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Blogs
May 1, 2012
Get Ready To Conserve Electricity. ERCOT's Forecast Says This Summer Could Be Rough
Heads up, guys. Remember last summer? It was so damned hot Texans were horse-whipping their thermostats. We came this close to rolling blackouts. So close we're pretty sure Public Utility commish Ken Anderson lost some years off of his life, or at least a little hair. We'd like to tell you this summ ... More >>
Blogs
April 13, 2012
Public Utility Commish Says We Don't Need To Make It Rain Cash To Keep the Lights On
Regulators are absolutely desperate to keep us away from that white-knuckle precipice of rolling blackouts we so perilously toed last summer. And they're willing to try anything to entice electric generators to build more power plants and bring existing plants out of mothballs in the meantime. The ... More >>
Blogs
March 29, 2012
This Summer's Texas Blackout Avoidance Strategy: Diesel Generators and Voluntarily Going Dark
Seeing as how the Texas climate these days is predisposed to extremes, the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas passed a rule change last week they hope will prevent another epic, frozen February blackout or a grid driven to the brink by gawd-awful Texas h ... More >>
Blogs
March 28, 2012
So There's a Good Chance Energy Future, Texas' Largest Power Generator, Goes Broke
A major credit-rating agency is expressing grave doubts about the ability of the state's largest nonregulated power generator to pay off its debt. Energy Future Holdings, the Dallas-based parent company of power generator Luminant, transmission company Oncor and retail electricity provider TXU Ener ... More >>
Blogs
March 26, 2012
Economides: Texas Lost $7.7 Billion By Not Using Natural Gas To Keep Lights On
Dr. Michael Economides, author, CNBC regular and University of Houston professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, says Texas lost out on some $7.7 billion between 2005 and 2011 primarily because we didn't use natural gas for electricity. Economides, it should be noted, is a vocal industry ... More >>
Blogs
March 15, 2012
PBS' 'Inside E Street' Takes On the Broken Promises of Electric Deregulation in Texas
Some 10 years ago, commodities and energy company Enron led a successful lobbying effort to deregulate Texas electricity markets. A free-market, we were told, would foster competition, keep power prices low and improve customer service. Yet over the last decade, none of these promises have been kept ... More >>
Blogs
March 14, 2012
The Big Electricity Question: How Much Are Dry Nuts Worth?
As Brantley pointed out yesterday, the Texas Public Utility Commission got down to hard numbers last week as it inched further toward what appears to be inevitable -- a huge increase in the current $3,000 per megawatt-hour cap on the price of wholesale electricity during times when demand is high. T ... More >>
Blogs
March 13, 2012
To Keep the Lights On, Texas Utility Regulators May Triple the Electricity Price Cap
The Texas Public Utility Commission is finally spitballing dollar figures for just how high they're willing to let wholesale electricity prices spiral when weather extremes send us to our thermostats. For the moment, we're sitting at $3,000 per megawatt-hour. To keep the lights from going out (ERCO ... More >>
News
March 8, 2012
Texas' Biggest Power Supplier Wants to Blame the EPA for Future Blackouts
The Texas Public Utility Commission is finally spitballing dollar figures for just how high they're willing to let wholesale electricity prices spiral when weather extremes send us to our thermostats. For the moment, we're sitting at $3,000 per megawatt-hour. To keep the lights from going out (ERCO ... More >>
Blogs
March 8, 2012
Clean Electricity Bill Could Be A Bonanza For Shale Barons
A senator from New Mexico has proposed a bill that could change the face of Texas electric generation. And it has another interesting side-effect: It could reinvigorate a shale gas play depressed by tanking prices. U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman, chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committ ... More >>
Blogs
March 5, 2012
At a Time When Texas Electricity Is Scarce, Does It Make Sense To Export It To Mexico?
