LUTHERAN QUILTERS – Members of the Quilts for Comfort Group stand between pews draped with some of the 205 quilts they made, in the Sitka Lutheran Church Tuesday. The group made the quilts for five local non-profits and one in Anchorage. The remaining quilts are sent to Lutheran World Relief which distributes them to places around the world in need, such as Ukraine, as part of Personal Care Kits. Pictured are, from left, Helen Cunningham, Kathleen Brandt,Vicki Swanson, Paulla Hardy, Kim Hunter, Linda Swanson and Sue Fleming. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
By JAMES BROOKS
Alaska Beacon
Federal officials on Wednesday approved most of Alaska’s four-y [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
At an hour-long work session with the Assembly Tuesda [ ... ]
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
The story behind a classic, though often misunderstoo [ ... ]
By CLAIRE STREMPLE
Alaska Beacon
The state government risks losing millions of dollars in feder [ ... ]
By JAMES BROOKS
Alaska Beacon
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy on Wednesday signed a bill that promise [ ... ]
By YERETH ROSEN
Alaska Beacon
Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, known for its steep mountains [ ... ]
By Sentinel Staff
Playing Wednesday in competitive division City League volleyball matches, Ca [ ... ]
Police Blotter
Sitka police received the following calls by 8 a.m. today:
March 27
At 2:36 p.m. a dead [ ... ]
This Week in Girls on the Run
By Sitkans Against Family Violence
and The Pathways Coalition
During th [ ... ]
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
The future of management and operations at the Perform [ ... ]
By Sentinel Staff
The Sitka Sound commercial herring sac roe fishery continued today with open [ ... ]
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
After storming into the state 3A boys basketball brac [ ... ]
By Sentinel Staff
The Queen Bees’ spotless season record ended Tuesday night with a 2-1 loss [ ... ]
By SHIRLEY SNEVE
Indian Country Today
A major renovation at an Alaska museum to attract tourist [ ... ]
By CLAIRE STREMPLE
Alaska Beacon
A presentation about a jump in the number of inmate deaths in [ ... ]
By NATHANIEL HERZ
Northern Journal
Tribal and environmental advocates calling for a crackdown o [ ... ]
Police Blotter
Sitka police received the following calls by 8 a.m. today:
March 26
At 2:10 p.m. a man e [ ... ]
Big Rigs Sought
For April 13
The 3 to 5 Preschool’s spring fundraiser and Big Rig event is happening [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
The city’s reassessment of taxable real estate, alo [ ... ]
By Sentinel Staff
The third opening in this year’s Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery was held Mon [ ... ]
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
Sitka High’s Lady Wolves bounced back from an openi [ ... ]
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel ports Editor
Competing in the state 3A basketball tournament in Anc [ ... ]
By Sentinel Staff
Playing in a competitive division City League volleyball game Monday evening [ ... ]
By JAMES BROOKS
Alaska Beacon
A bill that passed the Alaska House of Representatives on Monday [ ... ]
Daily Sitka Sentinel
Alaska’s New Heat Source: Sun-Warmed Sea
By TOM HESSE
Sentinel Staff Writer
As saltwater heat pumps become increasingly more viable, the next opportunity for coastal Alaskan communities to save money on heating their buildings may be to tap the heat in ocean water.
Andy Baker, the owner and project manager of an Anchorage company called YourCleanEnergy LLC, stopped by the Chamber of Commerce Wednesday to discuss the potential of salt water heat pumps. Baker has already seen the installation of one such system at Seward that is saving the Seward Sea Life Center over $100,000 a year in energy costs.
The concept has been around for decades, but recent strides have made it more and more attractive to coastal communities, Baker said.
“The technology for these systems have advanced tremendously,” he said.
A salt water heat pump could loosely be described as a form of solar power, although a lot happens between the moment the sun heats ocean water and when that ocean water is ready to heat a building.
“We’re not interested in the seawater. We’re interested in the heat in the seawater,” Baker said.
The process starts with warm water, heated by the sun near the equator. Ocean currents bring that water north to Alaska where the water sitting in the bay is oftentimes still warmer than the air temperature.
“Even at (water temperatures of) 37 degrees the heat pumps are still efficient,” Baker said.
That level of heat is hard to explain but Baker puts it in terms of Alaska’s current major energy source, the Alaska pipeline.
The Seward Sea Life Center gets its energy from a bay that is two to three miles wide and 11 miles long. That bay sees a summer temperature increase of around 15 degrees every year just from warmer water moving up from the south. Baker said to generate that same level of heat with the Trans-Alaska pipeline you would need to burn 600,000 barrels of oil a day at 85 percent efficiency for 50 days.
“It’s an immense amount of energy, using the ocean as a solar collector,” Baker said.
The heat pumps take all that energy and transfer it to a pipe loop filled with glycol antifreeze. The loop circulates the heated liquid around the facility or neighborhood being heated. It is the glycol, not the corrosive sea water, that delivers heat to the building.
The water is run past glycol, which boils at a very low temperature. The glycol condenses and creates compression leading to heat which heats the buildings. The same principal is used in refrigeration.
The Seward Sea Life Center’s unit cost over $800,000 not including the annual cost for maintaining it, but the facility is well on its way to paying that off in oil savings alone.
“We’re still on track for an eight-and-a-half year payback on that project,” Baker said.
On average, the heat pump was 277 percent more efficient for heating the facility than oil.
One advantage the Sea Life Center had was that, as an aquarium, it was already pumping in sea water, which eliminated a step in the process. One place in Sitka that has that same luxury is the Sitka Sound Science Center.
The science center is already in the process of adding a salt-water pump, and just this year finished installing a new intake. Officials there are working on grants to fund the heat pump.
One day, the 11,000 square-foot building may be heated by using the same plumbing that brings sea water to the exhibits, but Baker emphasized that there is the potential to heat entire communities. Seward is heading in that direction and towns in Canada and Norway are already getting their heat offshore.
“Tap Sitka Sound. That’s your heat source brought to you all the way from the equator for free,” Baker said.
Login Form
20 YEARS AGO
March 2004
Advertisement: Tea-Licious Tea House & Bakery 315 Lincoln Street Grand Opening! Freshly Baked Scones, Cakes & Pastries Innovative Salads, Soups & Sandwiches Harney & Sons Tea. Lunch * Afternoon Tea * Supper.
50 YEARS AGO
March 1974
Photo caption: National Republican Chairman George Bush takes a drink of water offered by Jan Craddick, Sitka delegate, during the Republican convention held here. Mrs. Craddick explained to Bush that the water was from Indian River, which means, according to local legend, that he will return.