24th August, 2010 - Posted by katherine - No Comments
A few weeks ago there was this story about planned net-zero developments in East Austin. In more housing news, over the weekend the Statesman had this article about a new neighborhood in South Austin named Las Casas Verdes, near Brodie Lane, which will feature 20 semi-custom single-family homes that use the sun to generate electricity and heat water. Here’s an excerpt from the article:
David Martin, the architect, builder and developer of the project, set out to show that mid-priced, ecologically responsible, solar-powered homes are a realistic option. He says Las Casas Verdes will be the first all-solar development in Texas. One home, which has received a five-star rating from the Austin Energy Green Building program, is complete. Construction is expected to begin on a second home this month…
The home’s airtight design and energy-efficient systems earned it a home energy rating of 31, which means it is 69 percent more energy-efficient than a conventional comparable-sized home, Dochen says…
“We are moving toward zero energy,” Martin says. “This was a good opportunity to show Austin what could be done in a middle-income neighborhood. It’s a working model. It looks like any other home, … it’s just that this house works for you … to help pay your utility bills. It has passive and active solar. The collected rainwater is saving you water and sewer bills. If (you) are in a house that has basically zero energy bills, you could apply that (savings) to the mortgage – and you’re saving the environment by not using natural resources.”
Prices range from $335,000 to $385,000.
Photo from the Statesman. See more of the Statesman’s photos of the completed house here.
18th August, 2010 - Posted by katherine - No Comments
Austin Energy Power Savers is a cool program a coworker was telling me she had signed up for. According to AE’s website,when you sign up to be a Power Saver Volunteer, Austin Energy will contact you up to ten times during the summer(you pick the method of contact – telephone, email or text message). When they contact you, they will ask you to take four actions to use less electricity between 3:00 pm and 7:00 pm:
- Switch off unnecessary lights
- Delay washing and drying clothes, and using your dishwasher
- Cook dinner in your microwave oven, rather than with an electric range
- Turn up the AC thermostat by two to three degrees
It’s completely voluntary, so there’s no penalty for signing up and then running your dishwasher when they ask you not to, it’s just a nice way to try and help decrease electricity usage. The website also explains that by joining the program and helping to reduce peak demand, Power Saver Volunteers are helping to put off building new power generation plants (which would make be bad environmentally, but also would make rates go up).
If you do sign up, you get a free home weatherization kit, including:
- Weather stripping
- Outlet sealers
- Two compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs)
- An energy saver nightlight
Check out the link above to sign up.
photo credit
11th August, 2010 - Posted by katherine - No Comments
Check out this KUT article, which says that Texas reached a new energy consumption record yesterday afternoon, at 63,830 megawatts. An Austin Energy representative Carlos Cordova said that “An air conditioner can only offset about 20 degrees from the outside temperature to the inside temperatures…so if you’re setting your thermostat at 75 or lower your air conditioner will run virtually all day long because it cannot cool that house down.” Cordova also recommended avoiding washing dishes or clothes during the day.
Photo credit
10th August, 2010 - Posted by katherine - 1 Comment
According to this Austin Business Journal article:
The city of Austin this week is installing 500 solar-powered parking meters.
The project is part of the transportation department’s comprehensive parking technology upgrade that commenced last August. The new meters accept coins and credit cards and began going in Monday with 120 posts in the University of Texas area. The project will be completed early next week.
Read more: City of Austin installs 500 solar-powered parking meters – Austin Business Journal
5th August, 2010 - Posted by katherine - No Comments
The Statesman had a good article today about the temperatures verious Austin businesses keep their thermostats set at. The article notes that:
Businesses and institutions around Austin consistently cool their spaces to temperatures lower than one recommended by Austin Energy, according to a survey conducted by the Austin American-Statesman.
Lower temperatures at barber shops, video stores, record stores, movie theaters, schools, post offices and restaurants mean higher energy consumption as Austin grapples with how to provide electricity to a growing population. The city consumes more electricity in the summer than in the winter, largely because of air conditioning. Last year, nonresidential customers consumed 41 percent of their electricity in June, July, August and September.
Austin Energy recommends Austinites set their thermostats no lower than 78 degrees during the summer. Each degree cooler than 78 increases energy use by 3 percent, the city-owned utility calculates.
