{"id":8456,"date":"2014-10-16T14:46:08","date_gmt":"2014-10-16T19:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/?p=8456"},"modified":"2026-04-02T14:58:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T18:58:23","slug":"benefits-of-clean-power-plan-are-measureable-drop-for-drop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2014\/10\/16\/benefits-of-clean-power-plan-are-measureable-drop-for-drop\/","title":{"rendered":"Benefits of Clean Power Plan Are Measureable \u2013 Drop for Drop"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Hallisburg<\/a>Since EPA released its proposed Clean Power Plan (CPP) in June of this year, the plan has been a hot topic in every state. In Texas alone, the state has held a joint regulatory agency hearing and two days of legislative hearings. Unfortunately, in both cases, the general tone of testimony was that of Chicken Little. But I prefer to view the CPP as a fantastic opportunity and certainly don\u2019t think the sky will fall because of it. In fact, our skies should be considerably brighter without all that carbon pollution clouding them up.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve written before<\/a> about the opportunity for Texas to amplify current trends and increase our energy efficiency and renewable energy to meet these goals. And there\u2019s an added benefit to transitioning away from coal-fired power plants and toward cleaner energy choices, one that will be critical in a state like Texas that\u2019s in the middle of a multi-year drought: water savings and relief for our parched state.<\/p>\n

What if I told you that with the CPP, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which controls the power grid for roughly 80 percent of the state, could save more than 60,000 acre-feet (or nearly 21 billion gallons) of water per year by 2030?<\/p>\n

To put this in perspective, ERCOT would save the equivalent of Lady Bird Lake in a little over a month; Lake Bastrop in three months; Lake Worth in six months; Lake Houston in three years; and the entire body of the San Antonio River in four years.<\/p>\n

The Clean Power Plan is handing us the opportunity to take a more holistic look at our power resources and choose those that save Texas water.<\/p>\n

Why does that matter?<\/p>\n

It matters because:<\/p>\n