APU Renewable Energy Initiative

This project will develop and implement an Introduction to Sustainable Energy class at Alaska Pacific University, including a lab component. This course is an introduction to the field of sustainable energy. APU is aiming to better serve rural Alaska as it transitions toward becoming a tribal university. Course topics include energy consumption, energy conservation and efficiency, renewable energy resources and technologies including storage and hardware, laws and codes, and the renewable energy profession. The lab component will design and test renewable energy kits aimed at teaching rural Alaska teachers, students, and administrators the concepts of renewable energy. The course is in cooperation with University of Alaska Fairbanks College of Rural and Community Development. Funds will support course development, project-related travel and training, and supplies.

Students in the SC29200 Introduction to Renewable Energy class will learn the concepts of renewable energy, and develop and test renewable energy kits, which we call "Renewable Energy Education Kits." Imagine the community of a remote village or a 5th grader in an Anchorage classroom watching as an APU student/instructor pulls a solar panel, a wind generator and a hydro turbine out of an action packer, assembling them to show how they work. Broad outreach efforts like this may render the small scale renewable energy solutions exciting and "do-able" for the first time, and plant seeds for viable future applications, from Anchorage rooftops to remote village wind farms.