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Austin Energy Wants to Know: What kind of an energy future do you want?

Posted in Coal, Energy, Global Warming, Nuclear, Renewables, tagged Austin Energy, austinites, city coucil, city of austin, Coal, Efficiency, fayette, generation plan, lcra, natural gas, Nuclear, powersmack, Public Citizen, shut down fayette, solar, survey, Texas, wind on August 5, 2009 |

Smoking or Non-Smoking (high res)

Austin Energy will make a recommendation to City Council in August of their future generation plan through 2020. According to their website, “an important component of the planning process is input from the community” — but as of April, only about 300 people had filled out Austin Energy’s survey. Through the survey, you can give Austin Energy a quick gut reaction of what kind of an energy future you want: one with more coal and nuclear (boooo, hisssss, cough cough cough), or a non-smoking future fueled by renewable energy and efficiency (cheers, jubilation!). We need as many Austinites as possible to fill out this survey and send the message loud and clear: say goodbye to our dirty energy past and look to a brighter energy future!

For a quick background on Austin’s current energy mix, check out the following video from our friends at PowerSmack:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqYd_AIpH8o&feature=player_profilepage]

According to Austin Energy’s survey, Austinites get about a third each of their power from coal, nuclear, and natural gas, and about 10% from renewables. Looking at their draft generation plan, they are looking to change that mix to 26% from coal and nuclear power, 44% from natural gas, 5% from biomass, 22% from wind, and 3% from solar by 2020.

That plan may be an improvement from what we’ve got now, but it doesn’t show near the vision and leadership that Austin Energy ought to provide. Imagine what kind of a message it would send if Austin Energy actually tried to divest itself completely from coal — and shut down the Fayette Coal Plant!

That’s right folks, Austin — that Central Texas shining star of wierdness, environmental stewardship, and progressive politics — has a dirty secret. We own half of a coal plant, along with LCRA. And 16% of the South Texas Nuclear Project!

GHASP! Skeletons in the closet.

Ghasp indeed — and skeletons in the closet for real. We all know how bad coal is, and the Fayette plant is spewing toxic emissions into the air every day on our behalf. A total of 44 people die early deaths as a result of these emissions every year.

But Austin Energy’s expected proposals don’t put a priority on shutting down Fayette. That’s why, along with our friends at PowerSmack, we’re launching a new campaign to try to convice Austin Energy and the City Council to shut down Fayette. Don’t sell it — don’t pawn those emissions off on someone else. Shut. It. Down.

James Hansen, one of the top climate scientists and greatest climate change advocates of our time, has said that the number one thing we can do to stop global warming is to stop using coal. Better, cleaner alternatives exist. We’re not looking for a silver bullet here, but through a mixture of aggressive solar, wind, geothermal, and energy efficiency — we can kick the habit.

But the first step is to admit we’ve got a problem. So fill out the survey, and tell Austin Energy you want your power to come from MUCH LESS coal and nuclear and MUCH MORE renewables and efficiency.

If a city as polluted as Los Angeles can commit to stop using coal by 2020, so can we. Let’s walk the walk.

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Express News Editorial Gets It, Why Doesn’t CPS?

Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Nuclear, tagged Arjun Makhijani, CPS Energy, electricity, energy storage, Nuclear, renewable energy, San Antonio, san antonio express news, solar, South Texas Project, Texas, wind on July 17, 2009 |

The following editorial from the San Antonio Express News is an excellent take on the issue of the South Texas Project nuclear expansion. Kudos to Carlos Guerra!

Expert offers uniquely Texan power solution

Carlos Guerra – San Antonio Express News

With a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from UC-Berkeley, Arjun Makhijani has followed energy issues and innovations for decades. But with his uncanny understanding of economics, and a willingness to put a pencil to what comes along, when he says something, you listen.

Or, at least, you should.

Makhijani’s most recent book, “Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free” is now a must-read on emerging energy solutions. And last fall, he studied CPS Energy’s plans to participate in the doubling of the South Texas Project.

Among other things, the engineer concluded that the two new reactors would cost more than twice what was projected.

CPS’ latest forecasts now almost echo Makhijani’s.

And Wednesday, he advised CPS to closely re-examine its drive to expand the STP and, especially, its latest twist in the deal: to sell excess electricity on the wholesale market to offset the regular rate increases that would be made necessary to pay for the new reactors.

