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.
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).
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.