A company that supplies electricity to Texans called American Electric Power filed to renew its application to export electricity to Mexico with the U.S. Department of Energy back in December. It operates a 720-megawatt coal-fired power plant near Vernon, and apparently it has been supplying our so ... More >>
Blogs
March 1, 2012
ERCOT Says There Should Be Just Enough Juice To Keep Lights On This Summer, As Long As It Isn't Hot, Hot, Hotter Than Hell
Texas is in a tight spot. Electric supply simply isn't keeping up with consumer demand in a state bursting at the seams. By 2013, grid operator ERCOT predicts we won't have enough to cover peak demand, when we're all sweating and dashing for our thermostats. Summer 2012, on the other hand, will be ... More >>
Blogs
February 27, 2012
The Market Speaks: Texas Coal-Fired Power Officially Unprofitable in January
Coal-fired power plants generated some 30 percent less electricity in January than they did during the same month in 2011 -- a huge drop for a a workhorse fleet that has historically fed this state's sprawling transmission system with a steady supply of baseload power since pretty much forever. Pro ... More >>
Blogs
February 22, 2012
Dallas-Based Energy Future Holdings, Texas's Biggest Power Generator, Had a Rough Year
Energy Future Holdings' end-o'-year popped up on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's website late Tuesday, and, boy, is it ugly. Now, why should you care? Because Energy Future is the parent company of Luminant, Texas's biggest generator of electricity. And TXU Energy, a huge retail suppli ... More >>
Blogs
February 16, 2012
ERCOT to City Council: Keeping the Lights On Means Sending the Right "Price Signals"
Council member Delia Jasso is officially disturbed by ERCOT's charts, particularly the bar graph showing a big gray empty space between the reserve margin we need to make sure the lights stay on during hot summer afternoons and the colored part that indicates how much generation capacity we'll actua ... More >>
Blogs
February 14, 2012
Tomorrow, the Dallas City Council Will Explore How We Keep the Lights From Going Out
In light of a few things -- namely the one-year anniversary of the most widespread rolling blackout in Texas history; the razor-thin reserve margins that left the state teetering on the verge of more rolling blackouts during that hot-as-hell summer; and ERCOT's assertion that there aren't enough pla ... More >>
Blogs
February 9, 2012
Keeping the Lights On In Texas is Really Starting to Scare State Lawmakers
We watch a three-hour House State Affairs Committee hearing so you don't have to! Seriously, though, the future reliability of the Texas electrical grid is really starting to freak state legislators the fuck out. The watchword these days is "resource adequacy" -- bureaucrat-ese for "Remember those o ... More >>
Blogs
January 23, 2012
Suit Alleges Texas Issued Luminant Unlimited License to Pollute Without Public Notice
Big BrownThis little nugget slipped past us last week -- somehow, it didn't make headlines north of Austin -- but it draws the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality into a legal tussle with the Sierra Club and the Environmental Integrity Project over pollution permits it issued to Dallas- ... More >>
Blogs
January 9, 2012
Dueling Research: Fracked Shale Gas Worse For Climate Change Than Coal! Or, The Opposite!
In the rarefied halls of Cornell, the atmospheric-science equivalent of the gauntlet has been thrown. At stake is nothing less than the suitability of one of the most plentiful, domestically producible forms of energy in North America to replace a fuel speeding climate change and emitting tons of kn ... More >>
Blogs
December 8, 2011
Report: Texas Power Plants (Well, Luminant's, Really) Biggest Emitters of Mercury in U.S.
How now, Big Brown?Emissions of cancer- and central nervous system defect-causing toxic air pollution put Texas power plants atop the pile of serial polluters, a report based on EPA data finds. Nationwide, pollution controls such as smokestack scrubbers have reduced the rates at which air tox ... More >>
Blogs
November 29, 2011
New Report Says That Texas May Struggle To Meet Peak Electric Demand By 2013
Get ready for more rolling blackouts, because according to a grid reliability report, Texas won't have the juice to meet peak demands by 2013. The study, authored by grid reliability enforcer North American Electric Reliability Corporation, says Texas operators may either bring old plants offline a ... More >>
Blogs
October 27, 2011
Enviro Groups Prepare To Sue Luminant's Northeast Texas Power Plants Over Air Pollution
Big BrownThe Sierra Club gave Luminant Generation Company, downtown-based and one of Texas's biggest power suppliers, notice Thursday that it plans to sue them for thousands of alleged violations of the Clean Air Act at two of its coal-fired power plants in northeast Texas. According to envi ... More >>
Blogs
July 14, 2011
ERCOT Warns: Conserve Power Now or Risk "Controlled Temporary Interruptions" Later
ERCOTThis just in from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas: Adjust your thermostats to 78 or higher now -- or, at the very least, between 3 and 7 p.m. -- or the whole state runs the risk of brownouts later. Why? Well, sure -- it's hot, hot, hotter than hell. But, according to a statement is ... More >>
Blogs
February 7, 2011
Nothing Rapid About DART in Ice and Snow
Check me on this. Dallas Area Rapid Transit, the outfit that runs the trains, didn't know how to keep their trains running in an ice storm. The same kind of trains operate in winter weather cities all over the world. There's a way to keep them running in an ice storm. But DART didn't know how. L ... More >>
Blogs
September 8, 2010
Got Something to Say About Coal Ash Pollution? The EPA Wants to Hear From You Today.
