With  more than 70 local businesses big and small, 18 non-profits and 200 individuals in this new group, it's pretty clear that the generation plan has strong and broad support in Austin. Some of the reasons you've already heard:

• To protect customers from rising fossil fuel costs and regulatory risk
• To bring the booming green jobs market to Austin
• To add flexibility to Austin generation planning process

But you don't often hear two of the most compelling reasons: energy efficiency and transparency. 

Energy Efficiency
At Austin Energy's recommendation, the city council will commit to 800 MW of energy efficiency and a thorough study to evaluate whether it can meet a more aggressive goal of 1,000 MW of energy efficiency within the next 10 years. Everyone, even those who think we should wait before planning for the future, agrees that investments in energy efficiency are the most cost-effective moves we can make. Austin Energy has already shown that these investments pay off – the utility set (and met) a goal of 700 MW of energy efficiency over the last 10 years, saving Austinites the cost of an entire new power plant. 

Energy efficiency is one of the best reasons to start working toward Austin Energy's goals immediately: the new programs needed to meet this goal will take time to ramp up. At the same time, setting this goal will ensure that the programs already in place continue and even expand. Austin Energy has already expanded its eligibility for low-income weatherization services from households with incomes of 125% of the poverty level to 200% of the poverty level, but that could go back down once federal funding is exhausted. Approving this plan will ensure not only the current level of coverage but the potential for expansion of those low-income programs to households earning up to 400% of the poverty level.

Transparency
Throughout the development of this plan, Austin Energy adopted a level of transparency unprecedented among public utilities. It reached beyond the normal large industrial consumer base historically involved in U.S. utility planning processes to include stakeholders from several communities. Minority business owners, home builders, environmentalists, the faith community and low-income advocates have all had the opportunity to work with Austin Energy and the Mayor's Generation Task Force to develop priorities for the generation planning process. 

Austin Energy even went a step further by performing the same modeling and analysis on several stakeholder-proposed scenarios that it performed on its own scenarios. This is the first time I know of that the public has had a chance to propose investment strategies that the utility would take so seriously that it would fully analyze them and actually incorporate some of them into its final recommendation.

Most importantly, though, we need to ensure that the future process is even more open and transparent.  Clearly some stakeholders –particularly the low-income and faith communities – did not receive the same level of outreach as others, but that will change with the utility's latest recommendations. Representation for low-income and residential consumers will be required in any future generation planning advisory group. Any significant investments will need to go through the City's Electric Utilities and Resource Management Commissions before being brought to City Council for a vote twice.  This level of transparency and community involvement would make Austin Energy a leader in open governance in the U.S. and is, in my mind, one of the best reasons to support city council and Austin Energy as they take on this plan.

In the end, this plan does a lot of good for the citizens of Austin: it helps protect us against rising fossil fuel prices; it will ensure that Austin is a big part of the green economy; by planning ahead and doing regular evaluation, it gives our city the flexibility to make changes as needed. I could go on (and I will if you ever see me talking about it) but I really think the two things that get overlooked in these discussions are that energy efficiency goal and the big commitment Austin Energy is making to open governance. I'll challenge anyone to find a utility with a more open, inclusive and transparent planning process than the one Austin Energy has had over the last two years or the one we will have when the city council approves the recommendations.

There’s a lot of talk about green jobs and green economy, but for those who have lost their jobs, it could just sound like a lot of high-minded chatter. The reality is much different. Green jobs are real jobs that pay well and can offer long-term job satisfaction.

This country is headed toward a price on carbon. We can’t continue to use and abuse our planet with a fossil-fuel driven economy forever. The future resides in innovative ways to grow our economies while being kinder to our planet. The path to that future is the clean technology path and it will be filled with green jobs—energy efficient plumbers, solar installation electricians, wind turbine sheet metal workers, roofing and skylight installers, forestry conservation workers, and on and on.

The Texas Green Jobs Guidebook profiles more than 200 jobs, including the kinds of training needed and projected starting salaries.

