Friends of NELHA Debuts New Tour

The Friends of the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaiʻi Authority (FON) is offering a new public tour, Inspiring Innovation, on Mondays at the Hawaiʻi Ocean Science and Technology (HOST) Park.

The tour joins FON’s lineup of informative weekday tours that include Ocean Conservation on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Sustainable Aquaculture on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Friends of NELHA debuts new Monday Inspiring Innovation tour. Courtesy photo.

All of the 10 a.m. tours share how cutting-edge enterprises use a dual-temperature system of nutrient-rich seawater and sunshine to produce products.

During the new tour, guests visit the West Hawaiʻi Explorations Academy (WHEA), the ESPEC greenhouse inside HOST’s Hale Iako business incubator and the outdoor Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) Tower—the world’s largest operational OTEC power plant.

The tour starts with a HOST presentation at the Platinum LEED-certified Gateway Visitor Center before continuing to the nearby charter school campus.

At WHEA, students share how their curriculum is led by science inquiry and project-based learning. The school provides learning opportunities through integrative, hands-on, self-selected projects related to authentic real-world problems.

“Visitors will enjoy the personalized touch as they converse with our students, in a relaxed atmosphere, and discover projects that may include aquaponics, hydroponics, shark tank, reef tank, touch tank, octopus tank, public aquariums, clown fish, deep sea, 3D printer and robotics,” shares Heather Nakakura, WHEA director.

Friends of NELHA debuts new Monday Inspiring Innovation tour. Courtesy photo.

Find more details and book tours online or phone (808) 329-8073.