Texas is now fairly well known as a big wind power state thanks to pro-wind incentives championed by then Governor Bush (detailshere) that have vaulted it to the state with the most installed wind capacity. Though stalled, T-Boone Pickens’ plan for wind farms is perhaps the most marketed part of the wind power story. Texas is also playing a key role in deciding the fate of the Tres Amigas “superstation”in New Mexico that would help link the three sections of the national grid.
Iowa, on the other hand, is known for being a big corn producer and thus a major player in the nascent bio-ethanol industry. Somewhat surprisingly, Iowa has also invested heavily in the wind power sector and now ranks #2 in total wind power capacity with 3604 megawatts. Texas comes in at 9403MW. These are end of 2009 numbers taken from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Colorado (maps after the jump).
Wind Power in Texas: The New Black Gold?
A few months ago, on February 28th in the Panhandle of Texas, wind gusts reached 47 miles per hour. As a result, according to an article in Climate Wire, “wind generators delivered a record 6,242 megawatts of power to Dallas, Austin and other population centers. At 1 p.m., 22 percent of all the electricity consumed in the Texas grid was coming from wind.”
These are huge numbers, even for a short period of time. It was once thought that getting 20% of an area’s power from renewables, let alone from wind, was nearly impossible. Records such as the numbers above document the state’s position as the “epicenter of land-based wind production” in the United States. “At the end of 2009, the capacity of Texas wind turbines, reaching to the horizons of farm and prairie land, totaled 9,410 megawatts, well more than the combined total of the next three largest wind-power states, Iowa, California and Washington. Over the course of a year, wind power is providing 5 percent of Texas’ demand, and that would more than double if the state’s grid goals are achieved.
I Love the Smell of Wood Chips Early in the Morning: Vermont Biomass
This post comes to us thanks to the beauty of the internet. Traditionally unable to listen Vermont Public Radio (VPR) here in Washington, the internet now makes such once far-out ideas commonplace. The link above takes you to several audio clips from VPR. This link has a story about the capital city of Montpelier using wood chips to heat and help power the State Capitol and 175 other buildings in town. The energy system will be “fueled with locally sourced renewable and sustainably harvested wood chips.” After 15 years on the drawing board, $8 million in federal stimulus money finally got the project off the ground. Guests on the program include Montpelier City Manager Bill Fraser and Executive Director of the Montpelier based Biomass Energy Resource Center (BERC) Chris Recchia. BERC is an “independent, national nonprofit organization (with another office in Madison, Wisconsin) that assists communities, colleges and universities, state and local governments, businesses, utilities, schools, and others in making the most of their local energy resources.”
Here’s a summary of their project as just one of the numerous creative ways communities across the U.S. are approaching the clean energy revolution.
In 1991 Daniel Yergin published what is widely recognized as the definitive history of the oil industry. Starting with “Colonel” Drake’s 1859 drilling of the first ever oil well in Titusville, Pennsylvania, The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power is a 700 plus tome that chronicles the rise and fall of capitalists, countries, fortunes, and conflicts all the way up to Sadam Hussein’s push into Kuwait in 1990.
Such a detailed look into the history of the industry is a great source of information but can get burdensome to read and it’s taking me a long time to get through it. However, I have a habit of skipping ahead and reading the last sentence and sometimes the last couple pages of any book that I’m reading. I’m not sure why I started this but its something I’ve done since high school. Anyway, in perusing pages of The Prize I came upon a passage that is not only prescient but still rings true today
The Green Apple: Who Will Be the Steve Jobs of the Clean Energy Sector?
Whether you love him, hate him, or are indifferent, Steve Jobs has major street cred. His company makes products that are elegant, well-designed, easy to use, and revolutionary. The hype and excitement that accompanies the lead up to and release of a major Apple product is second to none. Not only that, but the products go on to be wildly successful, while turning entire industries upside down. Think the Macintosh in the computer industry, the iPod in the music industry, the iPhone in the mobile device/phone industry, and now perhaps the iPad in the publishing industry. The presence of Apple has done wonders not only for Apple but for the entire electronics sector. People are excited about seeing the next useful technology and how it is integrated into a computer, phone, or GPS system. All this begs the question: Is there someone who can lead a company to develop breakthrough technologies and integrate them in products in the clean energy sector that consumers will get excited about? Is it even possible to have that in regards to green technology?
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