News-Miner Editorial
Our energy crisis
Alaska should listen as other states handle high heating oil prices
Published Sunday, June 15, 2008
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Stumble It!People in the Fairbanks area have grown weary of heating oil prices that seem to be forever heading upward. The frustration manifested itself in mass form Thursday night at an energy rally at the Carlson Center.
People want something done.
It’s important, though, to know Fairbanks isn’t alone. Too often, we think Fairbanks is an island beset by problems no one else can understand. When it comes to heating oil prices, however, that’s not quite right.
Our fellow Americans in the Northeastern states, which have a heavy consumption of heating oil, are feeling pinched as well. Their leaders are considering a variety of ideas, and Alaska’s state leaders should be monitoring how the Northeast responds. The Alaska Legislature meets in a second special session later this summer for the specific purpose of doing something about the short-term cost of energy.
There’s a fair amount of action back East.
The Connecticut General Assembly last week was to consider a bill to spend $2.5 million “on fuel-efficient burners and furnaces for more than 3,000 low-income and elderly families in Connecticut. Proponents say the measure would help families with their home heating costs and save the state’s fuel assistance program about $64 million next winter,” according to a story in the Hartford Courant.
The New York Times reported Friday that the state of Vermont is creating a task force to help residents combat the high prices of gasoline, home heating oil and food. Gov. Jim Douglas, a Republican, said “We must face the growing reality that fuel prices this winter may be out of reach for many families.”
Vermont, the Times story said, “will establish a no- or low-interest program to help residents weatherize their homes, create a clearinghouse for information about public and private organizations that provide heating assistance and encourage the formation of town energy committees to provide outreach and education about home heating.”
The story notes that the New England states have “the highest rates of heating oil use in the country.”
The state of Maine, the Times wrote in that same story, “has the highest rate of heating oil use in the nation, with about 87 percent of homes using heating oil or kerosene, according to census data. Vermont and New Hampshire follow, with 56 percent of residents relying on home heating oil. A gallon of heating oil currently costs about $4.60 in Maine, according to the Web site MaineOil.com.”
“Maine offers residents low-interest loans to help with repairs that improve energy efficiency, provides rebates to homeowners who buy solar panels and provides loans to low-income residents who have trouble paying their heating bills,” the story noted.
The price of heating oil seems to be slightly lower in Fairbanks than in the New England states, where people pay taxes that Alaskans don’t pay and where people don’t receive an Alaska Permanent Fund dividend that can help pay the rising price.
That said, there’s no escaping the fact that some people in the Fairbanks area are wondering what to do about their heating bills for the coming winter.
Before Alaska’s local and state leaders act, however, we need to be clear on what sort of crisis we have.
Do we have a crisis based on price only?
Or, as is likely, do we have a crisis that is much more complex in its makeup? One that is a combination of price, excessive consumption and poorly insulated buildings? A drive around the Fairbanks area and outside of the city limits shows insulation and energy-efficient construction isn’t always a high priority for some “builders.”
If residents want financial assistance from the state — even if it’s “Our money!” — then it seems appropriate for a discussion to also begin about instituting some building codes in areas that don’t have them. Building codes can include requirements for energy-efficient construction. It makes sense to have them: Why, of all things, should government give money to people so they can continue to waste energy? As we’ve said before, any energy assistance plan the government comes up with now should include an incentive to save energy.
There’s a lot to be talked about. In the end, the government’s response needs to be based on reason and the experience of other states, not on emotion.
Community Discussion
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Again, we are not in an energy crisis. We are being taxed at 100% rate of return on oil. The state government initiated the tax, and at first called it the PFD, State Government budget reserve, and now it's the plan of the week to fix the "crisis" of the day.
If the state has to manage the excess tax money of the people, then the people are invalids and should be wards of the State. Thus the state should build a large commune using the most energy efficient methods and materials, that uses clean renewable energy, and can house 900,000 people. (May I suggest a nice tropical island in the allutians).
Governor Palin, pay close attention to where those unprojected profits are being spent. Closer than if you were facing a budget deficit. It is still the peoples' profits you are spending. We are a wild bunch of free individuals and land holders that are paying local taxes for government services.
