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Austin Energy
Austin Energy is a publicly owned utility providing electrical power to the city of Austin, Texas and surrounding areas. Established in 1895, the utility is a department of the City of Austin and returns its profits to the city's general fund to finance other city services. Austin Energy is the United States' 7th largest public utility, serving more than 500,000 customers and more than one million residents (as of 2019) within a service area of approximately , including Austin, Travis County and a small portion of Williamson County. Energy generation Austin Energy’s total generation capacity is more than 3,000 megawatts (MW), provided by a mixture of wind power, solar power, biomass, natural gas, nuclear power, and coal. All of Austin Energy's generation is sold into the ERCOT wholesale market; all of the retail load is served by purchasing power from ERCOT. Generation assets Austin Energy owns and operates two natural gas-fired power plants in the Austin area: the Decker Cr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Public Utility
A public utility company (usually just utility) is an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public service (often also providing a service using that infrastructure). Public utilities are subject to forms of public control and regulation ranging from local community-based groups to statewide government monopolies. Public utilities are meant to supply goods/services that are considered essential; water, gas, electricity, telephone, and other communication systems represent much of the public utility market. The transmission lines used in the transportation of electricity, or natural gas pipelines, have natural monopoly characteristics. If the infrastructure already exists in a given area, minimal benefit is gained through competing. In other words, these industries are characterized by ''economies of scale'' in production. There are many different types of public utilities. Some, especially large companies, offer multiple products, such as electricity and natu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
La Grange, Texas
La Grange ( ) is a city in Fayette County, Texas, United States, near the Colorado River. La Grange is in the center of the Texas-German belt. The population was 4,391 at the 2020 census, and in 2018 the estimated population was 4,632. La Grange is the county seat of Fayette County. History La Grange was the site of an early crossing of the Colorado River along ''La Bahía'' (Lower Road) of the '' El Camino Real'' (Kings Highway), during the Spanish period. The earliest Anglo-American settlers in the area were Aylett C. Buckner and Peter Powell, who lived slightly to the west. The first Anglo-American settlement on the city's present location was by Stephen F. Austin's band of colonists in 1822. John Henry Moore built a blockhouse in 1828 (some sources cite 1826) as protection from the Comanche. The building is known as Moore's Fort and can be found today in nearby Round Top, having been moved there for restoration. By 1831 a small community had developed around Moore's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Energy Audit
An energy audit is an inspection survey and an analysis of energy flows for energy conservation in a building. It may include a process or system to reduce the amount of energy input into the system without negatively affecting the output. In commercial and industrial real estate, an energy audit is the first step in identifying opportunities to reduce energy expense and carbon footprint. Principle When the object of study is an occupied building then reducing energy consumption while maintaining or improving human comfort, health and safety are of primary concern. Beyond simply identifying the sources of energy use, an energy audit seeks to prioritize the energy uses according to the greatest to least cost-effective opportunities for energy savings. Home energy audit A ''home energy audit'' is a service where the energy efficiency of a house is evaluated by a person using professional equipment (such as blower doors and infrared cameras), with the aim to suggest the best ways to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Energy Conservation
Energy conservation is the effort to reduce wasteful energy consumption by using fewer energy services. This can be done by using energy more effectively (using less energy for continuous service) or changing one's behavior to use less service (for example, by driving less). Energy conservation can be achieved through energy efficiency, which has a number of advantages, including a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, a smaller carbon footprint, and cost, water, and energy savings. Energy conservation is an essential factor in building design and construction. It has increased in importance since the 1970s, as 40% of energy use in the U.S. is in buildings. Recently, concern over the effects of climate change and global warming has emphasized the importance of energy conservation. Energy can only be transformed from one form to another, such as when heat energy is converted into vehicle motive power or when water flow's kinetic energy is converted into electricity in hydroelectr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Los Vientos Wind Farm
Los Vientos Wind Farm is a 912 megawatt (MW) wind farm in Starr and Willacy counties in South Texas. It is the second largest wind farm in the United States behind the Alta Wind Energy Center in California. Facility details The project was constructed in five phases. Construction commenced in 2012 and was completed in 2016. The energy generated by the five projects is purchased by five different customers. A two year study conducted at the facility by Texas State University, Duke Energy Renewables, and NRG Systems found that an ultrasonic system developed by NRG Systems was able to reduce fatalities of some bat species by more than 50%. In 2019, Duke Energy began installing the deterrent systems at 255 turbines in Los Vientos III, IV, and V. Installation of the systems is expected to take five years. Overview See also *Wind power in the United States *List of onshore wind farms *Wind power in Texas *List of power stations in Texas This is a list of electricity-gener ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hackberry Wind Project
