Biodiesel, composting and saving on your electric bill – they’re all topics covered in workshops at the 8th Annual Renewable Energy Alaska Project, or REAP, fair is taking place Saturday in Anchorage. This year they’ll be 19 presenters from around the state.
Chris Rose is the Executive Director of REAP, a non-profit that promotes renewable energy in Alaska. He says, this year they’ll be more than 40 booths at the REAP fair.
“Some of those are informational booths; some are craft vendors; Some are food vendors; we have a beer tent there,” Rose said. “We also have a bunch of people with electric and alternative vehicles – some that are homemade there that people can check out.”
“I think what people like to do is look at all the information that’s out there, listen to the music, sit in the grass and go to a few workshops.”
REAP is a non-profit coalition of more than 80 energy stakeholders from around the state. Their mission is to increase the production of renewable energy in Alaska. At Saturday’s fair, they’ll be 19 workshops on everything from Tidal Power to how to make your home more energy efficient.
“One of the workshops that I really want to see myself is Thorsten Chlupp’s workshop that will be at 2:00 [p.m.] on ‘Living with the Arctic Sun,” Rose said. “He is a designer and builder up in Fairbanks and he’s building zero net energy homes, meaning he’s building homes, right now, in Fairbanks, that produce just as much energy as they produce.”
“So that’s going to be a really interesting workshop that I hope a lot of people can catch.”
Music will include Evan Phillips, Tim Easton Rebel Blues and more. The REAP fair runs from 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Saturday on the park strip, between G & I Streets.
Daysha Eaton is a contributor with the Alaska Public Radio Network.
Daysha Eaton holds a B.A. from Evergreen State College, and a M.A. from the University of Southern California. Daysha got her start in radio at Seattle public radio stations, KPLU and KUOW. Before coming to KBBI, she was the News Director at KYUK in Bethel. She has also worked as the Southcentral Reporter for KSKA in Anchorage.
Daysha's work has appeared on NPR's "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered", PRI's "The World" and "National Native News". She's happy to take assignments, and to get news tips, which are best sent via email.
Daysha became a journalist because she believes in the power of storytelling. Stories connect us and they help us make sense of our world. They shed light on injustice and they comfort us in troubled times. She got into public broadcasting because it seems to fulfill the intention of the 4th Estate and to most effectively apply the freedom of the press granted to us through the Constitution. She feels that public radio has a special way of moving people emotionally through sound, taking them to remote places, introducing them to people they would not otherwise meet and compelling them to think about issues they might ordinarily overlook.
