In the final frontier is where it all began…
In 2012, founding member Robert Shields was invited to apply to teach the renewable energy program at Mat-Su college. Part of the application process was to develop and present his “vision” for Alaska’s future. While some things have changed, we are developing many critical elements of making Alaska the proof of concept for how American can arise by the end of the decade to become leaders of the fossil free world.
FARM the Polaris
2012 Is also when we began a long-term love affair with a big beautiful lady, the historic Polaris hotel. At one time the concrete mountain in the center of the the golden heart of Alaska was a viable location for commerce. Now she needs to come down, but that doesn’t have to be the end of the story. What comes next for the debris, and how will we use that space to serve the needs of the planet and her people in perpetuity for the people of Alaska?
After a decade of dedication in 2022, we began building relationship with for-purpose development firm The Bridge Eco-Village. Utilizing the progressive urban planning tools available from EcoDistricts, we have a plan and are negotiating with investors on how to mimic the model they developed in Harrisburg, PA.
Please sign the Change petition to show your support for advancing this project and others like it.
Interior Grid Resiliency Project
The high cost of energy in Alaska has resulted in a declining quality of life for the residence, businesses, and visitors. Over the years, ARK’s members have made various attempts to contribute solutions. As challenging as things are in the Interior, we recognize the challenges are even greater for the rural communities. With this in mind, we have been researching and networking across the globe to find the funding, technologies, and combination of innovative strategies that permit us to move forward. While solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, and bioenergy have great potential, they must be integrated thoughtfully because of the negative impacts they can have to the most vulnerable members. We resolve that:
To lower the price and clean up the air, we must upgrade the grid.
Upgrading the grid seems like a massive task, and it is, but it is quite approachable for us here in Alaska. In a large city such as Seattle, urban density creates a number of complexities that we don’t have to face. For the challenges that we do have to overcome, our partners at Heatspring provide a wealth of information, classes, and professional training. They cover topics from wiring a camper for solar to upgrading utility grade systems. Working together, we can make what was once impossible a practical solution for moving forward.
Powering and empowering Alaska at once is the purpose of our Clean Power to the People solution. Responding to an EDA grant opportunity, we developed our Interior Grid Resiliency Project (embedded below) as a framework to begin the conversation about how industries can increase their triple bottom line by transitioning from carbon-burning to carbon-building. With projects like this, by the end of the decade, Alaska can and will be the prime case study for a fossil free world. Deciding to pursue clean power offers peaceful paths forward to economic resilience, puts people to work, and heals the planet. Upgrading the grid is part of ensuring that 140 years from now, Earth is still a good place to raise a family.
2022 Action Plan
Power grids are not mad science, and they’re not a luxury. They are critical infrastructure for homes, villages, towns, and cities. We built our grid and our towns, as have most, one building at a time. Much of our current infrastructure was built without today’s applied knowledge about orientation, flood plains, air flow patterns, or the impacts of rapid climate changes. Had we known then what we know now, we could have made better choices. Going forward, we can choose better.
Individuals make action plans, organizations make business plans, and municipalities write what are called Comprehensive Economic Development Strategies (CEDS). This extensive 5-year business plans outline which actions these communities can and cannot take. Alaska and the regional communities are now in the process of updating their plans. Involved parties have prepared for this decision with projections of the challenges our communities will face in the next half-decade. The reviews we have read indicate that five more years of business as usual will be an option none of us can afford. Teams like EcoDistricts show us that we have a far better chance of getting through the turbulence of our current climate breakdown if we start to use alternative, reasonable tools and strategies for developing our communities.
The best-tested economic model for generational prosperity is the one that recognizes Nature as a living organism. Yet, like our power grid, the economic environment we live in was built piecemeal over time. Catching it up to modern knowledge about green business and infrastructure empowers entrepreneurs, businesses, civil engineers, and infrastructure managers to make new choices. To help that organism regenerate, ARK advocates for the Restored Green Movement.
The Restored Green Movement responds to our shared need for an economic environment that matches not just modern science, our values and principles. Passing regenerative policy is a critical step for many of the greatest opportunities for generational wealth, but once the light turns green, we all then share responsibility for building the world we want to live in. If we build our business and economy around our principles, and if we practice those principles in our daily lives, then we will set the example for the policies of future generations. Our knowledge, awareness, and skills give us the power to change this world. With that power comes the responsibility to be good ancestors for our descendants. As a state of pioneers, we may be the best prepared in the world to see the way forward and break the trail through the mountain pass. In this manner we can lead ourselves and inspire others to do the same.
Alaska represents the National Solar Tour on Oct. 2nd and this is the next opportunity for us to come together as a state, imagine a brighter future, and work to make it so. Financially, solar is low hanging fruit, making it a game changer. Hydrogen is another possible game changer: in heating, transportation, and as a transition medium, it is affordable, reliable, and can hasten the transition to a virtual network of decentralized microgrids and nanogrids. These kinds of grids can grow modularly in harmony with the needs of sustainable growth demands. With no shortage of green solutions on the table, it’s time to get to work.
2022 Goals
- Organize a steering committee for the community power taskforce
- Open negotiations with GVEA on leading the way forward starting with selling the coal plants to serve dual purpose with carbon fiber becoming a major interior industry for our blooming aerospace industry.
- Introduce 3rd party financing options to marginalized communities, municipalities, nonprofits, and schools to provide 0 cost signature financing to capitalize on the “free money falling from the sky”.
- Organize and coordinate with local labor unions to utilize Heatspring and other tools to train the next generation of Alaskan permaculture professionals to paint, build, and operate a brighter future for us all.
- Develop the framework to bring more micromanufacturing to Alaska. Specifically energy, data, and building supplies that can demonstrate how treasuring our trash can be the next gold rush.
- Establish baseline measurements for all energy sectors as the foundation of local living regenerative economies.