“Especially in a deep recession, when demand for electricity is going down throughout the country, and nobody has any idea when it will recover,” he said, “for San Antonio to say they are going to sell electricity on the open market at rates that will benefit ratepayers is gambling with public money.”

Makhijani did compliment our utility’s newfound commitment to promoting greater efficiencies and relying more heavily on wind energy. But he also offered alternatives to the pricey investment in nuclear power that he says would be better and safer — economically and environmentally — and yield better results more quickly.

“The combination of efficiency, storage and wind, and concentrating solar thermal energy would be the right mix,” he said. “And the pace at which you do that should depend on the economic circumstances. You shouldn’t be overbuilding anything, not wind, solar or whatever.

“In San Antonio, the first thing to do is to start making money on efficiencies so bills don’t go up for consumers,” he continued.

“That will lay the foundation for a solid electricity sector that will be modern and that can accommodate changes.”

And since CPS leads Texas in its commitment to buying wind energy, it should incorporate storage strategies so it can purchase excess electricity when it is cheapest, and distribute it to augment other electricity sources when demand — and other electricity prices — soar.

The Japanese, Makhijani noted, are already using large industrial sodium-sulfur batteries to do just that with wind energy.

But in Texas, storing energy as compressed air in massive underground caverns — as is done with natural gas — might make more sense. And it is a proven technology.

Then, when energy demand peaks, the compressed air is heated with small amounts of natural gas and used to drive turbines to generate electricity that can help meet the peak-load demands.

When you think about it, that would be a perfectly Texan solution. When temperatures soar and air conditioners are cranked up, we could solve our peak demand problems with natural gas and a lot of hot air.

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Governor’s office: Lock up the Opposition

Posted in Energy, tagged Brian Lloyd, CleanTX, Governor's Office, house of representatives, Imprisonment, Legislature, Lock, republicans, Rick Perry, solar, Texas, Tied, Voter I.D on July 6, 2009 |

While attending the Austin CleanTX foundation panel to hear their take on a post-legislative wrap-up, we overheard Governor Perry’s energy advisor Brian Lloyd say the following:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGZIr_cYz1A]

Ouch!! While I don’t think Mr. Lloyd literally supports imprisoning his political adversaries and their supporters, it is somewhat surreal to hear one of our public figures suggesting it. I’ve been told that people often express their true feelings when they are joking, especially when they are not comfortable saying these things in any other context. No matter how you look at it, it is a little troubling that the Governor’s Advisor would suggest that we lock up people who disagree with him.

Mr. Lloyd’s quip was offered as an explanation for the failure of certain Solar Bills this session, but of course the real culprit here was the voter ID bill introduced by the conservative wing of the Republican party in both houses. This created a lot of partisan heat but no light as it killed not only legislation that would have promoted solar energy here in Texas, but also the Sunset safety bill (for which a special session was held last week). This exchange shows that Mr. Lloyd dismisses those of us who are concerned about the environment as minor irritants and our concerns as ill-conceived. I hope he will note that while he does dismiss our concerns, we our numerous and we can influence policy.

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Hot Texas Summer Leads to Record Energy Consumption

Posted in Energy, Global Warming, tagged baseload, Coal, Consumers, electric reliability council of texas, energy use, ercot, fort worth star telegram, generation capacity, grid, june, Nuclear, outages, peak energy, power grid, record electricity consumption, reuters, solar, summer, Texas on June 24, 2009 |

Just four days into summer, and we’re already are setting records for energy consumption in Texas. Yesterday Reuters reported that the Texas grid had set a new record for peak energy consumption in the month of June. With temperatures already in the 100s in our largest urban ares, thermostats are cranking across the state, and energy bills are going up.

Texas consumers used 60, 452 MW of energy in the hour ending at 5 o’clock yesterday, blowing last year’s June record of 59,642 MW out of the water.

But today ERCOT is predicting that Texas will set a new record for electricity consumption. Period. By about five o’clock this afternoon, the time of day when the the sun is shining brightest and A/Cs run hardest, Texas will be consuming more energy at one time than we ever have in our history.

According to the Ft. Worth Star Telegram,

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which oversees the power grid that serves about 22 million Texans, forecasts that power demand will peak today at 62,450 megawatts and at 63,589 megawatts Thursday. The record is 62,339 megawatts, set Aug. 17, 2006, ERCOT spokeswoman Dottie Roark said.

