Name: Logan Borger; Institution: University of Alaska; Program: Arctic Energy Office Intern; Education Level: Undergraduate Student
August 16, 2021
minute read time
Logan Borger was an intern in the Arctic Energy Office whose project was to study energy use in remote Alaskan communities. He is a mechanical engineering undergraduate student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Your project used the UrbanOpt platform to evaluate and recommend energy systems for rural Alaskans. Tell me about project goals.
The scope shifted to assessing the electrical and thermal energy use in rural communities with the purpose of projecting future energy needs and comparing the energy requirement predictions from UrbanOpt (which uses the EnergyPlus database) with results from energy audits and analyses conducted by various organizations in Alaska. I applied this assessment to community buildings and residential housing in a number of communities. The difficulty lies in the vastness of the state and diversity within the existing communities. Accounting for the effects of different climate zones and varying building inventories and characterizations, such as efficiencies, ages, sizes, and components, is a very tall task that we have just begun to scratch the surface of. The goal was to evaluate communities needing to move due to climate change.
What challenges did you encounter with the UrbanOpt software?
The software is fairly complex in regard to access and use, so the scope of work was shifted to account for this. Additionally, the internship was relatively short, and I didn’t have the technical knowledge to make exploring UrbanOpt worthwhile. Because of these reasons, it was decided that there were other directions that would most likely be more productive. However, the actual exploration and technical adaptation of the UrbanOpt could be done down the road.
As part of your project, did you get the chance to tour the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)'s Cold Climate Housing Research Center?
Unfortunately, no. But I did talk to CCHRC's Regional Director Bruno Grunau, economic analyst Nathan Wiltse, and with NREL’s Arctic Strategic Program Manager Sherry Stout. I got a brief presentation on what they do at NREL. It was neat to see the scope of what they do.
How has your research helped you understand building efficiency? What potential do you see for buildings in the cold climate of Alaska?
I’ve learned that there is a wide variety of building types, components, and uses that affect a building’s efficiency. Every type of building has lots of variables to account for. As for buildings in the coldest climates, they face a lot of challenges that are unique. But in terms of energy, the majority of energy for houses and buildings goes toward space heating. And a portion of this energy is inevitably lost to inefficient components or designs. Increasing building efficiency in these regions has a lot of potential to increase quality of life and reduce energy burdens for a number of arctic communities.
Which communities did you evaluate?
Using EnergyPlus, we looked at multiple communities: Hughes, Akhiok, Arctic Village, Cooper, Buckland, Deering, Galena, Yukon, Nome, Kotzebue and more. Unfortunately, we did not find very good ways to represent some of the building types that are common in Alaska’s remote communities (e.g., schools, clinics, maintenance shops, washeterias, and warehouses). It would be helpful to have EnergyPlus updated to include the full range of typical Alaskan buildings and ensure it incorporates Alaska energy data for them.
What interests you most about how energy is used in remote communities?
I found it interesting how much of the energy is used for space heating.
What were the sources of information that were most useful in your analysis?
The Alaska Regional Energy Plan, the Alaska Energy Authority, energy utilities, the Alaska Housing and Finance Corporation, Alaska Division of Community and Regional Affairs. There were lots of sources.
You are earning your degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. How is this internship helping you in your future career goals?
I would say that the connections that I have made have helped the most.
What will your final project look like? What do you hope DOE will do with it?
I had a final report and a number of spreadsheets that captured all the data collected. I hope the DOE will understand the need to adapt UrbanOpt for Alaskan facilities to make it viable in Alaska. I hope that existing energy data for the communities would be uploaded to the database. Additionally, it would be really useful to get more recent data on building energy use from Alaska-–much of the data I could find online was from the 2012 and 2014 timeframe. This seems like a great place for DOE and Alaska to collaborate.
Were there any meaningful takeaways from the MEISPP webinars you can use for your studies or career?
I’m not sure if they specifically complemented what I was doing for my internship, but there were some interesting points on emotional intelligence. I learned more about setting goals and how your perception of the goal can impact your achievement. I was a little disappointed there wasn’t an opportunity for networking with the other interns in the program.
Anything else to share about this internship?
I am very grateful for the opportunity to work for the DOE this summer. It was really encouraging to see people like (AEO Director) George Roe who genuinely care about the energy problems Alaska is facing and are unrelenting in their pursuit of turning a vision into a reality.