Maniilaq Association and ANTHC wind-to-heat energy project earns HHS Green Champion Award
May 26, 2017
ANTHC’s partnership with Maniilaq Association to convert Kotzebue’s Maniilaq Health Center to a renewable energy system earned a Green Champion Award from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The awards honor HHS employees and Alaska Native and Native American Tribal members involved in outstanding sustainability projects and demonstrate measurable results in sustainability practices.
Environmental sustainability is an important part of the work in the Alaska Tribal Health System. A healthy environment is the basis for the health of our people.
IHS Kotzebue Hospital Wind-to-Heat Energy Project won in the Energy & Fleet Management category. Maniilaq Association, in cooperation with the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium and Kotzebue Electric Association (KEA), recently completed work on a unique renewable energy project, a wind-to-heat energy system, at the Maniilaq Health Center, a small rural hospital in Kotzebue.
The project utilizes excess wind energy from KEA’s 3-megawatt wind turbine farm to power an electric boiler in the hospital to provide space heating. The new system is expected to cut the hospital’s heating oil consumption by 20 percent and save approximately 32,000 gallons of fuel annually.
For more information about the project, read Celebrating completion of Kotzebue’s wind-to-heat energy system.