Unalaska, AK – The Alaska Energy Authority hosted a town hall meeting in Unalaska last night to gather ideas for a statewide energy plan to present to Governor Palin.

"Rather than compile that in Anchorage or Juneau," AEA Deputy Director Mike Harper said, "we are coming out, like I said, to these different communities throughout the state to generate the local input to see what they view as the important energy sources."

Some of the conversations focused on energy potential in Unalaska, specifically geothermal, biodiesel from fish oil, and wind power. Harper says the state is not currently involved with the geothermal project planned for Makushin Valley, but they are beginning conversations with the city.

"There are resources now available," Harper said. "The legislature is granting funds for alternative energy, and perhaps that would be one that people would certainly come forward and request funds for."

One of the managers of the Makushin property, Jack Wood, said he hopes the plant will produce enough energy for some of the community's transportation needs as well.

"We hope to bring on enough energy--geothermal heat--to provide the base load for lights and heat and so forth and then also resistive heating to replace the high costs of oil," Wood said. "And then on top of that, we believe we can supply as much as 2,000 cars with electricity--plugged in electric hybrid vehicles that are coming into fruition now."

Other debates at last night's meeting centered around small-scale alternative energy production, such as residential wind turbines. Some participants questioned if individual energy production would help or hurt the community. Others, like Doug Leggett from Unalaska, said looking at all the options could be beneficial.

"I think it's important that we support individuals and individual households," he said. "If we can make each individual household more efficient then that strengthens the community. We're not all dependant on one power plant or one source of power."

The state legislature recently passed a bill that puts $300 million towards home weatherization, which will help with energy conservation. Another bill dedicates $250 million for alternative energy development.