Promoting sustainable shelter in Alaska
From the New York Times on Wednesday, October 1, 2008:
Making electricity from wood chips is trendy these days …
But here’s an interesting twist: many newly announced biomass plants will actually be running on old coal boilers. Xcel Energy, a big Midwestern utility, announced this week that it would spend up to $70 million to allow a coal boiler at a small power plant to run on gasified biomass (the plant’s two other boilers already run on biomass).
Click here to read the whole article.
BY: Ilya Benesch, Cold Climate Housing Research Center
Energy Focus: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner October 2nd, 2008, Section A3
With winter on the horizon, the wood burning season is starting to gain momentum and all indications are that it will be the busiest in recent history. This brings up the topic of chimney safety. Since people in Fairbanks primarily use factory built insulated metal chimneys, the focus of this article will be on this particular type.
Continue reading
From Sealaska Corporation (www.sealaska.org), dated September 11, 2008 and retrieved Tuesday, September 23, 2008:
Sealaska Corporation and Viking Lumber Inc. announced today that they have entered into a Letter of Intent (LOI) to examine an alternate energy supply enterprise utilizing wood waste for Southeast customers. Production facilities will be on Prince of Wales Island in Southeast, Alaska.
“The use of woody biomass as an alternative energy source remains largely untapped,” said Ron Wolfe, Sealaska natural resources manager. “With diesel and fuel costs continuing to rise, it’s vital that we investigate alternative sources of sustainable energy. We believe that wood biomass is a promising alternative.”
Click here to read the whole press release.
On September 21, 2008, “AK,” an Alaska Public Radio Network statewide news and entertainment program, ran several features on heating and weatherizing the Alaskan home. Besides containing useful facts, the pieces highlights the challenges (and joys) of living in a cold climate. Listen to “Weatherization,” “Firewood Frenzy,” and “Firewood Health.”
Click here to listen to the program.
From the Washington Post, Saturday, September 13, 2008:
As gardeners, we are at the forefront of the new Green Revolution.
Knowing this, gardeners can take steps to promote sustainability in their landscapes. It involves how you use your property — everything you own.
Thirty years ago, most home landscaping consisted of lawn, foundation plantings, a few trees, and perhaps a bed for flowers or vegetables. Plants were chosen for their color when flowering and their availability at garden centers. Maintenance included mowing, fertilizing, spraying, pruning and watering.
But we now know that native plants can endure without synthetic chemicals or fertilizer, or much watering or labor, once established. And that insects that depend on native plants are important food for birds.
Click here to read the whole article.
From the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, September 15, 2008:
Baking in a wood-fired oven is not a new thing. The technology has been around for centuries in varied forms, Zimmer noted, but the technology has evolved right along with taste and food consumption in society during the course of those centuries. The oven used at Calypso Farm is known as a black oven, which burns wood in the same chamber the food is cooked in; the actual fire is either pushed to the back of the chamber or pulled out of the oven before the food is put in, depending on what is being cooked.
When the oven is fired up, as it is about once a week, the fire burns long enough to heat up the bricks, which can get as hot as 700 to 800 degrees. The bricks hold the heat, usually enough to cook four rounds of bread with each firing, with eight loaves in each round. They plan the baking process according to the heat of the oven.
Click here to read the whole article.
BY: Dave Misiuk, Cold Climate Housing Research Center
Energy Focus: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner August 28th, 2008, Section A3
There are basically four different wood burning appliance types available that are considered “space heating” appliances. These are units which produce direct convective and/or radiant heat that can be used to heat a room, a house or other “space” and include woodstoves, pellet stoves, fireplace inserts and masonry heaters. Many people ask me, “Which ones are approved?” Continue reading
BY: John Davies, Cold Climate Housing Research Center
Energy Focus: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner August 21st, 2008, Section A3
Is your head swimming with all the talk about energy costs, weatherization, and energy rebates? Are you looking for a good, comprehensive source of information that explains the basics of energy use in your home and what steps you can take to save energy? If so, I recommend the Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings published by New Society Publishers for the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE). Continue reading
BY: Dave Misiuk, Cold Climate Housing Research Center
Energy Focus: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner August 14th, 2008, Section A3
This is the second article in a series on residential wood heating. The series will include information about firewood, different heating appliance options, applications, installations and other aspects that will hopefully help us conserve our resources, keep our environment healthy and…keep us warm. Continue reading
BY: Dave Misiuk, Cold Climate Housing Research Center
Energy Focus: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner July 31, 2008, Section A3
As fuel prices continue to climb, more interior Alaska residents are making the commitment to heat their homes with wood. New homes are being furnished with masonry heaters, pellet stoves and wood boilers. Residents with existing homes are adding these supplemental heating systems and those with existing wood heat systems are planning to use them more. While solar and wind energy are on the horizon as hopeful technologies for some residential applications, the obvious near-term solution is to burn wood to displace heating oil.