Download or read book Sustainable Energy Solutions for Rural Alaska written by and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 79 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The state of Alaska recognizes the challenges these rural communities face and provides financial support via the Power Cost Equalization (PCE) program. The PCE subsidizes the electricity prices paid by customers of these high-cost utilities. The PCE program is designed to spread the benefits of Alaska's natural resources more evenly throughout the state. Yet even with this subsidy, electricity is still much more expensive for these rural customers. And beyond the PCE, other forms of assistance to rural utilities are becoming scarce given the state's current fiscal environment. Nearly 90 percent of Alaska's unrestricted budget funds in recent years have been tied to oil royalties--a sector experiencing significant declines in production and oil prices. Consequently, as Alaska looks to tighten budgets, the challenge of lowering rural utility costs, while encouraging self-sufficiency, has become more urgent. This study examines reliability, capital and strategic planning, management, workforce development, governance, financial performance and system efficiency in the various communities visited by the research team. Using those attributes, a tier system was developed to categorize rural Alaska utilities into Leading and Innovating Systems (Tier I), Advanced Diesel Systems (Tier II), Basic Systems (Tier III), and Underperforming Systems (Tier IV). The tier approach is not meant to label specific utilities, but rather to provide a general set of benchmarks and guideposts for improvement.

Download or read book Aligning Electricity Energy Policies in Alaska written by Alejandra Villalobos Meléndez and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most rural Alaska communities are not road connected and must cope with challenging arctic environmental conditions. Due to their remoteness and sparse populations, these villages depend on isolated non-grid connected electric generation systems that operate on fuel oil. In Alaska, the Power Cost Equalization program is a 25 year long energy subsidy that targets rural residents to provide energy costs relief. A more recent state incentive program, the Renewable Energy Fund, was developed to expand the use of renewable resources and lower the cost of energy. Some rural communities have benefited from this program and have integrated renewable energy to their systems, particularly installing Wind-Diesel systems. Both programs have congruent goals of alleviating dependence on high cost fossil fuels to generate electricity as means to foster development and higher quality of life in rural Alaska communities. However, their incentive structure may conflict. This paper provides a review of these two energy subsidy policies with a particular focus on the Power Cost Equalization program and offers potential changes to its structure such that social cost impacts to rural residents are minimized while removing incentive barriers against energy efficiency and integration of renewable energy in rural Alaska communities.

Download or read book The Impact of High Energy Costs in Rural Alaska Native Communities and Opportunities for Alternative and Conventional Energy Development written by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Indian Affairs (1993- ) and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Renewable Energy in Rural Alaska written by Jesse L. Logan and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This thesis argues that the costs of electricity in rural Alaska are ecological, economic, and social, and asks whether or not renewable energy can reduce these costs. Two case studies are examined: a wind-diesel hybrid system in Kotzebue, Alaska, and an Organic Rankine cycle geothermal system in Chena Hot Springs, Alaska. In both cases it is found that when compared to the status quo (fossil fuel generated electricity), renewable energy technologies have reduced these costs. Historically, the funding for energy projects in Alaska has shifted from private enterprise investment to state and federal support. This is important in the debate regarding funding for a transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. The Power Equalization Program is also examined and found to be a paradoxical subsidy that provides economic relief but does not solve the problem of high electricity costs and may act as a disincentive to the deployment of renewables"--Leaf iii.

Download or read book Renewable Energy Production Strategies and Technologies written by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 76 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Renewable Energy Development in Alaska written by Gwen Pamela Holdmann and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The territories that comprise the Arctic region are part of some of wealthiest and most advanced countries on the planet; yet, rural Alaska, northern Canada, the Russian Far East and Greenland—characterized by off-grid communities, regional grids, and higher degrees of energy insecurity—have more in common with the developing world than the southern regions of their own country. This thesis explains this paradox of energy development in the Circumpolar North and tackles the issue of developing renewable energy in remote areas where technical and socioeconomic barriers are significant. The primary research questions are two-fold: 1) Why did the Alaska electrical system develop as a non-integrated patchwork of regional and isolated grids? and 2) What are the major factors in Alaska that have resulted in a greater uptake of renewable energy systems for remote communities, compared to other similar places in the Arctic? This thesis demonstrates that state-building theory provides a cogent framework to understand the context of electrical build-out in the Circumpolar North. A major finding of this thesis is that the buildout of electric infrastructure in the non-Nordic countries, including Alaska, exemplifies a process of incomplete nation-building. Interconnected regional grids, where they exist, are largely due to the twin national priorities in infrastructure development in the north: extracting natural resources and enhancing national security. This thesis also draws on sociotechnical transition theory to explain why Alaska exhibits such high levels of energy innovation when compared to other similar regions across the Arctic. This research concludes that drivers such as extremely high energy costs, a highly deregulated utility market with dozens of certificated utilities, state investment in infrastructure, and modest subsidies that create a technological niche where renewable energy projects are cost-competitive at current market prices have spurred energy innovation throughout Alaska’s communities, remote or otherwise. Many of the evolving technical strategies and lessons learned from renewable integration projects in Alaska’s remote islanded microgrids are directly applicable to project development in other markets. Despite differences in climate and geography, lessons learned in Alaska could prove invaluable in increasing resiliency and driving down energy costs in remote communities world-wide.

