Results: Calendar of Events
May 17, 2010 to May 18, 2010
ANCHORAGE – TWO LEED WORKSHOPS will be held. Take one or both! Seating is limited so sign up early. They’ll take place at the King Career Center. May 17 – LEED CORE CONCEPTS AND STRATEGIES; and May 18 – GREEN BUILDING DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION: THE LEED IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS. For more info on these workshops go to http://cefpileedanchorage.eventbrite.com. If you have other questions contact Mark Masteller, Alaska Director, Cascadia Green Building Council, at 907-373-2723 or email mark@cascadiagbc.org.
April 13, 2010
From Klean Industries’ Blog: The biomass heating fuel sector has applauded a group of senators for introducing a Bill to Congress that would encourage businesses to switch to renewable heating systems. New Hampshire Senator Jean Shaheen, along with Idaho Senator Mike Crapo and Alaska Senators Mark Begich and Lisa Murkowski introduced the American Renewable Biomass Heating Act to the US Senate at the end of March. The bipartisan legislation would allow federal tax credits to support the use of wood renewable biomass in “high-efficiency” heating systems in commercial and industrial buildings. Read more
April 13, 2010
By Jeremy Hsu at Popular Science: Molten metal may not be what you want in your smartphone battery, but it turns out to work great for larger grid-scale batteries. MIT engineers have created devices that can provide up to 20 times as much current as lithium-ion batteries with the same electrode area, according to New Scientist. The new battery simply consists of tanks filled with three liquid layers kept at 1,292 degrees F (700 degrees C). Molten magnesium sits on top, and antimony sits on the bottom. The middle layer consists of a compound mixture of the two outer layers. Read more
April 12, 2010
From Chris Eshleman at the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner: State senators Saturday proposed more than $2 million in public aid for entrepreneurs working on the edge of energy technology. Proponents say the funding, to be matched with millions from the federal Denali Commission, will push Alaska toward the front in experimental energy research and development. Researchers say the proposed $2.4 million deposit, for an “emerging energy technology” grant program, would complement broader ongoing public aid for renewable energy development in Alaska and could position the state at the doorstep of growth in the alternative energy marketplace. Read more
April 12, 2010
From KUCB Radio: The (Unalaska) Department of Public Utilities recently won a $153,000 grant from the Alaska Energy Authority to buy LED street lights. Director of Public Utilities Dan Winters said the new lamps will use 75 percent less power than the current 400 watt bulbs but still give out the same amount of light. Winters said his department is still looking for good lights for this environment. “We’ve been testing LED lights for quite a while out here and we’ve had a few of them that we’ve taken down and sent back and said these aren’t going to work with our weather environment. Actually, the one’s they put up in the Alaska Ship Supply new parking lot look really promising. They were up during the 175 mile per hour winds.” Read more
April 11, 2010
A press release from the Senate Resources Committee
JUNEAU – The Senate unanimously passed Senate Bill 220 today, the Alaska Sustainable Energy Act, which paves the way for lower energy costs, greater energy efficiency, and increased use of renewable energy in Alaska.
“This bill will help Alaskan families, businesses, schools, and communities to cut their energy costs and find more sustainable ways of meeting their energy needs,” said Senator Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage, co-chair of the Resources Committee. Read more
Read more at KTVA and on REAP’s Legislative Issues page
April 9, 2010
By Peter Behr and Jenny Mandel of Greenwire: Six states used turbines to generate more than 5 percent of their electricity last year, as wind power weathered a second year of recession to post new records of generation, the industry’s trade group reported today. Iowa led the pack for wind’s share in the market, producing 14.2 percent of its electric power from wind last year. It ranked second to Texas in the amount of wind generation capacity, as the Lone Star State exceeded 9,000 megawatts at the end of last year. More than 10,000 megawatts of new generating capacity was built nationwide last year, and wind power produced almost 2 percent of all U.S. electricity, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) said. Read more
April 9, 2010
By Lori Tobias at The Oregonian: Two and a half years after a wave energy test buoy sank off Newport, the drive to harness energy from the ocean is heating up again with plans for at least one buoy to be deployed off the central coast before the year’s end. And there are hopes for a handful more not long after. It’s all part of Oregon’s race to become a leader in wave energy technology, a competition that only three years ago threatened to deteriorate into a bitter battle pitting east coast developers against fishermen, surfers and others. Read more
April 9, 2010
Do you have an Anchorage home or business that is using renewable energy? The Alaska Solar Tour is looking for people with renewable energy systems in Anchorage to be part of the Anchorage Solar Tour taking place on Saturday, May 8th. The tour, which allows people to visit renewably-powered homes and businesses, debuted in Alaska last year and is a fabulous way for Alaskans to share information with other Alaskans about renewable energy and energy efficiency. For more information or to volunteer your home to be on the tour, email organizers Phil St. John or Andy Baker. Tours are also planned for this summer in Fairbanks, Kenai, Homer and in the Mat-Su.
April 8, 2010
From Andrew S. Ross at the San Francisco Chronicle: One of the nation’s largest and most ambitious home-retrofit and alternative-energy programs is being launched right here in San Francisco next week. GreenFinanceSF is a $150 million, privately funded program enabling San Francisco property owners to have money-saving energy-efficiency measures – like low-flow toilets and double-paned windows – and noncarbon energy sources, like solar, installed in their homes and businesses. The costs, which will be attached to property tax bills, are payable over 10 to 20 years. Read more
