Results: Calendar of Events
May 8, 2010
**May 8
ALASKA SOLAR TOUR will be held from 10am to 1:30pm. This is a self-directed tour featuring home and business sites in our community that showcase Alaskan installations of Solar Thermal, PV (Photovoltaic), and other Renewable Energy and Green building technology. Find out how your neighbors are trimming their energy bills, generating their own electricity, and changing the world by living sustainably. No registration required. Get a carload of friends to visit a few of your neighbor’s open house sites. Join in tribute to these trail blazer Alaskans who have ventured out ahead of the crowd using a cleaner, safer, and renewable source of energy. For more information and site locations go to: http://www.alaskasolartour.org/
May 3, 2010
From Michael Kannelos at Greentech Media: Last year, Google surprised people when it said it would begin to invest in renewable power projects. Today, it followed through with the plan. The search giant said it has invested $38.8 million into two wind farm projects in North Dakota that will generate 169.5 megwatts of power. NextEra Energy Resources is the developer.
“To tackle this need, we’ve been looking at investments in renewable energy projects, like the one we just signed, that can accelerate the deployment of the latest clean energy technology while providing attractive returns to Google and more capital for developers to build additional projects,” Google stated. Read more
May 3, 2010
This is only the latest company to jump on the energy efficiency bandwagon. It makes good business sense for the bottom line and the good publicity doesn’t hurt either.
From Business Wire: J. C. Penney Company, Inc. today announced an environmental goal to reduce facility energy consumption 20 percent per gross square foot by 2015 through increasing energy efficiency improvements and driving a company culture which advocates and practices conservation. Over the past decade, the Company has invested more than $130 million to improve the energy efficiency of its existing stores and logistics centers by installing advanced metering technology, building control systems, lighting retrofits and high-efficiency heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems. In 2009 alone, these combined efforts resulted in a year-over-year elimination of approximately 80 million pounds of greenhouse gas emissions by reducing energy use across comparable stores. Read more
May 3, 2010
FAIRBANKS — A top state energy aide Wednesday encouraged electric utilities to keep thinking about collaborating on big energy projects, like dams or major transmission lines, projects likely needed to avoid energy deficits. The idea, pitched this winter as a joint venture between Fairbanks and Southcentral utilities, failed in the Legislature.
But Gene Therriault, a former state senator now advising Gov. Sean Parnell, said an “integrated resources plan” that recommended that joint corporation remains fresh and relevant. A similar plan will soon be in the works for Southeast, and Therriault said collaboration between utilities will help the state government spend wisely as it helps communities and utilities build billions worth of major power projects. Read more
May 3, 2010
From an April 29 press release from Golden Valley Electric Association: At the GVEA Annual Members’ Meeting on April 27, members heard about the possibility of the co-op taking on the largest wind project in Alaska. The project is called Eva Creek. GVEA Board Member Rick Shikora explained, “Golden Valley has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to add a significant amount of renewable energy to our mix – at a very affordable cost. A number of factors have come together to make this project viable.” One of these factors is an extremely low interest rate offered by the Rural Utilities Service.
“We need to move on this project because interest rates could rise at any time,” said GVEA President and CEO Brian Newton.
Though wind power is expensive to build, once built, it is an extremely inexpensive source of power. In fact, aside from maintenance costs, it’s free.
May 3, 2010
By Dante Petri at the Peninsula Clarion: The winds blew favorably for Homer Electric Association as the legislative session came to a close last week but the utility coop will have to hope for more of the same if it is to be granted the $7 million that state lawmakers allotted it for construction of a wind farm in Nikiski. Within the state capital budget is money for the project, aimed at placing wind turbines along the bluff adjacent to the closed Agrium fertilizer plant. Gov. Sean Parnell still has line-item veto power, however, and has said he plans to trim the budget.
