for transportation and to carry goods from place to place.

And oil from whales to light our evenings.

Today it's gasoline and motor vehicles, and vast amounts

of electricity to light our cities and power our economy.

But one study claims that Americans

spend just six minutes a year focusing on energy.

The American public does not like

to think about its energy use.

The one place Americans do think about energy use

is when they're standing at the pump.

Narrator: Global demand makes oil prices rise and fall

in response to events beyond our borders

and out of our control.

We worry about how our economy gets buffeted.

And the only way we do something about that

is to take into our own hands our destiny.

Narrator: In this program, we look at

how America uses energy.

And we'll meet people like you

who are helping their communities

find new sustainable resources and save energy.

Conservation, energy efficiency,

has already been something that the U.S.

has had tremendous achievement in.

And it is something, as the fifth fuel,

that can be very, very important for our future.

Narrator: Tapping that fifth fuel can be

as challenging as drilling for oil or gas.

But powering communities in these new ways

also empowers people.

We can control the things that go on in our home.

We can control the things that go on in our communities.

I'm a Republican.

What is more conservative than harnessing what is available

and around us in a long-term sustainable way?

Narrator: Our program's host, earth scientist Richard Alley,

knows the dangers of climate change.

But he also teaches about energy at Penn State.

And he's optimistic that Americans

can build a sustainable future.

Some states and cities are rolling up their sleeves

and moving ahead.

These citizens are heroes of America's new energy story

and show the way to a sustainable energy future.

The good news is we don't have to wait

for the national policies.

Narrator: Helping ourselves with clean energy

is also helping earth's climate.

The atmosphere doesn't care one whit what people think.

The atmosphere cares what people do.

Narrator: We visit five very different communities,

from Alaska to Texas, Portland to Baltimore plus Kansas,

in America's heartland, to find out how they're developing

new sources of energy, or cutting waste,

and why strategies like those make sense for all of us.

Female Narrator: Energy Quest USA -

Earth: The Operators' Manual is made possible by NSF,

the National Science Foundation,

where discoveries begin.

Narrator: Sometimes when Americans hear energy,

the next word that comes to mind is crisis.

It really doesn't have to be that way.

Shirley Jackson, former head

of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission,

and now president of one of America's leading

technical universities,

thinks the United States is actually well-placed.

Well, the U.S. is lucky because

we have such a diversity of climates

and diversity of geologies and in the end,

diversity of actual energy sources.

And that, in fact, makes us very fortunate

compared to other parts of the world.

They may have a given source of energy,

but they don't have the multiple sources.

Narrator: Alaska, like the rest of America,

has been addicted to oil.

Now, can abundant sustainable options

make it America's renewable state?

Kodiak Island, Alaska at 3,600 square miles

is about half the size of New Jersey.

Getting around almost always involves a boat, or a plane,

or a float-plane that's a bit of both.

Kodiak's population is less than 14,000,

leaving most of the island undeveloped and natural.

That beauty is one of Kodiak's economic assets,

bringing tourists to watch bears raising cubs

and catching fish.

Kodiak's human population also catches salmon,

with fish exports providing

another key source of jobs and income.

The island wants to limit imports

of dirty and expensive fossil fuels,

and tap natural resources to supply as much

clean and locally generated energy as possible.

Fuel prices, because we live on an island,

are very expensive.

You know, you learn pretty quickly

that you need an alternative.

Narrator: Kodiak was the first place in Alaska to make

wind power a substantial part of the energy mix,

with its three 1.5 megawatt turbines on Pillar Mountain.

So getting good quality, low-cost sustainable

power is really necessary for the long-term viability

of the economy of Alaska.

Narrator: Upgrades at the Terror Lake

hydro-electric plant, plus plans for three more turbines

leave the KEA co-op confident they can hit

95% renewables by 2020.

Though Kodiak uses diesel as a backup and during repairs,

the wind turbines save the island 800,000 gallons

of expensive, imported fuel each year.

And this matters to the local business community.

This morning, we're offloading pink salmon

and red salmon, chum salmon and coho

that came from the west side of Kodiak--

it keeps us busy, the plants work 24 hours a day,

and it's a very, very big industry for Kodiak.

Narrator: This processing plant runs

100% on renewable energy, so Kodiak's wind power

provides a clean, green marketing hook.

The package says, sustainable seafood,

produced in Kodiak, Alaska,

with wind-generated renewable energy.

You got some folks in the community

that are really concerned about price.

You know, they just want the lowest cost power

at their house or at their business.

The wind does that.

It's less than 50% of the cost of power versus diesel.

Then you got folks in the town that are very just,

environmentally concerned.

And they are incredibly excited,

because it's a whole lot cleaner than diesel is.

And then you've got the majority of folks who want both,

which is great as well.

Narrator: Kodiak is a genuine island, surrounded by ocean,

but vast areas of interior Alaska

are also islands of habitation, small communities

surrounded by open country and dense forests.

Many have no road access, and the only way to transport

heavy fuel is via rivers like the Yukon.

Bear Ketzler is city manager of Tanana,

a remote and mainly native Alaskan village

at the confluence of the Yukon and Tanana Rivers.

90% of our bulk freight

that comes in, comes by the barge.

Narrator: That includes diesel for the power plant

and heating oil for homes.

Diesel prices increased 83% between 2000 and 2005,

and utility costs can sometimes be more than

1/3 of a household's income.

The increase of energy costs,

it jeopardizes everything.

It jeopardizes our school, it really jeopardizes

the ability for the city to function effectively.

Narrator: Communities like Tanana

rely on the river for the fish protein

that's a large part of a subsistence diet.

And the river also provides

a cheap and local source of energy.

We have abundant resources of wood, biomass.

Wood that floats down the river, in the spring and the fall time.

Narrator: Timber is increasingly replacing oil

and diesel in Tanana's communal buildings,

like the washeteria, a combination laundromat,

public showers and water treatment plant.

Right now, we don't even need oil,

we're just running the whole place

off this one wood boiler, which is just amazing.