{"id":22121,"date":"2025-06-28T15:26:13","date_gmt":"2025-06-28T15:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/22121\/"},"modified":"2025-06-28T15:26:13","modified_gmt":"2025-06-28T15:26:13","slug":"in-words-and-photos-rural-alaska-residents-reflect-on-their-villages-sustainable-practices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/22121\/","title":{"rendered":"In words and photos, rural Alaska residents reflect on their village’s sustainable practices"},"content":{"rendered":"

GALENA, Alaska (AP) \u2014 In rural central Alaska, a village is in the midst of a clean energy transformation that locals say will boost savings, build resilience and provide jobs. Galena wants to curb its reliance<\/a> on expensive, imported diesel that when burned is one of the largest contributors of planet-warming emissions.<\/p>\n

Nearly 10 years ago, the village started harvesting trees to fuel a biomass plant to heat its bustling boarding school, offsetting about 100,000 gallons (about 380,000 liters) of diesel annually.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Workers<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

The local Louden Tribe is encouraging people to collect floating logs from the Yukon River that can be used for firewood and siding for the sustainable homes they\u2019re building for members. And soon a 1.5-megawatt solar farm will allow the city to turn off its diesel engines and run on 100% clean, renewable energy on sunny summer days, with excess power stored in a battery for later use. That will save another 100,000 gallons annually.<\/p>\n

The Associated Press talked to residents about their village\u2019s sustainable and renewable energy projects. Here are some of their reflections:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Tim<\/p>\n

Tim Kalke, general manager of Sustainable Energy for Galena Alaska, poses for a portrait Monday, May 19, 2025, in Galena, Alaska. (AP Photo\/John Locher)<\/p>\n

Tim Kalke, general manager of Sustainable Energy for Galena Alaska, poses for a portrait Monday, May 19, 2025, in Galena, Alaska. (AP Photo\/John Locher)<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

Tim Kalke, 46, general manager at Sustainable Energy for Galena Alaska<\/p>\n

We\u2019re just ensuring that our critical infrastructure has redundancy and protection built into it, so that every time there\u2019s a power outage, it doesn\u2019t turn into tens of thousands of dollars in repairs in its wake.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Jade<\/p>\n

Jade Thurmond poses for a portrait at a construction site of a solar energy project Friday, May 23, 2025, in Galena, Alaska. (AP Photo\/John Locher)<\/p>\n

Jade Thurmond poses for a portrait at a construction site of a solar energy project Friday, May 23, 2025, in Galena, Alaska. (AP Photo\/John Locher)<\/p>\n

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Jade Thurmond, 20, a Galena resident working on the solar farm<\/p>\n

I\u2019m really excited for when we are using it and how we\u2019ll reduce our diesel usage. I think that would be pretty fun to see and to hear about in the future, and see what comes along.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Jake<\/p>\n

Jake Pogrebinsky smokes a cigarette during a brake from milling logs Thursday, May 22, 2025, in Galena, Alaska. (AP Photo\/John Locher)<\/p>\n

Jake Pogrebinsky smokes a cigarette during a brake from milling logs Thursday, May 22, 2025, in Galena, Alaska. (AP Photo\/John Locher)<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

Jake Pogrebinsky, 54, a sawmill operator for Louden Tribe and driftwood collector<\/p>\n

Instead of having to make money to pay for barge freight or to buy materials, you are spending your time out on the river. For a young person, as a lesson, as a skill-building activity, it cannot possibly be compared to.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Brad<\/p>\n

Brad Scotton, Galena City Council member, poses for a portrait at a building near his home Sunday, May 18, 2025, in Galena, Alaska. (AP Photo\/John Locher)<\/p>\n

Brad Scotton, Galena City Council member, poses for a portrait at a building near his home Sunday, May 18, 2025, in Galena, Alaska. (AP Photo\/John Locher)<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

Brad Scotton, 54, a Galena city council member<\/p>\n

What (the biomass plant) has done is stabilize (costs), and it\u2019s created a local workforce and a job base that we never used to have. So it\u2019s keeping the money that used to go outside within the community and providing pretty meaningful jobs for people.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Will<\/p>\n

Will Kramer, Applied Mechanics instructor at the Galena Interior Learning Academy, sits on the bed of a truck Wednesday, May 21, 2025, in Galena, Alaska. (AP Photo\/John Locher)<\/p>\n

Will Kramer, Applied Mechanics instructor at the Galena Interior Learning Academy, sits on the bed of a truck Wednesday, May 21, 2025, in Galena, Alaska. (AP Photo\/John Locher)<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

Will Kramer, 29, an applied mechanics instructor at Galena Interior Learning Academy<\/p>\n

We are just at the whim of whatever somebody else that wants to make all the money off of us is saying and doing. And being able to install and integrate these systems in these communities, it kind of gives the freedom back to the communities.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Phil<\/p>\n

Phil Koontz drives his boat on the Yukon River, Wednesday, May 21, 2025, in Galena, Alaska. (AP Photo\/John Locher)<\/p>\n

Phil Koontz drives his boat on the Yukon River, Wednesday, May 21, 2025, in Galena, Alaska. (AP Photo\/John Locher)<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

Phil Koontz, 74 , a retired environmental engineer for the Louden Tribe<\/p>\n

It would be very hard to live here without outside resources. I see fuel as probably the main outside resource that we use. It provides most of the electricity, it provides most of the transportation, it provides most of the heat. I don\u2019t know what we\u2019re going to do without those things. One of the solutions I see is efficiency, reducing the need for energy to produce the same result, better insulated houses, better vehicles, better energy sources.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Aaren<\/p>\n

Aaren Sommer poses for a portrait at a construction site of a solar energy project Friday, May 23, 2025, in Galena, Alaska. (AP Photo\/John Locher)<\/p>\n

Aaren Sommer poses for a portrait at a construction site of a solar energy project Friday, May 23, 2025, in Galena, Alaska. (AP Photo\/John Locher)<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

Aaren Sommer, 19, a Galena resident helping install the solar array<\/p>\n

(The array is) going to reduce the diesel usage a whole bunch over at the power plant, which is going to help us out.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

___<\/p>\n

Pineda reported from Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP\u2019s environmental coverage, visit https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/climate-and-environment<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GALENA, Alaska (AP) \u2014 In rural central Alaska, a village is in the midst of a clean energy…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":22122,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[13671,934,64,10109,10106,285,168,746,57,1165,6606,866,159,61,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-22121","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-ak-state-wire","9":"tag-alaska","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-climate","12":"tag-climate-and-environment","13":"tag-climate-change","14":"tag-domestic-news","15":"tag-environment","16":"tag-general-news","17":"tag-lifestyle","18":"tag-photo-galleries","19":"tag-renewable-energy","20":"tag-science","21":"tag-u-s-news","22":"tag-united-states","23":"tag-unitedstates","24":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}