For the author, unless you plan to tear down every structure in the burrough and start over, new codes won't reduce the energy usage. Showering in cold water once a week instead of daily hot showers will save a lot of energy. The bottom line for conservation is that we do not need electricity or fuel at all, but they sure make life a lot more livable.
While Fairbanks is experiencing the rapid run up of cost of heating oil and increased GVEA electrical power cost, rural Alaska is a catastrophic rate increase for oil based energy. As FNSB Mayor Whitaker pointed out, the cost is over $7.00 now for gasoline and heating oil in rural Alaska, and in some remote villages approaching $10 per gallon.
While energy efficiency is a worthy goal and should be part of an overall plan...it will take time and material to weatherize all Alaskan buildings and homes if not already accomplished. Extreme freezing temperatures in Alaska is only a couple of months away, and the construction season is short.
It doesn't take very much reasoning to know that something has to be done. And experience in Florida is a whole lot different than in interior Alaska in January.
Furthermore, it is "our money", and our money does not need to be discussed with any new spending plan involving a "crisis", energy, gasline, or conservation program. If you want to give your oil royalty taxes to the state no questions asked for the betterment of society, be my guest.
Homes of various construction design, and r-value are not bad homes just because they don't meet some ideal standard for efficiency. They just aren't as nice as those $500K ones up on the hills. Building Codes are lawyer speak for engineer oversight and union labor. What happened to the frontier spirit of homestead it, build it, live in it, improve it? What good are building codes in a cabin other than restricting it to the point that it can no longer be considered a cabin but a 5 star energy efficient one room apartment. Don't forget that in the corner with the honey bucket you need GFCI protected outlets.
ok this is simple, how is a high school graduate supose to get out in the world try to do something on there own working a job or 2 for that matter buy a piece of land, a car, INSURANCE ON THE CAR, (which is a scam if i must say) they pay way to much for it. then all of a sudden hit with a heating bill that is just wrong. for 1000 gallons of heating fuel is what, 4500 bucks? how many high school graduates can afford all of this? 10 years ago when i got outta high school 2 graduates could make a living working normal everyday jobs and survive. now its just not feasable and something needs to be done about it. the elderly who rely on social security and pensions, there wages never go up, my grandma gets 840 bucks a month total, has a house and car and cant afford to leave the house on what she after insurance, food, heating oil, phone and electricity. me myself have no clue how she does but everything is goin up in prices. but there pensions which they work 20, 30, maybe 40 years to get isnt nothing. something really needs to be done.
Am I getting this right, if I need assistance for energy, I should then be willing for government to create a new layer of cost for me by having building codes and permits. Energy crisis equals more government control over our lives. Typical Fairbanks, lets create more government rules and of course more jobs.
Remember outside of the City of Fairbanks, there are no building codes in the borough. If I want to build my outhouse on the second floor and live on the first, I can. The bank may not approve it, but if I pay for it out of pocket I can do it.
Amazing how a 1 year short term assistance program is now a way to impose more government regulations.
It's about time building codes were established and enforced. I have seen plenty of examples of new construction with underdesigned roofs and foundations. Building codes protect home buyers among other things, and they do not equate to union labor and engineers. They simply ensure that new homes are well-constructed and energy efficient, regardless of who is doing the building. What's so wrong with that? A side benefit would be better air quality in the winter because less fuel is used to heat a home compared to much of the current construction in the area. Building codes won't do much for making current homes more energy efficient, but they can ensure new homes meet a higher standard of construction.
Next they will want codes that require everyone to bring their homes up to code. With the mayor saying 20 to 25 % of the population is leaving this year, if this happens exactly how much of a building boom will be taking place in new homes? A home buyer is quite capable of having a report done on a home that they are going to spend thousands of dollars on. Or having the banks insist on it if you want their money.
When will the people of Alaska stop letting the government tell us at every step what to do. The point of this editorial seems to be that what so many have argued in these blogs that it is "our money" is only true if it comes with a lot of government attachments that have nothing to do with short term help. What attachments do the editors think should be placed on the electric companies for their State handout. Per Dermont Cole's column the other day, it appears the money cards for fuel to the people is out and the money to electric companies is in. Friday will tell.
