Check out this article which includes a great chart of total installed capacity of all major sources of electricity generation in the US. We have lots of room to grow renewable energy in the US and rooftop solar in Plano!
Showing posts with label renewable energy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label renewable energy. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Saturday, March 16, 2013
The Light at the End of the Energy Tunnel
The United States is facing a crossroads in its future
energy usage. Will we choose to stay on
the traditional fossil fuel track for the foreseeable future facing the same
environmental, health, and political problems, or will we choose to start down
a more sustainable path? Although some
have criticized solar energy, it offers one of the few large-scale solutions to
our future energy needs. Some sobering
environmental facts may help to shed light on solar energy’s potential and
importance.
The current population of the earth is seven billion and still growing. It is estimated that it will peak at between 9 and 14 billion. Not only is the population growing, but average per capita resource use is increasing and predicted to continue to do so. The planet’s energy consumption will sky-rocket in the future. Can fossil fuels meet the demand? Oil production is predicted to peak in the next 20 years and then decline. Natural gas, for all its promise will do the same, peaking in probably 30 to 40 years. The cost of both of these will only increase over time. Coal could produce energy for another 900 years or so in the United States. However, coal is the dirtiest of the fossil fuels. Coal combustion emits many more radioactive particles into the air than the nuclear industry. As the largest emitter of mercury, particulates, sulfides, nitrous oxides, hydrocarbons (smog), and CO2, coal has considerable environmental and health costs every year, leading to the deaths of an estimated 200,000 to 600,000 people in the US alone. Cleaning up coal would add considerably to its price. The nuclear industry promises a long-term supply, but still faces the problem of safely transporting and disposing of, not only radioactive spent fuel rods, but also used radioactive piping and production equipment. To date no practical solution has been found, and the radioactive waste has been stored on site at the nuclear plants. Many of these plants are running out of room for the waste. In addition, many of the plants that were scheduled for decommission are still in use and operating at greater risk of releasing radioactivity, because the solution to the radioactive waste has not been found.
In the end, uranium, like the fossil fuels, is finite and polluting, eventually necessitating the switch to renewable energy sources. But which renewable energy source to use? Biofuels are often touted. Most agricultural experts agree that, in order to feed 9 – 14 billion people into the future, most or all of our current agricultural land must remain in food production and not converted to energy use. Opening up more wilderness areas for agriculture would put our ecosystems and global ecological services at risk. Some promising new biofuels such as artificial oil produced from algae, ethanol produced from discarded agricultural waste such as corn stalks, or methane produced from livestock waste, offer perhaps limited and select solutions and should be considered. However, biofuels still face the cost of distribution and will probably never be able to supply all of humanity’s needs. Hydropower has been maxed out – we have dammed nearly every river possible. Wind and tidal power have much more potential left and together with solar offer the hope for the future. However, they are more limited geographically to areas with wind or tide potential.
What about solar? Why will it be the major work horse of the future? The reasons are numerous.
1) In short, it is ubiquitous – it is found everywhere in the temperate and tropical zones in abundance. Everyone can use it. Germany, the world’s leader in solar energy production, is higher in latitude and so receives much less direct sunlight than the US – there is so much more potential here. In addition, it is much cloudier than many parts of the United States, demonstrating that solar energy can still be utilized to a great extent in areas with significant cloud cover.
2) Solar eliminates energy loss through transmission and the expense of erecting power transmission infrastructure, because it can be locally generated. Delivering energy to impoverished rural areas would be less burdensome for developing countries. Solar would allow developing nations to leapfrog dirtier, costlier energy sources and the building of costly power distribution systems in order to achieve rapid development in rural areas.
3) Solar is the only energy source that is getting LESS expensive and will continue to do so, despite receiving far fewer government subsidies than the fossil fuels.
4) Solar would allow us to build a smarter, more efficient grid system with more decentralized energy production that would be more resistant to mass power failures.
5) Solar is, of course, much cleaner than fossil fuels and nuclear energy. Switching to solar energy in cities would help to reduce CO2 production and urban air pollution and their resulting health and environmental costs, and solar involves no radioactive waste.
