Harvesting Local Energy: A Case Study of Community-Led Bioenergy Development in Galena, Alaska
Community-led bioenergy projects show great promise to address a range of issues for remote and Indigenous Arctic communities that typically rely on diesel for meeting their energy demands. However, there is very little research devoted to better understanding what makes individual projects successf...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3390/en15134655 https://doaj.org/article/9b1f4673d8ea4978a413f644e4be623f |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:9b1f4673d8ea4978a413f644e4be623f 2023-05-15T14:59:53+02:00 Harvesting Local Energy: A Case Study of Community-Led Bioenergy Development in Galena, Alaska Vikas Menghwani Chad Walker Tim Kalke Bram Noble Greg Poelzer 2022-06-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3390/en15134655 https://doaj.org/article/9b1f4673d8ea4978a413f644e4be623f EN eng MDPI AG https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/13/4655 https://doaj.org/toc/1996-1073 doi:10.3390/en15134655 1996-1073 https://doaj.org/article/9b1f4673d8ea4978a413f644e4be623f Energies, Vol 15, Iss 4655, p 4655 (2022) Indigenous energy energy security interior Alaska off-grid energy distributed energy generation biomass energy Technology T article 2022 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3390/en15134655 2022-12-30T20:02:54Z Community-led bioenergy projects show great promise to address a range of issues for remote and Indigenous Arctic communities that typically rely on diesel for meeting their energy demands. However, there is very little research devoted to better understanding what makes individual projects successful. In this study, we analyze the case of the Galena Bioenergy Project (Alaska)—a biomass heating project that uses locally sourced woody biomass to help meet the heating demands of a large educational campus. Using project documents and other publicly available reports, we evaluate the project’s success using three indicators: operational, environmental, and community level socio-economic benefits. We find that the project shows signs of success in all three respects. It has a reliable fuel supply chain for operations, makes contributions towards greenhouse gas reductions by replacing diesel and has improved energy and economic security for the community. We also examine enabling factors behind the project’s success and identify the following factors as crucial: community-level input and support, state level financial support, access to forest biomass with no competing use, predictable demand and committed leadership. Our findings have important implications for other remote communities across the Boreal zone—especially those with nearby forest resources. Our examination of this case study ultimately highlights potential pathways for long-term success and, more specifically, shows how biomass resources might be best utilized through community-led initiatives to sustainably support energy security in Arctic communities. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Alaska Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Energies 15 13 4655 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Indigenous energy energy security interior Alaska off-grid energy distributed energy generation biomass energy Technology T |
spellingShingle |
Indigenous energy energy security interior Alaska off-grid energy distributed energy generation biomass energy Technology T Vikas Menghwani Chad Walker Tim Kalke Bram Noble Greg Poelzer Harvesting Local Energy: A Case Study of Community-Led Bioenergy Development in Galena, Alaska |
topic_facet |
Indigenous energy energy security interior Alaska off-grid energy distributed energy generation biomass energy Technology T |
description |
Community-led bioenergy projects show great promise to address a range of issues for remote and Indigenous Arctic communities that typically rely on diesel for meeting their energy demands. However, there is very little research devoted to better understanding what makes individual projects successful. In this study, we analyze the case of the Galena Bioenergy Project (Alaska)—a biomass heating project that uses locally sourced woody biomass to help meet the heating demands of a large educational campus. Using project documents and other publicly available reports, we evaluate the project’s success using three indicators: operational, environmental, and community level socio-economic benefits. We find that the project shows signs of success in all three respects. It has a reliable fuel supply chain for operations, makes contributions towards greenhouse gas reductions by replacing diesel and has improved energy and economic security for the community. We also examine enabling factors behind the project’s success and identify the following factors as crucial: community-level input and support, state level financial support, access to forest biomass with no competing use, predictable demand and committed leadership. Our findings have important implications for other remote communities across the Boreal zone—especially those with nearby forest resources. Our examination of this case study ultimately highlights potential pathways for long-term success and, more specifically, shows how biomass resources might be best utilized through community-led initiatives to sustainably support energy security in Arctic communities. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Vikas Menghwani Chad Walker Tim Kalke Bram Noble Greg Poelzer |
author_facet |
Vikas Menghwani Chad Walker Tim Kalke Bram Noble Greg Poelzer |
author_sort |
Vikas Menghwani |
title |
Harvesting Local Energy: A Case Study of Community-Led Bioenergy Development in Galena, Alaska |
title_short |
Harvesting Local Energy: A Case Study of Community-Led Bioenergy Development in Galena, Alaska |
title_full |
Harvesting Local Energy: A Case Study of Community-Led Bioenergy Development in Galena, Alaska |
title_fullStr |
Harvesting Local Energy: A Case Study of Community-Led Bioenergy Development in Galena, Alaska |
title_full_unstemmed |
Harvesting Local Energy: A Case Study of Community-Led Bioenergy Development in Galena, Alaska |
title_sort |
harvesting local energy: a case study of community-led bioenergy development in galena, alaska |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/en15134655 https://doaj.org/article/9b1f4673d8ea4978a413f644e4be623f |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Alaska |
genre_facet |
Arctic Alaska |
op_source |
Energies, Vol 15, Iss 4655, p 4655 (2022) |
op_relation |
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/13/4655 https://doaj.org/toc/1996-1073 doi:10.3390/en15134655 1996-1073 https://doaj.org/article/9b1f4673d8ea4978a413f644e4be623f |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/en15134655 |
container_title |
Energies |
container_volume |
15 |
container_issue |
13 |
container_start_page |
4655 |
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1766331996272852992 |