The Glaciers in Nevada - who knew?

I didn't know there were glaciers in NV.

These bristlecone pines are apparently 1500-2500 years old! The climate above 10,000' elevation is pretty harsh. After a bristlecone dies, it still takes hundreds of years to rot away. My kind of tree.

Sand dunes of Idaho

I think Idaho, I think western mountains and vanilla scented ponderosa pine forests. I managed to find sand dunes.

Yuppie bike ride in NV

Driving my little Honda for 10 or 12 hours a day (that's 9-13 in metric) is not conducive to getting in good bike rides or much running. However, when I see a sign at 6800' elevation that says "8% grade next 10 miles", I pull my car over, take the bike off the roof and suffer. Beautiful views, tough climbing at elevation after being at sea level for most of the summer.

If you are on a road and it has a steady 6% grade, you will see truck warnings and maybe brake failure bailouts. 8% is steeper and it kicked my ass.

Glacier Hwy, BC

Exit Alaska. Take a right and head south.

These pics are from the east side of the mountain chain that runs by Valdez. This is when you start to question driving thousands of miles to the desert for a job.

I love BC

BC has a lot to like. This summer they even had an abundance of sun.

I found lakes and ponds to camp near - all to myself, no traffic, no people, just me and the moose.

Long Way to Phoenix...Back Online

My contract in Alaska was ending...I got a full time job offer doing solar work in Phoenix and decided I should take the opportunity. (Beautiful state, not a big fan of Phoenix - we'll see how it works) 4100 miles I arrive to > 100F (~38C). Holy cow - it is hot every day and all night long. No cool down in Sprawl-o-topia. The heat and the sun are completely kicking my ass.

More on Phoenix later, let's get caught up. It is a loooong drive from Anchorage to Phoenix.

Yukon Territories in August....

Oncoming Winter

Having grown up in the lower 48, when I think of life in the Arctic, I wonder whether I could survive and thrive in winter that cold and dark. When I was talking to people in Anaktuvuk Pass, especially the younger people, they feel cooped up in town in the summer. The terrain is too rugged to get way out on a 4 wheeler and live large. It's small and remote and feels isolated in the summer.

But you see their eyes light up when they talk about getting through the summer and looking forward to the oncoming winter. The cold opens up the world to them, and travel is easier on the snow and frozen rivers. Winter is the time when world blossoms here. Time to play and explore and hunt.

Winter is the time when you get to travel and see relatives.

I have read similar accounts of Arctic life. Summer is something you get through. Winter is when you come alive. Unfortunately my contract here ends soon, and I won’t likely be seeing winter here this year. But maybe next year.

I was talking to the students in Anaktuvuk Pass about cold temperature impact on solar panels. Cold, sunny days improve the amount of electricity you generate. I mentioned -20C because it is a common number for manufacturers to use.

Ben, one of the students chimed in, "-20 is nothing here. You bundle up for -40 or -50 though."

Got Skeeters??

At times, the bugs might get to you.

I don't think I've taken a picture where you could see the mosquitoes in such bulk that the camera sees them in the air!

This is Monty in his De-Lux mosquito shirt. Now how much would you pay?

OneRiver OnePeople Tribal Summit Pix

The Yukon River is over 2300 miles long (~3700K) and has many different people and languages. The watershed covers even more area. While this means a huge variety of language, culture, tradition, and life, the people of the Yukon are finding a lot of commonalities while they are doing the grass roots work to clean up the river, live more sustainably, and regain self-sufficiency. Every other year the people who are member nations and tribes of the Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed Council have a big summit and I was lucky enough to get invited this year.

To get and keep youth interest there were alot of things to do. We brought some solar toys along, like solar powered boat kits, which were an obvious winner, we also hosted training on basic solar installations for adults. I put together all the parts for a remote battery system for your fish camp and folks were all over it. No more dragging fossil fuels at $8/gallon in remote areas, to burn it up in the pristine woods to run a generator. The people of the Yukon involved in the watershed council are very active in their communities and it's really inspiring to work with them toward the goal of energy self sufficiency.

