• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • WordPress
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
Science Update

Science Update

Sharing Science | Satisfying Curiosity | Debunking BS

  • Spotlights
  • Reality Check
  • Why Is It?
  • Radio Archives
  • Sciup @ School
Home » Radio Archive » Daily Show » Alaskan Power Microgrids

Alaskan Power Microgrids

January 1, 2018
https://podcast.scienceupdate.com/180101_sciup_alaska.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window

Wind turbines supply renewable energy to microgrids across Alaska. Chris Pike, the Alaska Center for Energy and Power, University of Alaska Fairbanks
Wind turbines supply renewable energy to microgrids across Alaska. (Chris Pike/The Alaska Center for Energy and Power, University of Alaska Fairbanks)

BOB HIRSHON (host):

Alaska’s power microgrids. I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.

Unlike the rest of the United States, Alaska’s remote communities don’t run off of an interconnected power grid. Instead, they’re powered by local microgrids – small, independent power stations. And they’ve become leaders in integrating diesel-fueled power generation with local renewable energy sources like wind and solar.

ERIN WHITNEY (University of Alaska, Fairbanks):

It’s very expensive to power those grids because they’re primarily based on diesel generators which require imported fuel. And so many of them are looking toward local and sustainable energy sources to counter those high costs of energy.

HIRSHON:

That’s University of Alaska, Fairbanks experimental scientist Erin Whitney. She writes in the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy that Alaska can serve as a model for resilient power microgrids in both small and large communities worldwide. I’m Bob Hirshon, for AAAS, the science society.

Story by Susanne Bard

Category: Daily Show, Station DownloadTag: Energy, Environment & Conservation
Previous Post:Plants of the Americas
Next Post:Robotic Dancing Birds

Sidebar

Radio Program Archives

Want to learn more about the brain? The environment? Here you can browse the topics that come up regularly on Science Update.

Search the Archives

Categories

  • Daily Show
  • Station Download
  • Weekly Show

Find By Tag

  • 2020
  • Acoustics & Sound
  • Aging
  • Animal Behavior
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Astronomy & Space
  • Biology
  • Brain Science
  • Bugs
  • Cat Video
  • Chemistry
  • Children & Families
  • cicadas
  • Climate & Weather
  • Communications
  • Computer Science
  • Economics & Business
  • Education
  • Energy
  • Engineering & Technology
  • Environment & Conservation
  • Genetics & Evolution
  • Geology
  • Marine Science
  • Materials Science
  • Mathematics
  • Medicine & Health
  • Microbiology
  • Nanotechnology
  • NASA
  • Nutrition & Food Science
  • Paleontology & Dinosaurs
  • Physics
  • Plants & Agriculture
  • Political Science
  • Reality Check
  • Social & Behavioral Sciences
  • Sports & Fitness
  • spotlight
  • Spotlight Bugs
  • Terrorism & War
  • Why Is It? Questions
  • Wildlife
  • Year in Review

Find By Date

Science Update
  • About Science Update
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Recent Posts

Image of computer screen depicting an orange cat with a variety of alphanumeric scientific data superimposed on the the screen.
Spotted skunk performing handstand to threaten predators

Copyright © 2025 · Springtail Media LLC · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Pongos