6) Finally, solar is the only source of energy that can supply the energy of our growing world population into the future. The energy from sunlight that strikes the earth in one hour is more than is used by the entire world’s population in one year. This means that there is an ample and endlessly continuing supply of solar energy for a future world of fourteen billion people and a global high-tech economy. No other energy source offers this light at the end of the tunnel.
Plano Solar Energy Advocate (MY)
The current population of the earth is seven billion and still growing. It is estimated that it will peak at between 9 and 14 billion. Not only is the population growing, but average per capita resource use is increasing and predicted to continue to do so. The planet’s energy consumption will sky-rocket in the future. Can fossil fuels meet the demand? Oil production is predicted to peak in the next 20 years and then decline. Natural gas, for all its promise will do the same, peaking in probably 30 to 40 years. The cost of both of these will only increase over time. Coal could produce energy for another 900 years or so in the United States. However, coal is the dirtiest of the fossil fuels. Coal combustion emits many more radioactive particles into the air than the nuclear industry. As the largest emitter of mercury, particulates, sulfides, nitrous oxides, hydrocarbons (smog), and CO2, coal has considerable environmental and health costs every year, leading to the deaths of an estimated 200,000 to 600,000 people in the US alone. Cleaning up coal would add considerably to its price. The nuclear industry promises a long-term supply, but still faces the problem of safely transporting and disposing of, not only radioactive spent fuel rods, but also used radioactive piping and production equipment. To date no practical solution has been found, and the radioactive waste has been stored on site at the nuclear plants. Many of these plants are running out of room for the waste. In addition, many of the plants that were scheduled for decommission are still in use and operating at greater risk of releasing radioactivity, because the solution to the radioactive waste has not been found.
In the end, uranium, like the fossil fuels, is finite and polluting, eventually necessitating the switch to renewable energy sources. But which renewable energy source to use? Biofuels are often touted. Most agricultural experts agree that, in order to feed 9 – 14 billion people into the future, most or all of our current agricultural land must remain in food production and not converted to energy use. Opening up more wilderness areas for agriculture would put our ecosystems and global ecological services at risk. Some promising new biofuels such as artificial oil produced from algae, ethanol produced from discarded agricultural waste such as corn stalks, or methane produced from livestock waste, offer perhaps limited and select solutions and should be considered. However, biofuels still face the cost of distribution and will probably never be able to supply all of humanity’s needs. Hydropower has been maxed out – we have dammed nearly every river possible. Wind and tidal power have much more potential left and together with solar offer the hope for the future. However, they are more limited geographically to areas with wind or tide potential.
What about solar? Why will it be the major work horse of the future? The reasons are numerous.
1) In short, it is ubiquitous – it is found everywhere in the temperate and tropical zones in abundance. Everyone can use it. Germany, the world’s leader in solar energy production, is higher in latitude and so receives much less direct sunlight than the US – there is so much more potential here. In addition, it is much cloudier than many parts of the United States, demonstrating that solar energy can still be utilized to a great extent in areas with significant cloud cover.
2) Solar eliminates energy loss through transmission and the expense of erecting power transmission infrastructure, because it can be locally generated. Delivering energy to impoverished rural areas would be less burdensome for developing countries. Solar would allow developing nations to leapfrog dirtier, costlier energy sources and the building of costly power distribution systems in order to achieve rapid development in rural areas.
3) Solar is the only energy source that is getting LESS expensive and will continue to do so, despite receiving far fewer government subsidies than the fossil fuels.
4) Solar would allow us to build a smarter, more efficient grid system with more decentralized energy production that would be more resistant to mass power failures.
5) Solar is, of course, much cleaner than fossil fuels and nuclear energy. Switching to solar energy in cities would help to reduce CO2 production and urban air pollution and their resulting health and environmental costs, and solar involves no radioactive waste.
6) Finally, solar is the only source of energy that can supply the energy of our growing world population into the future. The energy from sunlight that strikes the earth in one hour is more than is used by the entire world’s population in one year. This means that there is an ample and endlessly continuing supply of solar energy for a future world of fourteen billion people and a global high-tech economy. No other energy source offers this light at the end of the tunnel.