I may not have caught all the jokes about the down-river people's funny accents, or the jibes about the salmon in the upper river, there was alot of fun to be had at the summit, as well as ceremony at times in the water ceremony, and educating each other. Lucky is the white man invited to share in these events!

OneRiver OnePeople Tribal Summit

Our final night at the One River One People Tribal Summit in Whitehorse. Fish Camp ladies served up moose, beef, ham, hooligans (local sardine-like fish), salmon, and porcupine. Wow.

I was helping out in the camp kitchen and one of the ladies thought it would be funny to have the white man cook the bannock (north country staple food). The elders sitting around the fire pit thought it was hysterical to see the white man cooking the bannock.

One of the cutest little girls ever (but not one of my nieces) came up while I was frying this deliciousness in pork lard and asked in a shy sweet voice if she could have some of my bannock. I said of course she could, and she picked one from the pile. She took a bite and smiled her approval to the watching crowd. I asked if it was ok and she nodded vigorously. A sigh went out among the people. The white man bannock might be edible after all.

As everyone ate, some of the crowd didn’t know it was “white man bannock”. I caught the eye of one of the chiefs who was on his second piece. I asked if the bannock was up to his standards and he raved about how good it was. I explained the bannock story and he smiled and welcomed me. I am now one of the family he said. Score one for the white man.

Final treat post dinner was the moose nose! Wow again. The elders watched us trying to get through it. It was, how to describe it, pretty strong, both strong looking and strong tasting. Did I mention the hairs? It really looks and tastes exactly as you might assume moose nose would be. Laughing as we ate, they told us AFTER you are supposed to peel the hairy outer parts before eating it! Mmmmoose nose...

Ruby Project TV coverage...

Pretty good local tv coverage and an article about the Ruby water turbine project and remote Alaskan communities' energy issues.

Hydrokinetic Turbine in Ruby AK

(The news broadcast is on the right hand side of the page.)

Near Valdez

I could stay here a long time before the scenery got old.

5kW Hydrokinetic Turbine Online!!

Right on - the 5kW hydrokinetic turbine in Ruby, AK is now online and cranking out watts. It was a lot of work to get it in the strongest part of the current, anchor it from being washed away by the current, create a non-intrusive deflection device to prevent a tree or log from knocking it out, and create a way to do all this on a large scale next year for bigger turbines.

Why hydrokinetic? The hydrokinetic device works with the current in a stream or river. You don't hurt fish. You don't need a dam to run it. The downside is that is exposed to debris floating downstream so you have to protect it. The bigger the turbine, the harder it is to put it in fast current. However with some determination, planning, sweat and perhaps occasional harsh language, it'll go!

It is cranking at a steady 1000 watts and the river is at its lowest right now. It will crank a lot of power before ice comes in and requires removal for the winter.

Photo above: The first run of transmission cable came up a bit short, I jumped in to land it with just 3 feet or so left at the bitter end, and we still had about 70' to get to the junction box. The current tried to take it away and we had a belly instead of a straight run. Not what you want, but the third time it went in, we figured out the technique, using bags of rocks, a 5 gallon bucket as a fair lead / bollard, lot's of bags of sand, reliable and trusty aluminum work boat, and some good teamwork to get it done and not lose anyone overboard in the process.

Ruby Ruby

Next stop Ruby, AK. The renewable energy express train is in full swing. Ruby is due west of Fairbanks and is part of the interior's climate. Very cold temps in winter, and fairly hot sunny summers. 90F and higher this week (33C) and the sun just doesn't quit. It drops into dusk but still never darkness.

This 5kW hydrokinetic turbine installation has been a challenge. Heavy equipment, river barges, fork lifts, 1000 lb spools of electric transmission line, and the Yukon River current ready to sweep everything away. Our transmission cable spool was supposedly 900' long. We anchored it where we have the turbine anchor, and got to shore with 4 feet remaining... not what you want to see when the electric box is still 60 feet away! (Insert Bob Eucher voice - "Just a bit short of the plate.")

