Pictures of the Future      Fall 2008

Learning in Alaska

Alaska’s extreme weather is a challenge for buildings as well as for people. This makes it an ideal location for developing and testing energy-efficient, robust technologies for the houses of tomorrow. And that’s exactly what the Cold Climate Housing Research Center (CCHRC) in Fairbanks is doing in cooperation with Siemens.

_{The CCHRC (below) studies how the combination of solar, wind and biomass power can support environmentally-friendly, energy self-sufficient buildings for Alaska’s settlements}

Fairbanks is not exactly a comfortable place to live. For more than six months of the year, this former gold-mining town is in the depths of winter. The average annual temperature is a frigid ?3.4 °C, and the all-time low of ?54.4 °C makes Fairbanks the world’s seventh-coldest city.

The people who live here need homes that can withstand the wind and cold, which amounts to a tall order for building planners and construction companies. And because Alaska’s inhabitants already pay the highest heating bills in the U.S., they are particularly hard hit by rapidly rising energy prices. That’s why people here are especially interested in acquiring new, energy-saving technologies for their homes. However, most of the construction material has to be trucked in from elsewhere and is sometimes not suited for the extreme weather conditions found in the Arctic. As a result, some of the homes around Fairbanks are built as though they weren’t in Alaska, but in far milder regions such as Oregon or Washington.

And that’s where the Cold Climate Housing Research Center (CCHRC) in Fairbanks comes in. Its goal is to support development of robust, energy-efficient, and affordable technologies for homes in Alaska and other icy regions of the world. Founded in 1999, the CCHRC is a research initiative supported by the Alaskan construction industry as well as many partners from the manufacturing sector, including Siemens Building Technologies.

Since September 2006, CCHRC scientists have been working in the organization’s Research and Testing Facility (RTF), which is located on the campus of the University of Alaska in Fairbanks. The building in which the facility is housed is ideally adapted to the harsh climate and incorporates innumerable sensors. For example, 1,200 sensors are used to monitor the humidity in the walls and the movements in the building’s foundations. Siemens supplied the RTF’s building automation technology, as well as a CO₂-based, demand-driven ventilation system and the sensors and wireless transmission technology for controlling the heating, air conditioning, and ventilation system. The RTF laboratory is equipped with a climate chamber where researchers can test whether products are suited for cold regions. Products that pass this test receive the Certified Alaska Tough label, which sports a picture of a polar bear and its paw print.

Microcosm Versus Climate Change. For Jack Hébert, President and CEO of the CCHRC, this region is the perfect place in which to develop innovative solutions for the energy-saving homes of the future. "Alaska is part of an international network of regions that are particularly affected by climate change and that therefore are especially aware of their responsibility for the Earth’s future," says Hébert, who has lived in the far north for the past 35 years and works as a building contractor.

Although living conditions have always been extremely harsh in Alaska, climate change has in some respects aggravated the situation. As the snow pack melts, for example, the result can be higher waves that threaten to inundate coastal villages.

Another danger is the thawing of the permafrost, which has caused numerous houses to sink into the resulting morass. "Sustainability is the biggest challenge we face," says Hébert. "How will we build communities in the future? And is there even a future for the communities in Alaska?"

Hébert’s positive answers to these questions are due in part to Alaska’s strengths as a research location. "Alaska is very international and full of innovative people," he says. "It’s a microcosm of the world as a whole. That’s why Alaska could be the place where we find the solutions that are urgently needed to ensure that humanity will have a sustainable future."

Experts at the CCHRC have been working on such solutions in research programs such as the Hybrid Micro Energy Project (HMEP). The project is designed to show how the smart combination of various types of renewable energies can make remote settlements less dependent on diesel and natural gas. To achieve this goal, the scientists are combining photovoltaic technology, solar thermal systems, wind turbines, and a biomass plant that generates heat as well as electricity. In the summer months, solar power can make a major contribution to the energy supply, while biomass and wind energy are more important in the dark days of winter.

Digital Coordinators. Siemens is supplying the control systems that monitor the photovoltaic facility and that determine whether the electricity generated should be fed into the public grid or used internally, depending on the amount of electric power produced. The systems also continuously monitor the production of hot water by registering how much heat is being supplied by the various tested solar panels and forwarding the heated water to the heating system or water faucets.

Hybrid energy systems of this kind could become big sellers outside of Alaska. "The knowledge we gain through our hybrid system will help us to install reliable setups at remote locations," says Ben LaRue, Group Operations Manager at Siemens Building Technologies in Fairbanks. "The system’s hybrid nature makes it unique, since it employs a holistic approach that allows different sources of energy to be optimally used."

In such a hybrid system, a home’s automation technology must always be able to decide when the building should be supplied with energy from fossil fuels or from renewable sources. According to LaRue, HMEP also demonstrates that such hybrid systems can operate reliably under the harsh conditions encountered in Alaska’s scattered communities. To help bring about the necessary change in public awareness, Siemens is investing not only in new products, but also in the intellectual skills of young people. As part of its Building Education Program, the company supports, for example, the Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program (ANSEP), which is helping high school students in the state’s rural areas to get a better education in the natural sciences and engineering.

                                                                                                                Christian Buck