Plano Solar Energy Advocate (MY)
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
2012 DFW Solar Home Tour
(originally posted at - http://www.livegreeninplano.blogspot.com/2012/10/2012-dfw-solar-home-tour.html)
The next stop on the tour was the Perry home on Canoncita. Not only do they have panels on the south facing side of their home, but on the west side as well, and as a result, are averaging about 50% of their annual electricity consumption with the solar cells installed on their roof.
by The
Sustainability Steward (JR)
On Saturday, October 6, I toured some of the homes here in
Plano on the annual DFW Solar Home Tour, sponsored by the American Solar Energy Society (ASES). This is the 17th year that ASES held a
national solar tour, with 14 homes in the Metroplex listed on the self-guided
tour. The City of Plano demonstrated its
leadership in sustainability with four homes on the tour, the most of any one
city in the area.
The homes on the tour were the Caldwell home at 3700 Hearst
Castle, the Elliot residence at 2401 Trellis Lane, the Neukranz house at 3309
Rampart in east Plano, and the home at 3325 Canoncita occupied by Bill and
Libby Perry. Although it was an overcast
day, it was a perfect way to visit with the homeowners and get their
perspective of having solar panels installed on their roofs and the electricity
savings that they are now seeing.
The first
home I visited was the residence of John Caldwell on Hearst Castle drive. John
is a fascinating individual, and not only discussed his solar energy system
with me, but shared his organic garden and his patented invention, the bicep
bike. He teaches a gardening class
through the Plano Parks and Recreation, while his bicep bike was recently
highlighted on Gear TV (as also shown on Youtube): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iAYvXPYrec
His solar array gives him approximately 25% of his
electricity needs, and on days that he is actually producing more than
consuming electricity, TXU credits him at $0.13 kWh for the energy he is
producing for the power grid.
The next stop on the tour was the Perry home on Canoncita. Not only do they have panels on the south facing side of their home, but on the west side as well, and as a result, are averaging about 50% of their annual electricity consumption with the solar cells installed on their roof.
Their system
has been installed for a year and is able to be monitored online in real time. The
Perry family was very open about the techniques they have adopted in water
conservation as well, and have one of the most environmentally friendly homes
I’ve encountered in our community.
The last
home visited was the Elliot home on Trellis drive. This, too, has optimized its
ability to collect energy from the sun with a nice array of south facing
panels. Panels are best positioned at a
33 degree angle facing the south, and a solar system of 4 kWh will typically
generate over 5,000 kWh of electricity a year in our area.
If you are
interested in learning more about solar energy in our community, please
consider joining the Plano Solar Advocates.
The Advocates have a goal to increase the installed base in the city of
Plano to 5MWp of solar capacity by 2015, or, approximately 1000 homes or business
sites with installed solar panels. More
information on the advocacy program and promoting Plano to become a leader in
solar energy capacity in Texas can be found at: http://planosolar.blogspot.com/.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
The Renewable Energy (Actually All Energy Sources) Subsidy Topic
Today, in many
locations in the United States and around the world, PV (photovoltaic) solar
systems already deliver cost-competitive electricity to consumers. In
some locations, various forms of subsidies help PV solar to achieve this
cost-competitive position today. However, if the cost reduction trends in PV
solar systems continue, in a very few years they will be cost competitive
without any ongoing subsidies.
The issue of
subsidies for renewable energy is a concern to me as well as to most people, so
I have begun to research this topic in more detail. Although the message we
frequently hear is that renewable energy sources are receiving too much in
subsidies, what I have found in various studies is that when taken in the
context of a longer period of history, all energy sources have benefited from
significant and long-term subsidies.
One of these studies
is a September 2011 report, titled "What Would Jefferson Do? The
Historical Role of Federal Subsidies in Shaping America’s Energy Future",
by DBL Investors. (See a link to this report and others on the Plano Solar Advocates
"Resources" page in the section titled "The Subsidy
Topic".)
The research
reported in this paper states that through the end of 2009, the energy sector
receiving the largest subsidies over time has been the oil and gas industry,
with a cumulative amount of $447B over the period of 1918-2009. This averages
approximately $4.9B per year for 90 YEARS! It is no surprise that the
technological revolution allowing for the cost-effective extraction of natural
gas from shale occurred thanks to more than three decades of government
subsidies for research, demonstration, and production. (See “New Investigation
Finds Decades of Government Funding Behind Shale Revolution”, December 20,
2011, http://thebreakthrough.org/archive/new_investigation_finds_decade).
