Take a San Antonio Clean Energy Lesson

The mayor of San Antonio has been working for the past decade to make his Texas city a clean energy hub.

In fact, he wants to make it the new energy capital of the world.

This despite San Antonio’s location in the center of the nation’s oil zone. Or maybe because of that. After all, oil companies call themselves energy companies. And what is clean energy but a new way of creating energy, without burning anything.

Mayor Julián Castro announced on National Public Radio’s “Talk of the Nation: Science Friday” that he has lined up an impressive array of businesses planning to make his city their corporate home. “One of them makes electric delivery trucks. One of them, actually from North Carolina, makes home area networks that are powered by smart meters. And the other makes LED lighting,” he said.

Castro’s intention is job creation, and so far he is succeeding. His strategy of going green for jobs is supported by a series of reports that have identified clean energy as a great tool for achieving economic development. Already “the clean economy employs more workers than the fossil fuel industry,” says the Brookings Institution report Ya “Sizing the Clean Economy: A National and Regional Green Jobs Assessment” ).

The Brookings report also says that the clean economy offers more opportunities and better wages for low- and middle-skilled workers than the national economy as a whole.

So if San Antonio could do it, so could other regions, especially those with renewable resources.

In a previous post, I mentioned Las Vegas as a prime place to invest in clean energy. I thought, why not? Casinos spend huge amounts on attractions to provoke the wonder of their customers. What’s a little more for a group of solar panels?

Or better yet, why not cover up the towers with a new product from an Israeli startup, which was buying a newly designed multifaceted “beehive” photovoltaic panel at the Intersolar trade show in San Francisco recently?

The panels have a honeycomb design that lets in light and are 14 percent efficient, Ucilia Wang said in an article on earth2tech.com, giving a building that uses them a totally custom look.

After listening to Castro, I thought, “Vegas is still a great showcase, but other cities could make their mark, too.” I live in Fresno, California, which ranks fifth on the list of US cities with the clearest skies year-round with 194 days, according to a post by Liz Osborn on currentresults.com.

With all that sun, and yes, it’s hot and more like 320 days, Fresno and the surrounding San Joaquin Valley is a great place for renewable energy. It also has land, potential for biogas and other biofuels, and ends up in the mountains near Tehachapi.

The economy in the Valley is not the best. It’s so bad, in fact, that it was one of six cities included in the Obama Administration’s recently launched Strong Cities, Strong Communities program, designed to spur economic growth. Detroit and New Orleans are also on the list.

Like Castro, Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin puts workforce development high on her list of priorities. She is also an expert in looking for results. “Let’s get down to business,” she said in a story on the launch of Strong Cities by businessjournal.com’s Michael Kincheloe.

Fresno, like many Valley cities, has embraced energy efficiency and is even adding solar power to several city facilities.

But San Antonio has a big head start. Castro said the jobs brought to his city by clean energy companies are a paltry 230, but are estimated to expand to between 800 and 1,000 jobs by 2015. And the utility that serves San Antonio is seeking supply 400 megawatts of solar power. It already has ties to 859 megawatts of wind power in West Texas on the coast and in South Texas.

Not everyone thinks that clean energy in San Antonio is the cat’s meow. I stumbled across this post that said clean energy is still the new kid on the block. The article, which appears on a site backed by the oil industry, explains that the Eagle Ford Shale oil and gas deposit in South Texas “will prove to exceed the hopes of anyone who wanted to qualify the city as a renewable energy city.” “.

The unknown author has a point. The existing industry should not be overlooked or underestimated. It still packs a punch, and that’s a good thing. As my friend from East Anchorage High who moved back to Texas to work in the oil industry always says: “Oil isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.”

I believe that. I also believe in the potential of clean energy. We are a society that will find innovative ways to consume all available energy. And the cheaper it is, the more jobs we will create, wherever we decide to do it.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *