Texas Legislature Forces Energy Efficiency to Avoid Power Shortage
AUSTIN, Texas — State legislators unanimously passed a bill to strengthen state energy efficiency efforts and reduce consumption under the threat of future energy shortfalls.
The bill seeks to reduce the state’s energy consumption by 5 percent each fiscal year for six years, beginning in September, by requiring school districts, certain hospitals, utilities and state and local governments to make greater investments in energy efficiency programs and technology.
Texas’ electricity demand is growing at a faster rate than the state’s population and, one year after rolling blackouts crippled the state, legislators are hoping to prevent power shortfalls and reduce the amount of demand and stress placed on the state’s electricity grid, officials say.
By 2009, demand for electricity will exceed safe levels of supply or generation capacity as the state falls below its energy reserve margin — a cushion of excess generation designed to prevent energy shortfalls and power blackouts — according to a report released by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. The ERCOT operates the electricity grid and manages the deregulated market for 75 percent of the state.
The assembly bill enhances the state’s existing Energy Efficiency Improvement Program — from the existing 10 percent of load growth to 20 percent of load growth — by requiring all electricity providers to participate in adding new customer efficiency incentives and enabling more customer demand management, officials say.
The bill also requires all state agencies and state-funded institutions, such as school districts, to implement comprehensive efficiency programs that include the installation of more efficient equipment and appliances.
All public institutions must implement transparent monitoring of energy consumption — recording, monitoring and reporting the amount and cost of electricity, natural gas and water consumed — which will be posted on a public Web site.
The state’s building codes will be updated and strengthened to emphasize energy efficiency in new construction and retrofit projects. Featuring a sales-tax exemption for Energy Star products that will operate in conjunction with a package of consumer awareness initiatives, the bill also provides incentives and assistance for weatherization projects for low-income residents.
Although focusing primarily on the public sector, the bill is intended to foster more responsible energy consumption in the residential and commercial market segments, officials say.
The development of energy-efficiency programs and on-site renewable energy resources, such as solar or biomass, would moderate energy consumption and electricity demand sufficiently to maintain the state’s energy reserve margin and prevent the predicted blackouts, according to a study published in March by the Washington-based nonprofit American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.
The implementation of extended efficiency policies has the potential to meet 17.5 percent of forecasted electricity demand up to 2023, according to the study. The development of on-site renewable resources has the capacity to displace an additional 4.9 percent of the state’s future conventionally generated electricity.
Electric Reliability Council of Texas