If we’re reaching record energy use this early in June, I don’t even want to think about how bad its going to get in July and the dreaded August. Global warming, indeed. Don’t say we didn’t tell you so.

But no need to worry about outages, ERCOT says. The grid has more than 72,700 megawatts of available generation capacity, plenty to serve on even the hottest days.

So wait a minute. If we have 10,000 MW of extra power lying around, why is Texas rushing to build 12 new coal plants to provide tons of baseload power? Judging by this recent run of records, looks like what we really need is *peak power.

Not sure of the difference? An aside for the uninitiated. There are two main classifications of power that run our modern lives: baseload, and peak. Baseload is steady amount of power we need under normal circumstances (because as a society we’re always doing something that requires energy), and peak is the extra energy we need when we are all doing something at the same time. Think about baseload and peak power as you would about keeping your body hydrated. We always need to be drinking a certain amount of water to stay healthy and functioning (baseload aqua), but when we are working out or being active outside, need even more on top of that (peak gatorade).

Baseload power is largely provided by the old dirty standbys — coal and nuclear (unless you’re in Houston, in which case it is gas in abundance, baby — one of the reasons power in H-town is so expensive). Baseload is the huge, slow, steady sort of power — the kind we have plenty of.

In Texas, peak power is generally produced by gas turbines. When it starts to reach that key hot afternoon time, your energy provider flips the switch to turn on a quick revving gas turbine to turbo charge the grid with enough power to keep all those fans spinning and air conditioners blowing.

Another source of peak power, though less common currently, is of course solar power. Solar produces peak power because just as the day gets hottest, and we need power to keep us cool the most — the sun is shining brightest! Match made in heaven, really — solar and the need for peak energy.

So why is Texas trying to build 8500 MW + 9149#of coal MW of additional baseload power from coal and nuclear plants when what we really need is peak power, and solar is such a natural fit to produce peak energy?

Good question.

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Perry Announces Special Session

Posted in Energy, Renewables, tagged Clean Energy, economic growth, governor perry, green jobs, jim kyle, memphis, Office of Public Insurance Counsel, pew, renewable energy, Rick Perry, Rodney Ellis, solar, special session, State Affordable Housing Corporation, sunset safety net, Tennessee, Texas, Texas Department of Insurance, texas department of transportation, Texas Racing Commission, voter id, wind on June 11, 2009 |

rickperry Earlier this week, Governor Perry announced that he would, in fact, call back legislators for an extended special session. What exactly this session will cover (voter ID? please no!) remains unclear, but the Governor has committed to addressing the “sunset safety net” bill that was left on the table.

The Houston Chronicle reports,

The governor had hoped to avoid a special session to keep intact the Texas Department of Transportation and the Texas Department of Insurance, as well as three others that were not renewed, but calling lawmakers back to the Capitol proved to be the only option.

The other agencies are the Texas Racing Commission, which regulates horse and dog tracks; the Office of Public Insurance Counsel, which represents the public in insurance rate cases; and the State Affordable Housing Corporation, which links low-to-moderate-income people with potential home purchase lenders.

The five agencies are set to go out of existence on Sept. 1, 2010, because the legislation reauthorizing them did not pass.

If the specter of having no department at all for transportation, insurance, or affordable housing is scary enough to call a special session, I wonder what other issues the Governor will decide are important enough to address in a special session.

Certainly of note is the specter of Texas losing its leadership role in creating jobs tied to clean energy. According to a new study by Pew Charitable Group on the clean energy economy, Texas ranks 2nd in businesses (4,802) and jobs (55,646) tied to the sector.

This is an exciting piece of information, especially considering that the clean energy industry grew twice as fast as the rest of the economy over the last decade. Furthermore, Pew cited our renewable energy policies as a critical aspect of the state’s wind power explosion.

This information makes it even more painful that we weren’t able to pass similar legislation to jump-start Texas’ solar economy. Especially when as soon as the session ended with solar still on the table, Tennessee Senators started saying they would be happy to take the solar jobs Texas snubbed.

Senator Jim Kyle of Memphis was actually quoted as saying, “Legislators in Texas have yanked the welcome mat for an industry that could pay huge dividends for their economy. To any company that had an eye on Texas, we say come on up to Tennessee.”