Building codes do one thing and one thing only, they raise the cost of construction. As a by- product they create jobs, mostly government jobs. And by the way the state has adopted the same building codes as the citys. If you take you typical "cabin" and your 5 star "energy saving" home of the same size and compare just heating bills you will find them fairly equal after all the extra costs of the 5 star rateing. IF you run the required air to air heat exchanger to maintain the "indoor air quility" requirement you will find you will be paying more to heat the 5 star home, but you will feel better.
We are willing to pay $5.00 a gallon for drinking water at the store, we pay over $5000.00 a gallon for ink for our printers, and buy $70,0000 SUV's and then bitc--- about heating our cave,,. Now we come to the great discovery that the farther we live form the product the more we have to pay,, SURPRISE??? What was that question JFK asked a few years ago,, Ask not what your country can do for you, but---
Energy Crisis ???
Energy Conservation ???
Did I hear somebody in Juneau mumble something about how they wanted the Frothing at the Mouth, Frozen Fingered Fairbanksans with Frosty Badditudes to FOCUS on..
Energy Conservation ???
All of the supposedly smart college educated people in Fairbanks who have these really groovy jobs in fancy comfy office buildings that suck a lot of energy in winter get their jollies by fiddling with fancy graphics programs on their computers spewing out line-graps and pie-charts...
...and I've yet to hear anybody make serious plans about building an AAC-concrete manufacturing plant in Fairbanks.
http://www.cchrc.org/research.html
http://www.google.com/search?num=100&...
Go ahead, google it [aac concrete]
[aerated autoclaved concrete]
Try to find the videos posted on the web about AAC
Fairbanks has plenty of all the resources to build a huge AAC industry.
Did you know you can make big beautiful imitation logs out of AAC?
In many of the huge Montana Style Mountain Lodge Log Homes built for gazillionaires, the "logs" are made from AAC.
AAC has 3times the insulation value as wood.
ROTPROOF AND FIREPROOF
...in fact it's so fireproof you can build beautiful woodfire-furnaces out of AAC.
All of this yakettyyak-rhetoric and posturing with tons of money spent on Consultants and Research...
...well quit yer blasted foaming at the mouth and get to work!!!
You all look like you poured beer in your coffee this morning!!!
=====
....
....
now, after all you jacka$$es have studied AAC-concrete to death and get an idea of what it and it's cousin "nanocrete" is all about--->
---> I happen to have a really cool industrial facility in Alaska that has most of the required machinery to make AAC-concrete.
[steam-plant and retorts]
And I'm looking for serious players who want to chip-in to make Alaska's demo project of how this safe,economic,efficient,hypo-allergenic,fireproof architectural material can transform the construction of schools, hospitals, office buildings, warehouses, residences...all over Alaska.
......flash/rumble
DistantThunder,
You sure love to further your own private agendas.
Yes but do those NE states have a 48" pipeline less than 2 miles from their house thats pumping the oil from the ground in their state and 2 refineries within 10 miles of their house in their state? Its apples and oranges, we have the supply and the refining resources in our town, theres no justification or excuse to even begin to place our people in a hardship over this stuff! Also does those NE states have a unaccounted for $8 billion dollar fund from the same oil they are paying so much for? Alaska aint the NE! Heard this morning on MSNBC news, 2 most expensive states to buy gas in America....California .....and Alaska! Tell me thats not retarded???
Oil pipelines and refineries may be in the backyard, but you're competing with the world for the products. Alaskans love to say they are independent and don't like government, unless of course, they are looking for some freebies and subsidies for themselves. The word, hypocracy, comes to mind.
