Fall 08
Vol. 13 No. 4

Painting Houston’s future green with energy efficiency

By Dave Schafer

Letting the radio in your cubicle serenade an empty office overnight once a week produces 1,284 kilowatt hours of wasted energy a year.

Leaving your printer turned on overnight and weekends costs the city more than $26,000 every year.

If 25 percent of employees have mini refrigerators in their office or cubicle, which is the city ’s best guess, those refrigerators add 3,050 tons of carbon dioxide to the air in a year, the equivalent of adding nearly 500 polluting cars to the roads.

The state has ordered municipalities to reduce energy consumption by 5 percent per year over the next six years. City employees can help achieve that goal. In each issue, City Savvy will feature a Power to People energy-saving tip on the back page, under FYI.

“For 2007, let’s put Houston on the path to national leadership in energy efficiency,” said Mayor Bill White in his January State of the City address.

“This is about leading the best quality of life we can with the least amount of impact on the environment,” said Maureen Crocker, special assistant to White in the sustainability office. “We want to improve sustainability and continue growth in the city. The cost of electricity, especially in Texas, has become so expensive and so in demand that it’s getting to be less affordable to live or do business in Houston unless we do something.”

Using less electricity saves money. And, when you and others use less electricity, there’s less demand, which translates to a lower rate, Crocker said. A lower electric rate will attract more companies to Houston. Those new companies will increase tax revenue to the city, which will strengthen the city’s economy and spur more growth.

“Doing these few things seem so simple, then you realize that it’s tied to so many things,” she said.

Reaching out
Residents account for about one third of Houston’s energy use, Crocker said. Since deregulation, utility bills are rapidly outpacing inflation.

“The point is to educate people that they have the power to save money by doing some real simple things,” Crocker said.

In spring 2006, the Power to People campaign (www.houstonpowertopeople.com) kicked off. It helps residents cut consumption by offering energy-saving tips and by weatherizing homes in older neighborhoods.

By July 2006, the city and CenterPoint Energy had weatherized nearly 650 houses in the Pleasantville community. The houses got weather stripping for their doors, new caulking in their windows, new insulation jackets on water heaters, compact fluorescent lamps, and insulation in attics.

June through November, a sample of those homes showed a 20 percent drop in electric costs from the previous year, resulting in a projected six-month savings of $335 per household. Since then, the city has weatherized the Lindale Park, Scott Terrace and Brentwood neighborhoods.

White hopes to weatherize 30,000 houses in low-income areas.

“We’re hoping that neighbors will start talking to neighbors, and even those who don’t participate will see the benefits of weatherizing their homes,” Crocker said. “By doing this, you’re not just reducing demand for energy, you’re reducing the cost to maintain the house, and that leads to more stable neighborhoods.”

1 I 2 I next>>