Salt, meet my wounds. Not only has Texas missed out on a great economic opportunity, but now we’re going to be one-upped by Tennessee? Unacceptable.

But with a special session upcoming, Texas may have another chance to revisit that solar legislation — which, by the way, passed with bipartisan support. Everyone was on board for solar, we just ran out of time to get the nuts and bolts right. Tragic.

Senator Rodney Ellis of Houston recently announced that he would like for the special session to take up lost clean energy legislation. In a statement earlier this week, he said

Texas became rich from fossil fuels, but we could easily lose our position as an energy leader because of fossilized thinking. We could create far more wealth and jobs from wind and solar energy, but only we aggressively pursue clean energy opportunities. Unfortunately, we missed a golden opportunity this session one the governor should address if he calls a special session.

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Citizens Oppose Comanche Peak Expansion before Atomic Safety and Licensing Board

Posted in Global Warming, tagged atomic safety and licensing board, biocides, bob eye, chemicals, citizen opposition, cola, comanche peak, Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant Units 3 and 4, combined operating license application, contentions, don young, fire hazards, fort worth, granbury, hood county, j. nile fischer, Karen Hadden, lon burnam, Luminant, nita o'neal, NRC, Nuclear Power, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, petition to intervene, Public Citizen, radioactive waste, risk, robert v. eye, secretary of energy, sediment control, SEED Coalition, solar, steven chu, Texas, true cost of nukes, water, west pearl st, wind energy, yucca mountain on June 9, 2009 |

Oral Hearing Set for June 10th-11th in Granbury, TX

Citizen opposition to more nuclear reactors in Texas continues. On June 10th-11th an oral hearing will be held before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board on Citizens’ petition to intervene in Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant Units 3 and 4.

“I have many grave concerns about building more nuclear reactors in Texas,” said Texas Representative Lon Burnam, District 90, Ft. Worth, one of the petitioners seeking to intervene in the proposed expansion of Comanche Peak. “The risks are simply too high. As the most expensive and most water intensive energy source, and with the unsolved problem of how to handle the radioactive waste, Texans deserve better.”

SEED Coalition, Public Citizen and the Ft. Worth-based True Cost of Nukes are also petitioners. Attorney, Robert V. Eye, will go before the designated Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel and argue the admissibility of the 19 contentions citizens filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on April 6th. These contentions point out the inadequacies and the incompleteness of Luminant’s combined operating license application (COLA) to construct and operate Comanche Peak Units 3 and 4.

“Luminant has failed to comply with new federal regulations regarding aircraft impacts,” stated Mr. Eye. “These new regulations are very specific and require the applicant to plan for catastrophic fires and/or explosions that would cause the loss of major critical functional components in the plant. After 9-11, an aircraft attack on a nuclear power plant is a real and credible threat. Moreover, fire hazards represent about half of the risk of a nuclear reactor meltdown. Luminant’s noncompliance with these regulations puts citizens around Comanche Peak in a dangerous position, which is completely unacceptable.”

“Nuclear power is dangerous, expensive and obsolete,” says Karen Hadden, Executive Director of Sustainable Energy and Economic Development (SEED) Coalition. “Wind energy is booming and the cost of solar is coming down, while the costs of proposed nuclear plants is skyrocketing. Although they’re required to do so, Luminant failed to fully consider safer, more affordable alternatives to nuclear in their license application.” (more…)

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So Much for the Solar Session

Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Renewables, tagged anchia, citizen sarah, fraser, Global Warming, green fee bill, green fleets, green jobs, hb 1243, larry mcmurtry, leonard cohen, no regrets, plug-in hybrids, public citizen texas, solar, Texas, Texas Legislature, tom waits, townes van zandt, warren chisum, Weatherization on June 1, 2009 |

Well, the sun has just about gone down on the so-called “solar session”. Today is Sine Die — the last day of the legislative session. Friday night, HB 1243 — solar’s last lifeline — was killed on the House floor.

Earlier in the week, Rep. Warren Chisum called for a strict enforcement of the House rules on germaneness. As you may recall, last week we were pretty excited around here that the solar and electric coop reform bills were tacked onto the net metering bill because they were related enough to be considered germane.

But they weren’t germane enough under STRICT enforcement of the rules, so the bill was killed.