The turbine lives on an aluminum pontoon. We built an A-Frame bumper out of timbers to divert floating trees, logs, bodies, etc from going into the turbine blades and injuring it or knocking it offline. Yes the timber A-Frame bumper was kinda heavy to drag into the current. We got a barge to drop the anchors overboard in line in a strong current. At 4000 lbs apiece, even the reliable utility skiff was overmatched. It did handle the 1000 lb spool of electric cable just fine and sat nicely in its "site-engineered cradle", a.k.a. "let's see what we can find around to use to build something that can support 1000 lbs. and fits into this nook of the boat".

The people who live here are really interested in the turbine project and stop by to se if they can lend a hand all the time (in between fishing trips). The local tribal council sounds very forward thinking and has the community's attention as to why this is important. Good stuff from where I see it.

AKP

A few pics of Anaktuvuk Pass. Student group from Ilisagvik College with instructors in front of the new solar array. The students spent the month working on all the different parts of the house. They were very cool, suffering in the blistering 75F heat (23C) and waiting anxiously for winter and fall hunting season to begin.

Solar in the Arctic!

My first solar install in the Arctic is a smashing success. We spent 3 days designing on the fly, building and installing a rack system that tilts for the extreme angles of the sun up north. I recommend you pay the premium and buy a pre-made rack system unless you live north of the Arctic Circle, or just like to re-invent the wheel.

Is solar in the Arctic a good idea? It has to be a supplemental system, because of the lack of winter sun. However, early spring does very well here because though the sun is out for few hours, it is cold which makes PV even better (kinda like me) and the snow reflects a lot of sunlight, enhancing its PV impact. If you track it and/or change tilt angles, you really gain alot.

And yes Anaktuvuk Pass was amazing. A place where the Inupiak Eskimo have hunted forever. It's now a village, a flat glacial moraine cut into sharp peaked mountains. Gorgeous views and 24 hours sun. The people I got to meet and work with were amazing.

This project was owned by the Tagiugmiullu Nunamiullu Housing Authority (TNHA for those of you who don't speak Inupiak), and was designed by the Cold Climate Housing Research Center. It is a prototype house for Arctic communities that is much better in many ways than the housing options for the north in the past. It is super insulated, they put a sod roof on top for extra thermal mass. There are few cars here, 4 wheelers and snow machines and some dog sleds mostly, so they have a drive through garage sized for snow mobiles, a meat locker for hunters to put game, 3 small bedrooms, and this one is built with solar pv and we'll put in wind power next month. The cost of the solar and wind power is wrapped into the original costs and the local folks can't wait to see how it does. They would love to someday fire the electric company!

My connection is too slow and intermittent for photos right now - next time!

North. Good.

3800 miles later (6000+ K) I am in Anchorage. Stunning drive, stunning views and stunningly long drive. Well worth it, but am cooked right now.

I stopped by the office to see what was happening. I am stoked - what a great group, and I will be busy busy, but am very much looking forward to the next 6 weeks here!

Welcome to Big Bear

School is done. The job search is awful. After a year of not working, my savings are hurting. Somehow getting more education has made me less employable. Lucky for me, my aunt Maryanne has volunteered to let me stay in her cabin in Big Bear, CA.

!!Maryanne Rules!!

Big Bear is not a bad place to be unemployed and looking for work. I have landed a short term gig with a group that works on the Yukon River. They employ renewable energy technicians, working to get communities away from using diesel generators to create all their electricity. I'll be training folks in remote communities and doing some installations with scheduled time in Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Anaktuvuk Pass. I hit the road soon. I am very excited and I know this trip will be amazing. I'm also kinda fried from the endless dead ends in the job search. Hopefully the next step will present itself along the way...

These people hired me!! The Yukon River Inter Tribal Watershed Council