Greening Austin Daily

Pecan Street Project Update

9th April, 2010 - Posted by katherine - No Comments

When Carsi and I went to an EcoSeries event in February to learn more about the Pecan Street Project, one of the complaints of audience members was that leaders of the project were not doing enough to publicize the project. In the past few weeks there has been a lot of coverage of the PSP, including this New York Times article. Here’s an excerpt from the article:

“Backed by a $10.4 million Smart Grid grant from the Department of Energy, the project will test whether Austin Energy –the city’s municipal power company — can manage a fundamental shift in how it operates. Instead of selling an ever-expanding supply of electrons, the power industry’s historic goal, Austin Energy will experiment with a radically different business model. This one promotes energy efficiency and conservation, and renewable and distributed generation, seeking to meet climate goals while still remaining profitable.

In the process, Austin officials believe they are creating a model for the nation in how green energy development can be accelerated. ‘This isn’t a smart grid project. This is going way beyond that,’ said Roger Duncan, former general manager of Austin Energy and now board president of the Pecan Street Project, an eclectic nonprofit consortium that includes the utility, the University of Texas, the Environmental Defense Fund and the Austin Chamber of Commerce. The project draws its name from a landmark downtown neighborhood.”

Check out the article for more info about the project – it’s great to see PSP getting some coverage!