I waited to break the news, because we still had a chance to amend SB 545 to the energy efficiency bill, SB 546… but that didn’t work out either. The House and Senate authors of the bill (Anchia and Fraser) simply could not agree over the size and scope of the solar and efficiency goals, so the bill never made it out of conference.

Its all rather depressing. Feel free to join my Tom Waits/ James McMurtry/ Leonard Cohen Pandora radio station and wallow in grief. Leave a comment and I’ll send you an invitation. But no need to worry about Citizen Sarah getting dangerously down in the dumps… I’ve left my Townes Van Zandt CDs in the car, and am headed out to the river tomorrow. Will be back to my chipper self before too long.

Plus… the session wasn’t a total loss. It just wasn’t all that we dared hope for. As of right now, here’s a list of bills that passed both bodies and will go to the Governor:

Green fleets legislation to promote low emissions and plug-in hybrid vehicles for fleets of major State Agencies (HB 432)
Legislation allowing cities to create financial districts to loan money for renewable power and energy efficiency (HB 1937)
Legislation setting a ‘no regrets’ strategy for greenhouse gas reduction in the State; a study of the state’s energy use to find ways to reduce our emissions and save money at the same time (SB 184)
A coordinated green jobs strategy including funds allocated for child care programs, vocational training initiatives, energy efficiency measures, the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), and/or any other recovery funds (passed as a Rider to Article 12)
Green fee bill passed allowing governing board of public colleges and universities to institute an environmental service fee once approved by student body election

Even now there is still good legislation pending that could maybe possibly potentially pass… but I’m just not at a point where I can get my hopes up anymore. Check in later this week for an update.

For you policy nerds out there, I’m willing to get further into the nitty gritty politics of how all this went down if you’re interested. Leave a note in the comments and let us know what you’d like to hear.

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Net Metering and Resurrected Solar Bill Passes Texas Senate

Posted in Energy, Renewables, tagged distributed solar, electric coops, environment texas, governor perry, green jobs, HB, hb 1243, houston chronicle, made in texas, Passes Texas Senate, pec scandal, public citizen texas, retail electric providers, sb 545, sb 921, solar, solar rebates, Texas, texas consumers, texas senate, transparency on May 28, 2009 |

wewon Last night at 11:58 pm (wink, wink), just as we suspected would happen, the Texas Senate unanimously passed through the net metering bill, HB 1243, with solar SB 545 amended on as a bonus. This is great news for Texas consumers, the environment, and solar power.

As you may recall, HB 1243 will ensure that owners of solar installations, small wind turbines, or biogas generators get paid a fair price for the excess power they produce. SB 545 — which after the Voter ID slowdown, we thought was dead — increases incentives for distributed solar power generation by creating a pool of $500 million in solar rebates over the next 5 years. It also calls for a pilot program with a minimum funding of $4 million to put solar on schools (nudge: the State Energy Conservation Office could potentially spend considerably more of their pending stimulus funds to further these projects) and will create thousands of green, local jobs across the state of Texas.

Another amendment to the bill added on SB 2349. This provision would allow oil wells that create natural gas, but not enough to justify paying for collection, to build a generator to run the gas through, make electricity, and sell it back into the grid. The bill would limit production to 2 MW so that they can provide distributed generation. As of right now, they’re just flaring that gas off, so this is definitely a good thing.

According to our friends at Environment Texas (via the Houston Chronicle’s NewsWatch: Energy blog), the amended HB 1243 also

• Requires home builders to offer solar as a standard option in developments with 50 homes or more.

• Prevents homeowners associations from blocking solar panel installations

• Allows up to 70% of incentive funds to be used for utility-scale solar projects

• Allows the Public Utility Commission to extend the program for an additional five years and another $500 million if it determined that a “substantial” amount of manufacturing of solar generation products located in Texas after the initial five-year program

• Requires electric co-ops to allow consumers to interconnect solar to the grid

• Clarifies that consumers will not have to register as a utility and that third party ownership of solar is allowed

• For the next two years, requires retail electric providers to pay at least five cents per kilowatt hour for surplus solar and four cents for other renewable technologies and directs the PUC to determine a fair market price that will become a new “floor” following the two years

• Creates a “Made in Texas” program to certify and encourage Texans to buy locally manufactured solar panels and other energy products. As a result, locally produced products qualify for a 20% larger rebate than imports.