The DBL Investors
report states that renewable energy sources, including wind and solar combined,
have received a cumulative of just $6B during the period of 1994-2009, which
equates to an average of $370M per year over 15 years.
We usually don't
hear this historical context when subsidies for renewables are being questioned
and debated. Subsidies for newer energy sources appear to be much
more “visible” to us. Subsidies for existing energy sources appear to
be “invisible” to most of us because they are included in existing tax
regulations and permanently on the books, not up for review on a regular basis.
So, if we think we
must phase out subsidies on renewable energy sources any time soon, shouldn't
we first make sure that subsides for other more mature energy sources are
phased out first?
I will be continuing
to research this topic to learn more. I think one of the good ideas that
has been studied is to take a long term view, with a subsidy ramp down over a
period of time (e.g. over 5 years) whether than ending abruptly at the end of a
given year. This approach would give
business and industry a planning horizon that incentivizes further process
improvements and cost reductions. The current renewable energy subsidy approach
does not do this.
Please share your
views and any research that you may find on this topic by providing comments to
this blog posting.
Best Regards,
A Plano Solar Energy
Advocate (LH)
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Solar Energy in Plano
By the end of 2010, there were over 40 GWp of total photovoltaic (PV)
solar energy capacity installed in systems around the world - that's
over 40 billion watts peak. Preliminary data at the end of 2011 indicate
this number increased to over 65 GWp. Germany continues to lead the
world with about 40 percent of installed solar energy capacity (over 25
GWp).
At the end of 2010, the United States had installed about 2.2 GWp (2.2 billion Wp) of PV solar. Preliminary data for 2011 indicate that we now have over 4 GWp installed, a very sizable increase in just one year. Closer to home, Texas added about 47 MWp (47 million Wp) of PV solar installations in 2011 bringing the cumulative installed capacity to about 80 MWp.
Texas exceeded its overall Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard (RPS) requirement passed by the Texas Legislature by installing over 10 GW (10 billion W) of wind energy. (The original RPS passed in 1999, with an update in 2005.) However, the 2005 legislation included a target for the state to reach 5 million W of non-wind renewable energy. As solar energy continues to expand all around the world and the US, we have further opportunities in Texas to grow our use of solar energy. (See the Live Green in Plano blog posting from March 21, 2012 - Solar Energy in Texas.)
So how does this growth in solar energy around the world and the US impact residents in Plano? What’s in it for us? How much electricity is produced today in Plano from PV solar? To achieve the target of 500 MW across Texas, how much electricity should Plano be producing from PV solar to contribute our share?
At the end of 2010, it is estimated Plano had about 240,000 Wp of PV solar installed in 35 to 40 residences and businesses around the city . If we use the Texas RPS goal of 500 MW non-wind, and assume we should target this non-wind as solar, we can make some calculations to determine a few targets for Plano.
If we use population as our metric, Plano has approximately 1.06 percent of the state's population. So one percent of the 500 MW target means Plano’s target is 5.3 MWp from PV solar to contribute our share of the overall Texas RPS target. If we assume the average PV solar installation is 5,000 Wp (which is a typical size residential PV solar system across the US), then we would need approximately 1,060 of these average PV solar installations in Plano to achieve 5.3 MWp. Real estate data on the internet indicates Plano has approximately 60,000 single family homes. To achieve the target of 5.3 MWp of electricity generated from PV solar, we only need about 1.8 percent of our existing homes (1,060/60,000) to have this 5,000 Wp PV solar system installed and operational.
Where is more information about PV solar installations for your home? Generally, electricity is distributed to residents in Plano by either Oncor or CoServ. If your home is serviced by Oncor, then you can find out about solar program information from their website - takealoadofftexas.com.
