Category Archives: Energy Focus Articles

(Some) Fishermen Benefit from Efficient Freezers

BY Adam Wasch, Energy Outreach Consultant for CCHRC and UAF CES
Energy Focus: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner June 4th, 2009, Section A3

I don’t fish. I don’t fish because fish depress me, particularly unhappy fish. In part, this has something to do with having once witnessed my father club a fish repeatedly, chasing it madly around and around a small unstable rented boat. By the time the fish succumbed, the boat’s gunnels had dipped twice beneath the waterline. Our feet were soaked; the boat was sinking in Lake Erie. Continue reading →

Use Your Head, Use Smoke Detectors

BY Adam Wasch, Energy Outreach Consultant for CCHRC and UAF CES
Energy Focus: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner May 28th, 2009, Section A3

Don’t keep an open bucket of smoldering ashes in your house. If it doesn’t burn your house down, the carbon monoxide emissions can kill you. This simple fact escaped me during my first winter in Alaska. I thought it was a shame to waste the heat of unspent coals, so I kept an open bucket of coals inside and went to bed. Continue reading →

Batteries Set Us Free, But Should Be Recycled

BY Adam Wasch, Energy Outreach Consultant for CCHRC and UAF CES
Energy Focus: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner May 21st, 2009, Section A3

There were kids whose toys were not powered and those whose toys were. Batteries made the difference. I was a powerless kid. My toys only went as far as I could throw them. My best friend Brett, however, had self-propelled cars, a portable radio, and an electric-eyed Skeletor who said, “I must possess all, or I possess nothing,” when pushed. I thought Brett was better off. Decades later, I still feel defeated by the stamina of battery-powered toys. Continue reading →

First Ever Recycle Roundup: Recycle Now!

BY Adam Wasch, Energy Outreach Consultant for CCHRC and UAF CES
Energy Focus: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner May 14th, 2009, Section A3

It’s not easy recycling in Fairbanks. Just as soon as you load your vehicle full of cans, bottles, and plastics to drop off at the last place you took them, it turns out that whoever accepted recycling before has since stopped, disappeared, or is serving time. In all fairness, it’s not easy being a recycler, either. Unlike other places where recycling options are plentiful and profitable, Fairbanks is remote enough to make recycling a costly business. After all, it takes labor and fuel to process and transport recycling. Continue reading →

Keep Your Garden Happy with Water Catchment System

BY Adam Wasch, Energy Outreach Consultant for CCHRC and UAF CES
Energy Focus: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner May 7th, 2009, Section A3

The worms are squirming, the pollen is flying, and your XTRATUFs are muddying. Gardening is a great outdoor activity. Yet, gardens require a lot of water. So, if it doesn’t rain regularly, you can find yourself in a bit of a bind. If you have plumbing, watering is a snap. But what if you want to conserve resources, save money, or don’t have a ready supply of water? Simple: Build a water catchment system. Continue reading →

Alaska Wind Offers Residential Power Opportunities

BY Adam Wasch, Energy Outreach Consultant for CCHRC and UAF CES
Energy Focus: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner April 29th, 2009, Section A3

Alaska’s energy resources amount to more than the oil and gas that have so much transformed the state during the past 40 years. One largely untapped resource is wind power. Large-scale operations, such as a growing wind farm in Kotzebue and plans for a 1.5 megawatt wind farm on Fire Island near Anchorage underscore the potential of wind energy in Alaska. But what about residential wind power? Continue reading →

Residential Geothermal Power Reality, Not Science Fiction

BY Adam Wasch, Energy Outreach Consultant for CCHRC and UAF CES
Energy Focus: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner April 23rd, 2009, Section A3

“Was I to believe him in earnest in his intention to penetrate to the centre of this massive globe? Had I been listening to the mad speculations of a lunatic, or to the scientific conclusions of a lofty genius?”

These lines are from the campy adventure novel, “Journey to the Center of the Earth” by Jules Verne. Science is cool, but science fiction is cooler. Writers apprehend the future in their fantasies, often articulating what scientists later invent. Though writing in the 19th Century, Verne appears to have anticipated modern-day air conditioning, submarines, and television. Continue reading →

Efficient Boilers Offer Savings, Many Choices

BY Adam Wasch, Energy Outreach Consultant for CCHRC and UAF CES
Energy Focus: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner April 16th, 2009, Section A3

Boilers today offer a wide range of customized options to maximize efficiency. If your boiler has an old pilot light that stays lit all the time, you’re probably a good candidate for a replacement boiler or, at least, a retrofit. Alaska’s many heating days justify paying for the most efficient system possible upfront, since the extra money you spend for efficiency gains will be paid back several times during the system’s operating lifetime. Continue reading →

Doors Offer Choices to Energy Efficiency

BY Adam Wasch, Energy Outreach Consultant for CCHRC and UAF CES
Energy Focus: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner April 9th, 2009, Section A3

Doors represent choices in our lives. Lovers threaten each other with dire consequences if one or the other walks out “that door.” We’re promised the door will open if we knock. People wait at death’s door. Others swing wide the door to opportunity, which we are told doesn’t knock twice. Then, there are literal doors. These stick, jam, and warp – especially in Alaska, where outside and inside winter temperatures often vary by 100 degrees or more. Continue reading →

A “Green” World Can Be Elusive

BY Adam Wasch, Energy Outreach Consultant for CCHRC and UAF CES
Energy Focus: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner April 2nd, 2009, Section A3

Green is a one-word metaphor for earth-friendly. Or good health. It might refer to renewable products. Surely you’ve heard of sustainable. Bio-based? Organic? How about socially responsible? Who’s responsible for this? More often than not, marketers are – that’s who. So be careful whose claims you believe. Continue reading →