With high fuel prices and cold winters, energy efficient buildings have extraordinary value to Alaskans, yet many homes and businesses suffer from poor insulation, inefficient heating systems, and bad air quality. Improving the efficiency of buildings is a central objective of the Sustainable Energy Program that we accomplish through workforce development, education and research. SEP faculty Tom Marsik built the world’s most airtight home in Dillingham using a “box in a box” building technique, and now leads work investigating active vacuum insulation and cold climate heat pumps. Vacuum insulation panels (VIPs) can achieve R-values as high as 60°F·ft²·hr/BTU per inch of thickness, but uptake has been limited by cost, limited service lifetime due slow loss of vacuum, limited ability to cut panels to size, and other issues. Active VIPs address many of the challenges by providing a mechanism to replenish the vacuum as necessary. Prof. Marsik and collaborators have established active VIP prototypes and methods for testing their performance. Heat pumps offer a low-carbon home heat source that is cost effective in many places. However, the performance of heat pumps at temperatures in the 0 to -50°F range is not consistently measured making it difficult for consumers to compare heat pumps or for researchers to quantify technology improvements. Marsik leads work at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory Alaska Campus to measure the performance of cold climate heat pumps and communicate results with the circumpolar north. Prof. Kemp collaborates with the Alaska Center’s Buildings UP award which will implement energy efficiency measures in Alaska with a focus on underserved communities.

Shellfish and seaweed farming or “mariculture” is an increasingly accessible livelihood in Alaska, with dozens of farms located throughout the southern coastal regions of the state. In 2022, Southeast Conference and the Alaska Mariculture Cluster received a $49 million investment from the federal Economic Development Administrations Build Back Better program to grow the Alaska Mariculture industry to $100 million/year in 10 years. With the industry poised for rapid growth, there is a unique opportunity for the Sustainable Energy Program to help the industry mature by making energy efficiency and renewable energy investments as it grows rather than retrofitting infrastructure years in the future. The campus began engaging with mariculture sites in the summer of 2022 when faculty member Chandler Kemp and student researcher Kristian Nudlash-Barger worked with the Alaska Center for Energy and Power and several sea weed and oyster farmers to measure fuel use of mariculture workboats under various operating conditions. Kemp is building on that foundational work with support from the Alaska Mariculture Cluster to quantify energy use patterns, develop a green energy plan that provides a sustainable energy development pathway for mariculture, and a best practices guide for future energy audits and efficiency work. 

The Bristol Bay Campus collaborates with many research groups conducting work in Southwest Alaska. In 2023-2026, the Bristol Bay Campus is collaborating with the Alaska Coastal Cooperative for Co-producing Transformative Ideas and Opportunities in the North. This group, led by Alaska Coastal Cooperative Director Chris Maio, is working throughout Western Alaska with diverse local partners to provide a process for community-centered convergence research and knowledge exchange. Through its broad collaborations, the project will develop pathways towards hazard mitigation, climate adaptation, and coastal resilience. As a workforce development partner, the Bristol Bay Campus will contribute to community engagement, curriculum development and class planning to strengthen communication between community members and project partners and maximize the benefit of the research to coastal Alaskan communities.