{"id":228801,"date":"2026-01-29T10:08:45","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T20:08:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=228801"},"modified":"2026-01-29T10:08:45","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T20:08:45","slug":"visualizing-energy-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2026\/01\/29\/visualizing-energy-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Visualizing Â鶹´«Ã½\u2019s energy future: $1.8<abbr>M<\/abbr> award supports <abbr>UH<\/abbr> energy planning tools"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><div class=\"responsive-video-wrap-post\"><figure class=\"wp-block-embed wp-block-embed-youtube is-type-video is-provider-youtube epyt-figure\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><div class=\"epyt-video-wrapper\"><iframe  id=\"_ytid_20552\"  width=\"676\" height=\"380\"  data-origwidth=\"676\" data-origheight=\"380\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PBeMcKDsoGc?enablejsapi=1&origin=https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu&rel=0&autoplay=0&cc_load_policy=0&cc_lang_pref=&iv_load_policy=1&loop=0&fs=1&playsinline=0&autohide=2&theme=dark&color=red&controls=1&disablekb=0&\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  no-lazyload\" title=\"Hawaii Advanced Visualization Energy Nexus\"  allow=\"fullscreen; accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div><\/figure><\/div>\n<p>The University of <span lang=\"haw\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M&#257;noa is expanding its role in shaping the state\u2019s energy and resilience future through a new $1.8-million federal investment supporting advanced visualization and planning tools developed by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lavaflow.info\/\"><abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">UH<\/abbr> Laboratory for Advanced Visualization and Applications<\/a> (<abbr>LAVA<\/abbr>), in partnership with the <span lang=\"haw\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> State Energy Office (<abbr>HSEO<\/abbr>).<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/manoa-ics-lava-lab-energy-future-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"screen with photos of islands\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-228802\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/manoa-ics-lava-lab-energy-future-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/manoa-ics-lava-lab-energy-future-130x73.jpg 130w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/manoa-ics-lava-lab-energy-future.jpg 676w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The funding supports the continued development of the <span lang=\"haw\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Advanced Visualization Energy Nexus (<abbr>HAVEN<\/abbr>) system&#8212;an interactive <abbr title=\"3 Dimensional\">3D<\/abbr> platform that helps policymakers, planners and communities better understand complex energy infrastructure, land-use tradeoffs and resilience planning decisions. <abbr>HAVEN<\/abbr> makes technical planning data accessible to users with varying levels of expertise, supporting transparent and informed decision making across the state.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;<abbr>HAVEN<\/abbr> represents a new generation of planning tools that combine immersive visualization, geospatial intelligence and emerging <abbr title=\"Artificial Intelligence\">AI<\/abbr> capabilities,&rdquo; said Jason Leigh, <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M&#257;noa <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ics.hawaii.edu\/\">Department of Information and Computer Sciences<\/a> professor and <abbr>LAVA<\/abbr> Lab director. &ldquo;With this support, we can scale these technologies statewide while training the next generation of visualization, data science and <abbr>AI<\/abbr> professionals here in <span lang=\"haw\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<h2>Increase security, modernize grid<\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/manoa-ics-lava-lab-energy-future-screen-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"person looking at a screen\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-228803\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/manoa-ics-lava-lab-energy-future-screen-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/manoa-ics-lava-lab-energy-future-screen-130x73.jpg 130w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/manoa-ics-lava-lab-energy-future-screen.jpg 676w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>As <span lang=\"haw\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> moves to increase energy security and modernize its aging grid, communities face difficult choices around infrastructure siting, regional impacts and costs. <abbr>HAVEN<\/abbr> enables users to visualize scenarios, explore planning model inputs and outputs, and assess cascading impacts related to energy, land use and disaster preparedness.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;<abbr>HAVEN<\/abbr> visualization technologies have proven to be extremely effective in making energy plans and analysis more approachable,&rdquo; said Chris Yunker, managing director of resilience, clean transportation and analytics for <abbr>HSEO<\/abbr>. &ldquo;The resulting energy plans incorporate informed input from policy makers and local communities.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/manoa-ics-lava-lab-energy-future-group-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"people gather around a monitor\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-228804\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/manoa-ics-lava-lab-energy-future-group-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/manoa-ics-lava-lab-energy-future-group-130x73.jpg 130w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/manoa-ics-lava-lab-energy-future-group.jpg 676w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Over a multi-year period, <abbr>HSEO<\/abbr> and the <abbr>LAVA<\/abbr> Lab will expand <abbr>HAVEN<\/abbr>\u2019s capabilities, integrate complementary visualization tools, and explore how <abbr>AI<\/abbr> can help make these visualization tools easier to use and available to more communities. The <abbr>HAVEN<\/abbr> project also supports workforce development by providing <abbr>UH<\/abbr> graduate students with hands-on experience in advanced data visualization.<\/p>\n<p>The Department of Information and Computer Sciences is housed in <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M&#257;noa\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/manoa.hawaii.edu\/natsci\/\">College of Natural Sciences<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The system makes technical planning data accessible to users with varying levels of expertise, supporting transparent and informed decision making.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":228802,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[308,541,484,1505,1467,1363,568,1600,9],"class_list":["post-228801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-college-of-natural-sciences","tag-computer-science","tag-information-and-computer-science","tag-innovation","tag-manoa-excellence-in-research","tag-manoa-research","tag-natural-science","tag-public-impact-research","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/manoa-ics-lava-lab-energy-future.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228801"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228801\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":228807,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228801\/revisions\/228807"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}