Title: Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation Open House
Location: 610 University Avenue, Fairbanks
Description: Info on food safety, septic systems, solid waste disposal, open burning & forest fires. For more information call 451-2100.
Start Time: 4:00 pm
Date: 2008-05-06
End Time: 6:00 pm
Newsminer: Fairbanksans tapped for group studying Alaska climate change
From The Fairbanks Daily Newsminer May 4th, 2008
The state’s Climate Change Sub-Cabinet has picked more than 100 people from around the state, including a number from Fairbanks, to help shape strategies for dealing with, and taking steps to help curb, global warming.
Click here to read the full article.
Newsminer: Borough officials lay foundation for energy program
From the Fairbanks Daily Newsminer May 5, 2008
The borough hopes to declare a public emergency — stemming from the skyrocketing cost of heating buildings and fueling cars — at a special meeting Thursday night, when Mayor Jim Whitaker and Borough Assembly member Kelly Brown will also propose setting aside $1.3 million, a combination of borough general funds and state aid, for a large-scale alternative energy project…
“Borough citizens and businesses have struggled valiantly to pay for these life-sustaining necessities and the … community cannot continue to pay these current rates, much less those anticipated in the immediate future,” Brown and Whitaker wrote.
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Newsminer: Fairbanks North Star Borough mayor mulls state of emergency in energy crisis
From the Fairbanks Daily Newsminer May 1, 2008
Mayor Jim Whitaker will ask the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly to declare a state of emergency at its May 8 meeting. . .
The declaration would give the borough authority to accept funding from the Alaskan Housing Finance Corp. in an expedited process by suspending rules that would normally slow such a process. . .
The $300 million surplus was put into weatherization and energy efficiency programs run by the AHFC. The money is from a budget bill Gov. Sarah Palin signed into law last March.
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Survive the Energy Crisis
BY: Mike Musick, Cold Climate Housing Research Center
Energy Focus: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner May 1, 2008, Section A3
“Survive the Energy Crisis by Weatherizing, Retrofitting, and Green Building” was the title of a 45 minute seminar at the Interior Alaska Building Association Home Show that I recently co-presented with Jim Lee, Executive Director of Interior Weatherization Inc. The Carlson Center staff did a great job setting up more chairs as the people kept flowing through the double doors like migrating caribou. There is no doubt that the high cost of energy has gotten the attention of home owners in our community. Everybody wants to know what they can do to conserve energy in their homes while at the same time maintaining good indoor air quality in a safe, comfortable, durable, and affordable home.
CCHRC Tour
Title: CCHRC Tour
Location: Cold Climate Housing Research Center
Description: Weekly tour of the Cold Climate Housing Research Center, open to the public
Start Time: 14-00-00
Date: 2008-05-01
End Time: 15-30-00
Alaska Energy Authority Town Hall Meeting
The Alaska Energy Authority is hosting a town hall meeting in Fairbanks on April 30th from 4-8 p.m. at the Carlson Center, in the Arthur Buswell Pioneer Room. A total of 25 town hall meetings will be held throughout the state from April 28th through June 4th. More information can be obtained from the Alaska Energy Authority press release.
Newsminer: Local tour puts energy-efficient businesses, ideas on display
From the Fairbanks Daily Newsminer April 28, 2008.
The tour was part of the Sustainable Living Conference organized last week by a student task force at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The conference came six months after a visiting state housing official estimated the average home in Fairbanks could improve its energy efficiency by about 35 percent. The Department of Energy, meanwhile, has estimated people in the United States consume six times more energy on average than the rest of the world.
Click here to read the full article.
Alaska's Housing Market is Built To Last
The HRV Myth
BY: Thorsten Chlupp, REINA Properties Corporation an Energy Star & GREEN Builder
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner 04/16/08 Section A3
One of the main goals in building a high energy efficient home in our extreme climate is to seal the inside of the home as tight as possible. This eliminates any heat loss through air leaks and saves real money on the heating bill.
But of course that tightness comes with a considerable trade off. If no heat can escape the home then no fresh air can infiltrate into the home, and the tighter the home the more this becomes an issue. This is a very important fact which needs to be considered carefully—as we all need to breathe. Lots of fresh air, at all times.