Sustainable North

BY Adam Wasch, Energy Outreach Consultant for CCHRC and UAF CES Energy Focus: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner May 28th, 2009, Section A3 Don’t keep an open bucket of smoldering ashes in your house. If it doesn’t burn your house down, the carbon monoxide emissions can kill you. This simple fact escaped me during my first winter [...]

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For the past several years, the US EPA has been partnering with manufacturers of household cleaners to certify “green” products using a strict list of criteria developed by industry and government.  “Design for the Environment” applies these criteria to each product submitted for certification. According to Clive Davie, an engineer with the EPA, “We ask [...]

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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 Anchorage Daily News, on Wednesday, November 26, 2008: With global warming melting the Arctic’s eons-old ice at an alarming rate, shipping and oil companies are looking ahead at how to exploit the new open waters. For the past 30 years, the summer Arctic ice pack has been shrinking. In 2007, the melt reached [...]

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From the New York Times on November 7, 2008: As the world seeks low-carbon forms of energy production to reduce the emissions blamed for global warming, the champions of nuclear power have been re-branding the industry as one of the world’s greenest. Last month, the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency said “nuclear energy is virtually carbon-free” across its [...]

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BY: Ilya Benesch, Cold Climate Housing Research Center Energy Focus: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner October 2nd, 2008, Section A3 With winter on the horizon, the wood burning season is starting to gain momentum and all indications are that it will be the busiest in recent history. This brings up the topic of chimney safety. Since people [...]

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In an article on www.consumerreports.org, posted on September 29, 2008, Consumer Reports blasted the US Department of Energy “Energy Star” rating system, saying “A number of test procedures are out of date or problematic,” says David B. Goldstein, codirector of the energy program at the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). “Part of the reason [...]

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The first of a two-part series, “A Greener Future”, from the LA Times, September 14, 2008: Innovations in designing green chemicals are emerging in nearly every U.S. industry, from plastics and pesticides to toys and nail polish. Some manufacturers of cosmetics, household cleaners and other consumer products are leading the charge, while others are lagging [...]

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BY: Ilya Benesch, Cold Climate Housing Research Center Energy Focus: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner September 18th, 2008, Section A3 Crawl spaces are one of those areas in the house that tend to get neglected. The old adage “Out of sight out of mind” might apply here. Unfortunately, this also means that crawl space problems can go [...]

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BY: Ilya Benesch, Cold Climate Housing Research Center Energy Focus: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner September 11th, 2008, Section A3 Heat Recovery Ventilation (HRV) systems are a relative newcomer to the cold climate construction scene, yet have become almost indispensible in today’s super-insulated, air tight homes. They are also becoming an increasingly common element in the current [...]

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