We were lucky to have the Texas Workforce Commission review this document. It’s not a political statement—it’s a resource for students, job seekers and policy makers to understand the bare bones necessities for a green, clean future with a robust economy and happy citizens.

The city of Corpus Christi has a similar decision to make. The city council, and city leaders, must decide how to keep the city’s water supply sufficient for future users. Corpus has two choices, and they are choosing the wrong one.

A recent article reported that Corpus’ water demand is currently 65% of their supply, on an average annual basis. At current growth rates AND assuming the same or similar water usage, the city projects they will need more water by 2027. However, water projections are not cast in stone; they depend on how the water is used. Imagine you had $2000 in your bank account and your bills each month totaled $500. If you are careful with your money, it can last you up to 4 months, but if you don’t spend it wisely it will run out much sooner. Water is the same way. The more you use it, the faster it disappears.

Corpus is planning to build a $165 million pipeline to ship water 40 miles from the Lower Colorado to Lake Texana and then into the city. Seems like a reasonable plan, until you start looking at the details. First of all, Corpus is only using 65% capacity of their current water supply. The Texas Water Development Board recommends 140 Gallons per capita per day (GPCD). Corpus’s current per capita water usage is far beyond the Texas average and their self-imposed conservation goal is to be at 212 GPCD by 2018!!! If Corpus reduced its usage to the recommended amount it would save over 26,000 gallons per capita per year which would greatly extend the capacity available to accommodate growth.

Another puzzler is the city’s agreement to provide the proposed Las Brisas coal plant with billions of gallons of water. This decision would mean that the need to find new supply would come 7 years sooner. So, instead of implementing cost saving conservation measures OR asking Las Brisas to use water saving cooling technology OR telling them to look elsewhere for water, the city has decided to borrow money from the state to build a pipeline and ask their citizens to pay for it. This doesn’t even take into consideration all the power it will take to move the water 40 miles.

It sounds to me like Corpus Christi wants to borrow some water from 40 miles away to give its own water to Las Brisas, and in the process it's going to stick the city with a $165 million bill. Who are they going to borrow from to pay that bill?

Amy Hardberger, Attorney
Environmental Defense Fund

The U.S. Dept. of Energy’s Nov. 24 announcement of $620 million in “smart grid” demonstration and energy storage projects included $10.4 million for the Austin-based Pecan Street Project. The grant will be used to fund an advanced smart grid project at the Mueller development in central Austin. The Mueller neighborhood – a public-private joint venture between the City of Austin and the Catellus Development Group – is located at the site of Austin’s former airport.

The demonstration project will integrate with Austin Energy’s next generation smart grid platform to create, operate, and evaluate an “open platform Energy Internet” – a type of smart grid that allows two-way electricity and information flow and is modeled on the architecture of the Internet.

EDF, a leading partner in the project since its 2008 launch, will release recommendations for Phase I by the end of this year and will continue as a board member during Phase II in the newly formed nonprofit: Pecan Street Project, Inc. Technologies to be tested as a system in the demonstration project include distributed clean energy (roof-mounted solar on four commercial sites and 100 residential rooftops), energy storage, smart grid water /irrigation systems, smart appliances and plug-in electric vehicles linked to a grid-integrated system of smart charging stations.

All of this is exciting news, to be certain. However, it’s important to note that not all smart grids are green grids – some are largely focused on efficiency and rely on one-way communication from a utility to the consumer. The Pecan Street Project, on the other hand, will stress not just efficiency but also a two-way relationship in which, say, consumers with their own rooftop generation capacity will be able to sell power back into the grid to replace power now generated with carbon fuels.

That’s EDF’s role – to ensure that the potential environmental benefits are given priority alongside the economic benefits. Ultimately, if done correctly, smart grids will help us dramatically reduce global warming pollution, and this DOE grant will help keep Austin at the forefront of a burgeoning new field.

