When should I worry about snow accumulation on the roof? With heavy snow in the Fairbanks area recently, people are starting to worry about their roofs. On January 5, 2022, the snow load at a monitoring station at Creamers Field was 23.4 pounds per square foot (psf). According to local building codes, a roof should…
This pilot thermalize program will install ductless heat pumps and energy efficiency retrofits in Juneau homes and buildings to evaluate the best options for the community of Juneau to attain it’s 80% renewable energy goal by 2045. Enrolled households and businesses can choose to either install a ductless heat pump or both a heat pump…
Buying a home in Interior Alaska can be a formidable task. Building codes only pertain to homes inside city limit, many of which are older and may not meet current energy standards. Outside city limits, there is a huge variation in construction type, age, and quality. This article covers a few important things to consider…
Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Community Sustainability Models CCHRC worked with WHPacific and Nuvista Light and Electric Cooperative to create community sustainability models for villages in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. The goal was to identify shared services in areas such as health, transportation, education, sanitation, housing and energy that could reduce the cost of living in the region, and…
Portable Arctic Sanitation System This project was developed in response to major sanitation needs in rural Alaska, where more than 3,000 households lack running water and flushing toilets to meet basic hygiene standards. In over 33 communities, households still use a honey bucket in lieu of a toilet and haul water from an untreated source, often…
Mountain Village Small Home Design CCHRC is working with the Asa’carsarmiut Tribal Council in the lower Yukon community of Mountain Village to design a small “starter home” as an alternative to the standard 3-bedroom home found in most of rural Alaska. The home will be geared toward young couples, elders, and singles and can expand…
Chefornak Head Start Building CCHRC is helping design a new Head Start building for Chefornak, a Yup’ik village of roughly 400 in southwest Alaska. Chefornak sits on the Kinia River, just a little upriver from the Bering Sea, in a region that has become extremely susceptible to erosion in recent years as sea ice retreats…
Arctic Walls: an R-60 double wall The Arctic Wall is a double-wall system with a thick layer of cellulose insulation that is designed to allow water vapor to diffuse through the wall. The system was designed by Fairbanks builder Thorsten Chlupp and uses some of the principles of the REMOTE wall—another super-insulated building technique that…
What is the role of thermal mass in passive solar design? There are ways to take advantage of long hot days and cut your heating bill, even without buying solar panels. Many homes in Alaska use passive solar design to provide heat during parts of the year. Passive solar design combines specific building features with…
I’ve heard air source heat pumps are being used in parts of Alaska. Do they work in Fairbanks? Yes they can, but only for part of the year. While the technology is growing in warmer parts of the state, like Southeast Alaska, air source heat pumps (ASHPs) cannot provide enough heat to be used as…
