Austin

Sector: Municipal Government

Population:

> Austin, TX is home to some 692,000 residents. The population is set to double in the next 20 years. 

Carbon Footprint:

> Corporate: 5,572,676 metric tonnes CO₂e (2005)

TARGETS

> 15% increase in energy efficiency on 1992 levels by 2020
> 20% of energy from renewables by 2020

Achievements

> 8% reduction in CO₂e emissions from Austin Energy operations between 2000 and 2005
> 7% increase in energy efficiency between 1992 and 2005

Benefits

> US $200,000,000 saving through energy conservation between 1992 and 2005

Low Carbon Solutions

Background

The City of Austin, capital of Texas, lies on the Colorado River and is home to some 692,000 residents. Austin is the 16th largest city in the U.S. and is projected to more than double in population in the next twenty years. Since the early 1980s, Austin has been committed to energy conservation and renewable energy, and through Austin Energy, it’s community-owned electric utility, has implemented many positive measures to reduce the city’s CO₂ emissions. The City of Austin’s programmes have been so successful that it received the UN’s Environment Award at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 for its work on green buildings.

In 1995, Austin became an ‘Energy Smart City’ and a member of ICLEI’s Cities for Climate Protection (CCP) campaign. As a participant in this campaign, the City pledged to: adopt a leadership role in increasing energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions from municipal operations; develop a local action plan to increase energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions throughout the community and; be an advocate for energy efficiency and climate protection at state/national level.

Austin Energy offers a range of advice and services promoting energy efficiency for its customers. One such service is a home and business energy analysis showing customers how their energy is used and where potential reductions could be made. Another scheme provides customers with a free radio-controlled Honeywell Superstat™ - which allows Austin Energy to turn off their air conditioning during times of peak electricity demand. This reduces the demand for new ‘peaking’ power plants - and lowers home-owners energy costs. About 30,000 homes currently participate in this programme.

‘Double-pass’ power generation, also called Combined Heat and Power or co-generation, has been adopted by Austin Energy as a means of increasing the utility’s energy efficiency. The system reuses steam produced by traditional power generators to fuel other turbines. The utility has also moved generation to state-of-the-art natural gas plants and is retrofitting its existing facilities with the best available control technology scrubbers to reduce emissions (exceeding current legislative requirements).

To promote energy efficiency in the community, Austin Energy enables its residential customers to replace air conditioners with energy efficient alternatives through a zero interest loan for up to five years. For larger industrial customers, the company has rebate programmes based on a dollar per kilowatt (kW) saving. After examining a company’s industrial processes, rebates are given based on the amount of energy to be saved up to $100,000.

In addition, Austin Energy has replaced all city traffic signal bulbs with Light Emitting Diodes (LED) which have nearly a 90% saving in energy consumption.

The City of Austin uses approximately 135 million gallons of water per day and approximately 5lbs of CO₂ are produced for every 1,000 gallons of water treated. A number of water conservation strategies have therefore been adopted including: toilet replacement, washing machine rebates, rain barrel rebates, water reuse (greywater recycling), and public education on water conservation. Without these measures implemented since 1984, Austin would be emitting an additional 32,850 tons of CO₂ every year just to treat its water and wastewater. By 2010 Austin’s water conservation programmes should be saving almost 50,000 tons of CO₂ annually

Austin Energy was one of the first municipal utilities in the US to establish a demand side management programme. Indeed in 1982, the company actually removed a coal plant from its long-term generation plan, through projected reduced demand from energy efficiency measures. The company has since adopted a number of additional measures to improve both the energy efficiency of the company and the energy consumption practices of its customers.

As well as working with a variety of NGOs and think tanks, Austin has also become involved with WWF’s PowerSwitch programme, which enabled it to set its current 2020 targets. The company also intends to continue its work with both congressional staff and the US EPA/DOE on energy policy issues.

