atisfying the energy needs of Alaska’s rural communities requires a diverse set of solutions. Among them is adopting alternative forms of energy generation and using custom system designs to fit each community’s energy profile.

These systems are feats of engineering, built to sustain the demands of rugged terrain, unforgiving climates, and scarcity of personnel.

One of the primary features that must be taken into consideration when designing rural energy systems is robustness. Tim Sandstrom, director of rural programs at the Alaska Energy Authority (AEA), recalls one recent incident in Kongiganak, near the mouth of the Kuskokwim River on the state’s southwestern coast, in which a relatively new wind turbine was destroyed by extreme conditions.

“They couldn’t break the wind, and it broke,” he says. “Millions of dollars invested into that, and Mother Nature destroyed it.”

Matt Bergan, an engineer with the Kotzebue Electric Association (KEA), also cites Alaska’s extreme weather conditions as a consideration for rural energy design.

“The biggest environmental concern we have is snow drifting caused by the panels. We have to design them to minimize the number of snow drifts they produce,” he says, noting that solar panel arrays have to be raised off the ground as high as 2 to 3 feet.

Low temperatures can also make certain equipment brittle and cause it to crack, Bergan adds.

Edwin Bifelt, founder and CEO of energy contracting firm Alaska Native Renewable Industries (ANRI), says he keeps winter weather in mind when designing systems: “We account for snow loads and wind loads—we include that within our design.”

Bifelt says some of the measures his contracting firm takes include strengthening the racks that hold solar panels and increasing the anchoring force by using 6-foot helical anchors and 10-foot ground screws.

The ground itself can add a layer of difficulty to a project. “With permafrost covering a large portion of the Arctic, just drilling through that can be challenging.”

ith just three hours and forty-two minutes of sunlight on the shortest day of the year, Fairbanks—like much of Alaska—presents multiple challenges for lighting designers looking to create a pleasant, comfortable environment.

While the angle of the sun remains low throughout winter, hewing close to the horizon around the winter solstice, the other half of the year brings a wealth of daylight, creating two situations that can wreak havoc on circadian rhythms.

“The dynamics of our light cycle up here are so unique,” says Dana Nunn, interior design director at Bettisworth North, an Anchorage architecture firm. She notes that the sun’s changing angles throughout the year can change the color and the quality of the light dramatically.

“Figuring out how to balance that and give people a comfortable space to work in or to learn in, it’s important to layer light and controls, just so people can create a lighting environment that’s best for what they’re doing in the moment.”

Yet energy consumption also plays a factor, with Alaska residents often paying higher energy costs than anywhere in the United States.

That’s where LED technology, combined with integrated controls, can help manage energy use, Nunn says.

Ideally, good lighting design incorporates a “variable and flexible lighting system so that things are just as well-lit in the winter as they are in the summer,” she says. “It would be great to start with a cooler color temperature at the beginning of the day, coming down to warmer temperature during the day.”

ecessity continues to drive innovation in Alaska’s aviation industry from COVID-19 protocols and expanded flight services to glass cockpits and FAA’s Visual Weather Observation System.

In a state that’s 663,000 square miles with only 1,082 miles of highway, demand on the aviation industry to meet remote community needs is unparalleled. In 2020, the industry’s top concern was adjusting to COVID-19 to ensure employee and passenger safety.

At Alaska Airlines, this led to numerous changes, including the company roll out of contactless services, says Marilyn Romano, Alaska regional vice president for Alaska Airlines.

“Sometimes a crisis can also help you accelerate things that were already on a priority list somewhere,” Romano says, referring to contactless travel, which allows passengers to do everything from booking to pre-ordering a cheese platter without ever having to physically hand someone a credit card.

“To be able to get that moved to the top of the list, focused on safety, was actually exciting for us because it was an innovation that we really, really wanted to do,” Romano says.

Before the pandemic, Alaska Airlines aircraft were already equipped with high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters, which cycle outside air into the plane, fully refreshing it every three minutes, Romano says.

Even so, as part of its COVID-19 protocols, Alaska Airlines put in place mandatory mask and social distancing requirements, as well as made hand sanitizer packets available for passengers.

“And then our enhanced cleaning,” Romano says. “We have those incredible teams that go on to our airplanes and do major touchpoint cleanings, and then we do electrostatic spraying.”