Tag Archives: Rural Alaska

State of Alaska energy plan not popular with some lawmakers

From the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner on Wednesday, January 28, 2009:

A document submitted as a state energy plan falls short of its mark, while renewable energy projects submitted for funding might go too far, legislators said.

Members of the House Energy Committee, including Rep. Jay Ramras, R-Fairbanks, were critical of the Alaska Energy Authority’s state energy plan as director Steve Haagenson detailed the more than 240-page volume during a hearing Tuesday afternoon.

Rep. Bryce Edgmon, a Democrat from Dillingham and committee co-chairman, said calling the report an energy plan was something of a misnomer. Instead, the report seemed a “first step” toward a state energy plan, he said.

Click here to read the whole article.

State of Alaska $100 million energy proposal

 

report cover

The State of Alaska has published its proposal for grant allocation from the Alaska Renewable Energy Fund. This money will fund the construction of a wide range of alternative energy projects throughout the state. The total proposed expenditure from the State of Alaska is $100 million, with a Federal match of approximately $300 million.

 

Click here for a link to the Alaska Energy Authority page that outlines the proposal and links to relevant documents.

Wind turbines whirling in Nome

From the Anchorage Daily News on Sunday, January 25, 2009:

An 18-turbine wind farm in the Snake River Valley has begun producing 10 percent of the energy needs in Nome. It is the first step toward more self-sufficiency, says Neal Foster, president of Banner Wind LLC.

“It’s not only a way to help cut (energy) costs,” said Foster. “We felt it was like putting our toe in the water, to become more and more self-sufficient. The intent is to add more to that, to increase our expertise and knowledge of alternative energy. The next step for us is to move into the villages. We want Nome to be the hub.”

Bering Straits Native Corp., which is the Alaska Native regional corporation for the Nome area, along with area village corporation Sitnasuak Native Corp. jointly own Banner Wind’s turbines, which have the potential to generate up to 1.2 megawatts of power.

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Fairbanks, Alaska entrepreneur is geothermal pioneer

From the Union of Concerned Scientists, retrieved  on Friday, December 12, 2008:

The renewable energy industry is growing at a record pace in the United States, and so too is the demand for skilled “green collar” workers. Faces of Renewable Energy showcases real people who are building our clean energy economy.

Click here to listen to an interview with, and read a profile of, entrepreneur Bernie Karl.

Cold climate researchers bring modern building to Anaktuvuk Pass

From the Fairbanks Daily News Miner August 8th, 2008

FAIRBANKS — The last remaining Nunamiut Inupiat Eskimo community settled Anaktuvuk Pass just 60 years ago, trading in nomadic life for village life in a valley tucked 2,200 feet up in the central Brooks Range. In the one-airstrip town with no roads in or out, some 300 residents live crowded into 1970s era wood-frame houses perched on the windswept, arctic mountain pass.

But innovative designers now want to help the villagers build homes following a modern design that is actually inspired by the sod igloos that the Nunamiut first carved from the land.

Click here to read Full Article

Newsminer: Rural Alaska communities seek ways to lower energy costs

From the Fairbanks Daily Newsminer July 5, 2008

A group of Dillingham, Alaska, fishermen hoping to reduce gas costs for the Bristol Bay fleet are sketching plans to turn salmon waste into fuel.

In Nunam Iqua in Western Alaska, a tiny utility hopes to spin power from the wind electric use will jump when a new school opens and flush toilets arrive.

And in Fort Yukon in the Interior, Native groups hope to heat buildings with wood collected from fire-charred swaths of forest.

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Anchorage Daily News: Energy devours incomes in Bush

From the Anchorage Daily News June 24, 2008.

According to university researchers, the poorest families in Alaska’s most remote towns and villages are expected to spend more than 40 cents out of every dollar they make on power and heat in the coming year.

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Newsminer: High fuel prices spark panic in rural Alaska villages

From the Fairbanks Daily Newsminer June 8, 2008

ANCHORAGE — Village electric utilities in rural Alaska, panicked over the sky-high cost of fuel arriving on the summer’s first barges, are appealing to the state for help.

The fuel bill for the Alaska Village Electric Cooperative, which serves 53 small villages in the west of the state, is leaping from $14 million last year to $26 million. That cost will be reflected in electricity rate increases that some villagers cannot afford, said Meera Kohler, the co-op’s president.

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Newsminer: Study sheds light on differences in village fuel prices

From the Fairbanks Daily Newsminer June 7, 2008

A new University of Alaska Anchorage study helps explain why households in some rural Alaska villages pay up to 100 percent more than others for home heating oil.

The study by the university’s Institute of Social and Economic Research was conducted for the Alaska Energy Authority, which is charged with reducing the costs of energy in the state. The energy authority wants the research to help identify ways to hold down future energy prices, according to an ISER news release.

Click here to read the full article.