Once again, Americans (and in this case more specifically Fairbanksans) have nobody but themselves to blame for the current "energy crisis". You blissfully carried on over the recent years, unfazed and oblivious to mounting indicators that oil demand was increasing and prices would surely rise. Our consumptive lifestyles continue unabated, with very little interest in prodding "elected officials" to take the painful steps needed to help secure a more efficient, less energy intensive future. Our homes and lifestyles utilize more energy than anywhere on earth. Homes can easily be built to practically heat themselves, even in the Arctic. They do cost more, but those costs are recovered in savings. Our very own Cold Climate Housing Research Center is doing cutting edge research and development taking success stories from Scandanavia, Canada, and elsewhere that can save huge amounts or energy. In Finland, over 90% of new homes are built with a Masonry Stove, the cleanest burning wood heating appliance there is. One or two short, hot fires a day store heat in a mass of brick and rock. Devices are available that can capture nearly one half of the energy lost in gray water from showers, washing machines, etc. On demand water heaters, water preheating systems, even solar water and space heating. Superinsulation building techniques are well known, yet are considered the realm of lunatic greenies only. On the highways, I still see people racing around, with jackrabbit starts, lots of braking, impatiently cussing those who are trying to drive more efficiently, and speeding everywhere. SLOW THE F*** DOWN, drive more practical cars, reduce trips, share rides, etc. etc. Living in the future of ever increasing costs is not rocket science, but don't expect the government to solve all your problems. If you had not been asleep at the wheel, maybe decades ago when the last "energy crisis" ended, you would have kept the pressure up on our officials, reduced consumption, lived more practical lifestyles. We were too busy though trying to use up all that cheap oil.
Building codes a problem? Are you all kidding? Building codes protect the homebuyer from builders who are cutting corners for their financial profit at the sake of the buyer. Take a look at UWest and you'll see sagging foundations and homes built in poor soils. I had to drag my builder to court to fix basic issues that didn't even pass the red face test. Then he died and I had to tangle with the estate. Talk about red tape, I'd prefer to have local oversight of bare minimum standards than feed the lawyers and courts more money to fix simple items.
Unfortunately our legislators have stripped the state regulations to the point the state and local staff can't even enforce the bare minimums and has absolutely no enforcement authority over so called "building inspectors" and the Alaska Housing "inspectors" who cheat on their inspection reports. Yes, I'd rather pay a few thousand more to the courts and lawyers than actually see something built right. Lord forbid we actually spend money on an effective government.
""""Oil pipelines and refineries may be in the backyard, but you're competing with the world for the products. Alaskans love to say they are independent and don't like government, unless of course, they are looking for some freebies and subsidies for themselves. The word, hypocracy, comes to mind"""
Not all Alaskans live in a cabin in the backwoods disassociated from the real world "independently", nor do they think as you describe, though some do. The majority work, pay mortgages,property taxes, bills, vote, plan for retirement, and raise our kids just like the rest of the Nation, all the while trying to lavish and enjoy what Alaska brings to our lives. But you go ahead and stereotype Alaskans anyway you'd like.
akhusky -
"hypocrisy"
It may not be a "crisis", but for me and my family it certainly is.
Anytime a resource so very much needed for day to day existence in a place like interior Alaska triples in price, its a crisis, regardless of the out of touch statements about folks not being "financially responsible"! Unless your pay doubled in the same time frame the outrageously high fuel price did, folks will be put in a serious bind financially!
"Energy efficiency" is relative. Every place I've lived in Alaska has been far better insulated and sealed than anything I ever lived in the Lower 48. The conditions up here have always demanded it ever since the first humans crossed the Bering Landbridge. What can government do beyond what Alaska's climate already enforces. Create more layers of burdensome bureacracy and taxes?
The root of the problem is price and you're never, never going to reduce the price of energy by making less of it. Pre-school economics can figure that out. If you want to maintain some semblance of your standard of living, you're going to have to get off your whiney-hiney; get out and start drilling, digging, cutting, or wrenching on something to get it.
Been that way for thousands of years.
We have technology now that will work for alternative energy. We just can't get the backing. Many lenders won't loan on property that has alternative because they consider the property unique. What we need is for legislatures to push lenders to change. All the new natural gas in the world isn't going to help us get the monies to run it into our homes.
I built my own house and can assure you that the building inspections are a joke. The inspector is getting paid by the builder to sign it off and that he does. For several inspections the inspector was too busy just told me to take a couple of pictures for the file.
If a homeowner plans to get a loan on a home is Alaska it has to meet the BEES energy efficiency standard already. That being said a 5*+ house that is 3,500 square feet is going to use twice the energy than a 10 year old 1,200 square foot home.
