Energy makes everything happen—and it comes in many more forms than we generally think about.

• Energy for running our bodies comes in the form of food.
• Energy for heating homes comes in the form of firewood or stove oil.
• Energy for cooking comes from propane or electricity.
• Energy to run vehicle comes as gas or diesel.
• Energy to run computers and other household gadgets comes from electricity.

“New Energy for Sustainable Communities”
This was the title of the 2010 Rural Energy Conference that I attended on behalf of Igiugig along with Randy during the last week of April, and it touched on all of the above listed energy issues with a focus on renewable forms of energy. 

     Over four hundred participants congregated at the Westmark Hotel in Fairbanks to learn about and consider the many aspects of energy needs in our state.  Participants represented the full range of Alaskans from our legislators and tribal leaders, to agency representatives, program staff, borough representatives, village managers, local electric workers and consumers/citizens.
     Most of the conference focused on the production and/or conservation of energy in the form of electricity or heat.  Many projects around Alaska were presented including various tidal and in-stream hydro, wind projects ranging in size from 1 to 600 kilowatt systems, as well as geothermal and super insulated construction methods.  As part of the conference participants also had the chance to go to Chena Hot Springs and tour the geothermal generators located there. 
     During one of the technical sessions, I gave a presentation sharing what Igiugig is doing to provide food locally including the food bank, chicken eggs, the potato garden and the new greenhouse project.  As seems to be the trend, many people were very interested in our projects and had lots of questions about how and why we are doing what we do.
     While in Fairbanks we, along with Nathan Hill from Kokhanok, took the opportunity to visit the Cold Climate Housing Research Center which has developed methods of building homes that can be heated for almost no cost even in the far north villages.  Their demonstration model was impressive, performing in Anaktuvik Pass, a three bedroom 1000’ home heated year around with just 160 gallon of heating oil. If you are building something you might be interested in perusing their website:  http://www.cchrc.org  which is full of good information, plans, sources and resources.
We returned with bags full of information and brochures along with many more websites that will provide you a wealth of information on any of the subjects mentioned in this article and more.

POINT TO PONDER…
Every gallon of fuel we can avoid using now, leaves that much more oil reserve for use by our children and grandchildren, so conserving electricity, burning wood, and using alternative energy whenever we can is actually leaving behind resources for our future generations.