Solutions to Alaska’s energy costs are in our hands

ETHAN BERKOWITZ

July 17, 2008 at 11:06AM AKST

For too long, high fuel prices have suffocated rural Alaskans. The sting of high energy costs puts big strains on family budgets and continues to push village businesses from profitability to bankruptcy to extinction.

The entire state is now in the midst of a full-blown energy crisis and, as rural Alaska knows too well, it is past time for solutions.

Short-term solutions have to include price relief for Alaska families and businesses. We must continue to strengthen the state’s Power Cost Equalization program, which offers economic assistance to rural residents. It is time to maximize use of the Alaska’s Low Income Home Energy Assistance program.

Government must also make it easier for businesses to get emergency loans and tax breaks for investment in conservation and energy production. But energy independence means much more than just temporary relief. It means structural and long-term changes in the production and consumption of energy.

Essential structural changes include widespread coordination of bulk fuel purchases so that our communities get the lowest possible price for energy.

Additionally, we should pursue paying off utility infrastructure debt so that Alaskans don’t have to pay down interest as part of their fuel bills. We’ve seen this work in Cordova, where energy bills were reduced by more than 15 percent when the state paid off the remaining $2 million owed on Cordova’s hydroelectric project.

In addition, Alaskans must develop our vast renewable energy resources. That means research and prospecting for resources and taking advantage of proven technologies.

There’s a wind farm in Kotzebue saving roughly 100,000 gallons of diesel per year. We can install wind turbines in 80 villages for only $150 million.

Geothermal power must also be embraced. Every volcano and hot spring is a potential power source. The country of Iceland gets almost 95 percent of its energy from geothermal sources. Here in Alaska, development of Chena Hot Springs’ geothermal output already saves nearly 250,000 gallons of diesel per year.

Alaska also has 90 percent of America’s tidal energy potential, and we should take the lead in developing this sustainable energy source. An additional 160 Alaska communities can make use of biomass, creating energy from fish waste, captured methane or even wood chips.

Solar power, while it isn’t always here when we want it, can also be a part of the energy mix of solutions.

Energy conservation is also part of the equation. Eliminating wasteful consumption means reduced fuel bills and more money in the pockets of Alaska families.

The state is already putting $300 million toward a weatherization program to improve the thermal efficiency of Alaska homes. Work being done at the Cold Climate Housing Research Center in Fairbanks shows that we can build and retrofit structures to make them even more efficient.

Alaska homeowners stand to save hundreds, perhaps thousands, of dollars in heating bills every year. There is no silver bullet to solve the energy crisis — but there is a lot of silver buckshot.

Every time we import a dollar’s worth of diesel, we export an Alaska dollar and miss the opportunity to create an Alska job. It’s time to innovate, to be bold and to invest in transformative technologies.

We all hope to bring North Slope gas on line and produce oil from new fields, but we cannot afford to continue waiting for this to happen. We need to act now.

Rural Alaskans can lead the way in promoting and demanding renewable energy resources. Doing energy right means affordable utility bills and more jobs for Alaskans.

It means taking the responsible course on climate change, and it helps free American foreign policy from its dangerous addiction to foreign oil.

Together we can assure Alaskans energy security and energy independence today, tomorrow and for the next 100 years.

Ethan Berkowitz is a Democrat running for the U.S. House of Representatives. He was the Alaska State House Minority Leader from 1998-2006 and has worked on sustainable energy solutions in both the public and private sectors. He can be reached at ethan@ethanberkowitz.com.