| Thank You to our Sponsors | Special thanks to our recent sponsors and grantors:
BP
Span Alaska Transportation
Visit Our Sponsor List |
| This Month's Hot Links |
A program of the National Restaurant Association's Conserve: Solutions for Sustainability. Greener Restaurants offers best practices, educational videos, and easy-to-use online tools designed to help restaurant operators green their business, reduce operating expenses, and improve the bottom line. Get on the email list for regular information. GE Linear Fluorescent Retrofit CalculatorInput your current lighting type and your improvement goals and this calculator offers several options for savings. Use online, download to your computer or request a personal energy audit.
Anchorage Pollen and Mold Reports
Samples are collected over a 24-hour period at an Airport Heights air quality monitoring site, counted microscopically and reported each Tuesday and Friday from mid-May through September by the Anchorage Department of Health and Human Services. Information also available on the Air Quality Index telephone recording at (907) 343-4899.
FUN FACT:
Alaska birch pollen concentrations can be the highest in the country. This May, at the Tanana Valley Clinic in Fairbanks, a count of 3,986 grains per cubic meter of air approached the European world record set in Denmark in 2006. Though the Anchorage peak was only about a third of Fairbanks' level, many allergy and asthma sufferers here felt the effects.
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| Green Star Staff |
Kim Kovol
Executive Director
Josh Sherwood |
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SHINING STARS
Congratulations to our most recent Green Star Award certified organization!
- Davis Constructors & Engineers
Welcome to our latest applicant!
- Span Alaska Transportation, Inc.
Thank you to the organizations that provided presentations for our July education series!
- Restoration, Science & Engineering
- Alaska Waste
- Total Reclaim
 A special thanks to Peak Oilfield Service Co. and to Jack Kvasnikoff of Peak for arranging and sponsoring Green Star's recent trip to Valdez. Green Star conducted a site assessment at Peak's Valdez facility. photo: Green Star Technical Assistance Coordinator Josh Sherwood, Green Star Board member Jack Kvasnikoff, and Green Star Executive Director Kim Kovol in Valdez.
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EVENTS & REMINDERS
6th Annual Alaska Renewable Energy Fair -- August 7
Saturday, 11am - 9pm, Memorial Block, Anchorage Park Strip. Renewable Energy Alaska Project (REAP) hosts this annual FREE opportunity for people to come see how renewable energy and energy efficiency development is taking off across the State. Enjoy live music, food, children's activities, crafts; and listen to expert presentations on topics ranging from how to make your own biodiesel and make your home more energy efficient to tapping tidal power in Cook Inlet and plans for building a wind farm at Fire Island. Visit REAP for a schedule of events and presentations, and a list of vendors and entertainment.
Plastic Garden Pot Recycling Event -- August 21
Residents can bring plastic garden pots for recycling on Saturday, August 21, from 10am to 5pm at the Alaska Botanical Garden parking lot, off Campbell Airstrip Road, one block south of Tudor. Businesses with garden pots to recycle need to contact ALPAR at 644-7968 or alpar@gci.net to arrange drop-off during the week prior to the August 21 event. Click here for a list of recyclable items and other details about the event. Save the Dates
Green Star's September Education Series
Green Star will host an education series on Thursdays, September 16, 23, and 30, noon - 1pm, at the Anchorage Economic Development Corporation offices at 510 L Street, Suite 603. Topics will be announced soon.
Green Star's Web Resources
If you're looking for waste prevention and energy efficiency ideas, check out Green Star's web site. You'll find a series of more than 30 tip sheets on topics ranging from specific technologies like ozone laundry systems and vending machine energy-reducing devices to general tips about how to green your purchasing, how to measure your successes, and how to set up a recycling program.
We've also recently re-linked the hundreds of valuable archived E-News articles generated since 2000. Learn the details about what materials are recyclable in Anchorage, see what other Green Star members are doing to save money and reduce waste, or revisit great ideas and tips. Search by topic or by date originally published.
Enjoying the Ride
Anchorage's municipal Cable Channel (10) is airing an instructional cycling video produced by the League of American Bicyclists each day at 7:30 AM, 3:00 PM and 9:00 PM throughout the summer. "Enjoy the Ride" is based on the League's BikeEd curriculum and covers topics such as the pre-ride checklist, bicycle handling skills, and riding in traffic.
 Spring/Summer A to Z Guide (Anchorage to Zero Waste)
Download a copy at www.muni.org/sws. The Guide contains drop-off and curbside recycling information, as well as spring and summer travel and energy efficiency tips and organics management strategies.
Recycling & Renewables Rap BLOG
Don't forget that you have a daily online recycling resource at the Anchorage Daily News. Visit the Recycling Blog to see what's happening in the recycling world or to ask questions.
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GREEN STAR UPDATE
Green Star welcomes new staff member Christina Grande as Community Outreach and Communications Coordinator. Christina was born and raised in San Francisco, California. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Broadcast Journalism and minored in International Relations at San Francisco State University. She also studied in Aarhus, Denmark (the second largest city in Denmark) at the Danish School of Journalism.
After school, Christina found herself gravitating to the north once again. This time, to Alaska for a TV reporting job. Her Alaskan adventure began in November 2006 when she packed her bags, left San Francisco and settled in Juneau as a one-woman band reporter for the news. In 2008, she moved to Anchorage and has been reporting for ABC and CBS the past four years. During that time, several issues that captured her interest were renewable energy and how Alaskans are implementing "green" lifestyle choices in their daily lives. Christina wanted to be a part of this amazing movement in the Last Frontier and she thought there was no better place than Green Star to do that. In her spare time, Christina can be found on her bike, going on hikes, and downhill and cross-country skiing. She loves to travel and she plans to see more of the great state of Alaska. Green Star wishes Megan Pool well in her future endeavors as she leaves the Green Star team to pursue her teaching degree. Megan was Green Star's Membership Coordinator for the past year.
