“I was there, after all, before Gore-Tex replaced muskrat and wolf skin in parkas, before moon boots replaced mukluks, before the gas drill replaced the age-old tuuq we used to dig through five feet of ice to fish. I was there before the snow machine, back when the huskies howled their eagerness to pull the sled. I was there before the outboard motor showed up, when the qayaq and umiaq glided silently across the water, and I was there when the candle and the Coleman lamp provided all the light we needed. I was there when two feet of sod and a dirt floor protected us from the winter elements and the thin walls of a tent permitted the lapping waves, loons, and seagulls to lull us to sleep in the summer.” -William “Willie” L.Iggiagruk Hensley, Fifty Miles from Tomorrow (Source accessed 20 July 2021).
Willie Hensley, an Iñupiat man, two-term Alaska legislator, and integral drafter of the Alaska Native Settlement Claims Act (ANCSA), described in one chapter of his book Fifty Miles from Tomorrow when electricity was brought to his village and the change that came from it. Today, electricity is a very important form of energy that most of us use each day, but it wasn’t always so, and in many Alaskan communities it wasn’t that long ago that the first electric power houses were built. The transfer of electrons from atom to atom allows us to listen to music, light our homes and schools, and power our computers, TVs, and other electronic devices. The choices we make daily about how we use electricity—turning lights off when we leave the room and unplugging appliances when they are not in use—have a significant impact on how much electricity we consume and how much we waste.
Outside of Southeast Alaska and Kodiak where hydropower is widely utilized, the majority of electricity in Alaska is produced by burning fossil fuels such as natural gas, diesel, and coal. Fossil fuels take millions of years to form, which means that they are limited in quantity and take a long time to replace. Being aware of how much electricity we consume and recognizing what devices use more electricity than others can help us be wiser energy consumers. It can also help us conserve our remaining fossil fuel reserves.
Although in Alaska the majority of homes are heated using natural gas or diesel, 10% of homes are heated during the winter using electric resistance heaters, which are often less efficient and more expensive than other heating sources. While technologies like air- and water-sourced heat pumps use electricity and are much more efficient than electric resistance heaters, they are not yet used widely. Aside from space heating, the largest consumers of electricity in our homes are water heaters, lighting and appliances.
The more watts an appliance uses, the more electricity it uses. A kilowatt hour (kWh) is a unit to measure electricity consumption. For example, one kWh is the amount of electricity used to light ten 100 watt light bulbs for 1 hour (or one 100 watt light bulbs for ten hours). While different appliances and electronics use different amounts of electricity, the amount of time that you use or have something turned on is also important to consider. Understanding how many kilowatt hours appliances or electronics use is a way to track your total electricity use. A Kill-A-Watt meter or other electricity monitor will measure how much electricity a plugged-in appliance is using. It can be used to measure just the rate of electricity (watts) or left plugged in over time and measure the kilowatt hours. Once you know how much electricity different items use, it can help determine how you can reduce electricity usage. In this lesson, students will explore how many watts different appliances use and how to reduce their own electricity use. This lesson focuses just on watts and not kilowatt hours or how long something is being used to be more appropriate for younger learners. “Be an Energy Star” is an AK EnergySmart lesson geared for 6-8 graders: students calculate kilowatt hours and could be used for advanced younger students.