Craig Moore, Vice President of Planning and Development. Photo by Dennis Schroeder, NREL 33444

Change doesn’t happen on its own. It’s led by dedicated and passionate people who are championing innovative solutions to Alaska’s energy challenges. Alaska Energy Champions is a regular feature spotlighting pioneers of Alaska’s new energy frontier.

Name: Craig Moore
Title/Role: Vice President of Planning and Development
Affiliation: Tlingit-Haida Regional Housing Authority

Describe your role in championing tribal energy development in your region of Alaska.

I’ve been at the Housing Authority for 17 years. We do energy assessments for multifamily buildings in southeast Alaska to find out what kind of energy efficiency improvements would be most effective and look at renewable energy improvements to those buildings. A lot of these communities are faced with high energy costs, so a lot of their income is going out to pay for energy bills, and [often they] don’t know exactly what in their household or what behaviors are causing these high energy bills. So it’s an eye opener for them. The benefit to the community is that families learn where their energy dollars are going and ways to conserve.

What motivates you to do the work you do?

Even before I started at the Housing Authority 17 years ago, I was into energy efficiency in construction. I was a certified rater in the state of Alaska, and was always interested in energy efficient buildings. When I came to the Housing Authority, it was right around the time the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act was passed, which gave Tribes more flexibility on using their housing dollars. When we started consulting with them we saw there was a lot of unmet need. I was ecstatic that I had the opportunity to bring my knowledge on energy efficiency to the Tribes and help them find solutions for creating more healthy homes. I go out to the communities and work with the people. You get to know the families, and you get to see what they’re dealing with. I realize that in my position I have the ability to make some changes in the communities and help people out.  I love the small communities, and I want them to be sustainable. They’re great communities! I realize they’re struggling with the high cost of energy, so any small measure we can do to make their homes more affordable, more comfortable, and save them some energy dollars so they can invest in making a better life for the community is very rewarding.

How do you see energy shaping the future of Alaska?

It’s critical. It’s funny, it’s an oil-rich state; we have a lot of reserves. However, it all has to get shipped out and processed elsewhere before it can come back. And then we have to ship it back in before we can use it in our cars, our homes, and our businesses. So as the cost of energy goes, so do our fortunes in the state. Right now the price per barrel of oil is at a very low level, which means the state is not getting the revenues that we like to get from our oil taxes. So that’s hurting the state government but the cost for fuel and oil in our villages is remaining high, so they’re going to be hit with reduced services from the state while they still have  high energy costs. Our cultures in the rural areas of Alaska have been there for millennia, but now the high cost of energy is affecting their sustainability, and there are families that are struggling and might have to move out of their beloved communities go to an urban hub and try to find jobs to make it. That bothers me. I don’t want to see communities dying out. Those rural communities are very important to the whole vitality and nature of Alaska. As a Housing Authority employee, I have the ability to do something about it, even though it’s a small portion of the puzzle. Controlling energy costs and working to find solutions is key to the sustainability of our state.   

Describe some of the challenges the Tribes in your region are facing.

In southeast Alaska, the Tribes are facing high electricity costs. The electricity is made with diesel-electric generators, and those have fixed operating costs. That keeps going up because the cost of oil keeps going up, and shipping goes up, and maintenance. Tribes don’t have any control over that. The only thing they can do is try to lower their consumption. And that’s a challenge. You can do that in your home sometimes through energy efficiency measures. On the heating side, they can’t afford to buy that expensive oil; their heating systems are expensive to operate and maintain. They’re trying to find ultimate solutions like putting in a wood stove but they might not have a new EPA-certified wood stove; they get access to whatever they can afford. That can create [other] issues, for instance, indoor air quality and fire safety issues.

What is your vision for a more sustainable future in Alaska?

Energy Independence, renewable energy—local renewable energy so we’re not reliant on imported energy. We have the resources in Alaska, we just haven’t been able to utilize them. It’s partly because we’re so spread out. It’s such a huge state, and very small communities, and it’s a challenge for them to get up to the critical mass where they can implement strategies. But that’s what it’s going to take. We need to find local renewable solutions to our energy problems to give us that energy independence so our local communities can survive.