Sustainable North

From inhabit.com on Thursday, May 7, 2009:
… we’re focusing upon tracking energy usage, since the first step to cutting down on our power consumption is being able to measure it. Smart meters installed as part of smart grid projects will make it extra-easy to monitor home energy use — and while there are numerous smart [...]

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From the Anchorage Daily News on Sunday, February 8, 2009:
Gov. Sarah Palin plans to introduce a bill calling for creating a joint corporation of the six Railbelt electric utilities.

Palin says such an entity could unite a “fragmented group of rival utilities” and could save rate payers $40 million annually.

The utilities are Fairbanks-based Golden Valley Electric [...]

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From the New York Times on Wednesday, January 14, 2009:
“From the manufacturers’ standpoint, it’s pretty serious,” said Bill Stewart, president of SolarCraft, a California installer, in a conversation with Green Inc. Until last summer there were still shortages of solar modules (which in turn were due to shortages of the polysilicon material they are made from), [...]

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From the Washington Post on Friday, January 9, 2009:
President-elect Barack Obama said yesterday that he wanted to double the production of alternative energy over the next three years, a goal that will probably require a new set of government incentives for the capital-intensive solar and wind industries.
Six months ago, some of the biggest names in [...]

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Another posting from Fairbanks homeowners Rocky Reifenstuhl and Gail Koepf.

There are many things to consider once you have decided to build, starting with location. 
Assess the neighborhood, covenants and surrounding properties.  What utilities are available?  Is it on a bus route or within an easy commute to your job?  Does view potential play a role?  [...]

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From Yale Environment 360, retrieved on Friday, December 20, 2008:
Yale Environment 360 asked a wide-ranging group of environmental activists, scientists, and thinkers to answer the following question: If you were advising Barack Obama, what would you tell him are the most important environmental and energy initiatives that he should launch during his first 100 days?
Click here [...]

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Gail Koepf and Rocky Reifenstuhl, Fairbanks, Alaska homeowners, are building a new home using sustainable, energy efficient techniques. CCHRC staff are filming aspects of the construction for use in a future “Best Practices” video about homebuilding in the North. The following is the first entry from Gail’s ongoing journal about the project. We will continue [...]

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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 said. “It [...]

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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 higher electric [...]

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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 America. [...]

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