Exhibit examines balance of power and energy in Alaska

May 5, 2011

Photo by Theresa Bakker. Steve Bouta adjusts one of pieces that will make up the City Engine, an interactive game in the Power Play exhibit.

Theresa Bakker
907-474-6941
5/5/11

Early humans relied only on the power generated by their own bodies: energy in the form of food. Then they discovered fire. Suddenly, our ancestors were able to access the energy stored over decades, not just days or months, and transform it into heat and light. That was the beginning of the balancing act humans play between the need for power and the forms of available energy.

A new exhibit at the University of Alaska Museum of the North, “Power Play: Energizing Our Lives, Fueling Alaska’s Future,” looks at the balance of energy in Alaska.

“This exhibit asks how we use available resources here in Alaska and how we can keep them cost effective,” said museum director Carol Diebel. “It also explores the lessons we’ve learned and how our solutions might be exported to other places.”

Using interactive games created specifically for the exhibit, Power Play challenges visitors to think about that balance between energy needs and supplies. In the city engine game, guests power a model city with marbles that produce light and sound, while the wind station lets users adjust a wind turbine and test performance. At the geothermal station, visitors run a simulated geothermal power plant, and a digital game, designed along with exhibit sponsor Golden Valley Electric Association, lets visitors choose how they would control the cost of energy.

Photo by Theresa Bakker. In the City Engine, visitors power a model city with marbles that manage lights and sound.

The exhibit was developed in partnership with the Alaska Center for Energy and Power at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Director Gwen Holdmann said the project was a good way to share what the organization has learned with museum visitors.

“Alaska is cut off from the rest of the world,” she said. “We have rural communities with isolated electric distribution networks. Even our rail belt is a fairly small system. That creates some challenges for us to integrate renewables with fossil fuels, but it’s similar to what people are starting to see in the Lower 48. What we can develop here could have a role in how other places use energy.”

Other components of the exhibit include maps illustrating the disparity of energy costs across the state and how resources vary by location. Fuel facts interpreted throughout the display will broaden how visitors view Alaska’s energy picture. The museum expects more than 70,000 visitors of all ages to experience the exhibit. Power Play opens in the Special Exhibit Gallery at the University of Alaska Museum of the North on Saturday, May 28, 2011. It will be on display until December.

ON THE WEB: museum.uaf.edu

NOTE TO EDITORS: Images are available for download from www.uafnews.com.

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