Check out a few examples of solar programs offered by retail electric providers operating in Plano in the Oncor serving area by visiting their websites:
www.greenmountain.com/solar
Reliant Solar & Wind Buyback Program
www.txu.com/solar
If your location is serviced by CoServ, check out information about PV solar at their website -
http://www.coserv.com/, then select TogetherWeSave > Think Green Rebates > Solar Energy Rebate
Need more info about promoting the use of solar power generation in Plano? Contact me! planosolar@gmail.com
Plano Solar Energy Advocate (LH)
*********************
SOURCES:
1st paragraph and 2nd paragraph
REN21 Renewables 2011 Global Status Report -
http://www.ren21.net/Portals/0/documents/Resources/110929_GSR2011_FINAL.pdf
U.S. Solar Market Insight: 2011 Year-in-Review Report - Executive Summary - http://www.seia.org/cs/research/SolarInsight
3rd paragraph
Texas State Energy Conservation Office - Texas Renewable Portfolio Standard - http://seco.cpa.state.tx.us/re/rps-portfolio.php
*********************
(original post - http://livegreeninplano.blogspot.com/2012/04/solar-energy-in-plano.html)
At the end of 2010, the United States had installed about 2.2 GWp (2.2 billion Wp) of PV solar. Preliminary data for 2011 indicate that we now have over 4 GWp installed, a very sizable increase in just one year. Closer to home, Texas added about 47 MWp (47 million Wp) of PV solar installations in 2011 bringing the cumulative installed capacity to about 80 MWp.
Texas exceeded its overall Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard (RPS) requirement passed by the Texas Legislature by installing over 10 GW (10 billion W) of wind energy. (The original RPS passed in 1999, with an update in 2005.) However, the 2005 legislation included a target for the state to reach 5 million W of non-wind renewable energy. As solar energy continues to expand all around the world and the US, we have further opportunities in Texas to grow our use of solar energy. (See the Live Green in Plano blog posting from March 21, 2012 - Solar Energy in Texas.)
So how does this growth in solar energy around the world and the US impact residents in Plano? What’s in it for us? How much electricity is produced today in Plano from PV solar? To achieve the target of 500 MW across Texas, how much electricity should Plano be producing from PV solar to contribute our share?
At the end of 2010, it is estimated Plano had about 240,000 Wp of PV solar installed in 35 to 40 residences and businesses around the city . If we use the Texas RPS goal of 500 MW non-wind, and assume we should target this non-wind as solar, we can make some calculations to determine a few targets for Plano.
If we use population as our metric, Plano has approximately 1.06 percent of the state's population. So one percent of the 500 MW target means Plano’s target is 5.3 MWp from PV solar to contribute our share of the overall Texas RPS target. If we assume the average PV solar installation is 5,000 Wp (which is a typical size residential PV solar system across the US), then we would need approximately 1,060 of these average PV solar installations in Plano to achieve 5.3 MWp. Real estate data on the internet indicates Plano has approximately 60,000 single family homes. To achieve the target of 5.3 MWp of electricity generated from PV solar, we only need about 1.8 percent of our existing homes (1,060/60,000) to have this 5,000 Wp PV solar system installed and operational.
Where is more information about PV solar installations for your home? Generally, electricity is distributed to residents in Plano by either Oncor or CoServ. If your home is serviced by Oncor, then you can find out about solar program information from their website - takealoadofftexas.com.
Check out a few examples of solar programs offered by retail electric providers operating in Plano in the Oncor serving area by visiting their websites:
www.greenmountain.com/solar
Reliant Solar & Wind Buyback Program
www.txu.com/solar
If your location is serviced by CoServ, check out information about PV solar at their website -
http://www.coserv.com/, then select TogetherWeSave > Think Green Rebates > Solar Energy Rebate
Need more info about promoting the use of solar power generation in Plano? Contact me! planosolar@gmail.com
Plano Solar Energy Advocate (LH)
*********************
SOURCES:
1st paragraph and 2nd paragraph
REN21 Renewables 2011 Global Status Report -
http://www.ren21.net/Portals/0/documents/Resources/110929_GSR2011_FINAL.pdf
U.S. Solar Market Insight: 2011 Year-in-Review Report - Executive Summary - http://www.seia.org/cs/research/SolarInsight
3rd paragraph
Texas State Energy Conservation Office - Texas Renewable Portfolio Standard - http://seco.cpa.state.tx.us/re/rps-portfolio.php
*********************
(original post - http://livegreeninplano.blogspot.com/2012/04/solar-energy-in-plano.html)
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Solar Energy in Texas
Did you know the amount of solar energy reaching the Earth in one hour
is approximately the same as the total energy used by everyone on the
planet for an entire year? Imagine the abundant amount of sunshine in
Texas alone!
