| Local Policy Description: | Improve Electric Utility Efficiency
The city’s Electric Utility Department (EUD) is currently a partner in the Department of Energy’s Climate Challenge Program, a voluntary effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. By signing the accord, EUD has set forth its commitments for mitigating GHG emissions. The Utility participation accord includes initiatives involving demand side management, landfill methane gas recovery, photovoltaic generating capacity, system efficiency, wind power and alternative fueled vehicles. EUD is planning to upgrade many of its systems over the next few years, which will result in significant efficiency enhancements. Converting numerous 69 kV (kilovolt) distribution lines to 138 kV is expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 50,000 tons annually. Other improvements in transmission lines, controls, and availability improvements will also improve system efficiency. The possible impact by 2010 remains unquantified, but a rough estimate of the possible emission impact of these improvements
is in the range of 100,000 to 200,000 tons annually.
Improve Use of Renewable Energy Resources
Renewable energy resources and increased energy efficiency could meet all of the additional demand for energy in Texas between now and 2010. Texas has more solar and biomass resources than any other state, and is second nationally in wind resources. This plan proposes that all incremental electric demand above the 1990 base level which is not met by cost-effective efficiency improvements could be met with renewable resources. The carbon dioxide reduction potential is 3.7 million tons. Currently, The City of Austin has made significant investments in renewable energy resources. Using forecast demand growth estimates and information from the plan to close the Holly Power Plant, it is estimated that, even with a current aggressive energy conservation program in place, approximately 1,260 megawatts of new capacity will be needed to meet demand for an additional 5,747 million kilowatt-hours of electricity in the Austin area by 2010. Meeting all of this additional demand with renewable energy resources is technically feasible, and with continuing reductions in the cost of renewables, may even be economically feasible. This could easily occur if federal subsidies were shifted from nuclear and fossil power to renewable resources. Meeting the additional load with renewables could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 3.8 million tons in 2010.
Wind Power:
The Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA), the Texas General Land Office and Kenetech Windpower signed an agreement to construct up to 250 megawatts of wind generators in the Delaware Mountains of Culberson County, in West Texas, in 1993. The first 35-megawatt phase of this project is providing 25 megawatts of capacity to the LCRA and 10 megawatts to the City of Austin. The expansion of the project is not currently planned. However, the Texas Wind Power Project site is capable of producing up to 750 megawatts, so a great deal of additional capacity could be placed there. In September 1995, Austin’s Electric Utility began receiving power from its 10-megawatt share of the 35-megawatt wind farm. This wind energy amounts to approximately 39,000 MWh annually, which will result in an annual reduction of carbon dioxide emissions of approximately 23,000 tons in 2010. In North and West Texas, there are approximately 14,000 megawatts of wind power potential.
Biomass:
Energy from biomass (plant and animal matter) accounts for approximately 15% of global primary energy consumption. Texas is a major biomass producer, and the Austin area has substantial potential for producing power from this resource. Waste will remain the most important biomass energy source for the foreseeable future, with those by-products that currently present a disposal problem having the greatest near-term potential. In addition to the urban resources of municipal solid waste, sewage, landfill gas and used cooking oils, the Central Texas region is also rich in agricultural products such as harvest residues and process wastes. There is also some potential for growing energy crops. In 1997, a three-megawatt methane burner was due to come on line at a local landfill. In locations where methane collection is mandated, power production is often cost-effective. The reduction in fuel burned at the other power plants results in an annual reduction in carbon dioxide of approximately 16,000 tons in 2010. Improvements to gas handling facilities at the Hornsby Bend wastewater treatment plant will clean and dehydrate waste methane so that it can be burned in two 400-kilowatt generators, which will provide a substantial amount of the facility’s electricity when operating. The generators are already in place, but are not operating currently. A conservative estimate of the electricity which might be generated annually is 1,500 MWh, which equates to approximately 1,125 tons of carbon dioxide annually. The composting boilers are also fired with methane from the composting process, but this is unquantified.
Solar Photovoltaics (PV):
The 300 kilowatts of PV installed at the City’s Decker Creek Power Station in 1986 generate only a small amount of energy. The project has suffered a steady decline in performance, producing 414 MWh in 1990, but only 240 MWh in 1995. The Utility has installed another 238 kilowatts at various locations throughout the city, for a total of 538 kW. The Electric Utility Department will continue to seek funding to increase its current photovoltaic generating capacity by approximately 250 kilowatts per year through its Solar Explorer program. This program allows residential customers to receive a 100-watt photovoltaic roof installation in return for a $7 per month additional charge on their electric bill. If an additional 250 kilowatts of photovoltaics are installed each year after 1997, this will lead to a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions of approximately 3,000 tons per year by 2010.
Hydropower:
There are 89 undeveloped potential hydroelectric sites in Texas, 14 on the Lower Colorado River alone, with the potential to generate 2,659 gigawatt-hours annually. This amounts to approximately 30% of the City of Austin Electric Utility Department’s current annual generation. If all of these resources were developed, nearly two million tons of carbon dioxide could be avoided annually.
Distributed Resources Utility:
Advances in energy technology, particularly photovoltaics and hydrogen fuel cells, present the real possibility of a distributed resources utility (DRU). A DRU involves small-scale electricity generation at the level of individual neighborhoods, businesses or even single homes. This strategy may already be cost effective in some instances, such as when upgrading a transformer can be avoided by generating energy where it is needed rather than remotely. On-site generation is often a cost-effective alternative to extending a power line to a location which is not connected to the grid. Implementation of a DRU could take many forms, using many different renewable and/or non-renewable energy resources.
Hydrogen-powered fuel cells emit no carbon dioxide, and could be a breakthrough in the search for a reliable, emission-free source of electricity. Once technology is available for economically producing large amounts of hydrogen from water through biological or chemical means, fuel cells could become quite cost effec
tive.
Encourage Light-Emitting Diode (LED) Lights
Unlike traffic synchronization, there is no debate over the environmental benefits of using light-emitting diode (LED) lights in traffic signals and walk lights. LED lights use much less electricity to operate than conventional lights and as a result, they pollute much less.
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