ANSEP Students and Alumni met U.S. Secretary of Energy, Jennifer Granholm and Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski to learn about Alaska’s future workforce and how investments, research and development funding will bring jobs and help build a clean energy future!
Their visit consisted of two days in Alaska traveling to showcase what Granholm’s office calls the state’s status as “America’s living laboratory.”
The visit coincides with the recent passage of the bipartisan infrastructure deal and is intended to show how investments and research and development funding “will bring jobs and help build the state’s clean, secure energy future,” Granholm’s office said.
“America’s Last Frontier is leading the way to advance technologies that will make our clean energy transition possible,” Granholm said in a statement “I look forward to joining Senator Murkowski to witness this innovation.”
Their visit started on Sunday, August 15, in Fairbanks, where Granholm and Murkowski toured the National Renewable Energy Lab’s Cold Climate Housing Research Center. The center’s work in training a local workforce to build and rapidly deploy shelter for climate-threatened communities in an effort to reduce the need for relocation will be highlighted.
Also Sunday, they toured the Permafrost Tunnel Research Facility, where scientists study the impact of thawing on above-ground structures and attended the Chena Hot Springs Renewable Energy Fair.
On Monday, August 16, they visited the Alaska Center for Energy and Power at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, where researchers are developing ways to achieve 100% renewable power for rural villages.
They ended their Alaska visit in Anchorage to participate in a discussion with Malcolm Woolf, president of the National Hydropower Association and met with students and alumni of the Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program at the University of Alaska Anchorage.
