Minto Village Council – 2014 Project

Background

The Minto Village Council was awarded Strategic Technical Assistance Response Team (START) assistance from the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Indian Energy Policy and Programs and the Denali Commission in 2013. This grant is a result of the technical assistance provided under that competition.

Minto is a small Athabascan Indian Village made up of four distinct clans that came from Tanacross, Nenana, and the Minto Flats area. Families had long used the old Minto site as a wintertime base while seasonally traveling widely throughout the region to follow fish and game the rest of the year. In the summer of 1969, folks began building homes in the current Minto site. The homes were poorly insulated and so cold that the water froze. The road to Fairbanks took years to make passable, and it was several more years before many people could afford a vehicle to make the drive.

Located 120 miles from Fairbanks on the Minto Spur Road off the Elliot Highway, Minto is a rare Alaska Native Village with road access. The Tolovanna River runs right past the Village and allows direct barge deliveries. This double access puts Minto in a much better economic situation than most rural Alaskan villages, but the cost of living is still high, while local employment opportunities are often in short supply. The cost of heating fuel for homes and businesses and the cost of diesel required to run Minto’s cooperatively owned microgrid electric utility are volatile and always trending upward. The larger buildings and infrastructure in Minto were designed and built in the 1970s and early 1980s, when little attention was paid to energy usage and heating needs.

Living lightly on the land and not relying on outside resources is a traditional value. Weatherization of existing buildings and appropriate designs for any new construction are the first line of attack in this war on energy waste. Minto Village Council coordinated with its regional tribal consortium, Tanana Chiefs Conference, to weatherize 55 of the 70 homes in the Village last summer. The remaining homes are to be weatherized this summer. The Minto Village Council owns and operates one of the community’s largest, most utilized buildings, the Minto Lake View Lodge. This building is the heart of Minto. It houses Council offices, is home to a commercial kitchen that serves lunches 5 days a week to the elders and the school students, provides meeting space for Council events, and feeds and houses visiting workers and tourists who find their way to Minto. Although the Council voted several years ago to demolish and replace the building, the cost to do so and the lack of available funding for new construction have been prohibitive. The next best thing, then, is to rehabilitate this multipurpose building to increase its useful life and to save the Council significant money on operating costs.

Project Objectives

The goal of this project is to reduce energy costs of the Minto Lodge by 30%–50% through energy efficiency measures.

Project Scope

In particular, the project will include shoring up the foundation with bracing; applying spray foam in walls and throughout the building; installing new windows and exterior doors; furring out exterior walls and adding 1½" blue foam board; blowing insulation into the attic; fixing leaking plumbing; rehabbing the building’s existing boiler (adding new controls, pumps, valves, supply return piping and burner); applying drywall mud, tape, texture, and paint as needed; replacing trim as needed; installing a heat recovery ventilator; installing metal lap siding; installing a biomass tie-in for the heating system; installing gutters; and grading the exterior around the foundation away from the building (6" over 10").

Project Location

The project will be located at Minto Lodge in Minto, Alaska, which is 120 miles from Fairbanks on the Minto Spur Road off the Elliot Highway.