March 24nd 2002
The New Energy -Part 5-Texas should lead the way
Author:
Dallas News
Source:Dallas
News
In the development of renewable energy, Texas is like a musical
prodigy who fails to fully exploit his genius or a naturally gifted athlete
who limits himself to desultory competition. It has abundant wind to
turn the massive blades of towering wind turbines, sun to power
photovoltaic cells, and hydrogen from water and exhaustible natural
gas to power fuel cells. Indeed, it has more renewable energy
potential and produces more natural gas than any other state. It is
the energy capital of the world, with great technological,
manufacturing and economic resources. To complete the synergistic
circle, it consumes about 80 percent more energy per capita than the
country as a whole.
Texas should be the undisputed leader of the effort to
develop clean alternatives to petroleum, coal and
nuclear power to free the United States from its
overreliance on unstable foreign energy suppliers. It
should be galloping into the new energy future,
creating vibrant new industries for its people,
dispatching its executives around the world to sell its
applied knowledge. It should be thinking beyond
petroleum, coal and uranium, with due respect for the
roles that those traditional energy sources have
played in its development and must continue to play.
Yet it underachieves. Like the unambitious musician or athlete, it
allows its talents to lie relatively fallow.
Texas needs to sit up, look around and fully notice its entire natural
endowment. Its potential from wind, solar and biomass (the energy
derived from plants and animals) is equal to about 4.3 quadrillion
British
thermal units per year, or about 400 times the state's annual energy
diet, according to the State Energy Conservation Office. Wind power
alone could provide eight times as much energy as all its natural gas,
coal and nuclear power plants combined.
There are signs that Texas may be stirring from its lethargy. Last year,
it installed more wind power capacity than had been installed in the
entire United States in any prior year. The surge owed to three
factors: the 1999 Legislature's electricity deregulation bill, which
contains an exemplary "renewable portfolio standard" that requires
utilities to obtain 2,000 megawatts of electricity from renewable
sources by 2009; the race to reap federal wind energy production
credits before they expired; and the rapidly improving cost
competitiveness of wind power. As a consequence of all three, Texas
is well on pace to exceed the Legislature's mandate. Furthermore, the
2001 Legislature, with special prodding from Sen. David Cain, D-Dallas,
and Rep. Debra Danburg, D-Houston, established the Fuel Cell
Initiative Advisory Committee to accelerate the development of fuel
cell technology in Texas. The state also has a program to ensure that
individuals who generate their own electricity from sun and other
renewable sources may sell their excess through the power grid.
But Texas is still thinking much
smaller than is its wont whenever
promising new technologies
present themselves. With
potential to produce 500 times as
much electricity from wind as it
currently produces, Texas should
be emulating Denmark. The
European country obtains 13
percent of its electricity from
wind; by contrast, Texas obtains
less than a tenth of 1 percent.
Denmark, with a population
one-fourth that of the Lone Star
State, also distinguishes itself by
investing heavily in wind turbine
technology and manufacturing.
Most of the wind turbines that dot
the West Texas and Panhandle
landscapes were built in Denmark.
There is but one utility-scale U.S.
wind turbine manufacturer –
Houston's Enron Corp., which says
it is selling its wind unit to
Atlanta-based GE Power Systems.
Time after time, history has shown that companies
that are first to develop and exploit new
technologies reap the lion's share of the profits.
The Legislature should spare no effort to grant
Texas companies the incentives that may be
required to ensure that they participate in and
benefit from the gathering boom in renewable
energy. During the 1980s, Texas did no less for the
then-nascent computer industry, and the economic
results have been nothing short of spectacular.
There is a strong environmental imperative to
promote renewable energy. Texas produces about
twice as much per capita of the gases that cause
smog, acid rain and global warming as the country
as a whole. Four of its major metropolitan areas –
including Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston – violate
federal air pollution standards. Furthermore, with
367 miles of coastline and various sensitive
ecosystems, it is especially vulnerable to the high
sea levels, flooding and climate changes that could
result from a continuation of Earth's unnatural
warming. Renewable energy produces no pollution;
by displacing fossil fuels, it could reduce the
epidemic of respiratory diseases among Texans and
defend against environmental catastrophe.
Texas must seize the new energy future. If it does
not, it could cede its energy dominance to other
states or countries. By effectively managing the
transition to renewable energy, it could preserve
its dominance for decades to come.
