Alumnus Gives HPA $1.5M Energy Study Grant

Hawaii Preparatory Academy is expected to take another leap toward energy self-sufficiency thanks to a $1.5 million grant from one of its graduates.

The gift to the Waimea school was made by James C. Kennedy, chairman of the Atlanta-based communications company Cox Enterprises and a member of HPA’s class of 1966.

Kennedy made the donation to help the prestigious private school continue its work in the field of sustainability and energy conservation studies.

The gift is a continuation of “Go Green,” the school’s first environmental studies program, which Kennedy launched with a $1 million gift in 2008.

School officials said the projects to be funded by the grant will encompass all areas of HPA’s operations including electrical, water heating, lighting, conversation and data analysis.

Examples of those likely will include a new 480-panel photovoltaic array, LED lighting retrofits and additional solar thermal panels throughout the campus.

Headmaster Lindsay Barnes said the gift will give HPA the resources to continue with its goal of becoming the ultimate independent school leader in sustainable energy studies.

“Moreover, we will be taking a huge step toward proving to the educational world that the marriage of energy conservation and renewable energy production is, indeed, the future,” Barnes aid. “And what better place for this to occur than the island of Hawaii?”

Officials said HPA students will be active participants in projects made possible by The Kennedy Fund, particularly in analyzing the efficiency of the new initiatives.

“I’m very happy to be able to assist my alma mater in this vitally important way,” Kennedy said in a statement issued by the school.

“I look forward to learning of progress as the projects take root,” he said. “My hope is that this will be yet another step forward toward HPA becoming the ‘greenest’ independent school in the world.”