Lower Colorado River AuthorityA new Sierra Club report says coal ash from Central Texas' Fayette Power Plant is polluting the groundwater nearby.One month since the EPA's stolid road warriors blew threw Arlington to get your thoughts on pollution from gas drilling, the agency's making its triumph ... More >>
Blogs
May 24, 2010
Mayor Tom Leppert Welcomes Windpower Expo to Dallas, A "Quiet" Green Energy Leader
Photos by Patrick MichelsMayor Tom Leppert welcomed wind power players to this week's convention, telling them Dallas has quietly become one of the country's leading green cities. Texas is already king of the hill when it comes to turning wind into electricity, and for folks who work in the industry ... More >>
News
March 26, 2009
The T. Boone Pickens Alternative Energy Show Rolls Across America
Photos by Patrick MichelsMayor Tom Leppert welcomed wind power players to this week's convention, telling them Dallas has quietly become one of the country's leading green cities. Texas is already king of the hill when it comes to turning wind into electricity, and for folks who work in the industry ... More >>
Blogs
September 19, 2008
Because Four Units Are Better Than Two
Photos by Patrick MichelsMayor Tom Leppert welcomed wind power players to this week's convention, telling them Dallas has quietly become one of the country's leading green cities. Texas is already king of the hill when it comes to turning wind into electricity, and for folks who work in the industry ... More >>
Calendar
June 12, 2008
Sustainable Art
Photos by Patrick MichelsMayor Tom Leppert welcomed wind power players to this week's convention, telling them Dallas has quietly become one of the country's leading green cities. Texas is already king of the hill when it comes to turning wind into electricity, and for folks who work in the industry ... More >>
Blogs
May 21, 2008
Do Not Curb Your Enthusiasm, as EPA Honors Laura Miller
Photos by Patrick MichelsMayor Tom Leppert welcomed wind power players to this week's convention, telling them Dallas has quietly become one of the country's leading green cities. Texas is already king of the hill when it comes to turning wind into electricity, and for folks who work in the industry ... More >>
Blogs
April 1, 2008
Laura Miller Ain't No One's Publicist
Photos by Patrick MichelsMayor Tom Leppert welcomed wind power players to this week's convention, telling them Dallas has quietly become one of the country's leading green cities. Texas is already king of the hill when it comes to turning wind into electricity, and for folks who work in the industry ... More >>
Blogs
April 1, 2008
Dirty Talk: Laura Miller on "Carbon Sequestration" and "Pulverized Coal"
Photos by Patrick MichelsMayor Tom Leppert welcomed wind power players to this week's convention, telling them Dallas has quietly become one of the country's leading green cities. Texas is already king of the hill when it comes to turning wind into electricity, and for folks who work in the industry ... More >>
Blogs
September 19, 2007
Is the Man Behind the TXU Deal a Hero or a Villain? Depends.
Photos by Patrick MichelsMayor Tom Leppert welcomed wind power players to this week's convention, telling them Dallas has quietly become one of the country's leading green cities. Texas is already king of the hill when it comes to turning wind into electricity, and for folks who work in the industry ... More >>
Blogs
March 22, 2007
TXU, The Buyout and the Power of "Greenmail"
Photos by Patrick MichelsMayor Tom Leppert welcomed wind power players to this week's convention, telling them Dallas has quietly become one of the country's leading green cities. Texas is already king of the hill when it comes to turning wind into electricity, and for folks who work in the industry ... More >>
Blogs
March 13, 2007
TXU's Winged Friends
Photos by Patrick MichelsMayor Tom Leppert welcomed wind power players to this week's convention, telling them Dallas has quietly become one of the country's leading green cities. Texas is already king of the hill when it comes to turning wind into electricity, and for folks who work in the industry ... More >>
Blogs
March 1, 2007
Still Plenty of Smoke to Be Cleared in TXU Deal
Photos by Patrick MichelsMayor Tom Leppert welcomed wind power players to this week's convention, telling them Dallas has quietly become one of the country's leading green cities. Texas is already king of the hill when it comes to turning wind into electricity, and for folks who work in the industry ... More >>
Blogs
February 14, 2007
TXU Is All Coal-Fired-Up Over "Stop TXU" Ads. Surprising Much? Didn't Think So.
