Solar On Earth Comes To Alaska
Solar is a simple solution to many budget issues.
The dividends from oil pay out only once a year but the dividends from an investment in solar pays out for 6 months each year (eight if your good at math).
The dividends from the good education of critical thinkers is an economic multiplier. Anything we can do to lower the operating costs for our schools, increase the career opportunities, and support the investment into capacity is a win-win-win solution and that’s what we aim to provide.
Wednesday December
Wednesday Dec. 6, 2023
5:30pm (AKST)
Nathan McCarthy, president of Solar On Earth will present via zoom on how a simple Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) can provide a no cost solution to rapidly accelerating Alaska’s transition to a regenerative economy, beginning with outfitting the borough owned school buildings with solar photovoltaics. A few cents of savings will make a lot of sense over the course of the year to free resources for other education priorities.
We are also working to connect the dots on how these and other projects become workforce development opportunities for the next generation of permaculture professions that could someday soon include solar manufacturing to lower the costs and improve the quality of life for all.
Clean Power to the People
Energy is a fundamental part of a technologically-advanced peaceful civilization. Distributed clean energy for electrical, heating, and transportation produced on-site from locally-available renewable resources is the most efficient, most affordable way to meet the needs of those living today without compromising the needs of future generations.
Conservation of energy is important, but only part of the whole picture. Food production, zero-waste manufacturing, and transportation are all options for dealing with excess power at time of use. Through educational campaigns, we aim to empower communities with the resources to develop the sovereignty, security, and freedom that comes from independence from fossil fuels.
National Solar Tour
Since 2011, ARK has annually coordinated with the American Solar Energy Association, local agencies, and system owners across the state on demonstrating the possible, the potential, and the generational profits that comes from investing in clean energy – with solar being the low-hanging fruit.
The National Solar Tour continues to serve as a rally point for advocates, industry leaders, and forward-thinking citizens while marking the progress we are making toward a clean energy economy that is affordable for all.
For many parts of our home in Alaska, the sun shines brightly for half the year and and hardly at all for the rest of the year. This great potential has always stumbled with the pitfall of cost-effective storage, point-of-use distribution, and efficient conversion from heat to electricity.
From the tiniest home to the largest metroplex hydrogen can serve as the medium of exchange that breaks the bonds of carbon addiction and moves our technologically advanced civilization. Our extreme conditions allow us to serve as testing grounds on the latest innovations that can lower the cost and clean up the air. Like carbon, centralized generation cost of to where we are and to be leaders of the fossil free world, upgrading our grid will get us there.
The planning for the 2022 Alaska Solar Tour is ongoing for Sunday, Oct. 2. Reach out if you would like to contribute to the organizing, sponsor the event, or host a site.
Heatspring an Online Learning Institute
Since 2007 Heatspring learning institute has been connecting a wide variety of students to a plethora of industry experts that provide real world skills to build a brighter tomorrow for us all. With over 130 free courses in energy related permaculture professional development on solar, financing, HVAC, utilities, microgrids, geothermal, and even drone technology, this strategic partner (we receive receive affiliate commissions) can help you master the technology that will impact your career, company/organization, and the planet.
- Solar Design and Installation x 48 courses
- Solar NABCEP x 46 courses
- Solar Energy Finance x 27 courses
- Batteries and storage x 29 courses
- Building Science x 23 courses
- Geothermal x 10 courses
Interior Grid Resiliency Project
For the last decade, ARK has been a ‘Beyond Coal” advocate in the state of Alaska. While some argue the merits of the environmental ethics and others believe the best option is to keep it in the ground, we simply acknowledge that the carbon economy got us where we are at but will not get us where we want to go. In looking beyond the siloed industry for energy we also recognize that the transition isn’t just about the cost of energy, but also about the transition of the current industry specialists who, in a green world still need good jobs. Our focus on workforce development can provide transferable skills and experience from the industry that burns coal to the industry that builds with it. When a ton of coal as fuel is only worth $90/ton and the same weight of carbon fiber is worth $220k/ton its time to deploy an adaptive strategy. As a transition strategy, the same carbon burning the world down can be used to build a brighter one or us all.
Transition Taskforce
The solar tours are a beautifully simple way for everyday people to learn what happens beyond the switch and, as with all intelligent consumers, knowledge is power. There is a cornucopia of options and mediums of learning so that anyone who can read and do simple math can become a local energy champion by either joining up with an existing transition taskforce or can start their own with support and assistance as needed. Reach out, if you would like to know more about teams in your area.
You can also learn the basics on your own time and we have fee tools to help get you started on step 101