No state produces or uses more electricity than Texas. We burn more coal and gas than any other state for electrical use. In 2022, roughly 60 percent of the state's electricity within our main electrical grid was produced from those two fossil-fuel resources. Not surprisingly, Texas leads the nation in many pollution categories from our power plant sector, including carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and smog-producing nitrogen oxides, among many others. Texas also leads the nation in industrial emissions and in oil and gas emissions.
However, over the last 25 years, Texas is getting cleaner in how it produces and uses energy. There is a slow but steady clean energy revolution underway. Texas has made massive investments in new transmission lines to West Texas and along the Gulf Coast to tap the incredible wind and solar resources in those regions. Recently, the Public Utility of Texas authorized further transmission investments in South Texas to help move energy back and forth between the Lower Rio Grande Valley and the rest of the state, in part due to the expansion of wind and solar resources. Years ago, the Texas Legislature passed laws that helped set the stage for these investments and later propel Texas to lead the nation in wind energy production. In 2020, wind energy actually produced more electrons than coal power plants within the main energy grid, and solar production more than doubled. In 2022, within our main electric grid, ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas), about 25 percent of our electricity came from wind power plants (sometimes referred to as wind "farms") and about six percent came from large-scale solar power plants. Many companies that sell or produce energy are making massive investments in wind and solar or providing options for consumers to choose 100% renewable energy plans. Other power companies are offering rebates and incentives for rooftop solar or allowing customers to invest in larger, local "community" solar power projects. By the end of 2019, some 10 public and four private utilities offered community solar projects, albeit at relatively small scales.
Energy efficiency is also important to reduce harmful pollution. It enables homeowners and businesses to save energy, save money and reduce energy waste without sacrificing comfort or productivity. Texas requires certain utilities known as "transmission and distribution utilities" to operate energy efficiency programs, and several of the largest transmission companies in Texas have helped residential and commercial customers save energy by providing rebates for energy saving technology or by helping reduce energy use during "peak" hours through better information, technology and payments for using less power or shifting peak power use. This is sometimes referred to as "demand response." Some municipal utilities and electric cooperatives have also begun programs to help consumers reduce energy use. Providing electricity users with access to "real-time" energy data is another way to help consumers save energy and money. Some Texans access their data through a portal called Smart Meter Texas or through a web-portal offered by their electricity provider.
Texas is at a crossroads. The Texas Clean Energy Scorecard is here to help you discover what your power provider and transmission company is doing to advance clean energy and what they are not doing. We hope it will compel you to take action, either by signing up for good clean energy programs offered by energy companies, or demanding that they begin to make such programs available. Our objective with this scorecard is to update it regularly to reflect new utility efforts, which could be spurred by pressure from people like you.
Click here to see the SCORECARD SUMMARY and RESULTS
