Jonathan Kennealy
RepublicanQ1 As energy prices continue to increase in Hawaiʻi, what role, if any, should alternative energy sources, such as solar, wind, geothermal, and liquefied natural gas, play in Hawaiʻi’s future energy mix? What policies would you support related to alternative energy development, regulation, and/or research, and why?
“I definitely agree with and support alternative energy options. There are countries like Sweden who make use of their garbage to create Waste-to-energy options and make an excellent decision for us. While some of the mentioned options for energy are better used for small scale use like solar and wind, I do think other options need to be used and must be explored.”
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Q2 Every county has faced a major disaster in the last decade, with more and more happening each year. What is your concrete plan to adapt to a world with more volatile, climate-driven risks and protect our communities?
“We can only work on climate when we focus on us individually. When we collect trash and waste and provide stiff fines for littering. Focusing on being more self-sustainable would also help to reduce our footprint as a state. These are direct answers to support the cause of climate change without wasting finances on global initiatives.”
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Q3 While data centers can be important facilities for processing, transferring, and storing data, there are growing concerns about data centers’ environmental impacts and health repercussions. What policies, if any, would you support to balance technological and economic growth with infrastructure reliability, environmental sustainability, and the preservation of land and water? For example, Bill 170 from Hawaiʻi County proposes to ban AI data centers and distinguish them from standard data processing facilities; should other counties follow suit?
“We first need to ask the bigger questions. How would Hawaii benefit from the use of data gathering? Why can we not have data stored in Mainland data centers? Where do they want to place them as far as an island state. What data is being collected; are we illegally collecting private information? There are a lot of negative aspects to placing a data center in Hawaii, such as natural disasters of hurricanes, flooding, and lava flow. These questions need to be answered before we talk about placement.”
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Q4 Across the Hawaiʻi’s Public School System, a little more than 40% of students achieved math and science proficiency in the 2024-2025 school year. However, access to these opportunities varies across the state due to factors such as geography, school resources, and program availability. What policies do you support to expand equitable access to high-quality STEM and general education for students across Hawaiʻi, such as the use of AI in the classroom, increasing public funding, and more support for extracurricular activities?
“I would like to push for a revamp of our entire education system. The need to implement parents into this discussion is dire. A strong but lean education department that focuses on good teachers and a strongly academic curriculum will help to alleviate some of the issues in this department. The federal system has granted states the ability to build and sustain our own education system. We must change the way things are currently run and yes, I would support putting STEM into our curriculum.”
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Q5 Hawaiʻi faces unique obstacles in its transportation infrastructure, with inter-island travel, ports, and many rural communities. How can we balance environmentally sustainable technologies (such as sustainable aviation fuel, electric or hybrid vehicles, public transit options like the bus or rail) with equity for different communities?
“Adapting Hydrogen technology into our transportation infrastructure to sustain our transportation obstacles. We also need to make sure there are multiple ways out of our rural communities in case of natural disasters which was evidenced in Maui during the fires and The Big Island during the 2014 and 2018 lava flows. Public transportation of a hydrogen powered trackless tram connecting areas which are highly trafficked such as Hilo to Kona over saddle road or Honolulu to North Shore would bring down traffic congestion in addition to being better for our environment than Lithium ion and gas.”
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