Photos by Patrick MichelsMayor Tom Leppert welcomed wind power players to this week's convention, telling them Dallas has quietly become one of the country's leading green cities. Texas is already king of the hill when it comes to turning wind into electricity, and for folks who work in the industry ... More >>
Blogs
February 13, 2007
Parts Per Billion and Other Things You Really Oughta Care About If You Breathe
Photos by Patrick MichelsMayor Tom Leppert welcomed wind power players to this week's convention, telling them Dallas has quietly become one of the country's leading green cities. Texas is already king of the hill when it comes to turning wind into electricity, and for folks who work in the industry ... More >>
Blogs
February 8, 2007
TXU Power Prez Gives Good Deposition. You Can Read It So We Don't Have To.
Photos by Patrick MichelsMayor Tom Leppert welcomed wind power players to this week's convention, telling them Dallas has quietly become one of the country's leading green cities. Texas is already king of the hill when it comes to turning wind into electricity, and for folks who work in the industry ... More >>
Blogs
February 7, 2007
Micropower to the People!
Photos by Patrick MichelsMayor Tom Leppert welcomed wind power players to this week's convention, telling them Dallas has quietly become one of the country's leading green cities. Texas is already king of the hill when it comes to turning wind into electricity, and for folks who work in the industry ... More >>
Blogs
November 28, 2006
Canary in a Coal Mine
Photos by Patrick MichelsMayor Tom Leppert welcomed wind power players to this week's convention, telling them Dallas has quietly become one of the country's leading green cities. Texas is already king of the hill when it comes to turning wind into electricity, and for folks who work in the industry ... More >>
Blogs
November 16, 2006
Big Brown and Better Than Ever
Photos by Patrick MichelsMayor Tom Leppert welcomed wind power players to this week's convention, telling them Dallas has quietly become one of the country's leading green cities. Texas is already king of the hill when it comes to turning wind into electricity, and for folks who work in the industry ... More >>
Blogs
November 7, 2006
More Inconvenient Truths
Photos by Patrick MichelsMayor Tom Leppert welcomed wind power players to this week's convention, telling them Dallas has quietly become one of the country's leading green cities. Texas is already king of the hill when it comes to turning wind into electricity, and for folks who work in the industry ... More >>
Blogs
October 30, 2006
Matt Pulle's Crystal Ball
Photos by Patrick MichelsMayor Tom Leppert welcomed wind power players to this week's convention, telling them Dallas has quietly become one of the country's leading green cities. Texas is already king of the hill when it comes to turning wind into electricity, and for folks who work in the industry ... More >>
Blogs
October 2, 2006
Coal Fired Up!
Photos by Patrick MichelsMayor Tom Leppert welcomed wind power players to this week's convention, telling them Dallas has quietly become one of the country's leading green cities. Texas is already king of the hill when it comes to turning wind into electricity, and for folks who work in the industry ... More >>
News
September 14, 2006
Little Steps
Photos by Patrick MichelsMayor Tom Leppert welcomed wind power players to this week's convention, telling them Dallas has quietly become one of the country's leading green cities. Texas is already king of the hill when it comes to turning wind into electricity, and for folks who work in the industry ... More >>
Calendar
May 25, 2006
Homes on the Move
Photos by Patrick MichelsMayor Tom Leppert welcomed wind power players to this week's convention, telling them Dallas has quietly become one of the country's leading green cities. Texas is already king of the hill when it comes to turning wind into electricity, and for folks who work in the industry ... More >>
Best of Dallas
September 26, 2002
Best Thai Restaurant
Banana Leaf
News
February 14, 2002
Re-volting
Want cheaper electricity? Get out your calculator and call a lawyer.
News
October 4, 2001
Power Sharks
Texas consumer advocates worry that deregulation will spawn new ways to prey on the poor
More >>

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