00;00;01;09 - 00;00;07;18 Unknown So even though we don't have a ton of excess wind right now in the future, it is feasible 00;00;07;18 - 00;00;17;11 Unknown that we could potentially use electric thermal sources, heaters with reduced price excess wind generated electricity to supplement our home heating. 00;00;17;11 - 00;00;24;25 Unknown This week on Energy in the North, I speak with Dominique Pryde, a research associate professor of economics at the Alaska Center for Energy and Power. 00;00;24;26 - 00;00;29;00 Unknown Dominique and her team have been installing electric thermal storage heaters, 00;00;29;01 - 00;00;34;17 Unknown a supplementary heating device that looks like a Tokyo stove. But inside a high density ceramic bricks, 00;00;34;19 - 00;00;38;23 Unknown powered by electricity and have a nickel chromium wire running through them. 00;00;38;24 - 00;00;41;11 Unknown As the bricks heat up, they act as a storage 00;00;41;12 - 00;00;45;12 Unknown and a fan blows across the bricks, sending the heat into the home living space, 00;00;45;13 - 00;00;47;18 Unknown reducing the need for other heating sources. 00;00;47;19 - 00;00;50;00 Unknown I began the conversation by asking Dominique, 00;00;50;01 - 00;00;51;23 Unknown why is she looking at these stoves? 00;00;51;24 - 00;01;12;13 Unknown We wanted to see if using electric thermal storage heaters could help reduce the PM 2.5 emission levels in the Fairbanks North Star Bureau. There are several communities in western Alaska that are powering these heaters with excess wind generated electricity to displace high priced heating fuel oil used in those communities. 00;01;12;16 - 00;01;48;27 Unknown Since the electricity going to the electric thermal storage heaters can be interrupted at any time based on the availability of excess wind generated electricity. The utility sells the electricity at a discounted rate. For our study, we collected baseline data on PM 2.5 emissions for one year into neighborhoods that have historically had high levels of PM 2.5 emissions. Then the next year we installed electric thermal storage heaters in homes in one of the neighborhoods and then had the other neighborhood serve as a control. 00;01;49;00 - 00;02;13;18 Unknown We continued to collect PM 2.5 data in both neighborhoods for the next year, but in the neighborhood that had the electric thermal storage heaters, we charged the homeowners $0.10 per kilowatt hour for the electricity used by those. And that was last year. This year we've dropped the rate. So the electricity they use only costs the homeowner $0.05 per kilowatt hour. 00;02;13;20 - 00;02;36;22 Unknown The study wraps up in May. And then once we wrap it up, we'll be able to use the data that we've collected to determine whether these electric thermal storage heaters had any impact at all on PM 2.5 emissions in the area and also on home energy costs. That was a big portion of the study. We wanted to see how these electric thermal storage heaters impacted the homeowners. 00;02;36;24 - 00;03;08;00 Unknown Residential energy costs for the year. It's really interesting to think about heating homes with wind in Fairbanks. People have brought up well, Fairbanks is in a very windy place. Luckily, we are connected by our rail bill electricity grid to places that have a great resource. So even though we don't have a ton of excess wind right now in the future, it is feasible that we could potentially use electric thermal storage heaters with reduced price excess wind generated electricity to supplement our home heating. 00;03;08;02 - 00;03;40;02 Unknown And even though the electricity may be used to power, these electric thermal storage heaters may be more expensive than if you just go top down a tree yourself. It's still a lot cheaper than heating with heating fuel oil. And so even if you were to just use this on days when there were air quality alerts, that could still put a dent in the PM 2.5 emissions and it's a lot easier to use an electric appliance than it is to tend a wood stove all winter. 00;03;40;02 - 00;03;42;07 Unknown So it does have the benefit of that too. 00;03;42;18 - 00;03;55;21 Unknown Dominic Pryde is a research associate professor of economics at the Alaska Center for Energy and Power. And I'm Amanda Bird, chief storyteller for Asup. Find this story and more at 51·çÁ÷¹ÙÍø dot edu forward slash ACP.