthy life — and my family could all have a house on the property, share in duties," Lee says. "But I realize not everyone wants country life, and my family wants to live their own lifestyles."

But for himself, Lee found a new, more fulfilling path. Turning his back on Hollywood — he dropped his manager and agent — he focused on yet another dream: to build a small performing arts venue for professional-quality, socially conscious plays, workshops and classes. He also hoped to have cast members and instructors live there with him.

Pu Mu, the name Lee has given his compound, means "simplicity" and "nothingness." Through it, Lee lives his strongly held environmental beliefs: responsible farming, eat what you grow, an emotional and spiritual connection to agriculture and culture, ecological stewardship.

After weeks of auditions, Lee gathered three like-minded actors in the compound for his first production. Since early June they have helped farm about four acres of the land. Their play, "Burn This," debuted last weekend.

Lee says his real focus is to repair the deforested areas of his property. "I want to bring the canopy back."

So he searches the forest for koa seeds, replanting the fast-growing trees at Pu Mu. "Koa reforestation is not hard; one tree will make a dozen keikis," he says. "And taro grows wild under the canopy. You don’t have to open the forest up and till it and mulch it to make it work."

Volcano, Big Island » A half-dozen years ago, Jason Scott Lee was in Florida playing the studio publicity game — sitting for interviews and photographs to promote a new film.

After a day of interviews, the Pearl City High School graduate had dinner with friends. Conversations floated about careers, Hawaii, lifestyle. An actress at the table talked a lot about money, fame and her latest acquisition, a $90,000 Mercedes Benz.

In contrast, Lee said he was working to simplify his life.

"I want to work when I want to, on films that I want to, and not have to pay for a lifestyle that doesn’t do anything except obligate me to the machine," he said.

The dinner party went quiet. Then Lee continued, mentioning work he’d be turning down: "Too disruptive to what I want to do and where I want to be."

"You’re nuts!" the actress said. "Your brain must be getting moldy up there on the volcano."

"Probably," Lee said, laughing.

In the early ’90s, Lee was the wonder boy of Asian-American actors, wowing audiences with his emotional intensity and physical power in many quality roles. He was an Inuit Eskimo ("Map of the Human Heart"), a Polynesian prince ("Rapa Nui"), an Indian wild boy ("Jungle Book") and an icon ("Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story"). He had five bona fide romantic leads, a major achievement for an Asian actor in Hollywood.

Lee loves acting. But even more, he has another dream: He wants to leave his mark other than on the stage or screen.

Jason Scott Lee catches up on phone calls at his Volcano Village home on the Big Island. The only electricity in the rustic home comes from a 12-volt battery. A solar panel powers a water pump, and a propane tank heats the water. Cooking is done on a wood-burning stove; bathing, in an old horse trough.

Six years ago, Lee bought 25 acres in Volcano, much of it deforested and littered with old paint cans, car parts and other debris. A friend helped him build a modest, two-room house with no electricity, hot water or flush toilet. The elevated house stands at the edge of the rain forest.

Life here is borderline ascetic, especially for a movie star, but Lee lives it most of the year.

Part of his dream was having his family — mom Sylvia, three brothers and a sister — move from Oahu to the Volcano property.

"I thought we could all live a very simple existence — a clean, healthy life — and my family could all have a house on the property, share in duties," Lee says. "But I realize not everyone wants country life, and my family wants to live their own lifestyles."

But for himself, Lee found a new, more fulfilling path. Turning his back on Hollywood — he dropped his manager and agent — he focused on yet another dream: to build a small performing arts venue for professional-quality, socially conscious plays, workshops and classes. He also hoped to have cast members and instructors live there with him.

Pu Mu, the name Lee has given his compound, means "simplicity" and "nothingness." Through it, Lee lives his strongly held environmental beliefs: responsible farming, eat what you grow, an emotional and spiritual connection to agriculture and culture, ecological stewardship.

After weeks of auditions, Lee gathered three like-minded actors in the compound for his first production. Since early June they have helped farm about four acres of the land. Their play, "Burn This," debuted last weekend.

Lee says his real focus is to repair the deforested areas of his property. "I wa
nt to bring the canopy back."

So he searches the forest for koa seeds, replanting the fast-growing trees at Pu Mu. "Koa reforestation is not hard; one tree will make a dozen keikis," he says. "And taro grows wild under the canopy. You don’t have to open the forest up and till it and mulch it to make it work."

Lee tends to his taro. He farms using natural methods developed by Japanese agrarian Masanobu Fukuoka.

