The Cleanest Coal Plant Is the One That’s Never Built
March 8th, 2007 at 9:21 am
It’s a measure of just how big the scandal unfolding at TYC is that coal, energy, and doomsday warnings of brownouts have been knocked from the front page. Although, a little Wall Street transaction may have also had something to do with kicking power plants to the back burner, so to speak.
But work on that front continues of course, and not all of it is designed to further screw Texas ratepayers. On Tuesday, Environmental Defense, one of the groups that helped negotiate the pending buyout of TXU, released a study (Word doc) that offers specific proposals on how Texas can meet its growng demand for electricity through efficiency and conservation methods, instead of new power plants. Their nine-point plan more than one-upped our clarion call for more efficient dishwashers:
- Expand
- Tighten building energy codes
- Increase demand response programs that can reduce electricity demand during peak load periods
- Set a target for expanded installation of combined heat and power (
- Provide incentives for expanded installation of onsite renewable energy
- Set new state-level appliance and equipment standards
- Develop advanced energy-efficient building program
- Implement energy-efficient state and municipal buildings program
- Implement short-term public education and rate incentives
The study’s authors claim that these measure would meet the increase in demand over the next 20-30 years at a lower cost and while generating more jobs than building new plants. The majority of the gains would come from efficiency and “demand response” measures, which reduce peak consumption. More detail on each of the points is available in the summary (PDF), or if you get your policy jollies from 115-page white papers, the full report is available from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, which conducted the study.
March 8th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
I am convinced that it will take something as politically crippling as the TYC scandal for the media or the current state leadership to make a truly big deal out of the environment.