Extra Extra

Too bad the state can't chill with the chilling of it's buildings. At least two people in my office alone run space heaters while the AC is full blast. Double whammy. You'd think the state, ever complaining about budget, would be stingy with the cooling of its buildings. But then again, they get electricity for like a penny a kilowatt. Something ungodly cheap like that. But go Wynn! Just make sure to check the thermostat in your own office while you're at it. And the wind farms...yes! Total front. I personally know people who studied migratory bird populations before these were set to be built. They don't just slap 'em up anywhere. I'm tired of all the Not in My Backyard Conservationists.

why is the Perry article so buried in this update?

Those "bird conservationists" are actually a front group for the King Ranch foundation. They're opposed to the wind energy farm that is being planned for the neighboring Kennedy ranch. They figure that if they could intervene and kill the transmission line for the wind farm, they can effectively kill the wind farm. Nice try, but the PUC saw through it and denied their standing.

No one is requiring solar panels.

Jeeze, I don't think that requiring indoor plumbing made housing more affordable either, just more intelligent.

How is requiring expensive solar panels and other dodads that make your home energy productive going to make housing more affordable? Will the regulations apply to apartment homes? What will that do to rent prices?

I'm not at all happy with the enormous check I write to Austin Energy every month, especially when I know that people who can afford to live in much nicer homes pay much less to the city, but if I get a $150.00 decrease in my electric bill every month and have to pay $300.00 more every month in rent (because you know the landlord is going to stick that to me) then what's the point from a renter's perspective?