HomeMy WebLinkAboutLynn Hohl LOSPO Box 333
Seward, A K 99664
August 19, 20l1
Alaska Energy Authority
813 West Northern Lights Boulevard
Anchorage, AK 99503
Re: Kenai Peninsula Borough School District
Seward Schools Biomass Heating System Feasibility Study
Dear Sir or Madam:
This letter is to express my personal support for• the Seward Schools Biomass Heating Systems
Feasibility Study.
I represent the Eastern Kenai Peninsula (Hope, Moose Pass. Cooper Landing. City of Seward and
adjacent areas) and all district students on the Kenai Peninsula Borough Distr·ict Board of Education.
As you know by the district application, the Boar·d unanimously approved a recommendation to
authorize the district administration apply for funding through the Renewable Energy Fund Gr·ant
offered by the Alaska Energy Authority.
My primary reasons are:
• my own experience with a residential biomass (pellet) stove
• the Eastern Peninsula, and our other rural areas of the peninsula without natural gas, r•ely on
diesel to heat our buildings. and in some instances, 91!!-nerate electricity
• the volatile price of diesel impacts our ability to r·eliably forecast heating costs and r1~uiress
funding that is better used for our primary mission. educating our students
• the replacement of an inefficient, toxic, polluting fue.l with a cleaner burning biomass product
• the c•vailability of biomass energy (pellets in particular) in the northwest and in Alaska
• the renewable nature of wood and the economic impact pellets provide in the locales where
they're produced
Our school district. like our families and businesses, carefully budgets our resources and appreciates
'opportunities to make improvements. Thank yc)U for this opportunity to apply for a grant frc)m AEA
through the Renewable Energy Fund Round V. to conduct a Feasibility Study on the use of bic1mass
heating systems for the Seward schools. I'm hopeful. if we are successful in receiving this grant and
the project proves feasible. that Seward schools may be the first of our district schools to benefit
from a renewable energy source with others following suit.
Sincerely,
/ ,• .' ll "1 ,---.·
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\"iynn ~qhl. Member ·
· K~rl(li~in:;ula Board of Education