Now that HB 1243 has successfully passed through both chambers of the legislature, we’ve just got to wait and see what comes out of conference committee, where bill authors from both sides will smooth out the differences between their bills. Many thanks to all of you that wrote e-mails and made phone calls in support of these bills. This is a tremendous victory for Texas solar. Keep your fingers crossed that we can send this bill to Governor Perry’s desk!

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A Ray of Hope for Solar Power

Posted in Energy, Renewables, tagged bio gas, buy back rates, HB, hb 1243, net metering, non wind rps, rps, sb 545, senator fraser, senator troy fraser, small wind, solar, solar installations, Texas, texas senate, troy fraser, voter id on May 27, 2009 |

Earlier this morning, I offered the consolation that bills which died due to the Voter ID debacle could be revived as amendments to other bills. This afternoon, I’m keeping an eye on the Senate to see if my solar dreams will come true.

rays-of-hope This afternoon, the Senate has HB 1243 on their intent calendar. HB 1243 is a “net metering” bill which would ensure that owners of solar installations, small wind turbines, or biogas generators get paid a fair price for the excess power they produce. As HB 1243 is a solar-related bill, it can be deemed germane, or related, to solar SB 545, which “died” last night (as a reference, I’d also recommend this Houston Chronicle article).

Which means that SB 545 can (maybe, possibly) be amended to HB 1243. Tentative huzzah!

It gets better. HB 1243 is co-authored by Senator Troy Fraser — the same fellow who sponsored SB 545. As both of these bills are Fraser’s babies, the chances of SB 545 living on as an amendment are looking pretty good.

Senator Fraser has yet another opportunity with this bill to fix a gaping hole in the 500 MW non-wind renewable portfolio standard (RPS) passed last session. When this bill was passed, the RPS was described as a “goal” rather than a “target” — which due to a rather frustrating determination by the PUC, means that it can be interpreted as a recommendation rather than a requirement. Fraser was heard in committee calling this determination “the most ridiculous thing he’d ever heard.” Translation: PUC has decided they don’t actually have to do anything to work toward that 500 MW of non-wind renewables.

fraser During these dark, cloudy times at the Texas legislature, Senator Fraser can shine a ray of hope into the Senate chamber. He can create a pool of $500 million in solar rebates over the next 5 years, start a pilot program to put solar on schools, and create as many as thousands of green, local jobs in one fell swoop. He can fix net metering so that individuals get a fair buy-back for the excess electricity they produce and actually have an incentive to shell out the cash for a new solar installation. He can also ensure that Texas ends up with an additional 500 MW of non-wind renewables.

So cross your fingers, cross your toes… cross your arms and legs if you think it will help. If Senator Fraser is your representative, give him a nudge — but otherwise, I’d stick to chanting.

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House Calendars Committee Has Ultimate Power over Solar

Posted in Energy, Renewables, tagged Allan Ritter, Brandon Creighton, Brian McCall, Burt R. Solomons, byron cook, Charlie Geren, conference committee, Eddie Lucio III, Edmund Kuempel, farabee, fraser, Garnet Coleman, Jim Keffer, Jim McReynolds, Lois W. Kolkhorst, Norma Chavez, pink dome, Renewables, sb 541, sb 545, sine die, solar, solar power, strama, Texas, texas house, Texas Legislature, texas senate, watson on May 21, 2009 |

Bad news from the big pink dome. Looks like two of our key bills to promote solar power this session, SB 545 (Fraser/Strama) and SB 541 (Watson/Farabee) are getting stuck in the gummy gears of the legislative process. These bills have both made it through committee and the Senate, but still need to be voted on by the House. Unfortunately, they may never make it that far due to the tremendous power of a little group called the House Committee on Calendars.

At this point, Calendars has an incredible amount of power over what bills will make it to become laws this session. There are now just ten days left before sine die, and hundreds of bills left waiting to go to the House floor. Calendars is like the legislative bouncer at this point, only letting certain skinny, sexy, well-dressed bills into the club.

SB 545 has yet to come out of Calendars, and SB 541 hasn’t even made it onto the list yet. If 541 isn’t at least on the list by tomorrow, it is dead. If 545 hasn’t made it from the list and into the club by Sunday, it’ll be the bill’s last chance to shine.

