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October 11, 2011 By News Staff
Beginning in October, the city of Austin, Texas, moved to 100 percent clean and renewable energy, produced at wind farms in west Texas and purchased from a publicly owned utility company.
The city now is subscribing to approximately 400 million kilowatt-hours of renewable energy, according to an announcement by the city, and officials believe Austin has become the largest U.S. city that’s consuming 100 percent renewables.
Austin Energy is acquiring the renewable energy for the city under the utility company’s voluntary green-pricing program. The renewable energy is approximately 5.7 cents per kilowatt-hour, and 2.5 cents more than the standard charge for residential customers. Austin will be locked into the green rate for 10 years, the city said.
“These subscriptions provide stability in electric costs for city of Austin operations and also take a leadership step forward in climate responsibility,” said Mayor Lee Leffingwell, who co-sponsored the 2007 Climate Protection Plan. “We are setting an important standard for U.S. cities. We hope other American communities will join us soon.”
But the program will come at a price: Projections estimate it will cost Austin city government about $6.9 million more annually, The Austin Chronicle reported late last month. The Austin American-Statesman newspaper put the cost even higher, at $8.5 million in added charges during the first year for the 12,000-person municipal government.
By transitioning to 100 percent renewable energy, the city will comply with one goal of the Austin Climate Protection Program, adopted four years ago by the City Council to reduce pollution. Prior to October, the city government was consuming a mix that included 20 percent renewables, according to The Austin Chronicle.
The city’s public utility, Austin Energy, services nearly 1 million people in Austin, Travis County and part of Williamson County.
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This is an excellent article. I have served as Alderman, Ward 2 for the City of Danville, IL for 22 plus years. I have always been interested in the energy generated by the wind mill concept of energy generation. Please advise to whom may I contact to obtain a copy of the Austin, TX Wind Mill Energy generation. It is my opinion we could use it here in Danville, IL My address is: Lois M. Cooper, Alderman Ward 2 City of Danville 17 West Main Street Danville, Il 61832 Thank you, Lois M. Cooper
As Vice Chair of the Finance Committee for the Town of Brattleboro, we are looking forward in time to when energy costs are going to skyrocket because of the peak in oil production. Oil is going to be needed for other things, and we should be transitioning electricity to renewable sources. We are unsure how much wind energy is possible at our location, but we think photovoltaic solar energy should be part of the mix. We're considering a plan that would have us erecting four large solar arrays to produce enough electricity to power all the Town government's needs within ten years. Like Germany, we wish that the country would plan to transition to 100% renewables by 2050. We're willing to do our part in that process.
@John Wilmerding Skip the expensive PV for now...transition to a passive solar heating method and realize an earlier return on investment. Evacuated heat tubes, heat pumps, etc. Much higher harvesting of solar energy per $ spent. Use to warm air going into building and raise the temp of water at least a few degrees before going to traditional HVAC systems. These work year round due to absorbtion of IR wavelengths of light that make it through thin cloud cover. Just do an internet search on solar heating, heat tubes, etc.
So local taxpayers get to further subsidize further a wholly non-competitive form of energy production that only survives in the marketplace due to massive federal subsidies, tax breaks, loan guarantees, and give-aways.
Absolutely agree with James. Greenhouse effect increases not because CO2 is produced (it always was and always will be), but because Rain Forests which consume majority of CO2 of the planet are cut down (due to over population, of course). So, there is no sense to talk about "take a leadership step forward in climate responsibility".
I would bet the majority of C02 is consumed by alge and phytoplankten in the ocean and not by Rain Forests. Much of the oxygen produced in our environment, is produced off land.
http://cleantechnica.com/2011/10/20/texas-solar-energy-hitting-state-in-1-month-all-energy-texas-oil-gas-industry-has-ever-produced/