(For prior week's news, please visit the ACEP This Week Archive)

An Investigation of the Alaska SeaLife Center Seawater Heat Pump Demonstration
A Project by the Alaska SeaLife Center

Image right: ASLC Heat Pump (Source:Jason Meyer, ACEP)

Image right: How a Heat Pump Works (Source: Graphic was adapted from the article “Is a heat pump right for you?” by S. Gibson in the 2010 Fine Homebuild­ing magazine.)

Prepared for: Denali Commission

For more information on this report contact Jason Meyer, Emerging Energy Technology Manager (ACEP), Jason.Meyer@alaska.edu.

On Thursday, ACEP Research Engineers, Jack Schmid and Jeremy Kasper will visit the AHERC Tanana River Test Site in Nenana along with Alaska Department of Fish and Game Fisheries Biologist Carl Pfisterer. The team will be conducting a side-by-side comparison between two different sonar systems: the Teledyne Blueview (R) system and a DIDSON. CarlPfisterer is a sonar expert with ADFG and the ACEP researchers hope to learn more about the DIDSON from him and compare it to the existing Blueview system.

ACEP is also working with ADFG to determine the suitability of either of these systems for simultaneously monitoring river debris as well as endemic fish species. Visit the AHERC homepage for more information about our hydrokinetic research.

(Photo taken by Paul Duvoy)

This week ACEP’s research Engineer, Daisy Huang is going to Gulkana to look at the GARN biomass boiler in their Village Council office. She will take measurements and look at clearances and the general layout so she can select parts to install a Btu metering system into the boiler to monitor its performance and efficiency over the 2013-2014 winter.

(Photo courtesy of GARN)

Join REAP (Renewable Energy Alaska Project) for the 9th Annual Alaska Renewable Energy Fair on the downtown parkstrip in Anchorage. This event is fun for the whole family! Come down and enjoy the live music, crafts, great local food, informational booths, children’s activities, and interesting workshops. Admission is FREE and it’s guaranteed to be a great time!

The ACEP management team is in Anchorage Monday and Tuesday for organizational planning sessions. The group is working with Professional Growth Systems to define an operational plan that will carry our strategic plan forward. 

On Thursday, 14 interns and staff from the Alaska Center for Energy and Power (ACEP) will visit Chena Hot Springs Resort (CHSR) to tour its many sustainable energy projects. The interns will visit CHSR’s geothermal generator system, which was made famous for its ground breaking use of a low temperature geothermal resource to create electric energy. They will tour the generator building looking at the generator system up close and they will also get to see the geothermal wells that bring the system to life.  Following the generator tour, the interns will have a chance to see the geothermally heated and powered hydroponics greenhouse which is in operation all year round. All of Chena’s lettuce and tomatoes for its restaurant are grown there and the interns will have the chance to see this sustainability project up close. Before the day is over the interns will have ample opportunity to view several other projects at Chena which may include a plastics-to-oil machine, a water ram pump, the geothermal district heating system, or the famous Chena Hot Springs Ice Museum.

Learn more about ACEP’s Intern Program.

(Photo right by Chena Hot Springs Geothermal Power)

The Alaska Center for Energy & Power is an applied research program under the Institute of Northern Engineering located at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.   For more information contact Julie Estey, Business Director, Julie.estey@alaska.edu.

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