You think old Bill had it had it bad, at least he didn’t have a Calendars committee to hold him up.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouZTIqcvb30]

House Reps on the Calendars committee need to hear that these bills are necessary to jump-start Texas’ solar future. If one of the following members is YOUR representative, please give them a call today and tell them that you want these solar bills moved up the calendar and out to the dance House floor!!

Rep. Brian McCall (Chair) — (512) 463-0594

Rep. Eddie Lucio III (Vice Chair) — (512) 463-0606

Rep. Norma Chavez — (512) 463-0622

Rep. Garnet Coleman — (512) 463-0524

Rep. Byron Cook — (512) 463-0730

Rep. Brandon Creighton — (512) 463-0726

Rep. Charlie Geren — (512) 463-0610

Rep. Jim Keffer — (512) 463-0656

Rep. Lois W. Kolkhorst — (512) 463-0600

Rep. Jim McReynolds — (512) 463-0490

Rep. Allan Ritter — (512) 463-0706

Rep. Burt R. Solomons — (512) 463-0478

Note: Word on the street is that the Calendars committee has locked its door and taken the phone off the hook. How’s that for open government? This shouldn’t keep you from calling individual members though, their offices will still be answering the phone.

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Renewable Energy Bill Passes Senate

Posted in Energy, Renewables, tagged biomass, Clean Energy, distributed solar, geothermal, public citizen texas, renewable energy, renewable portfolio standard, sb 541, senator watson, solar, Texas, texas house, texas senate, Twitter, utility scale solar on May 13, 2009 |

Yesterday afternoon the Texas Senate passed through SB 541, a bill authored by Senator Kirk Watson (D-Austin) to create a non-wind renewable portfolio standard. If passed through the House, SB 541 would put Texas on course to have 1500 MW of renewable energy from non-wind sources such as solar, geothermal, and biomass.

If you follow us on Twitter, of course this is old news to you. Public Citizen Texas has been using our Twitter feed to keep folks updated on breaking legislative news and votes, as well as to share interesting news articles and blog posts. Check it out:

If this sounds appealing to you, why not give us a follow? We promise not to tweet your ear off.

Thanks to Senator Watson’s SB 541, Texas could become a national leader in solar energy just as are in the wind industry. Along with Senator Fraser’s 545, which will provide $500 million in solar incentives over the next 5 years, SB 541 will ensure that incentives are provided for both the large, utility scale solar and small-scale distributed solar that Texas needs.

While we would have preferred a larger renewable portfolio standard, Public Citizen is delighted that this bill has passed the Texas Senate. This is a major step forward for Texans that will create tens of thousands of new clean green jobs within the state and lead to lower electric bills by hedging against the price of natural gas.

Hopefully the Texas House will see the light on solar power and pass an even stronger set of renewable energy goals that will make the grass grow greener, our air cleaner, and the green economy stronger.

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We’ve got our first solar bill!

Posted in Renewables, tagged fraser, green jobs, HOAs, pollution, sb 545, solar, Solar Incentives, Texas on April 21, 2009 |

creepy-baby-sun Fraser’s solar bill, SB 545, just passed out of the Senate floor with a vote of 26 to 4.

SB 545 will:

Build our emerging renewable technologies
Create jobs
Lower electric costs in the long term
Reduce pollution
Assure fair prices for excess electricity generated by distributive renewable energy sources; and
Allow new home buyers to have a solar option.

More specifically, the bill provides $500 million over the next 5 years in solar incentives. The PUC will also have an option of extending the program.

A few good amendments also got tacked on at the 11th hour, so now the bill also contains:

net metering language, so that folks with solar panels on their homes will be able to sell power back into the grid at a fair rate
an amendment so that Home Owner’s Associations won’t be able to prevent people from putting solar panels on their homes unless the HOA can prove it is dangerous
a website requirement so that PUC will have to provide information to the public on solar incentives and subsidies available
a requirement that electrical coops and munis have to adopt a similar solar program and report back to the lege in 3 years to prove they’ve done their homework

Now all we need to get solar panels on your house… is to get a companion bill through the House 🙂

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We’ve hit the big Times

Posted in Energy, Renewables, tagged austin solar plant, david power, Global Warming, green, inc, Kate Galbraith, luke bellsynder, mark strama, New York Times, Public Citizen, public citizen texas, renewable energy, solar, solar power, Texas, texas association of manufacturers on March 25, 2009 |

images Good mooooooorning Texas! Just woke up, haven’t even gotten out of my pajamas or had my coffee (okay, I’m running a little late), but I couldn’t wait a moment longer to spread the good news. We’ve hit the big Times.

