Alaska T3 Students Showcase Their Energy Audit Experience in a Video

A screenshot of the final video, created by Sydney Lincoln and Spencer Petticrew, of the T3 energy audit in Cordova, Alaska.
A screenshot of the final video, created by Sydney Lincoln and Spencer Petticrew, of the T3 energy audit in Cordova, Alaska.

June 15, 2023
By Yuri Bult-Ito

Alaska Teaching Through Technology (T3) students recently released a video showcasing an overview of their energy audit during the 2023 Cordova Iceworm Festival and their findings.

The energy audit, a process to identify and quantify energy inefficiencies in a building or community, was performed by ten students from five communities across Alaska. Following energy audit training and concept reviews on topics such as energy efficiency, thermal energy, insulation, and technologies, the T3 energy audit team operated in three groups. One group worked on finding heat leaking spots using a thermal camera, another centered on 3D modeling to show hotspots and weather damage sustained over the years, and the third was the storytelling group. The students conducted an audit on Orca Adventure Lodge, a historic lodge originally built as a salmon cannery in the 1880s in Cordova, which was in need of a more efficient heating system.

Interwoven with drone videography, the video explains the team’s energy auditing process, reflections, and findings through interviews with the students and community partners including Clay Koplin, the CEO of Cordova Electric Cooperative.

Sydney Lincoln and Spencer Petticrew, two members of the storytelling group of the energy audit team, worked on the video, writing, filming and editing. They had produced the original iteration of the video at the end of the audit in February but felt it was not complete. Concurrently with their busy semester of school work and other activities, they continued to conduct interviews, worked on adding materials and polishing the video. The result of their additional undertaking is the final video that incorporates the team’s findings of the energy audit and suggestions for cost-saving heat generation.

Lincoln and Petticrew enjoyed working together and with the others who collaborated on the video production, while overcoming the challenge of working remotely and coordinating with everyone’s varying schedules.

“I really liked the meetings in zoom, which made my day every week,” Lincoln said.

And the energy audit project as a whole had a positive impact on the team members. 

“The project taught us a lot of real-world experience in an efficient, professional setting regarding energy,” Petticrew reflected.

“I learned that I could deal with real-life problems using my math skills,” Lincoln added.

The energy audit is part of the T3 Energy Club, funded by the Alaska Regional Collaboration for Technology Innovation and Commercialization, and directly supporting the innovation hub in Cordova.