GT pioneer named UAF business leader of the year

In Alaska, the University of Alaska Fairbanks has named geothermal entrepreneur Bernie Karl their 2010 Business Leader of the Year. And this only six years after Forbes Magazine dubbed his attempt to build the Aurora Ice Hotel the “Dumbest Business Idea of the Year. His new title stems from the use of the Chena Hot Springs to first heat the buildings at the resort – saving 1,000 gallons of fuel a month – to now using the low-temperature resource to produce electricity. He also grows food for the resort’s restaurant in heated greenhouses and plans to grow hay for its horses and to use methane from the property to run appliances.