When oppressive heat smothers Texas, millions of air conditioning units kick in, whirring and wheezing, straining to spare us the indignities of sweaty discomfort and protect us from the far more serious prospect of heat stroke.
Yet because those air conditioning units demand more energy than Texas’ unreliable grid can handle, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas is asking us this week to set our thermostats higher and make our homes less comfortable. We hope you heeded that plea, out of a sense of shared sacrifice to conserve power and keep the grid from failing. But we’re confounded and frustrated by the mixed messaging since other state officials refuse to lift a finger to encourage conservation.
Recently, as this heat wave set in, Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed one of the few energy conservation bills that actually passed the Legislature. While other bills that could have helped grow our energy supply to meet Texas’ surging power demand failed, Senate Bill 2453 by state Sen. Jose Menendez, D-San Antonio, and Rep. Ana Hernandez, D-Houston, would have allowed the State Energy Conservation Office to adopt new statewide codes to make new buildings more energy efficient. The bill passed both chambers on a bipartisan vote and garnered broad support from the Texas Chemical Council to the Sierra Club. It would have brought Texas building codes in line with International Energy Conservation codes that one study estimated would save Texas residents $4.5 billion in energy costs over the next 30 years. Yet even this common-sense energy efficiency legislation couldn’t survive Abbott’s devil-may-care veto spree. SB 2453 was among more than 70 bills Abbott has held ransom in an attempt to force legislative leaders to compromise on property tax reform. This particular energy bill was important, the governor noted, but “not as important as cutting property taxes.”
Our overworked energy grid might beg to differ. Monday’s energy demand of 79,304 megawatts broke last year’s peak demand record for June. On Tuesday, with mercury soaring well beyond triple digits in some parts of the state, grid manager ERCOT asked residents to use less electricity between 4-8 p.m. The conservation notice came before we even reached the summer solstice. We were told that while the grid “is not experiencing emergency conditions,” we still should raise our thermostats to 78 degrees, refrain from running large appliances and unplug lights and other appliances that aren’t needed. This is Texas’ new reality. The number of 100-degree days in our state is expected to nearly double by 2036. Combine that with a booming population in a state that already accounts for one-seventh of the nation’s total energy consumption, and you can expect ERCOT to shatter peak energy demand records for years to come. As such, Texas needs to aggressively invest in energy efficiency measures. Every megawatt we can avoid drawing from the grid over the next decade is one that we won’t have to pay to generate.
Texas was once a leader in conser vation, establishing the nation’s first energy efficiency standard 23 years ago requiring utilities to achieve a specific amount of conservation savings each year. Those days have long since past. Today, the American Council for an Energy- Efficient Economy, a nonprofit research organization, ranked Texas 29th among 50 states in energy efficiency savings.
While the state bill Abbott vetoed sought to make future homes more efficient, we also need to focus on the sweltering ones we’re already trying to cool.
Texas’ aging housing stock, with many one-story, ranch-style homes, have poorly insulated attics that leak cool air, particularly on sweltering days when air conditioning units are running non-stop. Simple measures such as incentivizing homeowners to insulate and seal their attics and install smart thermostats that can raise or lower temperature set points automatically would go a long way toward freeing up enough energy to keep us cool throughout the summer.
Texas doesn’t even need legislation to have stronger conservation standards. The state’s Public Utility Commission can establish such a standard through its own rulemaking process, yet it hasn’t done so since 2011. The state only requires utilities to reduce their peak demand by a paltry 0.4 percent. Other states, such as California, not only incentivize consumers to make their homes more efficient, they also compensate utilities for falling in line with energy efficiency standards. In October, the commission rejected a petition from the Sierra Club and other interest groups to increase its efficiency standards, reasoning it didn’t have the resources to do so in a timely fashion. We urge the commission to reconsider its priorities, particularly with a new interim chair, Kathleen Jackson, who as a commissioner has led the body’s energy efficiency efforts.
Abbott should be embarrassed by his veto on energy efficiency and lawmakers and the PUC should be embarrassed for failing to do their part to brace Texas for the hellish climate norms that await us. Abbott should put conser vation on the agenda when the Legislature reconvenes for another special session and send a clear message that protecting the grid from catastrophic failure isn’t just something we do in an emergency; it’s something we do to prevent an emergency in the first place.
