Solar, wind and hydro: renewable energy gaining strength.

• Author: Cottrell, Paula
• Position: Special section: ALTERNATIVE ENERGY - Geographic overview

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Renewable energy is defined as energy that is derived from natural resources such as wind, solar, hydroelectric, wave, tidal, geothermal and biomass. These naturally replenishing energy sources are becoming increasingly significant as fossil fuel prices continue to rise at unpredictable rates.

SOLAR

Real estate developer Steve Zelener brought the first solar powered office complex to Anchorage when he retrofitted his office building located at 441 West Fifth Avenue next to the Egan Convention Center. One of the older buildings in Anchorage, the siding on the south side of the building was in need of replacement. Always concerned with reducing operating costs and increasing efficiency, Zelener chose to go solar. The 96 180-watt monocrystalline panels cost about three times as much to install as a regular siding refurbishment, but Zelener had the vision of making this building more energy efficient overall.

"I wanted to reduce the cost of operating the entire building," Zelener says. "The solar panels produce anywhere from 6 to 9 percent of the energy needed to operate the building, but to further reduce our footprint, we installed more efficient boilers, toilets and lighting systems." Although these efforts may seem small, it is a study in how solar power and energy efficiency can be used to solve Alaska's energy needs in the future.

Zelener realizes solar power is not an ideal energy solution for Alaska. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) ranks Alaska as a low light level state due to the minimal amounts of sunlight in the winter months. While sun is plentiful during Alaska's long summer days, this is the time of year when energy consumption is at its lowest.

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"Because this is the first commercial solar office building of its kind in Anchorage, we wanted to keep data on the energy being produced by our solar panels," Zelener says. To that end, a website (www.anchoragesolarbuilding.com) was designed so observers could analyze how much energy is being produced by the solar panels on a daily, monthly or yearly basis. Since the building began producing solar energy in June 2011, it has generated more than 7,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh).

Solar energy will most likely never be a big player as a renewable energy solution in Alaska, but it does fulfill an important role in off-grid power generation. Marvin Kuentzel, owner of Renewable Energy Systems in Anchorage is a leader in providing solar...