Download or read book Remote Power Systems with Advanced Storage Technologies for Alaskan Villages written by and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 25 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Remote Alaskan communities pay economic and environmental penalties for electricity, because they must import diesel as their primary fuel for electric power production, paying heavy transportation costs and potentially causing environmental damage with empty drums, leakage, and spills. For these reasons, remote villages offer a viable niche market where sustainable energy systems based on renewable resources and advanced energy storage technologies can compete favorably on purely economic grounds, while providing environmental benefits. These villages can also serve as a robust proving ground for systematic analysis, study, improvement, and optimization of sustainable energy systems with advanced technologies. This paper presents an analytical optimization of a remote power system for a hypothetical Alaskan village. The analysis considers the potential of generating renewable energy (e.g., wind and solar), along with the possibility of using energy storage to take full advantage of the intermittent renewable sources available to these villages. Storage in the form of either compressed hydrogen or zinc pellets can then provide electricity from hydrogen or zinc-air fuel cells when renewable sources are unavailable. The analytical results show a great potential to reduce fossil fuel consumption and costs basing renewable energy combined with advanced energy storage devices. The best solution for our hypothetical village appears to be a hybrid energy system, which can reduce consumption of diesel fuel by over 50% with annualized cost savings by over 30% by adding wind turbines to the existing diesel generators. When energy storage devices are added, diesel fuel consumption and costs can be reduced substantially more. With optimized energy storage, use of the diesel generatorss can be reduced to almost zero, with the existing equipment only maintained for added reliability. However about one quarter of the original diesel consumption is still used for heating purposes. (We use the term diesel to encompass the fuel, often called heating or fuel oil, of similar or identical properties.).

Download or read book Advancing Energy Solutions in Alaska written by and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Overview of NREL's work in Alaska. NREL provides objective, data-driven support to aid decision-makers in Alaska as they deploy advanced energy technologies and reduce energy burdens across the nation's largest state. NREL's technical assistance, research, and outreach activities are providing the catalyst for transforming the way Alaska uses energy.

Download or read book Sustainable Energy in Alaska Fact sheet written by and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Improving the Energy Efficiency and Sustainability of Washeteria Buildings in Rural Alaska written by Daniel R. Sloan and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Solar Energy Prospecting in Remote Alaska An Economic Analysis of Solar Photovoltaics in the Last Frontier State written by and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report provides a high-level examination of the potential economics of solar energy in rural Alaska across a geographically diverse sample of remote Alaska Native villages throughout the state. It analyzes at a high level what combination of diesel fuel prices, solar resource quality, and photovoltaic (PV) system costs could lead to an economically competitive moderate-scale PV installation at a remote village. The goal of this analysis is to provide a baseline economic assessment to highlight the possible economic opportunities for solar PV in rural Alaska for both the public and private sectors.

Download or read book Economic Dispatch and Control for Efficiency Improvements on Diesel Electric Power Systems in Alaska Rural Villages written by Larre G. Brouhard and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 410 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Numerous rural areas exist in Alaska, as well as other locations throughout the world, where communities are not connected to a large power generation infrastructure. With no connection to a main electrical power grid, remote communities in Alaska generally rely on diesel-electric generators (DEGs) to meet required electrical generation demands. However, the use of DEGs comes with the high cost of supplying diesel fuel and the high cost of maintenance over their operational lifetime. On average Alaska rural utilities spend significantly more for electrical energy than those communities connected to a large electrical infrastructure. This indicates a need for the application of technologies to reduce the cost by improving the efficiency of the DEGs and utilizing renewable energy technologies which are dependant upon the available local resources. Methods of improving the efficiency of the DEGs such as economic dispatch using control systems can be used in conjunction with renewable energy technologies. The purpose of this research is to develop a simulation model of the diesel-electric generation systems in rural communities using MATLAB® Simulink® for predicting the impact of economic dispatch on the system efficiency and to determine if such a control system would be economically viable for these villages. The findings indicate that a village can benefit economically by installing a control system for system efficiency improvements, with short pay back periods indicated"--Leaf iii.

