Clean Energy for Texas
Texas Aims for Solar Dominance
March 25, 2009
By Kate Galbraith
New York Times
Green Inc. blog
Kelly LaDuke for The New York Times
The Lone Star State leads the country
in wind power. Now Texas aims to ramp up its solar production, too.
This week the state senate is considering an avalanche of bills that would
boost state incentives for solar power, and the entire legislative session has
become known as the "solar session."
Read more...
Al Gore at Netroots Nation Conference
Organic Solar Concentrators - 10 fold increases in the power from PV cells,
without the need for solar tracking
The cost of photovoltaic power can be reduced with organic solar
concentrators. These are planar waveguides with a thin-film organic coating
on the face and inorganic solar cells attached to the edges. Light is
absorbed by the coating and reemitted into waveguide modes for collection by
the solar cells. We report single- and tandem-waveguide organic solar
concentrators with quantum efficiencies exceeding 50% and projected power
conversion efficiencies as high as 6.8%. The exploitation of near-field
energy transfer, solid-state solvation, and phosphorescence enables 10-fold
increases in the power obtained from photovoltaic cells, without the need
for solar tracking.
Science Magazine, 11 July 2008
Read the rest of the article at Science Magazine (subscription required)
Action Needed to Create Superhighways for Renewables
Investing in Wind Power Is Critical to Texas' Future,
Public Interest Groups and Legislators Tell Officials
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Wind Energy Presentations:
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April 24 and 25th 2008:
The Texas Solar Forum brought together a variety of stakeholders, including solar executives, elected officials, manufacturers, electric utility providers, homebuilders, retailers, financiers, entrepreneurs, and other interested parties, to learn about the status of the global solar industry, how citizens in other states and countries have benefited from their thriving solar industries, and potential methods to create similar self-sustaining solar marketplaces in Texas.
Download PowerPoint presentations given by conference speakers.
Download the new report Renewable Energy in Texas by Dub Taylor, Director State Energy Conservation Office (SECO) 2007
New Renewable Energy Brochure:
Download and read it now
Support More Renewable Energy for Texas!
How Do We Ensure A Clean , Secure, Independent Energy Future....
And Avoid A Future That’s Unsafe, Unhealthy, and UN-TEXAN?
The Proposed Texas Energy Plan Will Send Billions
Of Dollars Out of State and to Foreign Countries.
Clean Coal Is No Solution.
- Zero emission coal plants continue to create pollution through
mining, transportation, production, and waste disposal.
- Current and proposed coal plants will send $48 billion over 30
years to Wyoming for imported coal.*
*Based on six new coal plants in Texas over the next 20 years.
Read more...
What Renewable Energy Means to Texas
Wind-Related Jobs and Tax Base
on the Rise. More than $1 billion of new
wind development is building the tax
base in rural west Texas and supporting
manufacturing jobs statewide. And since
the fuel is free, capital-intensive wind
power plants create more jobs and pay
more property taxes per unit of electricity
produced than coal or natural gas.
Why is this Happening?
Texas' Renewable Portfolio Standard,
signed into law by Gov. George Bush in
1999, specifies that 2,000 Megawatts of
new renewable capacity will be built in
Texas by 2009. The Texas Public Utility
Commission, then led by current FERC
Chairman Pat Wood, crafted detailed
rules for the program with a market-based
system of tradable renewable energy credits.
This clear-cut policy
encouraged construction of some of the
world's largest wind power projects that
now deliver clean energy at prices lower
than ever before achieved. The current
cost competitiveness of wind power has
Texas five years ahead of its renewables
construction schedule, almost half way
to meeting its 2,000 Megawatt goal.
Read the full report - What Renewable Energy Means to Texas
Renewable Resources:
The New Texas Energy Powerhouse
A report on the economic benefits of renewable energy in Texas
and how to keep them growing
Wind power is delivering significant economic benefits to Texas and has the potential to be a major economic force in the future.
Fewer than six years after the state 's first commercial utility-scale wind power plant was installed, Texas has 1,100 Megawatts of
wind power on the ground. In response to the Texas legislature's renewable energy requirement,utilities and wind companies invested $1 billion in 2001 to build 912 Megawatts of new wind power projects.
The completed plants created 2,500 quality jobs with a payroll of $75 million,will deliver $13.3 million in
tax revenue for schools and counties and pay landowners $2.5 million in royalty income in 2002 alone. The
multiplier effect of this new investment activity will stimulate another 2,900 indirect jobs in Texas.Wind power is
bringing relief to rural Texas and creating jobs statewide.
Read the full report - Renewable Resources:
The New Texas Energy Powerhouse
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