The article goes on to notes that:
Austin Energy spends about $700,000 a year marketing residential and commercial energy efficiency programs, which consistently mention setting the thermostat to no lower than 78 degrees in the summer to reduce air-conditioning use.
“It’s not going to be maximum comfort, but it may be a reasonable temperature if you’re focused on your energy bill,” said Ed Clark, a spokesman for Austin Energy.
Temperatures in the lobby of Austin Energy headquarters on Wednesday registered between 73 and 77 degrees.
29th July, 2010 - Posted by carsi - No Comments
KUT has a story today on electric charging stations for cars, which will become important in November when Chevrolet starts selling its all-electric vehicle, the Volt, in Austin (for $41k). The car will be able to go about 40 miles on one charge, but it also has a generator to run on gas if needed. Still, some people are worried that consumers will get “range anxiety,” or a feeling of nervousness about having enough charge to get to their destinations. As of now, there is only one public charging station in Austin at the Whole Foods on 6th and Lamar, but the City is planning to add 100 more stations in the next two years. Right now, it’d take about eight hours to fully charge a car at that station, but that will be cut to three hours in the future.
Many people are also worried that, if the Volt takes off, all this charging will drain the electric grid, but some say there is enough power in clean energy to meet the demand. For example, wind power from East Texas is highest at night, when most people are expected to be charging their vehicles. Additionally, Austin Energy is working on incentives to promote charging at non-peak times. It should be interesting to see if the public is ready to purchase an all-electric vehicle and if the city is ready to support the accompanying electricity demand.
The Chevrolet Volt
photo credit
23rd July, 2010 - Posted by carsi - No Comments
Paul Robbins, creator of the Austin Environmental Directory and local environmental activist, discussed on KUT this morning the possibility of zero energy suburbs. The idea is to create energy efficient houses that would use up a net of zero energy. Robbins says that by using newer, efficient appliances, good insulation, CFL light bulbs, and solar rooftop panels and water heating, it’s possible to have a net zero energy home. He also states that it would be about $500 more per month for an average family to reach this goal, including energy efficient changes to the family cars. He says this is feasible for some of the population at this time, but as solar energy and electric vehicles become cheaper in the future, net zero homes will become more and more attainable.
photo credit
7th July, 2010 - Posted by katherine - No Comments
The Statesman had this article today about a proposed solar farm in Pflugerville. Here’s an excerpt:
The plant would be large enough to provide electricity to all the homes in Pflugerville and, if it were built today, would be the largest in the United States.
RRE Austin Solar could break ground by the end of the summer on the $230 million plant on 600 or so acres of rural land about a dozen miles east of Pflugerville. But before the company moves forward, it wants tax breaks from Travis County.
The company would employ about a half-dozen people, long term, to operate the plant, said Angelos Angelou, an Austin-based consultant on the project. He said that if the company gets property tax breaks from the county, it will consider headquartering the startup, with about 20 employees, in Austin.
photo credit
25th June, 2010 - Posted by katherine - No Comments
Check out this Texas TechPulse story about the research led by Xiaoyang Zhu, a professor of chemistry at UT Austin, whose research has boosted the efficiency of solar cells to 60 percent (formerly, it was thought to be the limit of only 30 percent).
Photo credit
12th May, 2010 - Posted by carsi - No Comments
After much delay, Senators John Kerry and Joe Lieberman introduced the American Power Act in the U.S. Senate today. The bill’s goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050. According to the NYT article, provisions in the bill include “loan guarantees for nuclear plant operators, incentives for use of natural gas in transportation, exemptions from emissions caps for heavy industry, free pollution permits for utilities and modest carbon dioxide limits for oil refiners.” Kerry vowed to get the bill passed this year, but that might prove difficult with the legislature facing a busy schedule and controversy over the oil spill in the Gulf. There are provisions in the bill that allow states to veto offshore drilling if there is a threat of economic or environmental harm
You can look at the full text of the bill here.
20th April, 2010 - Posted by katherine - No Comments
According to this KUT story, in 2006 (the last time a formal study was done) UT produced 411,000 metric tons of CO2 – which could be problematic for the school if new cap and trade or EPA regulations are put in place. UT has hired energy consultants to help the school become more energy efficient. Check out the story to hear more details.
