Native Village of Tyonek – 2020 Project

Background

The NVT is a Dena’ina Athabascan Village located 43 miles southwest of Anchorage on the coast of Alaska. Situated on the Cook Inlet, the Village is accessible by plane or boat. It is home to the Tebughna, or “Beach People.”

The long-term energy goal of the NVT, together with the Tyonek Native Corporation, is to support sustainable practices through waste reduction and energy conservation. In December 2018 the Tribal Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) Council approved four energy objectives. The first and highest priority objective is “To increase the energy efficiency of tribal buildings by implementing the most important upgrades from the 2017 energy audits.”

In 2017 the Tribe obtained energy audits of five tribal buildings and has been steadily implementing the audit recommendations. This project will install energy efficiency measures (EEMs) on two of the five buildings that received energy audits.

Project Objectives

The goal of the project is to reduce the overall energy use of the Tribe, which will be one step toward fulfilling NVT’s long-term vision for energy conservation. Further, the project will address the highest priority of the Tribal IRA Council’s energy planning objectives, to increase the energy efficiency of tribal buildings by implementing the most important upgrades from the 2017 energy audits. The project objective is to reduce energy use of the Tyonek Native Corporation Satellite Office and the Tribal Center by 21% and 18%, respectively, by implementing the recommendations from the 2017 energy audits of those buildings.

In addition to reducing energy use and cost, this project will also reduce the Tribe’s fossil fuel use by almost 800 gallons of fuel oil #1 and almost 10,000 kWh of electricity each year. It will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 27,700 pounds per year. NVT intends to replicate this project by applying realized energy savings to audit recommendations for other tribal buildings and pursuing energy audits for other community buildings. The project will also increase the energy independence and environmental stewardship of the Tribe.

Project Scope

The NVT will install EEMs in the Tyonek Native Corporation Satellite Office and the Tribal Center tribal buildings located in Tyonek, Alaska. NVT obtained energy audits on these buildings in 2017, and this project will implement some of the recommendations from the audits.

The EEMs to be installed on the two tribal buildings fall into three categories: LED lighting and occupancy sensors, programmable thermostats, and an electrical switch for the heat tape line in the Tyonek Native Corporation Satellite Office.

The NVT will provide project facilitation and on-site support, and its partners will help with outreach, project administration, reporting, and data management.

Project Location

Located 43 miles southwest of Anchorage on the coast of Alaska the NVT, a Dena’ina Athabascan Village, is home to the Tebughna, or Beach People, and is accessible by plane and boat. The project will conduct energy efficiency retrofits on two community buildings in Tyonek: The Tyonek Native Corporation Satellite Office, constructed in 2007, and the Tribal Center, constructed around 1960.