Sustainable North

From treehugger.com: Low-tech Magazine, consistently highlighting how age-old low-tech solutions are thoroughly applicable in creating a more eco-friendly world, serves as a useful antidote to the usual high-tech hubris that infects much of the new green deal talk. A recent post on the newly established Traditional Knowledge Inventory is no exception. Though not fully fleshed [...]

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ASK A BUILDER By CCHRC Staff The “Ask a Builder” series is dedicated to answering some of the many questions Fairbanks residents have about building, energy and the many other parts of home life. Q: A lot of people are participating in the rebate program to make their home more energy efficient. I was under [...]

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From The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Monday, June 5, 2010: Everyone in Fairbanks knows summer is when the ground thaws and your bones warm. But it’s also the season when your walls dry by shedding moisture deposited in the wall cavity during the winter. When walls warm in the sun, built-up water vapor wants to go [...]

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From The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Thursday, July 1, 2010: The state is readying a new borrowing program that some municipal governments have shown an interest in tapping to improve energy-efficiency at public buildings. The Alaska Housing Finance Corp. said the program — an account for governments and the university system to borrow for energy-efficiency remodeling [...]

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ASK A BUILDER By CCHRC Staff The “Ask a Builder” series is dedicated to answering some of the many questions Fairbanks residents have about building, energy and the many other parts of home life. Q: I have a concrete foundation. I heard insulating your foundation can save heat. How can I do that? Concrete is [...]

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From The Alaska Housing Fincance Corporation, Monday, June 14, 2010: Alaskans with disabilities have ample opportunity to qualify for the special appliance rebate program being funded by a $658,000 grant from the federal Department of Energy and administered statewide by Alaska Housing Finance Corporation. The federal program, designed to encourage Americans to use energy-efficient appliances, [...]

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From GreenBuildingAdvisor.com, Friday, May 14, 2010: Jane Bindley had a dream: to turn her 1978 ranch in central New Hampshire into a net-zero-energy house. How hard could that be? As it turned out, pretty hard. But with help from a dedicated team of experts and a generous budget, Bindley achieved her dream. Click here to [...]

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From The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Tuesday, April 27, 2010: Willie Hensley said this morning that Alaska, particularly its energy-starved rural communities, should think about bracing for tough times. Oil development and federal financial aid have left Alaska with great per capita wealth. They’ve declined in recent years, and Hensley, an icon in modern Alaska Native [...]

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Ask a Builder By Cold Climate Housing Research Center Staff  Q: I heard a full refrigerator uses less electricity. Is that true? When it comes to fridges and freezers, always try to keep them full. These appliances measure the temperature in the storage space and adjust to keep that temperature below a certain level. The [...]

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From efficiencyfirst.org: HOME STAR is proposed new legislation to create jobs in existing industries by providing strong short-term incentives for energy efficiency improvements in residential buildings. The program will move quickly, with a minimum of red tape, and will act as a bridge to long-term market development of existing industries. This initiative establishes a $6 [...]

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