Houston Gets In The Wind - A Third Of The Way
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 07.16.07
"Hoping to stabilize a $150 million annual electricity bill, Houston officials have negotiated a contract to ensure that a third of the city's power is generated by wind." If approved by the City Council, the contract would make Houston a renewable energy leader among cities.
"The mandate for wind as part of the annual 1.3 billion kilowatt hours needed to power city buildings, street lights and water plants comes from Mayor Bill White [pictured], who has made energy conservation a theme of his tenure."
""It puts us in a definite leadership position," said White, a former chief operating officer at the U.S. Department of Energy during the Clinton administration. "We are ahead of the curve."" (And ahead of the Federal Government we might add.) "The mayor sought the changes after hurricanes Katrina and Rita disrupted the production and delivery of natural gas — a common fuel at Texas power plants — prompting electricity prices to soar."
Via: Houston Chronicle Image credit:: Mayor Bill White in biking spandex gear, Lone Star Times
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Yep, this proves it. Texas is becoming the leader of wind energy in the nation.
Our mayor is pretty green, for a mayor. He likes to bike all the time, and I even think he drives a hybrid. He's been trying to push green, in a sensible way, and has been doing a good job of it.
He's an awesome mayor.
Wow...
From someone who lives in Houston ... I did not know this was going on...
I must say that if they can pull this off, It'll definitely go down in history.
That's awesome news for Houston and its residents.
Whenever I was down there, the wind hardly blew at all. I can't see this as an economical decision.
=== author's response follows ===
The wind farms are in West Texas.
Let's see if you still think he's an awesome mayor when you see the price-tag of this plan.
I am guessing not since YOU'LL be paying for it.
Why wouldn't he want to use solar on the tops of those gov't buildings instead? Plenty of sun in Texas and most of the use would be during the day.
OK, Mr Green Mayor, how about getting off your butt, and while I-10 is reworked, put in a rail line to Katy.
Our only rail/light rail, is a pathetic joke, mostly used by homeless since it operates on an honor system. Even better it screws up traffic downtown because it was designed by Jerry's Kids. It doesn't go anywhere that matters. It is a huge boondoggle, done under Lee Brown's reign.
It's a beautiful thing when doing good and doing what's best financially go hand in hand.
One Man. One Year. $100,000 online.
http://www.oneyeargoal.com
"That's awesome news for Houston and its residents."
you do realize they are only talking about using wind power for 1/3 of the **cities'** buildings and needs, not the residents.
imo the article is written to infer that the wind power would be for residents also, to make it look like a bigger deal than it is...
=== author's response follows ===
The streetlight is for those who choose or happen to be in it's radius of illumination. I mean this metaphorically.
More importantly, the maximum portion of grid fed current from wind turbines is reportedly limited to roughly (by various sources) just over 30%, above which reliability becomes a problem. If this 'windy third' works for the "city' there is not reason it can not be expanded for the entire City. Prototypes always start small and scale up.
thats great for houstonians....except for the fact that they have to live in that shithole of a city.
Metro Rail is very misunderstood in Houston. It's a "pathetic joke" because it's all that Metro could do versus the overwhelming opposition to rail in Houston. It is at least a starting point for real mass transit in the region. Hopefully with Delay and Culberson out of the picture we'll start to see some progress. Are you even involved with Richmond Rail and the other pro-rail organizations who are working against the NIMBY oppoosition?
In any case, it seems a bit silly to whine about the commuting problems if you chose to live out in Katy...
@jojo: it is not a shit hole city if you've visited it.
The plan could be greener, and so could Houston, but at least it's a step higher. For price, I could care less. Everything has a price.
"That's awesome news for Houston and its residents."
you do realize they are only talking about using windpower for 1/3 of the **cities'** buildings and needs, not the residents.
imo the article is written to infer that the wind power would be for residents also, to make it look like a bigger deal than it is...
Someone said : "thats great for houstonians....except for the fact that they have to live in that shithole of a city."
My god, funniest thing I've seen all night. Seriously, thanks for the laugh. I agree with your sentiment.
Anonymous in Houston