Texas continues to grow, and so is the demand for energy. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) recently released (Dec. 2011) their 10-year energy outlook which indicated the need for additional energy generation - in particular, the need for additional energy to handle peak demands in the summer.
See http://ercot.com/news/press_releases/show/459.
Wouldn't it be great to meet some of our growing energy needs by tapping the HUGE potential of energy from the sun? Generating electricity from solar panels (photovoltaic or PV panels) installed on homes and businesses have the following key benefits:
1. Electricity generation is generally aligned with the time of day demand. So, while our air conditioners are in heavy, almost continuous use during Texas summers, this is also when the sun shines brightest and solar panels generate the most electricity!
2. Solar energy installed costs are already lower than other existing peak demand generation sources.
3. Electricity generated by distributed solar panels on homes and businesses is located where the demand is consumed (our house/business), thus eliminating electricity transmission losses.
4. Electricity generated from solar panels does not require our scarce Texas water resources for electricity generation like other conventional electricity generation sources.
5. Distributed electricity generation from solar panels is generally a quick deployment - six months versus up to three years for conventional power plants.
For overview information about solar energy, please watch these short introductory videos (about 4 minutes each) at these URLs:
https://www.eeremultimedia.energy.gov/solar/videos/solar_power_basics
https://www.eeremultimedia.energy.gov/solar/videos/photovoltaics_diverse_technology
If you would like further information about what you could do to help promote the use of distributed solar power generation in Texas, please send your request to the email address given below:
planosolar@gmail.com
Plano Solar Energy Advocate (LH)
(original post - http://livegreeninplano.blogspot.com/2012/03/solar-energy-in-texas.html)
Texas continues to grow, and so is the demand for energy. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) recently released (Dec. 2011) their 10-year energy outlook which indicated the need for additional energy generation - in particular, the need for additional energy to handle peak demands in the summer.
See http://ercot.com/news/press_releases/show/459.
Wouldn't it be great to meet some of our growing energy needs by tapping the HUGE potential of energy from the sun? Generating electricity from solar panels (photovoltaic or PV panels) installed on homes and businesses have the following key benefits:
1. Electricity generation is generally aligned with the time of day demand. So, while our air conditioners are in heavy, almost continuous use during Texas summers, this is also when the sun shines brightest and solar panels generate the most electricity!
2. Solar energy installed costs are already lower than other existing peak demand generation sources.
3. Electricity generated by distributed solar panels on homes and businesses is located where the demand is consumed (our house/business), thus eliminating electricity transmission losses.
4. Electricity generated from solar panels does not require our scarce Texas water resources for electricity generation like other conventional electricity generation sources.
5. Distributed electricity generation from solar panels is generally a quick deployment - six months versus up to three years for conventional power plants.
For overview information about solar energy, please watch these short introductory videos (about 4 minutes each) at these URLs:
https://www.eeremultimedia.energy.gov/solar/videos/solar_power_basics
https://www.eeremultimedia.energy.gov/solar/videos/photovoltaics_diverse_technology
If you would like further information about what you could do to help promote the use of distributed solar power generation in Texas, please send your request to the email address given below:
planosolar@gmail.com
Plano Solar Energy Advocate (LH)
(original post - http://livegreeninplano.blogspot.com/2012/03/solar-energy-in-texas.html)
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Renewable Energy
Interested in learning about, using, and promoting renewable energy?
Interested in learning about solar energy?
Interested in learning about the vast wind energy in Texas that is already being utilized?
A really good way is to get involved locally.
A really good way to get involved locally is to attend a NTREG meeting?
Which leads to the question --- What is NTREG?
