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Posts Tagged ‘foreign oil’

Party In The Dark During Earth Hour

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , on March 26, 2010 |

Worried about your environmental impact? This Saturday, March 27th at 8:30pm is your chance to participate with millions of people around the world during Earth Hour.

“What do I have to do?” Simply turn off the lights for one hour.

During this hour we can universally flip the switch on dirty air, foreign oil, and the impact that we have on climate change. This is a chance where we can all work together and have a positive impact while protecting not only our future but the future of the Earth.

“What am I going to do in the dark for an hour?” I am glad you asked. Here are some simple ideas:

  1. Invite your friends over for an Earth Hour Party
  2. Have a candlelight dinner with your family
  3. Set up camp in your home and share scary stories
  4. Meditate – the calmness is the perfect environment for meditation
  5. Take a walk under the moonlight
  6. Gaze at the stars

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5WYlqD8mR0&feature=player_embedded]

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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.

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Go Solar: Make Utilities Give Consumers a Fair Price for Surplus Electricity

Posted in Energy, Renewables, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 11, 2009 |

Sun MoneyThanks to Luke Metzger at the Environment Texas blog for this take on pending net metering legislation (read: making sure folks with solar panels get paid back for the excess energy they produce):

On Monday, the Texas House will decide whether to promote solar energy by requiring utilities to pay consumers fair prices for surplus solar power or to codify anti-consumer practices in order to benefit big utilities like TXU. Here’s the story.

Sick of riding the rollercoaster of high electric rates and concerned over pollution and dependence on foreign oil, many Texans are turning to solar power to get more choices than their electric company provides. More than 40 states help consumers do this by requiring electric companies to pay a fair price for the surplus electricity solar panels put back on the grid (known as net metering). In return, the electric grid benefits from a supply of pollution-free electricity during peak-demand time periods, such as hot summer afternoons, avoiding congestion costs and dampening real-time on-peak wholesale energy prices. The more renewable generation that is located at customer’s houses and businesses, the less will need to be charged in the future to all customers’ electric bills for wires, fuel and pollution costs. Incentivizing solar will also help create jobs and attract manufacturers to the state.

In addition to consumer rebates and tax credits, net metering is a key financial driver making solar power a cost-effective investment for consumers. Texas had such a policy in place in the 1980s, but with the restructuring of the electric market, old definitions of electric utilities no longer applied and net metering was inadvertently ended. (more…)

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