Texas, home to Big Oil, takes shine to solar power… or does it?
Reuters carried a good story with this headline Texas, home to Big Oil takes a shine to solar power that describes the solar potential that exists, along with industry involvement and how it could be...
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San Antonio Tying Renewable Energy to the Growth of Their Economy
CPS Energy CEO Doyle Beneby announced that the utility will acquire an additional 50 megawatts of solar power and that the company chosen to build the new plants for it will be required to locate a...
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Got Solar?
Senator John Carona (R-Dallas) For many who want to add more rooftop and other on-site solar generating devices on homes and even commercial properties, there have been concerns about the prospect of...
View ArticleWind and solar may be competitive with coal without aid in a decade, Chu says
According to Bloomberg, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu is calling for a national energy policy that will promote the use of clean-energy technologies. This would include U.S. investment in advanced...
View ArticleRenewable Energy and the 82nd Legislature
If you live in Austin, TX and put solar on your rooftop, you might be able to pay only about a quarter of the initial cost estimate, making this a viable option for many homeowners. But for many...
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A dream deferred
The Southwestern U.S. has dominated the world of utility-scale solar projects over the past few years, with news of deals being signed for solar-power plants as large as 1 gigawatt or more. But now...
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Deregulation has put Texas energy security at risk.
The PUC wants to have a meeting at the end of August to try to figure out how to fix Texas’s experiment of a deregulated generation market, as we look like we are going to run out of energy during...
View ArticleSan Antonio’s Solar Dream Deferred
San Antonio’s dreams of becoming a solar manufacturing hub have been deferred temporarily. CPS Energy, the city’s municipally owned utility, couldn’t come to agreement with two unnamed finalists and...
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Austin Energy drought proofs its energy with new Webberville Solar Project
On a blustery and brilliantly sunny Texas winter day a couple hundred Central Texas citizens, that included officials and solar enthusiasts, gathered on what had been an empty 380 acre field only three...
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Clean Energy Works for Texas Urges Action on Non-Wind Renewable Portfolio...
Yesterday, Clean Energy Works for Texas – a coalition consisting of Public Citizen, Sierra Club, Texas BlueGreen Apollo Alliance, Progress Texas, Clean Water Action, Environment Texas, North Texas...
View ArticleTexas Perched at Top of Vast Renewable Energy Resources – Translate into Huge...
Orbach: $1 billion for energy storage research could launch state’s next energy era Watch for the University of Texas at Austin to soon make a $1 billion pitch to lawmakers aimed at unleashing the...
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Solar for our community, Colorado community project sells out in 30 minutes.
When you subtract out shady roofs, renters, and other factors, only about 25% of Americans have a place to install solar power. With the high upfront cost of a complete system, the potential solar...
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Bills Filed Seek to Expand Texas’ Clean Energy Success
Two bills have now been filed in the Texas House that would expand the state’s goals for renewable energy. Representative Rafael Anchia‘s bill, HB 723, would establish goals for growing renewable...
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Texas Clean Energy Goals Under Attack
It wouldn’t be a Texas legislative session without some truly backwards bills. Today we have House Bill 2026 by freshman Representative Sanford of Collin county that would eliminate our state...
View ArticlePACE is Good for Texas
You may have never heard of Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE), but it has the potential to make a huge difference in adoption of distributed renewable energy systems, such as rooftop solar...
View ArticleTexas Legislature Attacking Austin Democracy
While Austin City Council continues to move forward with an ordinance to transfer governing authority of Austin Energy from our elected City Council to an unelected board, Austin democracy is being...
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Public Citizen’s Legislative Wrap-Up: Where We Made Progress & Avoided...
With the regular session behind us and energy and environmental issues not likely to find a place in the special session, it’s a good time to look at what we accomplished. Our wins came in two forms –...
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Is Houston Cleaner Than Your Town?
Probably not overall, but the City of Houston has made a historic commitment – to buy half its power from renewable sources. Houston was built around the oil and gas industries and has long suffered...
View ArticleLamar Smith should hold climate hearings in Texas
This article written by Tom “Smitty” Smith, director of Public Citizen’s Texas office, appeared on the editorial page of the San Antonio Express-News on Sept. 2 The newest report from the...
View ArticleCPS Energy Must Meet Demands Before Raising Rates
SAN ANTONIO – The newly formed Re-Energize San Antonio Coalition called on CPS Energy to meet a set of conditions before following through with an October rate hike. Describing the hike as an increase...
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