…will we be ready? A much more electrified future is on the horizon, a reality that raises a good many questions. How will our homes and buildings be heated? Will cruise ships continue to visit? Can wind and solar power be added to the Juneau energy mix? Will it cost us more or will we…
Author: renewablejuneau
Alaska can rise to the clean-energy challenge!
Dave Reaves‘ compelling February 15 Anchorage Daily News opinion piece is a powerful call on Alaska to embrace an energy future that so much of the world presently has its eye on. In Dave’s words, “The time to overhaul or legacy systems is now and the need to slow climate change is urgent. We’ve got…
Maine startup aims to pull carbon out of the atmosphere by growing and — then sinking — kelp farms
The kelp soaks up carbon, via photosynthesis, and grows. After about seven months, the mature blades get too heavy for their biodegradable buoys, and sink. Nereocystis leutkeana, commonly known as bull kelp, is the ‘sea vegetable’ around these parts that many of us are familiar with. This is the long brown kelp with the hollow…
Solutionists
Renewable Juneau board member Anjuli Grantham was 350Juneau’s featured speaker yesterday at the weekly Climate Emergency Rally at the Juneau Capitol steps. (Watch the video HERE!) Anjuli introduced her latest climate action project, a fantastic ten-section body of work entitled Juneau’s Climate Change Solutionists. Her ‘solutionists’ project focuses on local people, local action, and the…
Poet Amanda Gorman’s ‘Earthrise’
What if the Biden/Harris inauguration day poet laureate could address climate change? In fact, she’s done just that. As the brief Yale Climate Connection’s article that introduces another terrific Amanda Gorman piece reads, “No effort here to paraphrase or quote from it: That would be like the proverbial narrative describing a photo of a painting…
President Biden will electrify entire federal vehicle fleet of 645,000
WOW. What an election can do! Welcome to the roller coaster that is the American democratic experiment! Not too long ago we were facing automobile fuel efficiency cuts, a direct slap in the face to both climate change and even the auto industry. Today, well, a new day, a new chapter, and a new and…
New climate action task force to tackle Sitka’s carbon footprint
Like Juneau’s climate action plans, some of which reach back over 11 years, Sitka’s efforts to grapple with the climate crisis have confronted similar issues. Like Juneau, Sitka developed a plan a decade ago. Some items were completed, many were not. Both featured carbon reduction goals, but a lack of follow-up and analysis leave many…
Did You Know?
Juneau has its very own electric boat and propulsion company! Bob Varness is the president and general manager of Tongass Rain Electric Cruise LLC, based here in Juneau! Bob has spent the past six years working on a conceptual electric vessel design; selling electric propulsion systems; performing gas to electric conversions and providing consulting services…
DEJA VU!
Do you remember the lyrics, “I feel – that we’ve been – here before” from Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s timeless 1970 release ‘Deja Vu’? These words ring true today as we enter round ?? of the Forest Service’s Mendenhall Glacier Recreation Area planning process. (Question marks are intentional! and for those who don’t know…
Uplifting Holiday Reads
Here at Renewable Juneau we have a few gung-ho board members who act like world-wide web scrubbers. Day after day, they scour the internet archives, message boards, and news feeds, seeking out inspiring renewable energy stories, educational reads that could apply to our Alaskan lives, or political opportunity pieces that could be implemented here at…