Now is a good time to be sure that you have Green Star's correct address in your systems. We are no longer at 880 H St. Please note our new location is 5011 Spenard Rd., Bldg. A, Suite204, Anchorage, AK 99517. If you are not the contact that handles payments, please pass along the new contact information to your accounting department. Annual billing time will be coming up again in the fall. Thank you.
If your company has changed Green Star contacts or the previous Green Star contact has moved on, please be sure to contact us 278-7839 or info@greenstarinc.org and let us know. |
ALASKA WILDLAND ADVENTURES KEEPS GOING GREEN
Alaska Wildland Adventures (AWA), headquartered in Girdwood, has been a Green Star Award certified business since 1992. The organization continues to implement green initiatives throughout its facilities. Here is just a sample of sustainable programs that AWA has in place.
At its new Kenai Fjords Glacier Lodge, AWA must be innovative due to its remote
location. Located on native-owned land, it is the only lodge within the 700,000-acre Kenai Fjords National Park. All electricity used at the
lodge comes from a propane generator. This reduces the chance for spills and produces cleaner emissions compared to other fuels. Surplus energy charges a bank of
batteries, which provides electricity through the night without running
the generator.
To reduce electricity needs, energy-efficient compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) are used throughout the property. And all guest cabins use an on-demand hot water system with two cabins sharing one hot water heater. AWA also is investigating the possibility of using tidal energy in the future. All recyclables are taken to the recycling center in Seward.
In its Kenai Backcountry Lodge, which was built in the 1930's, AWA generates its own energy using a small hydroelectric turbine in a nearby stream to charge a battery bank. A simple generator is on-site for occasional use if absolutely needed.
 All lunches packed for guests are packaged in wax paper
that is later reused to start the fire in the sauna or one of the other
fireplaces in the main lodge. In addition to using wax paper, the
lunches are packed in cloth sacks that are washed, dried outside on the
clothes line, and reused the next trip. Only reusable metal cutlery is
placed in the lunch sacks. Laundry at the Kenai Backcountry Lodge also is hung out to dry as often as
weather permits. And the lodge has a full recycling program; materials are dropped off at the transfer station in Cooper Landing. At the end of the day, solar-powered outdoor lights illuminate the trails around the Backcountry Lodge for easy travel back
to the cabins after guests watch the sunset from beautiful Skilak Lake. Learn more about Alaska Wildland Adventures' green initiatives at www.alaskawildland.com.
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NEW COMMERCIAL COMPOSTING FACILITY
COMES TO ANCHORAGE
Last month, we featured information about Alaska Waste's new
company Alaska Green Waste Solutions and its biodiesel project. This
month, let's look at the company's commercial composting project.
Last year, Alaska Waste purchased and shipped to Alaska a rotary in-vessel composter. This composter is designed to be used indoors so it can continue to process
materials year-round. It also takes up relatively little space compared
to some other composting methods.
The composter is about 32 feet long and 10 feet in diameter. It rotates
automatically once every six minutes at a 1% decline. Compostable
materials are put into one end and seven days later, they emerge at the other
end as a compost product. It is a continuous process so the composter is
fed five days a week.
So what goes in? The three main raw materials include expired produce and
produce scraps from local grocery stores, such as Carrs, Fred Meyer and New
Sagaya; horse manure from local horse owners; and wood chips from a variety of
sources. The materials go into a mixer truck and then onto a conveyer
belt that feeds into the in-vessel composter.
And what comes out? After seven days, a compost additive emerges. Currently, Alaska Waste is working with Evergreen Nursery who is buying the
product, mixing it with its own compost product and selling it to commercial
and residential customers.
Alaska Waste offers five-day-a-week collection service for interested grocery
stores. The service includes providing a series of 64-gallon tip carts --
the number of carts dependent on generation rates. Alaska Waste is open
to working with other feedstock suppliers and hopes to stockpile finished
product over the winter to sell next summer with Evergreen and other nurseries.
Since produce waste is such a heavy material, participants are finding that
they can save money by participating in the program since many pay for trash
collection by weight.
Contact Alaska Waste at 563-3717 if you are a business interested in
participating in the composting program. This project is privately funded with no subsidies.
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A VISIT TO THE VALDEZ RECYCLING FACILITY
Green Star staff recently visited the recycling and waste transfer facility in Valdez, Alaska. "The baling station has a full recycling program that far surpasses anything I have seen thus far in Alaska," said Josh Sherwood, Green Star's technical assistance coordinator.
The facility has a new glass crusher, an aluminum baler, a bulb crusher (for fluorescent lamps), and an oil filter crusher. The facility accepts batteries and refrigerants of all types and all non-recyclable waste is baled to conserve space and stacked in the landfill.
Kim Kovol, Green Star's executive director, points out Valdez' electronics recycling container and a stack of aluminum can bales.
 | All used motor oil from around Valdez is collected to heat the facility. Alyeska Pipeline is providing all the backhauling of recyclables to markets free of charge. As a result, there is no fee to drop off recyclables of any type.
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Access past issues of E-News, sorted by topic or date. Please send comments, questions, or suggestions for future E-News topics to us at jeanne@greenstarinc.org. Forward this newsletter freely. Send us any email addresses you wish us to add to our mailing list. Thank you!
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