I know many people who built large modern homes 5 years ago when heating oil was a whopping .99 cents. How irresponsible of them to not know that heating oil would be 500% more expensive in 5 years. What do you think they should do? Tear their now $300,000 house down and build a 1-room cabin. Sell it and move to Eastern Washington where the average electric and gas bill is $120 a month. Hope that the legislature will hope a moment of uncommon sense and allow Alaskans to benefit from the rape and pillage of our resources.
I purchased a Greenwood boiler last fall and no longer have heating oil bills, but I will probably be on the boroughs most wanted list once they ban wood burning. That reminds me, I need to find out if the burning bad applies to coal.. :)
I'm always told there are never any dumb questions so I'm going to ask. Here is a site about monolithic foam used on dome homes, can this system work on a conventional home? http://static.monolithic.com/gallery/air...
OOOOhhh The energy inspector rator....Is that the guy I made an appointment with and he said I would be 2 weeks out on his list.
IT'S BEEN 5 WEEKS AND NOTTHING IS HAPPENING...
Who ever came up with this plan has mental health issues.
For Fairbanksgas and the borough:
The Greenwood boilers don't pollute like wood stoves. See:
http://www.epa.gov/woodheaters/models.ht...
I've ordered one myself after last winter's fuel oil cost. I don't see how the borough can ban them with the current price of oil. Anyway, would the penalty be worse than paying for fuel oil?
would like to point out that due the maritime polar air masses influence from the atlantic ocean, scandanavia tends to be much warmer than the interior of alaska (continental polar air mass region). i don't think a couple of fires in a stone woodstove and sucking what heat is left from the water of a shower is going to cut it here. what happens when everyone here turns to burning wood for heat? heavy air pollution for sure, but the fire department would never be able to keep up with the chimney fires.
AlaskaCub,
My comment has nothing to do with the lifestyle of Alaskans. Most Alaskans are urbanites or suburbanites and live the same life as anyone else in the U.S., as you pointed out (The biggest difference is the things Alaskans can do in their spare time). My point was that many Alaskans (but not all) have an expectation of cheap, subsidiized fuel because they live next to an oil pipeline and a refinery. Ask folks that live in Texas if they are the beneficiaries of cheap fuel for those reasons. On the other hand, many (but certainly not all) Alaskans seem to be against government intervention in the market place and government subsidies. Maybe their opposition only applies when the government subsidies (or lack of them in the case of cheap fuel) don't influence them directly.
Sorry, but if you're not a polar bear or a caribou the feds aren't concerned about you. Freeze in the dark for all they care.
Batman, you are absolutely right, when my Greenwood is burning is puts out no more smoke than an oil stove. The manufacturer says that is is up to 85% efficient. Unfortunately the borough does not say all inefficient wood stoves are banned from burning.
I wired the controls so that any plumber or electrician would be able to tell that the Greenwood is the primary heat source and my oil stove is a backup. I will be burning wood until the borough offers to fill my oil tank.
The drivers here are worse then Anchorage. And that is something. I like to drive fast but not with the price of fuel these days. I for one will not miss 25 percent of the population that really did not want to be here. I grew up here and do not like what it has become.
Pat
I have news for you pmcgraw, this is a military town and it is only getting bigger all the time. If you think theres a lot of soldiers on Fort Wainwright now, wait another 5 years. Theres housing projects being built or in the plans to be built on almost every sq " of dirt on Ft. Wainwright. Lots of soldiers from European bases realigning or closing have to go somewhere too and apparently this is a good place to put em. They fortunately wont feel the wrath of the heating crisis since Ft. Wainright heats their buildings and military housing with coal or pays the natural gas bill for the few that use it, so its no sweat on them.
So I guess all the natural gas burning off into the atmosphere on the north slope is going to keep burning off into the atmosphere? Thanks environmentalists! You do the biggest disservice to the country.
What a waste.
well as long as the military are safe and warm who gives a damn about the rest of the population right alaskacub. we care about the military and they could care less who goes hungry because of higher fuel bills or who goes to bed cold. that sucks, but as long as the military are happy and warm and fed by our tax dollars thats all that COUNTS. Our federal taxes should go to helping ALASKANS and their needs like a coal plant and a natural gas pipeline not to the total comfort of the military at our demise.
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