Should the funds be granted, HEA will be a figurative guinea pig for testing the incorporation of what are referred to as “non-firm” power sources into the Railbelt energy grid that serves Southcentral and the Interior. According to Joe Gallagher, spokesman for Homer Electric, the company is negotiating with an independent power producer on a project called Kenai Winds that could generate as much as 14.4 megawatts of electricity, depending on how the winds blow. Read more
May 3, 2010
From the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner: The Alaska Energy Authority has completed an informative and useful study of the state’s energy challenges. It’s also rather daunting. The study, presented this week at an energy conference in Fairbanks, described both the problems Alaska faces in trying to move to renewable energy sources and some ways it can try to overcome those problems. Among the more interesting items in the report are estimates of how much it would cost to substantially increase the use of renewable energy sources, such as hydroelectric, geothermal and wind plants, throughout Alaska. Read more
May 12, 2010
6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
6-8 p.m. at the Anchorage Museum auditorium
Want to make your business more energy efficient and save money? Come join Renewable Energy Alaska Project’s Free forum from 6-8 p.m., May 12 at the Anchorage Museum auditorium. Hear from local businesses like Arctic Wire Rope & Supply, and the Performing Arts Center about how they cut their energy use by up to 40% by thinking smart about lighting and heating. Also on hand will be state experts to talk about what resources are available for your business. More info at (907) 929-7770 or email s.nowers@realaska.org. For those who can’t attend, there will be an opportunity to listen in live or download a podcast after the event. To listen in live, sign up at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/474266105
Presenters:
Eric McCallum, Owner, Arctic Wire Rope & Supply
Nancy Harbour, Exec. Dir., Performing Arts Center
Sean Skaling, Energy Efficiency & Conservation Program Manager, AK Energy Authority
May 25, 2010
May 25 – June 5 UAF log home building workshop at the Palmer Center for Sustainable Living.
The workshop will appeal to anyone interested in building or renovating energy efficient, quality log structures in Alaska. (Pictured at right are students in a similar workshop held in Sitka in 2008.)
Robert W. Chambers of New Zealand, world-recognized authority for handcrafted log home construction, will lead the sessions. He is the author of The Log Construction Manual: The Ultimate Guide to Building Handcrafted Log Homes. Chambers has been building log homes sine 1983 and teaching log construction since 1988. He has written numerous magazine articles and invented log construction methods, products, and machinery. In 2006 the International Log Builders Association presented Chambers with its grand achievement award, awarded only three times in the organization’s thirty-year history. Mike Musick and his son, Richard, from Fairbanks, will also be instructing. Musick has worked in construction in Alaska for over forty years and has been building energy-efficient custom homes in interior Alaska for thirty years. His son Richard works with his dad in the family business, Ester Construction.
Basic procedures and techniques will be described and practiced to help even the novice log builder get started with a project. Building an energy-efficient log home requires the highest level of craftsmanship to meet modern standards of air-tightness, indoor air quality, safety, comfort, and durability. The class is a hands-on experience, with students actually constructing a cabin of aspen logs on Trunk Road where the Matanuska Experiment Farm has its summer garden area.
The class will run from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, with a break for the Memorial Day weekend. A maximum of 12 students will be accepted. Cost is $650 if registered by April 30 and $800 after that. Contact Valerie Barber, director UAF Forest Products Program, 907-746-9466 or vabarber@alaska.edu.
Further reading:
A Log Cabin Building Workshop, Agroborealis, Spring 2009, page 6-14, by Valerie Barber (PDF)
May 8, 2010
1:00 pm to 5:00 pm
NEW COURSE! NEW MANUAL!
RETHINK YOUR HOME TO INCLUDE
LOW-ENERGY AND SOLAR OPTIONS
WHERE: Anchorage , Alaska (UAA CAMPUS)
WHEN: SATURDAY, MAY 8, 2010
1:00-5:00 PM
COST: $15 FOR SOLAR DESIGN MANUAL
CALL: 786-6300 to register
COURSE TAUGHT BY:
UAF COOPERATIVE EXTENSION SERVICE
ENERGY AND HOUSING SPECIALIST
RICHARD SEIFERT
