Fairbanks: resolving energy issues.

• Author: Bohi, Heidi
• Position: Towns in Transition

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You know you're from Fairbanks if you've driven own the road and seen a sign that says "Mushers Crossing."

You know you're from Fairbanks if the 365-mile trip to Anchorage is a weekend trip.

You know you're from Fairbanks if 68 percent of your energy budget goes to heat your home.

Okay, so the last one isn't a joke. And it's especially no laughing matter if you're one of more than 31,000 residents in the community who, for the past 20 years, have continued to brace themselves against energy costs that are on average 10 times higher than Anchorage and add up to a $618 million annual tab for fuel and electricity needed to heat and light homes and buildings and transport people and products coming in and out of the community. Besides the crippling heating bill, 16 percent of these energy costs go to electricity and the remaining 16 percent to transportation.

In January, the coldest month of the year, it is not unusual for temperatures to dip between -30 and -60 degrees during the long winter season, and then shoot up into the 90s during the summer. With heating oil at almost $4 per gallon and electricity at more than 18 cents per kWH, it is easy to see how monthly operating costs can quickly eat up business profits, contributing to a cost of living that is almost 30 percent higher than the national average.

ENERGY DRAIN

Besides the drain on locals' wallets, the energy crisis that plagues Alaska's second largest community--along with 70,000 other residents in the surrounding North Star Borough communities--results in a host of other problems in terms of both economic development and quality of life. Local leaders and elected officials repeatedly point to this as the No. 1 obstacle facing the community.

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"Ninety percent of every dollar spent on energy leaves the community," says Jim Dodson, president and chief executive officer of the Fairbanks Economic Development Corp. says. "It has almost no multiplier effect."

As the cost of fuel continues to increase, increasingly, locals rely on burning wood as a major source of affordable heat, creating air quality issues in the bowl-shaped area. It is not uncommon for the borough to ask people to voluntarily stop wood burning when the air quality in the area drops below federal standards. During the coldest part of the winter, air pollution levels are often higher than readings during the summer wildfire season as fine particles build up in the air.

The...