Sustainable North

From The Associated Press, Friday, September 17, 2010: A University of Alaska group will receive $3 million to study options to optimize wind-diesel hybrid energy systems in rural Alaska. The Alaska Center for Energy and Power, based at UA Fairbanks, was awarded the grant by the federal Department of Energy. The university says Alaska already [...]

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From National Geographic’s Green Guide: Green up your laundry room with cleaner, healthier products. Check out this interactive guide.

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From US DOE, Monday, August 20, 2010: Last week as part of Vice President Biden’s announcement of 200,000 homes weatherized under the Recovery act, we asked you to send us your questions and comments about the weatherization process. Today, we’re following up with answers experts from the Department’s Weatherization and Intergovernmental Program: 1) From edmooney [...]

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From The Arctic Sounder, Wednesday, August 25, 2010: The success of an innovative new home in Anaktuvuk Pass – which uses a wind power, solar panels and design features of traditional Nunamiut sod housing – is changing the way houses will be designed and built on the North Slope. “This is a huge leap forward [...]

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From NYTimes.com, Wednesday, August 18, 2010: When it comes to saving energy, many Americans seem to get it — and at the same time they don’t get it at all. That’s the takeaway from a new study by researchers from Columbia University, Ohio State University and Carnegie Mellon University who found that people are far [...]

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From The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Friday, July 30, 2010: The Borough Assembly passed a resolution approving the port authority’s plan to purchase Fairbanks Natural Gas LLC and launch a natural gas trucking operation. A separate measure calling for a public vote on the plan narrowly failed. The $250 million project now goes before the Regulatory [...]

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From The Fairbanks Daily Newsminer, Thursday, July 29, 2010: A plan to transfer Fairbanks Natural Gas LLC from private to public ownership and truck liquefied natural gas to Fairbanks from the North Slope is doomed, according to an Alaska Gasline Port Authority board member. Board member Merrick Peirce wrote in an e-mail that the assumption [...]

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From the US Dept. of Energy: The size of new U.S. single-family homes completed in 2009 declined, dropping to a nationwide average of 2,438 square feet and reversing trend of the past three decades, according to a National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). New single-family homes were almost 100 square feet smaller in 2009 than [...]

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From The Tundra Drums, Wednesday, February 17, 2010: Houses in Quinhagak battered by decades of fierce wet winds might soon be replaced by a new model that hearkens back to traditional Native sod houses. At a meeting last week, village leaders in the Southwest Alaska community accepted a preliminary plan for an energy-efficient home that [...]

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From The Associated Press, Friday, February 19, 2010: The attorney general and researchers at the University of Alaska Anchorage are attributing high gasoline and heating fuel costs in rural Alaska to market conditions. Two independent investigations say small scale distribution over great distances in challenging locations appears to be the main culprit in rural-urban price [...]

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