Sustainable North

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 raising gas [...]

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From Reuters on Monday, December 8, 2008:
Recession and the change of U.S. administration make it unlikely the world will meet a 2009 deadline for agreeing a full new pact to fight global warming, delegates at U.N. climate talks say.
A year ago, 190 nations signed up for a two-year push to agree a comprehensive climate treaty [...]

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From the Chicago Tribune on Sunday, December 7, 2008:
Chief Bill Erasmus of the Dene nation in northern Canada brought a stark warning about the climate crisis: The once abundant herds of caribou are dwindling, rivers are running lower and the ice is too thin to hunt on.
Erasmus raised his concerns in recent days on the [...]

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From www.change.gov, retrieved on Thursday, November 20, 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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From the Fairbanks Daily Newsminer August 14, 2008.
A solar-powered car on three wheels arrived in Fairbanks on Wednesday evening, creating a spectacle as the spaceship-like vehicle made its way down the Johansen Expressway to the Cold Climate Housing Research Center.
Click here to read the full article.

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BY: John Davies, Cold Climate Housing Research Center
Energy Focus: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner June 19, 2008,  Section A3
From time to time, we get calls at the research center asking if it makes sense to shut down one’s oil-fired boiler during the summer, and provide hot water using an electric hot water heater instead. Of course, the answer is [...]

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From the Fairbanks Daily Newsminer June 12, 2008
We need to focus on the areas where we’ll get the best return of money,” Schmetzer said.
Cutting tiny costs here and there isn’t what the task force is looking for because the changes needed to update the city are expensive.
“We’re looking for the long term benefits of cutting [...]

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BY: Danielle Jamieson & Nathan Wiltse, Cold Climate Housing Research Center
Energy Focus: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner June 12, 2008, Section A3
 
There can be significant savings in heating costs depending on the wall system used in a house, up to $1076 a year!   The Cold Climate Housing Research Center did an analysis on two different types of [...]

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BY: Ryan Colgan & John Davies, Cold Climate Housing Research Center
Energy Focus: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner May 29, 2008,  Section A3
Many in Fairbanks do not want to think about winter just as summer is arriving. However, there is no better time to prepare for winter and the high energy expenses that result from heating your home.
AHFC offers [...]

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From The Fairbanks Daily Newsminer May 15, 2008
JUNEAU — Gov. Sarah Palin on Thursday proposed a $1.2 billion, one-year plan to help offset the high energy costs paid by the state’s residents.
Grants totaling $475 million would be given to utility companies operating in the state, to be used to lower customer bills.
Palin said she expects monthly [...]

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