16th April, 2010 - Posted by carsi - No Comments
Katherine noted earlier this week that the Energy Star stamp of approval wasn’t always given to the most energy efficient appliances. The old system had a giant loophole that allowed manufacturers to self-certify without receiving any independent confirmation from the government. Now, the EPA and Department of Energy have announced they’ve closed the loophole by requiring companies to submit reports and results about their products to the EPA. They’ve also announced that manufacturers will be required to use accredited labs for product testing. Although the DOE has tested some products off-the-shelf in the past and found most to meet Energy Star requirements, it’s definitely reassuring to consumers that the Energy Star brand now has some guarantees of energy efficiency.
14th April, 2010 - Posted by katherine - 1 Comment
In light of the recent rebates Texas is giving out for energy-efficient appliances, I thought this NPR article was interesting. It notes that Consumer Reports found that “two of the refrigerators it tested used about 50 percent more energy than the numbers on their labels. Another pair used 39 percent more and 33 percent more” and that “the Energy Star program is self-certifying — meaning the government doesn’t independently confirm the data it gets from manufacturers.” However, the article notes that “The Department of Energy has said it will soon change the system to include third-party verification.”
So I guess the moral of the story is to make sure you do your research and see if you can find any info online about the product before you buy it, and hopefully the Department of Energy will change its system soon.
29th March, 2010 - Posted by katherine - No Comments
Check out this Austin Business Journal article, which states that:
“Austin ranked 18th on a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency listing of metropolitan areas with energy efficient buildings, falling behind both Houston and Dallas. Cities were ranked according to the number of building that earned the EPA’s Energy Star rating by the end of 2009. Houston took the highest spot in Texas, No. 6, with 133 star-rated buildings. The Dallas/Ft. Worth area also breached the top 10, coming in No. 8 with 113 Energy Star buildings.”
26th March, 2010 - Posted by katherine - No Comments
People all over the world will be turning off their lights this Saturday evening to reduce energy consumption. Check out this link from one of our fav websites for more info. The forecast says it should be clear Saturday night in Austin - try star gazing or going for an evening walk outside and enjoying the weather while your lights are off!
**Update – UT will be delaying lighting up the UT tower in honor of earth hour
24th March, 2010 - Posted by carsi - No Comments
You can now look for green jobs in Texas on the Texas Renewable Energy Industries Association’s job board. There are all sorts of jobs posted in a variety of renewable energy fields, such as solar electricity generation and water heating, wind electricity generation, liquid renewable fuels, geothermal electricity generation, and sustainable building design and construction.
8th March, 2010 - Posted by carsi - No Comments
The New York Times recently noted that Texas set a record for wind power generation by supplying 19% of its energy on the main electric grid through wind-powered turbines. Most of the wind power is provided from West Texas towns, and the article points out that the system can’t yet handle transmitting all of the energy generated by the turbines to bigger cities like Dallas and Houston, where demand for power is high. Texas is working on building better transmission lines, but may be delayed due to a recent court decision. This seems like an area of green energy that Texas has only begun to tap into, and hopefully Texas can translate its leadership and experiences from the oil and gas energy field to the green wind energy sector.
25th February, 2010 - Posted by katherine - No Comments
City Council plans to hold hearings and vote on March 11th on a proposal that would offer incentives to bring Chinese company Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd. , one of the world’s largest manufacturers of solar panels, to Austin. For more info, see this Statesman article.
24th February, 2010 - Posted by carsi - No Comments
Here’s an interesting story about Bloom boxes, a new off the grid way of powering homes and businesses through individual fuel cells. The boxes need some kind of fuel (biofuel, fossil fuels, solar energy, etc.) to run, so their level of greenness depends on the kind of fuel used. Even using fossil fuels, like natural gas, it is more efficient than using energy from traditional power plants. Big name companies like FedEx, Google, Ebay, and Walmart have all tried it out already and have shown energy savings. The Bloom box’s inventor plans to have smaller versions available for home use in the next five to ten years. The Bloom Box officially launches today. Thx to A.J. for the tip.
*UPDATE: The Bloom website is now up, and it looks like they’re calling the Bloom boxes “Energy Servers.” You can follow the ongoing press event here.