Steve and the boys go to Sitka for Renewable Energy Conference

Southeast Alaska and Wood Energy

Alaska continues to present itself as the last frontier. This is evidenced by the many people throughout the state that exemplify that character and completely embrace the opportunity; such is the case relative to those making changes on the local energy production front. The Tongass Futures Roundtable just this past week hosted the Southeast Alaska Wood Energy Workshop in Sitka. Among the sponsors were; The Nature Conservancy, The University of Alaska, Sitka Conservation Society, Denali Commission, and Sealaska Corporation. The workshop was a two-day give and take of great ideas and testimonials of what is and is not currently working across the country. Panels consisted of the likes of The Alaska Energy Authority, US Forest Service, Sitka Electric, Headwaters, Pacific Log and Lumber, Juneau Economic Development Council, USDA Rural Development, National Renewable Energy Laboratory from Colorado, WOW Pellets from Oregon, and the Tlingit and Haida Central Council just to name a few. Interestingly, these folks have been in the business for a while now and admit that the application of wood heating on a large scale is just now coming into its own, which may have something to do with the $5/gallon costs related to fuel up here! Judging by the audience at the workshop in Sitka, wood energy as a fuel source has found a home!

How the Hoonah School District fits into this picture is pretty straightforward. Like most of the districts here in Rural Alaska, ours is financially strapped. As I came into the dist ric t, of the first things I needed to do was find a way to keep things operating. As is typically my style, I looked hard at what might be available on the innovation front; low and behold, here was the Alaska Energy Authority announcing that they had some grant dollars to spend on alternative energy projects! Once the ball started rolling, I found a great deal of support “out there” as I spoke with the various entities that I listed above. One thing led to another, and soon there was a Hoonah group established and meeting to discuss how to move forward. We held our fi rst meeting in late September and are now well into the phase two and three portions of the 4-phase process. Four of us from Hoonah attended the Sitka workshop, and it proved an extremely worthwhile adventure. As it stands now, should things develop according to plan, which of course we know they will, our school district stands to not only save at least 50% of the fuel costs, but will allow us to add two or three very viable and authentic vocational education programs to our school. While it was said in jest at the conference, there is a lot of truth to it on many levels: Wood is a great heat source, it heats you five times – once when you cut it, once when you split it, once when you stack it, once when you load it, and finally when you burn it. I believe that I can find equally as many ways to use this project to benefit our district, and I look forward to reporting to you just how well things are going.