Despite being only the 75th largest utility in the country, Austin Energy’s GreenChoice® is the most successful utility-sponsored green power programme in the US. To put this in context, Austin Energy produces 4 times more renewable energy than the city of Los Angeles utility. Since its inception in 2001 GreenChoice® has amassed CO₂ reductions amounting to the equivalent of taking 30,000 cars off the road.

Austin Energy has been able to sell large quantities of renewable energy because of its innovative pricing system. When signing up to GreenChoice® Austin Energy allows customers to opt out of the fuel charge on their energy bill, which can change over time depending on fuel prices. Instead they must pay a GreenChoice charge which though currently slightly higher, is locked in over 10 years.

The marketing of GreenChoice® has added to its success. Whenever a company signs up for the programme (depending on the level they sign up for), their actions are highlighted in newspapers and billboards.

Whilst Austin Energy sources a range of renewable energy such as methane recovered from landfill, hydroelectric and solar energy, it is likely that wind will remain its most prominent renewable source for at least the next decade. ‘After this time , we expect that solar will really come into its own as a cost effective means of producing renewable energy,’ says Roger Duncan, Deputy General Manager of Distributed Energy Services at Austin Energy. For this reason, Austin Energy has a goal to generate 100 MW of solar energy by 2020. The utility has already established one of the highest rebates in the country for solar photovoltaics (PV). The company also offers $5 per watt for grid connected solar PV systems (with different caps for homes and businesses).Through this program, customers qualify for ‘net billing’, whereby their electricity bills take into account the amount of energy they feed into, as well a take from the grid.

The cost effectiveness of Austin Energy’s renewables programmes is evident as since the adoption in 2004 of the current 2020 strategic plan, the company’s bond ratings increased from A- to A.

Physical barriers in terms of the transmission and distribution of renewable energy also exist, since it is currently difficult to store. Yet perhaps the biggest barrier the city faces is the market. As Roger Duncan states, ‘The true costs of fossil fuels are not being reflected in the price, which makes efficiency and renewables less competitive.’

Austin hopes to see a permanent federal renewable portfolio standard and stronger support in the research and development of renewable energy and energy efficiency to overcome these challenges. The city would also support mandatory carbon controls as it feels that voluntary measures are not strong enough to drive action.

The City of Austin has been a pioneer of ‘green construction’ for some time, taking the full life cycle of the building into consideration from the outset. Indeed, as Roger Duncan, Deputy General Manager of Distributed Energy Services at Austin Energy explains; ‘In the early 1990s we established the first green building programme in the world, considering a whole range of issues not only energy and water efficiency, but also the embedded efficiency of the design and construction materials.’

Austin has devised a successful Green Building programme, which trains builders and designers in how to build and develop sustainable buildings, and worked with United States Green Building Council to develop the national LEED system (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). All new city buildings in Austin are required to meet Green Building standards. Around 25% of new homes in Austin go through the Green Building Programme, and the company is now working with The Austin Housing Finance Corporation to build energy efficient homes for lower income households.

There has been much demand from other municipalities for information and training on Austin’s groundbreaking practices in renewable energy and energy efficiency. Through ‘Manage It Green’ (a Green Building Consultancy developed by Austin Energy to deal with this demand) Austin advises other institutions on Green Building design. California Public Utility Commission (PUC) hired the organisation to train developers in the San Francisco area. Austin’s practices are unique, but they needn’t be, as Duncan points out: ‘In a warm climate, where electricity use peaks in summer, almost all utilities could replicate Austin Energy’s programmes.’

Austin, TX is home to some 692,000 residents. Its population is set to double in the next 20 years.

Austin has devised a successful Green Building programme, which trains builders and designers in how to build and develop sustainable buildings

Austin Energy remains confident about its ability to reach its target of generating 20% of all power from renewables by 2020

Around 25% of new homes in Austin go through the Green Building Programme.

Austin Energy’s GreenChoice® is the most successful utility-sponsored green power programme in the US.