NTREG is the North Texas Renewable Energy Group. It was established in 2001 with the primary goal of educating North Texans about the power of renewable energy ("RE"). As the NTREG webpage states - "NTREG members come quite literally from all walks of life. You need not be an engineer or the proverbial rocket scientist to be an active and productive participant with us." NTREG is a 501(c)(3) non-profit volunteer organization, and is the local chapter of the Texas Solar Energy Society (TXSES), which is the state chapter of the American Solar Energy Society (ASES). NTREG monthly meetings are currently being held at the REI store in Dallas on LBJ Freeway. Information about upcoming meetings is available at their website - http://www.ntreg.org/events.htm
At the most recent meeting on Saturday, February 11, the presentation "Denton Municipal Electric's Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Initiatives" was lead by Lisa A. Lemons. Lisa is the Energy Efficiency & Sustainability Manager for Denton Municipal Electric. This was a very informative presentation and interactive discussion about Denton's initiative to become the "Greenest City in Texas" which began in earnest in 2007. Denton's municipal electric utility now obtains 40% of its electricity from renewable sources, which is one of the highest, if not the highest percentage in Texas. Most of this renewable energy in Denton is coming from the Wolf Ridge Wind Farm, which sits in rural Cooke County, north of Muenster, Texas, only about 30 miles from Denton.
Denton has also recently issued a request for proposal (RFP) for a purchase power agreement for 10-20MW of solar generation. The responses for the RFP are due February 21, 2012 (VERY SOON). If the responses are within the financial objectives of the project, the objective is to have the system online by June 2013. Denton's RFP was modeled after the recent RFPs that San Antonio, Texas has issued for larger solar generation systems (up to 400MW).
As we know, the sun shines a lot in Texas! And, we also know that we generally have the biggest demand for electricity when the sun shines a lot in the summer. So spend some time to learn about solar energy and other renewable energy - come to the next NTREG meeting!
Plano Solar Energy Advocate (LH)
(original post - http://livegreeninplano.blogspot.com/2012/02/renewable-energy.html)
Interested in learning about solar energy?
Interested in learning about the vast wind energy in Texas that is already being utilized?
A really good way is to get involved locally.
A really good way to get involved locally is to attend a NTREG meeting?
Which leads to the question --- What is NTREG?
NTREG is the North Texas Renewable Energy Group. It was established in 2001 with the primary goal of educating North Texans about the power of renewable energy ("RE"). As the NTREG webpage states - "NTREG members come quite literally from all walks of life. You need not be an engineer or the proverbial rocket scientist to be an active and productive participant with us." NTREG is a 501(c)(3) non-profit volunteer organization, and is the local chapter of the Texas Solar Energy Society (TXSES), which is the state chapter of the American Solar Energy Society (ASES). NTREG monthly meetings are currently being held at the REI store in Dallas on LBJ Freeway. Information about upcoming meetings is available at their website - http://www.ntreg.org/events.htm
At the most recent meeting on Saturday, February 11, the presentation "Denton Municipal Electric's Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Initiatives" was lead by Lisa A. Lemons. Lisa is the Energy Efficiency & Sustainability Manager for Denton Municipal Electric. This was a very informative presentation and interactive discussion about Denton's initiative to become the "Greenest City in Texas" which began in earnest in 2007. Denton's municipal electric utility now obtains 40% of its electricity from renewable sources, which is one of the highest, if not the highest percentage in Texas. Most of this renewable energy in Denton is coming from the Wolf Ridge Wind Farm, which sits in rural Cooke County, north of Muenster, Texas, only about 30 miles from Denton.
Denton has also recently issued a request for proposal (RFP) for a purchase power agreement for 10-20MW of solar generation. The responses for the RFP are due February 21, 2012 (VERY SOON). If the responses are within the financial objectives of the project, the objective is to have the system online by June 2013. Denton's RFP was modeled after the recent RFPs that San Antonio, Texas has issued for larger solar generation systems (up to 400MW).
As we know, the sun shines a lot in Texas! And, we also know that we generally have the biggest demand for electricity when the sun shines a lot in the summer. So spend some time to learn about solar energy and other renewable energy - come to the next NTREG meeting!
Plano Solar Energy Advocate (LH)
(original post - http://livegreeninplano.blogspot.com/2012/02/renewable-energy.html)
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