Fellows mentioned in this story:
Olin Lagon
Forest Frizzell
Donalyn Dela Cruz

From Ka Wai Ola:

When Hawaiʻi committed in 2014 to becoming 100% renewable by 2045, it signaled a new era of sustainability.

For Kanaka ʻŌiwi innovator Olin Lagon, then a member of the Hawaiʻi Clean Energy Initiative Steering Committee that pushed for the goal, it also revealed a deeper challenge: ensuring that the benefits of clean energy reached everyone, not just those who could afford it.

Lagon realized that underserved communities and renters would face major financial challenges.

“Upwards of 75% of Native Hawaiian families live under the ALICE poverty threshold, which is absolutely criminal. And when I’m talking about the underserved, I’m talking about our Hawaiian community,” said Lagon. ALICE stands for “Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed.”

Two years later, Lagon and his business partner, Forest Frizzell, founded Shifted Energy in his garage to enable widespread access to energy solutions. The company combines smart hardware and software to help utilities balance the grid using everyday devices like water heaters. Powered by advanced machine learning, the system automatically shifts energy use to lower-cost times and stabilizes circuits without users ever noticing a change.

The water heater was just the first of many devices Lagon and Frizzell realized they could manage and control.

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