Press Release Archive
Austin Energy finds new ways to make
money; first in nation to provide green building services
to other utilities
Austin Energy's Green
Building Program will provide consulting services to help
build similar programs in Memphis, Tennessee and in the San
Francisco area. The move to take Austin's environmental expertise
nationwide will generate more than half a million dollars
a year in new revenues for Austin Energy.
"This is part of ongoing efforts by
Austin Energy to use our expertise to increase revenues beyond
electric sales to help keep our rates low in the new deregulated
marketplace," said Juan Garza, Austin Energy General
Manager. "These efforts also help pay for the excellent
energy-efficiency and environmental programs we provide to
our customers."
In addition to its green building consulting
contracts, Austin Energy will also provide "green power"
consulting services to Atlanta-based, Sterling Planet - an
environmental energy company that has utility and government
clients nationwide. Staff from Austin Energy's GreenChoice
program will advise others who wish to start green power programs
in the procurement of renewable energy supplies and in marketing
green power.
Meanwhile, the contracts for Green Building
consulting services represent another first. Austin Energy
will become the first utility in the country to provide green
building consulting services to other utilities and municipalities.
Green Building programs work to get architects and builders
to incorporate green features in new residential and commercial
construction.
Memphis Light, Gas & Water, with funding
assistance through a Tennessee Valley Authority program, and
Frontier Associates, an energy consultant for the California
Public Utility Commission, chose the Austin Energy program
as the best and most experienced in the country.
"We look forward to learning from the
national expert," said Chris Bieber, Vice President for
Engineering with Memphis Light, Gas & Water.
Created in 1992, Austin Energy's Green Building
Program was the first green building program in the country
and the first to create a "green rating" system
for residential and commercial construction. More than 3,000
"green rated" homes have been built in Austin since
the program's inception, with more than 60 percent rated as
two or three stars on a five-star rating system. The National
Association of Homebuilders recently recognized Austin Energy
with the 2002 Green Building Program of the Year award.
Austin Energy's two-year old GreenChoice
program gives customers the opportunity to subscribe to clean,
renewable energy from wind power farms in West Texas, hydroelectricity
generated from the Guadalupe River, and methane landfill projects
under development in the state. In addition, Austin Energy
owns several solar power installations located throughout
Austin. Currently, about 6,700 residential customers, 150
small businesses and 30 large companies subscribe to the program
for more than 250,000,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity -
enough electricity to power more than 20,000 homes year-round.
For more information, contact Ed
Clark, Public Information.
Phone: (512) 322-6514
Pager: (512) 802-2000 |
