Is Longhorn Electricity Worth It?
When Longhorn football kicks off at home a week from Saturday, so will a brand-new marketing effort aimed at peddling, of all things, green electricity.
Texas Longhorns Energy promises customers 100 percent power from Texas wind. "Let your power power the Texas Longhorns," says former star quarterback Colt McCoy, whose family has signed up, in a promotional video. Coach Mack Brown offers potential customers the chance to submit a pep-talk video that he might even show the team.
Texas Longhorns Energy officially launched a month ago with a slick website. A sister program, Aggie Energy, launches on Friday. The home ...
Comments (7)
EyesOfTX
One would hope that someday, someone in the power industry, news media or academia would speak honestly about the unarguable, unvarnished fact that it is simply not possible to purchase electricity that is furnished only by wind power. Not possible. Period.
In ideal parts of the country for wind power - which West Texas certainly is - the wind blows adequately to generate sufficient load less than 30% of the time on good days. There is also no battery capacity in which to store any excess power that might be generated when the wind is blowing. So the thought that a customer can somehow purchase a package of electricity that is generated purely by wind power is a silly notion, unless that customer is willing to live with his or her lights and air conditioner not functional more than 70% of the time.
The simple fact of the matter is that all wind power anywhere must be backed up with an equal amount of capacity that is generated by a different fueling source. In Texas, that backup power is almost always supplied by clean-burning natural gas. Unlike wind, which can only exist via hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollar subsidies each and every year, Texas-produced natural gas benefits the state treasury to the tunes of billions of dollars in taxes every year. The state's Rainy Day fund - currently around $9 billion - is generated almost exclusively from natural gas severance taxes. Texas produced natural gas is responsible for more than 1.3 million jobs and more than 60 billion dollars in economic activity each and every year. Ad Valorem taxes on natural gas help support more than 1,000 school districts in Texas. The reason gas-fired generators are the only viable backup for wind power is because natural gas turbines can be started up in a matter of minutes - when the wind stops blowing - while it takes days to restart dirty coal plants or nuclear plants.
I love The University of Texas and tolerate Texas A&M, but they and this article simply mislead the alumni bases of both schools. You can't buy "wind-only" electricity unless you want to live in the dark and the heat for most of your life.
Andrew Smith via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Um, I thought 'green horn' was an old-timey western pioneer term for a newbie.
Joe Estep via Texas Tribune on Facebook
So this is how to run a business and something to invest in? Selling electricity at a higher rate than the rest of the market? In this economy? Silly Green Horns.
Jordan Stewart via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Yeah but so many people in this state are so married to the U.T. or A&M logos that they'll throw money at the sight of one. It'll probably work.
Joe Estep via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Jordan, you are right, at least as long as it`s "popular" and they can brag about it over dinner.
Yvette Olvera-Rose via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Hundreds of universities and colleges are green. It's time that we had leaders here in TX. I am proud that UT and A&M are raising awareness. IT IS A START and that is GOOD!! http://www.greenreportcard.org/
Yvette Olvera-Rose via Texas Tribune on Facebook
It's time that we had leaders here in TX that push for green sustainability. I am proud that UT and A&M are raising awareness and attempting to redesign some problems.
IT IS A START and that is GOOD!!