At this point only a few of the costs are known or even quantifiable, particularly the transmission and fossil fuel costs to the system. In looking at Austin Energy's report, the cost for new transmission to bring more wind to Texas will be less – about 0.7¢/month for the average customer in 2015. If fossil fuel prices don't increase more than they have over the past six years, the General Fund Transfer costs associated with fossil fuels might be only 0.4¢/kWh by 2015. Of course, that's assuming that Austin Energy stays smart and doesn't put too many more eggs in the fossil fuel basket.

The rate increase doesn't really have a direct relationship with Austin Energy's forward-looking generation plan because rates are based on historical costs, not future costs. Still, in recognition of increased conventional utility costs, Austin Energy has developed an investment plan that will use zero fuel sources such as wind, solar and energy efficiency to contain future costs.  Some people discuss Austin Energy's plan by comparing it to our current costs, as if by doing nothing we will ensure that gas prices won't rise 300 percent again and Texas power prices remain at their lowest point since 2001. The comparison to current costs is important as a place marker, but I think it's more informative to look at what could happen down the road if Austin Energy makes no changes.

As our analysis shows under a "business as usual" scenario, following the historical trends of the last 10 years, average residential power prices in Austin could increase another $60 per month excluding carbon costs. This is due largely to an increasing dependency on fossil fuels and buying electricity on the Texas deregulated marketplace. Similar proposals to "save money" would only do so in the near term at the expense of future exposure to volatile fossil fuel and deregulated market prices.   

The Austin Generation Task Force – whose members include Austin's business, environmental, and industrial communities – acknowledged those risks in a milestone vote last week. The board voted unanimously on several recommendations to the city council, including increasing energy efficiency goals, and developing a solar market in Texas to bring at least 300 MW of distributed solar to the city by 2020. While members couldn't come to an agreement on a specific quantity for Austin Energy in 2020, all members strongly reaffirmed Austin's commitment to a solar goal.

All of this is to say that it's important to keep future plans in the perspective of future costs, and avoid the trap of comparing them to present costs. Most forecasters acknowledge that as our economy recovers, the price of oil and natural gas will resume its upward climb. With carbon regulation sure to happen one way or another, the cost of coal will increase as well, leading to an overall increase in fossil fuel prices for a utility that already shells out plenty for those fuels. Energy efficiency and renewable energy have a proven track record of saving Austin customers money over time, even if they have some upfront costs.

I commend Austin Energy both for its clean energy leadership and its recognition that to save customers from dangerously high future costs, some upfront investment is needed.

Energy vampires are the appliances and electronics that continue to use our valuable electricity in standby mode even when turned off. Chargers without anything attached to them represent just some of the culprits. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) estimates that five to 10 percent of electricity used in this country goes to standby power, adding up to as much as $10 billion per year in extra energy costs. DOE predicts that percentage could rise to 20 percent by next year.

There’s no trick in dealing with home energy vampires, but lots of treats: better energy efficiency in your home, lower electricity bills, and enhanced electric reliability now and in the future.

Some simple ways to slay these home energy vampires don’t even require a wooden stake:

1. Know the vampires. Any appliance that displays a clock while otherwise not in use, such as a microwave or cable box, continues to consume electricity while in standby mode. Also, look for chargers that are not charging anything, for example, those for cell phones, PDAs, MP3 players, and electric toothbrushes. If you’re not sure whether a device is an energy vampire, if it has a glowing indicator or standby light, it’s sucking your electricity.
2. Unplug the vampires. When you’re done using a device, unplug it. Got a toaster or microwave? All of those kitchen appliances on your countertop can be unplugged when not in use. They may not be big energy vampires, but all those little suckers can add up. Also, devices with clocks use more energy than those that don’t. 
3. Consolidate and plug in. Plugging several electronic devices into one surge-protecting power strip is an easy way to shut things off. Computer systems, printers, scanners, and home entertainment systems can have all plugs combined into one power strip, which can then be easily shut off when not in use. And the strips can protect against power surges even when switched off – an especially nice feature with Central Texas electrical storms. 
4. Be an Energy Star. DOE and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency jointly administer the ENERGY STAR program, which identifies appliances meeting strict energy efficiency guidelines. DOE estimates that if one in 10 American homes used only ENERGY STAR appliances, the U.S. would reduce carbon emissions by the same amount as planting 1.7 million acres of trees.  

