UT and Others Think Green

by Jeanine Sih

You think your utility bills are bad - in fiscal '93 the University of Texas at Austin paid $8 to $9 million to the gas company. And their electric bill? Nada. Yep.

UT- Austin uses cogeneration, a sequential use of fuel that recycles energy used for heating. Heat from natural gas is turned to steam, which turns turbines, generating electricity for the whole campus. This is not new technology, according to Homer Ward, Director of Utility and Energy Mangement at UT. Cogeneration has been around since the 1933, and UT has been at it since 1968. Head of U.S. Department of Energy Hazel O'Leary has given UT a special recognition award for their use of cogeneration and for reducing their energy demands 34% since 1986. UT has spent $15 million retrofitting most of its buildings with variable air volume systems, plus an additional $7 million to retrofit remaining buildings.

There are more green goings-on elsewhere in Texas in the form of alternative energy demonstration programs. In a curious bit of green justice, these programs run on monies from the settlements returned to Texas and other states as a result of litigation by the U.S. Department of Energy against certain oil companies for alleged violations of price controls from 1973 to 1981.

So the oil overcharge fund is now under-writing renewable energy projects such as:

• The photovoltaic lighting system for Louise Hays Park in Kerrville, where a floodplain location is unsuitable for regular utility lines.
• The wind electric generation demonstration project in Amarillo, using three Carter 300-kilowatt turbines.
• The Colonias water purification project in El Paso, which uses three different solar technologies to purify residential water.
• The Robert Shaw ECHO Village PV project in Austin, which demonstatrates the feasibility of small-scale photovoltaic electricity gener-ation for low-income housing for the elderly.