Public Power - October 2008 - (Page 30)

An Energy Revolution Energy’s reputation for being open to new technologies often brings inventors to the utility’s door. If the utility’s engineers and technologists think a proposal is promising, they send the would-be entrepreneur to the Austin Technology Incubator (ATI), part of the university’s interdisciplinary IC2 Institute, to learn how to create a business model—and to network with venture capitalists, who further vet the ideas and move them along. Since its founding in 1989, ATI has worked with about 150 teams of entrepreneurs, who, while there, have collectively raised more than $725 million in investor capital. For new technologies already at pilot stage, Austin offers itself as a beta testing facility (the Austin City Council passed a resolution formally designating it as such). That provides invaluable real-world experience for start-ups, including local Proven Productive Committed Dependable Quick Proven Productive Committed Dependable Quick Proven Productive Committed Dependable Quick Proven Productive Committed Dependable Quick people for the job. Proven Productive Committed Dependable Quick Proven Productive Committed Dependable Quick Proven Productive Committed Dependable Quick Proven [Herbicide Application] [Substation Restoration and Maintenance] Clearing] Productive Committed Dependable Quick Proven Productive Committed Dependable Quick Whatever the situation, Proven Productive Committed Dependable Quick Proven Productive Committed Dependable Quick Productive Committed Dependable Quick Secure afe Precise Accurate Solid Reliable Employee Owned WRIGHT Call the [Line Clearance] [Mechanical Line Clearing] [Right-Of-Way Mowing] [Land an emergency or routine line clearance, our utility customers know they can count on Wright Tree Service to get the job done— safely, quickly, and efﬁciently. From the Paciﬁc Ocean to the Great Lakes, from Canada to the tip of Texas, we’re the Wright people for the job! Trustworth P.O. Box 1718 Des Moines, IA 50306 1-800-882-1216 www.wrighttree.com Celebrating our 75th year. pioneers like Heliovolt, a leader in CIGS thin films. Finally, for companies ready to go to commercial scale, the city’s economic development group works with the Chamber of Commerce to persuade them to locate their manufacturing facilities in Austin. The city sees great promise for jobs and economic growth in the emerging green economy, and provides ongoing support to local companies; while it offers a generous $4.50/watt rebate for solar installations, it offers $5.50/watt for solar cells manufactured in Austin. Right now, Austin’s energy mix is split into even thirds: coal, gas, and nuclear power. By 2020, it has committed to get 30 percent of its power from wind, solar, biomass, and other low-carbon technologies. Among the options under consideration are geothermal power production, including from wastewater at oil wells; flue-gas carbon capture for sale into the market for enhanced oil recovery (EOR); and thermal storage, including on the residential level. The utility is running field trials of the vehicle-to-grid, two-way communication technology developed by Seattle-based V2Green, and has begun a project to cover every city building with solar. It recently installed amorphous silicon thin films from United Solar Ovonic atop the city’s water utility building. In California, where state carbon legislation is already in place, the nation’s largest public power utility has begun an even more ambitious transformation. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, which serves 1.4 million households with 7,200 megawatts of electricity, is responsible for nearly a third of the city’s total greenhouse gas emissions. Almost half its power comes from coal-burning plants in Utah and Arizona, and another quarter from natural gas in the Los Angeles basin. By 2020, it has committed to switch to 35 percent renewables, and, by 2030, to cut its greenhouse gas emissions 35 percent below 1990 levels. Like Wisconsin and Austin, Los Angeles has made its biggest play in energy efficiency, tripling investments in 2007 alone, on programs ranging from cusPUBLIC POWER 30 OCTOBER 2008 http://www.wrighttree.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Public Power - October 2008

Public Power - October 2008 Contents Perspective 10 Questions The Future of Fuels in a Carbon-Constrained World An Energy Revolution Energy Policy in 2009 and Beyond A Green Reincarnation Beyond the Green Bandwagon Reliability Green Energy Community Broadband Customer Service Hometown Connections Human Resources Parting Shot

Public Power - October 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.