Now these are tips we can all go batty over.

Jamie Fine is an economist with EDF who recently completed a study about the costs and benefits of energy efficiency investments in Texas. Read the summary.

Old wisdom says don't spend a dollar to save a dime. Even better? Spending dimes to save dollars. There’s a real opportunity in Texas for every home and business to spend dimes on energy efficiency to save dollars and to combat climate change at the same time.

I recently helped develop a computer model that tells us how much money Texas residents and businesses can save through energy efficiency, and the results were impressive.

With just a handful of simple efficiency investments, Texans could save more than $15 billion by 2030 – this is $760 per year for an average household and $11,000 per year for an average commercial building.

But implementing energy efficiency measures provides more than cash in the pockets of hard-pressed households and small businesses, it fights climate change too.   If these same measures are used broadly throughout Texas on existing and new buildings between 2010 and 2030, they will avoid over 760 million metric tons of global warming pollution from the electricity sector.

So what’s the next step?

Unfortunately, Texas had a disappointing legislative session for energy efficiency, but there are still several promising opportunities.

For example, the State Energy Conservation Office is receiving more than $250 million in federal stimulus funds for efficiency initiatives, while simultaneously moving forward with rulemaking to increase building code efficiency benchmarks.

Additionally, the Public Utility Commission, through Texas’ Sunset laws, will have the opportunity to work with utilities to make utility efficiency standards more robust and effective.

The momentum generated prior to the next Legislative session in Austin has the potential to yield real opportunities – economically and environmentally – for all Texans.

Download a full copy of the report.

Representative Rafael Anchia from Dallas and Representative Mark Strama from Austin spoke on the need for passing increased efficiency measures and building a network of green jobs. See the video below.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/PEsrjQY_L80" width="350" height="275" wmode="transparent" /]

Representative Anchia is the author of several major efficiency bills this Session, which EDF supports and are critical for lowering our utility bills, increasing the reliability of our electric grid, improving our air quality, and reducing our dependence on foreign oil. 

These bills include:

• HB 280, which sets an energy efficiency goal for utilities of 2 percent of peak demand by 2020.
• HB 2210, which establishes efficiency standards for major appliances, including pool pumps, bottle-type water dispensers and portable hot tubs; and
• HB 2783, which updates statewide building codes to the 2009 International Energy Conservation Code

According to Rep. Strama’s statement at today’s press conference, the Energy Resources Committee, on which he sits, plans to pass these bills out of committee this week, or next week at the latest.  The next step after that is the House floor.

Stay tuned for further developments on these bills and others coming out of the Legislature.  For further information on the topics, please visit The Alliance for a Clean Texas, of which EDF is a member. 

Translation: Energy efficiency is the cheapest, fastest and cleanest source of energy and is available now. Consider that energy efficiency:

• is one of the few weapons we have in our aresenal that is cost-effective (it saves you money);
• reduces greenhouse gas emissions and improves our electric reliability;
• includes technologies that already exist with more being developed for buildings, homes, transportation, power systems, and industry;
• holds great potential for creating lots of jobs, from plumbers to energy auditors, architects to air conditioning technicians.

Those of us who work in energy efficiency are happy to have the full support of the new presidential administration, but not everything happens at the national level. There are initiatives states and cities can undertake and things that individuals can do to reduce their energy consumption and lower their bills. Learn ways to save energy and money at home.

I’ll be posting more to this blog in the coming weeks and look forward to comments and creating a dialogue about how we can make energy efficiency happen in Texas.