Download or read book Powering Forward written by Bill Ritter, Jr. and published by Fulcrum Publishing. This book was released on 2016-03-15 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A historic energy revolution is underway in the United States. Wind, sunlight, and other sustainable resources are now the fastest growing sources of energy in the U.S. and worldwide. American families are installing power plants on their roofs and entire communities are switching to 100 percent renewable energy. The urgent need to prevent climate change is causing people around the planet to question their reliance on carbon-intensive oil, coal, and natural gas. Author Bill Ritter, Jr., the 41st governor of Colorado and one of America's key thought leaders on this topic, discusses the forces behind the energy revolution, the new ways we must think about energy, and the future of fossil and renewable fuels. It is an essential read for any who want to understand one of history's biggest challenges to peace, prosperity, and security in the United States. Written in partnership with the Center for a New Energy Economy.

Download or read book Introduction to Renewable Energy written by Vaughn C. Nelson and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2011-04-25 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the world population grows and places more demand on limited fossil fuels, renewable energy becomes more relevant as part of the solution to the impending energy dilemma. Renewable energy is now included in national policies, with goals for it to be a significant percentage of generated energy within the coming decades. A comprehensive overview, Introduction to Renewable Energy explores how we can use the sun, wind, biomass, geothermal resources, and water to generate more sustainable energy. Taking a multidisciplinary approach, the book integrates economic, social, environmental, policy, and engineering issues related to renewable energy. It explains the fundamentals of energy, including the transfer of energy, as well as the limitations of natural resources. Starting with solar power, the text illustrates how energy from the sun is transferred and stored; used for heating, cooling, and lighting; collected and concentrated; and converted into electricity. A chapter describes residential power usage—including underground and off-grid homes—and houses that are designed to use energy more efficiently or to be completely self-sufficient. Other chapters cover wind power; bioenergy, including biofuel; and geothermal heat pumps; as well as hydro, tidal, and ocean energy. Describing storage as a billion-dollar idea, the book discusses the challenges of storing energy and gives an overview of technologies from flywheels to batteries. It also examines institutional issues such as environmental regulations, incentives, infrastructure, and social costs and benefits. Emphasizing the concept of life-cycle cost, the book analyzes the costs associated with different sources of energy. With recommendations for further reading, formulas, case studies, and extensive use of figures and diagrams, this textbook is suitable for undergraduates in Renewable Energy courses as well as for non-specialists seeking an introduction to renewable energy. Pedagogical Features: End-of-chapter problems Numerous case studies More than 150 figures and illustrations A solutions manual is available upon qualifying course adoption

Download or read book Crude Awakening written by Amanda Coyne and published by Bold Type Books. This book was released on 2011-11-08 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents a history of the Alaskan oil industry, revealing political corruption, the FBI's investigation, and how these events will influence American politics.

Download or read book Arctic Human Development Report written by Joan Nymand Larsen and published by Nordic Council of Ministers. This book was released on 2015-02-18 with total page 507 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The goals of the second volume of the AHDR – Arctic Human Development Report: Regional Processes and Global Linkages – are to provide an update to the first AHDR (2004) in terms of an assessment of the state of Arctic human development; to highlight the major trends and changes unfolding related to the various issues and thematic areas of human development in the Arctic over the past decade; and, based on this assessment, to identify policy relevant conclusions and key gaps in knowledge, new and emerging Arctic success stories. The production of AHDR-II on the tenth anniversary of the first AHDR makes it possible to move beyond the baseline assessment to make valuable comparisons and contrasts across a decade of persistent and rapid change in the North. It addresses critical issues and emerging challenges in Arctic living conditions, quality of life in the North, global change impacts and adaptation, and Indigenous livelihoods. The assessment contributes to our understanding of the interplay and consequences of physical and social change processes affecting Arctic residents’ quality of life, at both the regional and global scales. It shows that the Arctic is not a homogenous region. Impacts of globalization and environmental change differ within and between regions, between Indigenous and non-Indigenous northerners, between genders and along other axes.

Download or read book Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation written by Ottmar Edenhofer and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2011-11-21 with total page 1088 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report (IPCC-SRREN) assesses the potential role of renewable energy in the mitigation of climate change. It covers the six most important renewable energy sources - bioenergy, solar, geothermal, hydropower, ocean and wind energy - as well as their integration into present and future energy systems. It considers the environmental and social consequences associated with the deployment of these technologies, and presents strategies to overcome technical as well as non-technical obstacles to their application and diffusion. SRREN brings a broad spectrum of technology-specific experts together with scientists studying energy systems as a whole. Prepared following strict IPCC procedures, it presents an impartial assessment of the current state of knowledge: it is policy relevant but not policy prescriptive. SRREN is an invaluable assessment of the potential role of renewable energy for the mitigation of climate change for policymakers, the private sector, and academic researchers.