The Hackberry Wind Project is a US $350 million wind farm in Shackelford County, Texas. The project consists of 72 Siemens wind turbines with a total capacity of 166 megawatts. The energy is used by residents of the City of Austin and surrounding communities, this usage is called a PPA or Power Purchase Agreement. Construction on the project began in January 2008 and was finished in December 2008, on-time and under budget. See also *List of wind farms *Wind power in the United States *Wind power in Texas Wind power in Texas, a portion of total energy in Texas, consists of over 150 wind farms, which together have a total nameplate capacity of over 30,000 MW (as of 2020). References {{Wind power in the United States[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wind Energy
Wind power or wind energy is mostly the use of wind turbines to electricity generation, generate electricity. Wind power is a popular, sustainable energy, sustainable, renewable energy source that has a much smaller Environmental impact of wind power, impact on the environment than burning fossil fuels. Historically, wind power has been used in sails, windmills and windpumps but today it is mostly used to generate electricity. Wind farms consist of many individual wind turbines, which are connected to the electric power transmission Electrical grid, network. New Onshore wind farm, onshore (on-land) wind farms are cheaper than new Coal-fired power station, coal or Gas-fired power plant, gas plants, but expansion of wind power is being hindered by fossil fuel subsidies. Onshore wind farms have a greater visual #Impact on environment and landscape, impact on the landscape than some other power stations. Small onshore wind farms can feed some energy into the grid or provide power t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roserock Solar
The Roserock Solar Facility is a 157 MWAC (212 MWp) photovoltaic power station in Pecos County, Texas. It was the largest solar project in Texas when completed in late 2016. The facility is dispersed over about 1300 acres of land already developed for oil and gas by Apache Corporation. It is located about a mile north of Interstate-10, and 20 miles west of Fort Stockton. Facility details The project was developed by Recurrent Energy, which was acquired by the Sharp Corporation in late 2010. Recurrent Energy was subsequently acquired by the Chinese photovoltaic panel manufacturer Canadian Solar in February 2015. Construction on the project was financed for about $275 million and began in November 2015. The engineering, procurement, and construction contractor was McCarthy Building Companies and the project employed about 480 workers at its peak. The project uses approximately 700,000 CS6X-P series panels (polycrystalline, ~300 Wp each) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solar Power
Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovoltaic effect. Concentrated solar power systems use lenses or mirrors and solar tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight to a hot spot, often to drive a steam turbine. Photovoltaics were initially solely used as a source of electricity for small and medium-sized applications, from the calculator powered by a single solar cell to remote homes powered by an off-grid rooftop PV system. Commercial concentrated solar power plants were first developed in the 1980s. Since then, as the cost of solar electricity has fallen, grid-connected solar PV systems have grown more or less exponentially. Millions of installations and gigawatt-scale photovoltaic power stations continue to be built, with half of new generation capacity being solar in 2021. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Webberville Solar Farm
The Webberville Solar Farm, is a 35 MWp (30 MWAC) photovoltaic array in located in Webberville, Texas, only about 6 miles east of the Tesla Gigafactory 5. It has 127,728 Trina Solar solar panels mounted on single-axis trackers, covers an area of , and was built at a cost of $250 million. It is expected to generate 61 GWh in the first year of operation, and 1.4 billion kWh over its 25 year life. Operation began on December 20, 2011, with a ribbon cutting by Austin mayor Lee Leffingwell on January 6, 2012. The project was constructed by RES Americas, who will operate the plant for five years. In 2012, SunEdison sold the plant to MetLife and Longsol Holdings, but will operate the plant for 20 years upon the expiration of the responsibilities of RES Americas. Austin Energy Austin Energy is a publicly owned utility providing electrical power to the city of Austin, Texas and surrounding areas. Established in 1895, the utility is a department of the City of Aust ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biomass
Biomass is plant-based material used as a fuel for heat or electricity production. It can be in the form of wood, wood residues, energy crops, agricultural residues, and waste from industry, farms, and households. Some people use the terms biomass and biofuel interchangeably, while others consider biofuel to be a ''liquid'' or ''gaseous'' fuel used for transportation, as defined by government authorities in the US and EU. The European Union's Joint Research Centre defines solid biofuel as raw or processed organic matter of biological origin used for energy, such as firewood, wood chips, and wood pellets. In 2019, biomass was used to produce 57 EJ (exajoules) of energy, compared to 190 EJ from crude oil, 168 EJ from coal, 144 EJ from natural gas, 30 EJ from nuclear, 15 EJ from hydro and 13 EJ from wind, solar and geothermal combined. Approximately 86% of modern bioenergy is used for heating applications, with 9% used for transport and 5% for electricity. Most of the global b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Renewable Energy
Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy sources are sustainable, some are not. For example, some biomass sources are considered unsustainable at current rates of exploitation. Renewable energy often provides energy for electricity generation to a grid, air and water heating/cooling, and stand-alone power systems. Renewable energy technology projects are typically large-scale, but they are also suited to rural and remote areas and developing countries, where energy is often crucial in human development. Renewable energy is often deployed together with further electrification, which has several benefits: electricity can move heat or objects efficiently, and is clean at the point of consumption. In addition, electrification with renewable energy is more efficient and therefore ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