Yes, that Times. The New York Times.

Check out the following post from Kate Galbraith at the New York Times Green, Inc blog. Look for cameos by our very own David Power, Rep. Mark Strama, and the Austin Solar Plant.

TEXAS AIMS FOR SOLAR DOMINANCE

The Lone Star State leads the country in wind-power. Now Texas aims to ramp up its solar production too.

This week the state senate is considering an avalanche of bills that would boost state incentives for solar power, and the entire legislative session has become known as the “solar session.”

Altogether, according to David Power, the deputy director of Public Citizen Texas, a consumer and environmental advocacy group, there are 69 renewable energy bills before the legislature, and over 50 of them promote solar power – far more than ever before.

“There are senators and representatives that are talking about solar that have never mentioned the word probably in their lives,” he said. “We’ve actually heard the term ‘global warming,’ and two years ago that was called ‘the G word’ – you didn’t talk about it.”

Mark Strama, a state representative who is a leading promoter of renewable energy, has introduced at least five green bills this year (including a measure that would allow local governments to create a property tax financing program for solar, along the lines of several California cities).

“It just seems like everybody recognizes our leadership in wind, and that government policy got us where we are today in wind,” he told me last month.

In solar, he added, “We need to catch up.”

Some businesses, concerned about higher energy prices, urge caution.

“The state should avoid picking economic winners and losers in our economy through subsidizing solar – or any energy source – at the expense of the residential, commercial and industrial consumers who contribute significantly to the Texas economy,” said Luke Bellsynder, the executive director of the Texas Association of Manufacturers, in an e-mail message.

He also said, however, that his group supported incentives and tax abatements for solar, and broadening the state’s energy portfolio.

Earlier this month, the city of Austin, which is aggressively pursuing renewable power, unanimously gave a go-ahead to a private company to build the largest photovoltaic plant in the country, so that the local utility, Austin Energy, can buy the electricity produced.

However, the city met fierce opposition from struggling local technology firms and other groups, who complained about the prospect of higher electric bills.

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Busy day, a quick news roundup

Posted in Global Warming, tagged Carbon Dioxide, climate change, Coal, coal moratorium, EPA, Global Warming, Public Citizen, renewable energy, Rodney Ellis, solar, solar power, Texas, Texas Legislature on March 24, 2009 |

Public Citizen will be testifying on nearly three dozen bills today during committee meetings in the House and Senate. You can watch the action in the House or the Senate by going to the individual committees. Be sure to tune in to our 10am Press Conference on a coal moratorium by clicking on the link to the Senate Press Room in the video feeds. Links to the committees we’ll be testifying in all day today:

House Agriculture and Livestock 7:30 am

Senate Business and Commerce 8am (where most of the solar bills will be heard)

Senate Natural Resources 1pm (including the coal moratorium)

House State Affairs 1pm

Also, if you’re looking for something to do today, come down and show your support for solar energy, the coal moratorium, or any of the other over 30 bills we’ll be testifying on.

For those of you interested in some light reading, I highly reccomend Forecast: The Global Conseqeunces of Climate Change by Stephen Faris. As an international correspondant, he has seen how the conflict in Darfur began as a conflict over resources, and how the wildfires of Australia have decimated the countryside. This is just a taste of things to come in a world of disrupted and rapidly changing climate. The following excerpts are available:

Part 1: The Florida Keys are sinking

Part 1: Can insurance cover the costs of climate change?

Part 1: Who will be able to afford to live on the coast?

Part 2: Pathogens find new habitats

Part 2: Countries could backslide into poverty

Part 2: How disease relates to carbon dioxide

Part 3: Easier passage through the Arctic

Part 3: A scramble for control of the Arctic

Part 3: Opening the Arctic to damage

Also, for anyone who missed it, an article in today’s Washington Post about the EPA qietly delivering to Obama a finding that carbon dioxide is a dangerous pollutant,(like we needed the EPA to tell us that) opening the door for states to regulate emissions standards for cars, permitting of CO2 in power plants, etc.

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