28 Sep Observations from the Town Hall meeting

Roger Duncan — a true genius in energy planning and Austin Energy’s excellent General Manager, said some very interesting things at a Town Hall meeting last Wednesday concerning our utility’s next 10 years…

(paraphrased)

1. “Wind is the cheapest electricity available”
2. “One day all of Austin will be solar-powered by its rooftops”*
3. “It’s probably not going to be difficult to get out of the coal plant”
4. “We don’t need coal to keep the lights on”

he also said

5. “You can’t get clean, reliable, and affordable all at once”

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Re: #5, really?

Mr. Duncan knows a lot more about this than I do. He’s a world leader in this area and his service to Austin over the last several decades has done immeasurably great things for making our community what it is. Indeed, great Austinites like Roger have made it easy for enviros like me to expect more. Thank you Mr. Duncan, thank you COA & Austin Energy, and thank you Austin for getting us this far. Now I wonder — if burning coal is causing health & environmental crises, and clean is cheaper and/or cost competitive to coal — why can’t we do more?

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Thanks, more tomorrow – Chris Searles