BUSINESS BRIEFS
Rooftop solar project finished in Kona
Advertiser Staff
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The state's largest rooftop solar project to date has been completed at the Kona Commons shopping center by Sunetric, the company formerly known as Suntech Hawaii.
The 803-kilowatt project features 17 photovoltaic systems and can generate enough energy to power almost 130 homes for a year. Sunetric estimates the project will eliminate 959 tons of carbon emissions annually.
The developers of the 130,000-square-foot open-air mall will offer power to tenants at a lower, more consistent rate than they would pay from a utility, said BJ Kobayashi, chief executive officer of Kobayashi Group, which developed Kona Commons in concert with the MacNaughton Group.
FEDERAL AGENCY BUYS SENSOR PRODUCTS
Honolulu-based Kai Sensors, a developer of noncontact vital signs monitoring products, said it will provide its noncontact sensors to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.The Department of Homeland Security has agreed to purchase an initial quantity of Kai Sensors' products to evaluate it for potential use in security screening, intelligence gathering and other applications, the technology company said in a release.
The company said it will be working with the Department of Homeland Security over the next few months to integrate Kai Sensors' products into planned Department of Homeland Security projects.
Kai Sensors was incorporated in August 2007 as a spinoff company of the technology — using Doppler radar — that was developed at the University of Hawai'i. Researchers there came up with a way to detect human vital signs from a distance without contact with the subject.
DATA SHOW ISLE ECONOMY WORSENING
An index of Hawai'i's current economic indicators fell for an 11th consecutive month in December.The coincident index produced by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia shows Hawai'i's index fell by 0.5 percent, or more than the overall U.S. average of minus 0.3 percent in December.
The index measures economic indicators thought to closely coincide with the overall economy such as jobs, unemployment, average hours worked in manufacturing and inflation-adjusted income. An increase in the number indicates economic expansion, while a decline indicates contraction.
The states with the worst December decline in their coincident index were Oregon (minus 2.9) and Nevada (minus 2.0). Alaska, Iowa, Louisiana, North Dakota and Texas tied for the lowest decline at minus 0.1 percent.
