Upcoming Webinar Features Biomass-Heated Greenhouses

The first installment of ACEP’s Arctic Community Energy Webinar Series will feature the Southeast Island School District’s biomass-heated greenhouses.

“From Biomass to Lettuce: Edible Energy Integration in Southeast Alaska”
Karen Petersen, biomass coordinator, Southeast Conference
Thursday, June 27, 2019 @ 9 am AKT
Click HERE to register for this webinar

Learn how Alaska schools are tackling energy and food security using biomass boilers. Karen Petersen will present a case study of the Southeast Island School District and its conversion to advanced wood heating. Along with converting to wood heat, the district is including greenhouses at each school site and involving the students in every aspect of growing food. This model is now being copied by other school districts in Alaska. From biomass heat to a school lunch program with fresh lettuce!

Karen Petersen is the biomass coordinator for Southeast Conference. She lives and works in Thorne Bay on Prince of Wales Island, in Southeast Alaska. Petersen coordinates the Alaska Wood Energy Development Task Group and organizes the bienial Alaska-Yukon Wood Energy Conference. She has a master’s degree in rural development from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and an undergraduate degree in agronomy from Washington State University.

 

Coffman Cove’s biomass heated school and Greenhouse. Photo by Amanda Byrd.