Alaska's Rising Costs of Living Skyrocketing Upwards.

The cost of living in Alaska has risen to the point of many families resorting to wood stoves for heating and cooking especially in the bush and outling areas where incomes have dropped during this same time period of escalating energy prices.

Additional hydro-electric projects are being explored to supplement the current Bradley Lake Hydro-electric Project but these new resources are still many years away from producing their first watt of power.

Areas being evaluated are Grant Lake, Ptarmigan Creek, Falls Creek and Crescent Lake, all in the Moose Pass/Cooper Landing areas on the Kenai Peninsula. Current estimates state the sites could produce up to five megawatts of power each, or together they could generate approximately 22 percent of Homer Electric Association's current peak energy load needs for the entire Kenai Peninsula.

Future of Alaska Alternative Energy Sources

The future of Alaska's Alternative Energy Sources remains uncertain although we are now seeing more interest in areas of wind, solar, and even go-thermal resources. Our reliance on natural gas and oil has enlightened us that this finite resource is quickly being consumed at a rate to where it is no longer able to meet demands.

Wind turbine generators have been proving themselves across Alaska from the Matsu Valley to the Eskimo village of Toksook Bay, Alaska located on the Bering Sea. The wind is a clean and plentiful source of energy in most areas of Alaska.

Understanding the need and possibilities, Ex-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and state lawmakers pledged $300 million over five years in renewable energy grants to utilities, independent power producers or local governments. It's a very substantial amount of money for a state with only 670,000 residents.

Wind, Solar, & Backup Generators.

Connecting your home to an alternative source of power requires some necessary precautions to be both safe and legal.

Connecting Generators to your home.

Don't connect your generator directly to your home's wiring. Connecting a portable generator directly to your household wiring is a recipe for disaster. A generator that is directly connected to your home's wiring can 'backfeed' onto the power lines connected to your home.

Utility transformers can then "step-up" or increase this backfeed to thousands of volts—enough to kill a utility lineman making outage repairs a long way from your house. You could also cause expensive damage to utility equipment and your generator.

The only safe way to connect a portable electric generator to your existing wiring is to have a licensed electrical contractor install a transfer switch. The transfer switch transfers power from the utility power lines to the power coming from your generator.

Alaskans once cast a wary eye on anything associated with the environmental movements, but today this mentality of investing heavily in green power is disappearing, not so much to reduce carbons but more to save cash on daily living expenses.