Lee learned this approach in Japan from Masanobu Fukuoka, one of the most radical and influential agrarian thinkers of the last century. Fukuoka’s "One Straw Revolution" developed the concept of "natural farming."

Fukuoka uses no tilling or chemicals, incorporating and controlling useful weeds rather than eradicating them. On Lee’s land, weeds grow alongside taro, "challenging" the Hawaiian staple to grow strong and survive.

A weathered photo of the elderly, white-haired sensei sits on a shelf in Lee’s house. Lee holds it like a priceless, fragile relic.

"A friend of mine gave me his book, and I was very inspired by it," he says.

Lee returns the photo to its place, near a mattress that sits on a Tibetan rug. A nearby makeshift desk is stacked with papers and a phone. The home has no computer or television because the only electricity in Lee’s house is provided by a 12-volt battery.

"People say your eyes go bad if you read by candlelight," he says. "Not true. I have 20-20 vision."

A tiny room holds the horse water trough that Lee uses for a bathtub. A single solar panel operates a water pump, and a 5-gallon propane tank heats water for bathing.

"Local style," Lee says. "Wet down, scrub down, rinse." Then he asks, "Want to see a real lua?"

An elevated walkway leads 20 feet into the forest, where an outhouse sits above the ground.

The monklike accommodations beg the question, Is Lee lonely here?

"Sometimes but not lately, with all the projects that I have," he says. "When you’re working and feeling achy and have to get up because no one is going to do something for you, that’s tough. But it’s yin and yang, and builds strength of character."

Lee keeps Fukuoka’s photograph on a shelf near his bed.

At 38, Lee appears to have lost none of his physical prowess. He’s about 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighs 175 pounds, with broad, sloping shoulders. His Chinese-Hawaiian ancestry gives him handsome high cheekbones and expressive brown eyes like a glaze on pottery that gleam when he smiles and glower when he doesn’t.

His forearms and hands are so toned they look like fine tools. He has a sculpted face, widely set eyes and a flawless nose. From each of its wings, a curved line descends to enclose his lips, almost like parentheses.

Lee’s manner is friendly, direct but measuring. He is very vigilant.

For his film work, Lee chooses projects that have some significance while providing the income he needs to maintain Pu Mu. Perhaps the biggest difference between the 25-year-old actor of "Map of the Human Heart" and the man today is his insistence on remaining uncorrupted by material ambitions, his almost childlike responsiveness to joy.

Lee credits his mother and late father Robert as "very, very influential."

"My mother’s compassion and my father’s tenacity were two things that combined in me," he says. "The compassionate side is where all the environmental interest is, wanting to contribute to the community, and not taking myself too seriously."

Bob Lee was tenacious about his son spending wisely, but early in his burgeoning career, Lee admits he "dabbled on wine, woman and song."

Eventually, something in Lee screamed to slow down. "I’ve always had this ability to get introspective, be more thoughtful," he says.

"I’ve saved a lot of money, but this lifestyle does keep you in a low overhead."

In 2003 and 2004, Lee spent several months in Kazakhstan filming the government-funded historic epic "Nomad," in which he plays the adviser to a future king.

Lee also chooses film projects "for kokua," such as Lane Nishikawa’s new motion picture, "Only the Brave," about the 442nd World War II combat regiment.

"I’m not one to perpetuate a war story, but the story of those people in the 442 caught in that situation is pretty incredible," Lee says.

Lee insists he didn’t reject Hollywood, but just found his true self.

"For some people in Hollywood, their soul dies. You’re dependent on so many things: recognition so you can get the next job … the next movie to pay off your big house and your big car. It’s a choice."

Lee laughs at his situation, "one foot in Hollywood and the other in a jungle."

"This right here," he says, touching a koa sprout, "is the world that allows me to stand the other one — because Hollywood really doesn’t mean nothing," he says. "I do some film work, then come back home to grow the kala, fish, read, weed and now prepare for rehearsal in my theater.

"My life is pretty complete at Pu Mu."

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Savvy travelers are also beginning to inquire about it, including events planners who ask about whether a hotel has the U.S. Energy Star rating.

At the Hyatt Regency Waikiki, energy-efficient LED lights are used in public areas, candelabras, swimming pool, and elevators, reducing the hotel’s overall electricity costs.

At a green hotel forum hosted by the state yesterday morning at the Hyatt, hotel employees got a rundown on recycling providers, how to apply for the U.S. Energy Star label and solar technology.

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