Articles
  • Students work together to retrofit a condo with window film. Photo by George Reising/ACEP

    ARCTIC Toolkit: Students pave the way towards energy resiliency in rural Alaska

    November 10, 2023

    Sometimes to get a job done in rural Alaska, you have to learn how to do it yourself. Equipped with thermometers, hair dryers, and infrared cameras, Alaska Teaching Through Technology students learned how to assess a home's energy efficiency, make recommendations and weatherize buildings with accessible materials.

  • Computer generated visual of the Aurora microreactor, Oklo, Inc. Oklo was selected as the vendor for the Eielson AFB microreactor. Credit: Oklo, Inc.

    Demystifying nuclear energy

    September 15, 2023

    Public opinion about nuclear energy is often shaped by big events and popular culture, with many people not feeling they fully understand the topic

  • Image Michelle

    Ready or not, electric vehicles are coming

    August 03, 2023

    The transition to electric vehicles is happening—rapidly in some places and more slowly in others. Are we ready for EVs in Alaska?

  • Ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new UAF coal power plant in 2018. Courtesy of Gwen Holdmann

    Does Coal have a Role in Alaska's Energy Future

    July 07, 2023

    Coal has become a dirty word, and not without good reason. But when it comes to coal, Alaskans have to be pragmatic and open-minded about the realities of our state's needs and available resources. We need to think holistically about our energy options and how we can do the absolute best with ALL of the energy sources and technologies we have access to.

  • Wind turbines and basketball court in Kongiginak, AK. Photo by Amanda Byrd, Alaska Center for Energy and Power

    Innovation at the Margins – Lessons Learned from Rural Alaska

    June 29, 2023

    Technology transitions don't happen uniformly all at once. There are pockets of early adopters, or niche markets, where technology uptake is much faster than the norm. In Alaska, those niche markets have been our rural communities. The Railbelt should look to its counterparts in rural Alaska to understand what strategies and approaches have worked, where, and why.

  • ACEP nuclear town hall co-hosted by ACEP and the Northern Alaska Environmental Center in September 2022.

    Nuclear Power and the Perils of Pioneering

    June 22, 2023

    One day in 2004, Marvin Yoder, the City Manager of Galena, AK, received an unusual e-mail that would change his life and the course of an industry. The email was an inquiry from Toshiba Corporation, asking if Galena might be interested in hosting a demonstration deployment of a small nuclear microreactor "battery" that was under development in Japan.

  • Sundance - the Böers celebrating the first steps into a Solar Future – 1973. Photo credit Erika Holdmann.

    Seven Tomorrows - the perils of predicting the future

    June 15, 2023

    Predicting the future is hard - really hard. What can we learn from researchers who scientifically tried to predict the 1980s and 90s, but got things very, very wrong?

  • Author Gwen Holdmann visiting the Hellisheiði Geothermal Power Plant outside of Reykjavik, Iceland

    Cheaper by the Dozen: Reducing Alaska's Electricity Costs

    June 07, 2023

    Next week, we will explore a cautionary tale about our ability to predict or forecast the future, and why maintaining flexibility in the face of uncertainty is a smart strategy.

  • Power Creek run-of-river hydroelectric project, Cordova, Alaska. Used with permission from Cordova Electric Cooperative

    Embarking on a Quest for Cheap Energy

    June 02, 2023

    Could Alaska generate power for electricity and heat on par with the most competitive markets in the world? A look at the places in the world with the cheapest power to consumers reveals some valuable insights (as well as cautionary tales) to consider as the trend toward deregulation and the opening of energy markets continues to rise.

  • Generators in Ireland

    Alaska's Energy Future: A view from my hot tub

    May 22, 2023

    From vast fossil energy resources to every possible flavor of renewable energy, Alaska has the resources and assets to produce some of the cheapest energy in the world. However, our current reality boasts the highest energy cost burden of any state in the U.S. Can investments we make today leave an intergenerational legacy of cheap and reliable energy in Alaska?

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