Utility Proposes Energy Future
By Axel Gerdau for PowerSmack.org SEP 8, 2009.
More Wind and Solar Part of Austin Energy’s Plan, But Coal and More Gas Too
Austin’s energy future will be greener, but at least until 2020 it should also include electricity from coal, widely regarded as the world’s dirtiest fuel. That’s what...
Read More Townhall Meeting: Austin Energy Proposes Energy Future
by Axel Gerdau AUG 31, 2009.
Austin Energy is going public with its generation plan proposal. Starting on Tuesday at 6 pm utility administrators will present their vision of Austin’s energy future during an open town hall meeting at AE headquarters at Town Lake Center (721 Barton Springs Road). Previously, the...
Read More In the Press: More Transparency Needed, Lower GreenChoice Rates Coming
by Axel Gerdau AUG 22, 2009.
This weeks cover story in the Austin Chronicle, “Twisting in the Wind – Austin Energy is all tangled up in smoke and wind mills over energy pricing”, provides a glimpse into the ongoing debate over Austin’s energy policy. Author Nora Ankrum effectively describes...
Read More Fixing Austin’s Green Rate
by Mike Sloan & Melissa Reese AUG 20, 2009.
Austin City Council voted on a substantial price reduction for the GreenChoice electric rate.
This is great news for the people of Austin.
But even if the Austin rate drops as expected, saving a typical green residential customer $38 per month, it will...
Read More Austin is Running on Coal far into the Future
By Axel Gerdau for PowerSmack.org
For 30 years Austin has been running on the world’s dirtiest fuel – and that’s not going to change anytime soon. Administrators at Austin Energy want to continue our dependence on coal power. If City Council and Mayor Lee Leffingwell accept the utility’s “Recommendation for the...
Read More Transparency: A Cornerstone of Public Policy, But Not Austin’s Energy
By Axel Gerdau for PowerSmack.org AUG 14, 2009.
A budget shortfall is threatening institutions of civic life in Austin. The newly elected City Council is scrutinizing municipal expenditures in order to save at least $43 million this year, and its members are considering shutting down swimming pools, cutting police services and...
Read More “Who Brainwashed Texas on Renewable Energy?”
“Who Brainwashed Texas on Renewable Energy?”, asks John Geesman, the former Energy Commissioner of the State of California, on the eve of a grand scale lobby effort by the fossil fuel industry in Texas (see "Town Hall" for related news). The companies are urging the Senate to make business-friendly changes...
Read More Coal Lobby Plans to Infiltrate Town Hall Meetings
The New York Times is reporting that coal energy’s biggest lobbying group is launching a $1 million campaign, which will send 225 000 volunteers (dubbed “America’s Power Army”) to town hall meetings across the country in order ask Senate Democrats poignant questions about energy policy. In this effort the American...
Read More GreenChoice
By Mike Sloan for PowerSmack.org
They blinked!
Austin Energy has proposed that its GreenChoice Batch 6 charge be lowered to a much more affordable price point (5.7 cents/kWh down from a current level of 8.0 to 9.5 cents/kWh). This is a positive development for electric consumers in Austin.
But In reading the 7/25/09...
Read More Austin is Overcharging for Green Power
As chairman of the City task force that planned Austin’s green power program in 1997, it was with keen interest I read two Statesman articles during the past week suggesting that Wind Power is too expensive for Austin.
The current lack of sales is simple: as you point out, GreenChoice is...
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