Sustainable North

From reuters.com News Service on Friday, December 12, 2008: U.S. consumers’ enthusiasm for all things clean and green is being overshadowed by their urgent need for a different kind of green — the one that pays the mortgage and puts food on the table. From hybrid cars to solar panels, products that promise to reduce [...]

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From the Wall Street Journal on Monday, December 15, 2008: President-elect Barack Obama’s pick for energy secretary, Dr. Steven Chu, is a Nobel Prize-winning scientist who’s on the record calling coal a “nightmare” and advocating raising U.S. gas taxes to European levels to promote conservation.  Mr. Obama himself has so far dismissed the idea of [...]

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From the New York Times, on Monday, December 15, 2008: Australia announced plans Monday to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 5 to 15 percent by 2020, angering environmental groups that had lobbied for much deeper cuts. In a policy statement, the government said the final target would depend on whether developed and developing nations, [...]

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From the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, on Saturday, December 6, 2008: In early winter 2008, Fairbanks [Alaska] has had some of the worst air quality ever recorded, according to Jim Conner, an air quality specialist for the Fairbanks North Star Borough. “We exceeded (federal air quality) standards in October this year for the first time,” Conner [...]

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From the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Monday, December 15, 2008: The silver disc in the electric meter box has been turning a little faster for a little longer as the days have shortened and the lights, televisions and computers have been put to greater use in our homes. The extra spins of the disc haven’t meant [...]

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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 [...]

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From change.org, retrieved on Friday, December 12, 2008: The energy challenges our country faces are severe and have gone unaddressed for far too long. Our addiction to foreign oil doesn’t just undermine our national security and wreak havoc on our environment — it cripples our economy and strains the budgets of working families all across [...]

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BY Adam Wasch, Energy Outreach Consultant for CCHRC and UAF CES Energy Focus: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner December 11th, 2008, Section A3 When I was a kid, Christmas stockings were a leading indicator of what kind of gifts might be waiting under the Christmas tree. Candy? Probably a lean year for mom and dad. Matchbox cars? Might [...]

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From the Anchorage Daily News, on Wednesday, December 9, 2008: Alaska farmers are always trying to find ways to make summer last a little longer. Now a dozen around the state, including four in the Valley, are getting a chance to try, thanks to a new state agricultural grant program. The program, offered by the [...]

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From the Anchorage Daily News, Wednesday, December 9, 2008: The Alaska Energy Authority has agreed to spend $20,000 to analyze whether energy-efficient wood boilers would be cheaper to use than heating oil for the roughly 50,000-square-foot school being built near Talkeetna. The Matanuska-Susitna Borough, which requested the study, has also chipped in $5,000. … Local [...]

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