promising clean energy initiatives

No state has greater renewable energy potential than Texas. Texas already leads the nation in wind energy production. Additional transmission lines nearing completion will bring even more power from windy West Texas to growing cities in the eastern part of the state. Solar farms are also planned in the sun-drenched west, and this energy, too, will soon be conveyed to population centers along these same power lines.

In spite of this progress, Texas continues to rely on coal, nuclear and natural gas for the bulk of its energy. Mercury pollution from Texas’ coal-burning power plants is the nation’s worst. Texas also leads in its output of the same planet-warming greenhouse gas pollution that scientists predict will increase the frequency and severity of Texas’ droughts. Japan’s recent earthquake-induced nuclear problems illustrate the steep costs and risks of continued reliance on nuclear technologies, and nuclear energy’s huge water needs make it even less well suited for dry states like Texas. Natural gas, which is enjoying a renaissance thanks to hydrofracking, produces only half the greenhouse gas pollution of coal, but that amount is still unsustainable and will make drought conditions in Texas even worse over time. Hydrofracking’s water impacts are also significant, consuming millions of gallons of the scarce resource and then releasing most of it as polluted wastewater, and threatening permanent contamination of underground water supplies. Neither Texas nor the federal government regulates hydrofracking to protect water and health in any meaningful way.

Clean Water Action is at the forefront of the fight to steer Texas away from polluting forms of energy in favor of wind, solar and energy efficiency. Lobbyists for polluting industries exercise enormous influence in the state legislature, so the best examples of progress so far are more local.

The Sun Rises in San Antonio

Clean Water Action’s grassroots campaigning helped the Energia Mia coalition prevent San Antonio from investing heavily in two new proposed nuclear reactors at Matagorda County’s South Texas Nuclear Project. Clean Water Action contacted thousands of households door-to-door and by phone and collected thousands of individual hand-written letters and other communications calling for clean energy alternatives that were delivered to city leaders. The Alamo City not only said ‘no’ to nuclear, it also pledged to close the polluting coal-fired Dealy Power Plant by 2018. This will be the first closure of a municipally-owned coal plant in Texas.

To replace this energy, the city has:

• become the state’s leader in wind energy purchases,
• pledged to reduce energy demands substantially through energy efficiency investments (such as insulating attics), and,
• made plans to produce 400 megawatts of energy from solar by 2020.

The city just completed a 14 megawatt solar installation in southeastern Bexar County that can power 1800 homes, and has contracted with SunEnergy to build an additional 30 MW of solar in three other arrays in the San Antonio vicinity. Most encouraging of all, 250 MW of the 400 MW solar goal will come from panels placed on 50,000 homes and 6,000 businesses. All of this promises to create thousands of jobs and pour millions of dollars into the local economy.

Pedernales Electric Going Green

Progress has been slower at Pedernales Electric Cooperative, the nation’s largest consumer-owned electric co-op in the nation. The PEC serves more than 200,000 members in a vast area stretching from Austin’s suburbs to Junction and beyond. In the last few years, the PEC has reformed its governance practices and ended decades of scandal that culminated in the conviction of its long-time general manager for money laundering in December 2010. Clean Water Action has played a critical role in turning the PEC around, helping win six of seven seats on the board for reform candidates since 2008 — including two elected in June 2012. This PEC board is now set to implement programs for renewable energy and efficiency that will place the co-op among the nation’s leaders in clean energy. These measures will include low-interest loans and rebates for roof-top solar and energy efficiency upgrades similar to those offered by Austin and San Antonio, as well substantial purchases from solar and wind arrays. Clean Water Action will be working 2012 to make sure these programs will stay on track, and will again mobilize members and others in the PEC’s May-June 2012 board elections to back up those efforts.

Austin Eclipsed on Solar Energy

For decades, Austin’s far-sighted energy efficiency programs, wind energy purchases and rebates for rooftop solar installations have earned the city national recognition as a clean energy leader. Each of Austin’s City Council members, including the Mayor, has now pledged to end the city’s reliance on the coal-burning Fayette Power Plant. The coal plant is jointly owned by Austin and the Lower Colorado River Authority.

However, unlike San Antonio, Austin has yet to set a firm date or developed a plan for this transition away from coal. Moreover, Austin’s goal of generating 200 megawatts of energy from solar by 2020 is only half of that of San Antonio’s. While San Antonio plans to produce most of its solar energy from roof-top arrays within its city limits, Austin intends to produce a mere 25 megawatts of solar from roof-top installations. The rest will come primarily from new solar farms in West Texas. In clean energy initiatives as in water conservation, Austin has fallen behind its neighbor to the south.

Clean Water Action and the Solar Austin coalition are working to restore Austin’s clean energy leadership. In the coming weeks, Clean Water Action members will be urging the Austin City Council, which doubles as the Board of Austin Energy, to increase the city’s solar goal from 200 to 500 megawatts by 2020, including 300 megawatts from rooftop solar in Austin. Other clean energy demands to be delivered to Council Members include:

• Remove the 20 kilowatt cap on the amount of solar that can be installed on commercial rooftops,
• Create a program allowing renters to buy into community solar projects, and,
• Pay customers with solar panels a fair rate for the electricity they produce.

These solar initiatives will help wean Austin off of polluting fossil fuels, allow Austin Energy’s customers to share revenues made possibly by solar technology, and create thousands of new jobs in Central Texas.