Dear Mayor and Council-members:
We all understand that the future of Austin depends on the future of Austin Energy. Energy security is the single most important factor in our city’s economic competitiveness, in our evolution towards sustainability, and in our ability to keep residential and commercial energy bills affordable now and into the future. AE is also enormously important to the City’s overall budget.
Hands Across the Sands has created this national day of action to oppose offshore drilling and promote clean energy.
The Austin Chronicle AND The New York Times have been writing a lot about Texas's battle for cleaner air. The fights involve our federal government, Governor Perry, mult
What: TCEQ Sunset Review Campaign Conference Call
Celebrate Hemp History Week (May 17th-23rd) by feeding your stomach and your brain.
Announcing Award Winning Displays from the 2010 Austin Green Living Expo
Kudos to all the wonderful exhibits we had at last month's Austin Green Living Expo. The event was so comprehensive and we were very pleased with all that the show had to offer. The event was educational, enlightening as well as fun! AND TASTY!! So much good food! Again thanks to all the vendors that came together to create such a wonderful event. We look forward to the 2011 event which will continue to grow and expand. (More on that in a minute)
I’d mentioned previously that “Peak water use is what drives the supposed need for Water Treatment Plant 4,” and that modest conservation efforts could reduce water use on those few hottest days of summer when when we use - and waste - the most water.
In times of extreme drought (like last summer) the City's rules call for once-per-week watering instead of twice-per-week. However, that schedule still had half of all residences watering on the same one day per week (and half of all businesses and apartments).
Peak summer water use could be further reduced by splitting a once-per-week watering schedule so that roughly one quarter of homes would be watering on any given day, instead of half of the homes. For example, houses with even addresses north of the Colorado River could water on Sunday, while even numbered houses south of the river could water on on Thursdays. Odd numbered houses north could water on Saturday, south could water on Wednesday. Same for businesses and apartments.
It is not only possible, it’s extremely inexpensive to reduce our daily summer water use to below 200 million gallons per day or MGD, which would be 85 MGD’s below our current treatment capacity of 285 MGD. If our most intense days of water use result in a cushion of capacity that almost doubles what Water Treatment Plant 4 would provide, how does it make sense to commit $1.2 BILLION to the Mistake on the Lake?
Austin residents can water lawns two days per week from May through September, under water conservation measures approved in 2007.
I was in sunny Portland, Oregon last week -- enjoying the spoils of touring with Amy Cook, and thinking about Austin's coal.
