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Agriculture could be Alaska’s way to utilise its geothermal resources

Agriculture could be Alaska’s way to utilise its geothermal resources Pilgrim Hot Springs, Alaska (source: Pilgrim Hot Springs/Unaatuq LLC via Facebook)
Alexander Richter 18 Jul 2019

With great distances of geothermal resources and centers of energy demand, agriculture through greenhouses could be an option for Alaska to tap into its geothermal potential, so Gwen Holdmann of the Alaska Center for Energy and Power.

During a recent Senate hearing on geothermal energy, the State’s Senator Lisa Murkowski highlighted the Chena Hot Springs as a great example of what geothermal energy can provide.

Also mentioning Iceland as a great example of what can be achieved with geothermal energy, there are though some challenges to geothermal energy development in the State of Alaska, according to Gwen Holdmann, Director of the Alaska Center for Energy and Power (ACEP).

In a recent article by KTUU in Alaska, she says that the “main thing stopping development is the distance.” The same problem can be found with other sources of energy, as you need it where there is a demand for energy. So either the source is in a reasonable distance to buyers, or one needs to attract industry to that location.

So she mentions agriculture as a good option for Alaska. “Iceland has been really successful in producing about fifty percent of the food that’s consumed in Iceland domestically mostly using geothermal heat and geothermal energy,” Holdmann says.

The ACEP has worked with Pilgrim Hot Springs in Western Alaska to explore “having local food production, and then exporting that food to other parts of the region,” Holdmann says.

Source: KTUU