City of Austin largest local government in U.S. to go 100% green powered

Sept. 29, 2011 - austinenergy.com

Austin, Texas – The City of Austin municipal government is switching to 100% clean, renewable energy starting Oct. 1, 2011 – becoming the largest local government in America to power all of its facilities with 100% green energy.

All facilities from neighborhood libraries and recreation centers to police and fire stations are subscribing to Austin Energy’s nationally recognized GreenChoice® renewable energy product.

In all, the City of Austin is subscribing to about 400 million kilowatt-hours of renewable energy. Only the City of Houston buys more renewable energy for its municipal facilities at 438 million kWh but that amount accounts for just 34 percent of its energy use.

The renewable energy will be produced at a wind farm in West Texas and will once again almost fully subscribe Austin Energy’s program. Austin Energy recently announced that it is acquiring more renewable energy supplies from wind farms in South Texas. These additional resources are expected to be operating by the end of 2012 and will help raise Austin’s overall renewable energy reliance to 30% - just shy of its goal of 35% by 2020.

The action by the City of Austin fulfills a major goal of the Austin Climate Protection Plan requiring all municipal facilities to be powered 100% with renewable energy by 2012. The Austin Climate Protection Plan, approved by the Austin City Council in 2007, is Austin’s local effort at combating pollution. By subscribing to GreenChoice, City of Austin departments will lock in a GreenChoice rate that substitutes for fossil fuel charges for a period of 10 years.

“These subscriptions provide stability in electric costs for City of Austin operations and also take a leadership step forward in climate responsibility,” said Mayor Lee Leffingwell, who co-sponsored the 2007 Climate Protection Plan. “We are setting an important standard for U.S. cities. We hope other American communities will join us soon.”

Austin Energy first created GreenChoice in 2000 and has more than 6,400 customers. About 92% of GreenChoice sales go to Austin area businesses who prize the opportunity to get electric rate stability and environmental performance. As a result of these subscriptions, Austin Energy has led the nation for the last nine years in a row for sales of renewable energy and has outperformed more than 850 utility-sponsored programs in the country.