Did you know that Juneau gets only 20 percent of its total energy use from hydropower? CBJ recently published a draft energy plan that is open for public comment until Halloween. The plan lays out our current energy usage and proposes three scenarios for going forward.
Now we have to choose.
I’m writing today in support of the “Do a Lot” option. That means 80 percent renewable energy by 2045. The good news is that we have local, renewable options for meeting most of our energy needs, using proven technologies that we already have here in town.
There are three main areas we can improve: heating, transportation and food.
Twenty-one percent of Juneau’s energy use currently goes toward heating. Instead of heating with oil or natural gas, we can convert to heat pumps and district heating. Heat pumps are already at work at the airport, the pool and over 150 homes and businesses around Juneau — so we know not only that they work, but that heating bills are significantly less.
Forty-three percent of Juneau’s energy use currently goes toward transportation. Juneau has one of the highest rates of electric vehicle ownership in the country (per capita) because our geography is perfect for EVs. If we upgrade to electric buses, taxis and cruise ship docks, that would be a huge improvement in our energy use. It would also save money since driving an EV in Juneau costs less per mile than driving a gas engine.
Growing more produce locally would provide fresher, healthier food. Without shipping from all over the globe, again, cost and emissions would both go down.
These upgrades reduce greenhouse gases, save money and provide jobs for local residents. Of course, there is an up-front cost to greening our infrastructure and that is a legitimate concern in this time of budget crisis. But you don’t change everything at once. You prioritize your list (as the energy plan has done) and start at the beginning. Then you use the money you save to make the next improvements.
When the school district hired an energy coordinator, they saved half a million dollars. And for the same cost as a monitor heater, an air source heat pump eliminates your fuel bill and is three times more efficient than electric baseboard heat. In fact, I once had a local business owner track me down after hearing me on the radio to tell me how much he was saving since he’d installed heat pumps in his building. He was ecstatic! That’s why we’ve seen over 150 homes converted to heat pumps in the last year alone. It’s good for business.
There is also a cost to not upgrading. The cost to relocate Shishmaref, a single Arctic village, has been estimated at $180 million. I shudder to think of what ocean acidification will do to our fisheries, the No. 1 employer in the state.
Juneau has the potential to be an oasis of fresh water, cool temps and relative stability going forward. Dominick Della Salla, a scientist for the Geos Group, calls the Tongass “a liferaft for biodiversity.” So we can look at this as a disaster, or we can realize that Juneau has the opportunity to be a leader in creating a vibrant, innovative, healthy future. The priorities laid out in the energy plan would put us on the right track.
The full report and the executive summary can be found here: http://www.juneau.org/clerk/boards/Sustainability/energy_plan.php
To submit a comment, email juneauenergyplan@juneau.org. The deadline is Oct. 31.
• Danielle Redmond is a mother and an active volunteer for the Alaska Climate Action Network.
