Energy Audits Identify Potential Energy Efficiency Upgrades

Energy audits were recently performed as part of an overall district heating system efficiency analysis in the Interior Alaska community of Galena. The analysis and subsequent energy audit report will be used to expose improvements and upgrades that can be made to maximize overall system performance.

ACEP research engineer Robert Bensin and Stanford University graduate student Daniel Sambor spent three days in Galena providing building diagnostics on three of the former military facilities left to the community. The facilities now make up the Galena Interior Learning Academy campus.

Power quality analysis, thermal imaging and facility mapping will allow ACEP and the community of Galena to identify large energy consumers both in the electrical and the heating systems. In a joint effort with Alaska Housing Finance Corp., ACEP researchers installed remote reporting heat (in British thermal units), temperature and motor sensors in the three facilities.

The ongoing project is part of a combined effort by ACEP, the Cold Climate Housing Research Center and military bases in Alaska to evaluate energy usage and energy systems for best performance in Alaska’s arctic environment. The project is funded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Engineer Research and Development Center.

 

Students leave a school building on the Galena Interior Learning Academy campus. Photo by Amanda Byrd.