11 Jul EcoBits by EcoBrandi July 10th – RayovACTION, H20/Energy, Imagine One Austin, Compost Pedallers, Pets, TreeFolks, Formula Sun
EcoBits by Brandi
What do you get when you cross a Formula One race track, teams of car-loving college students from around the world, and a solar race car competition?? Formula Sun Grand Prix.
Last year was the first such event out at Circuit of the Americas. The rules have changed and it's going to be even more fun. This year's three-day endurance competition will involve four-wheeled cars (last year it was 3-wheels) designed and built by the students and powered entirely by the sun. They will also have solar-powered RC-vehicles as well as kits for children to build and race home-made solar cars as well.
It's all day Saturday July 19th out at COTA.
Read more about the race here >>
And get event details and directions here >>
Speaking of cars and batteries, Texas Campaign for the Environment is taking their Rayovac campaign to the streets and they need your help! TCE is working to raise $6,500 through a crowd-funded Indiegogo campaign so that they can go on a 2,000 mile RayovACTION road trip. The goal is to reach Rayovac's headquarters in Wisconsin in order to convince the company to support recycling for household batteries. Rayovac lags behind other major battery-makers, like Duracell and Energizer, in supporting recycling efforts. You can donate here>>
In the last week, both the Water and Energy Planning Task forces have wrapped up their work and we have some outtakes to share with you.
We are happy to bring you the July 3rd, 2014 final version of the Memo to Mayor and Council from Austin Water Utility re: Austin Water Resource Planning Task Force Recommendations here. >>
Key revisions in the final hours involved removing Austin Water-supplied conservation cost estimates of conservation due to lack of confidence in the numbers.
The report lays out several guiding principles to be used in making Austin's future water decisions. These include:
- Water to meet the needs of homes, businesses, and industry must be reliably sourced.
- Water supplies should be locally sourced, and water use should reflect the locally available supply.
- Saving water, or reducing demand through conservation and reuse, is widely recognized as the most reliable, affordable, and sustainable way to meet water demands. Building a water-efficient economy should take priority over developing supplies from outside Austin that can be expensive, capital and energy-intensive, and environmentally harmful.
- In addition to supply augmentation strategies, the city must invest in demand-management strategies.
- Integrated water resource portfolio plan that looks at all water supply and conservation options, evaluating time of use and pricing.
I was on Shades of Green radio today with Paul Robbins, one of the Water Task Force members and learned a few more details.
- Austin may ask the LCRA to help pay for securing our water since we paid them $100M in 1999 to secure a long-term water supply through 2050. More history >>
- Water reuse – as in purple pipe distribution of highly treated water for non-potable uses – is still highly underutilized, even in areas with the pipes already.
- In 2011 Austin had highest water and wastewater rates in Texas, in all rate classes. The biggest reason is debt, including the fact that we are spending upwards of a Billion dollars in debt, interest, O&M, etc. for Water Treatment Plant 4 which the City now estimates we will not need for 17 years.
A recent article in the Austin Chronicle goes into detail about the task force's heavy preference for conservation over the exploitation of new water sources, as well as its preference for local water over water that has to be brought in from afar. Read that article here >>
Also, yesterday Scott and I both attended and spoke at the final meeting of the Energy Resource Planning Task Force which developed recommendations for how Austin should generate power for the next decade.
The session opened with lively and engaged citizen input on the Draft, with desires to shore up the affordability elements, the low- and moderate-income energy efficiency availability, local solar goals aligned with earlier council task force recommendations, support for solar leasing, and connections between generation investments and water use, job creation, citizen health, and economic stability.
The big news was the recommendation to retire the intermittently used, inefficient, Colorado River-sucking, Decker gas plant with 600MW of West Texas solar…an electric source well matched in size and timing of production to Decker. You can read that draft here >>
A team is just starting to form to produce a series of multi-environmental issue candidate forums for the City Council and Mayoral elections. We are looking for organizers, co-sponsoring groups, and financial sponsors. If you are interested in collaborating email me and I'll add you to a communication list.
Read more about the other resources available for getting on top of local elections in my 2014 Local Election Help Guide>>
The 7-part Imagine One Austin information series continues on Mondays aimed at contributing to an engaged electorate and a productive start to our single member district council. The sessions are geared toward 10-1 candidates and their staffs learning about the key issues facing the City, but they are also open to the public. Session four, in particular, is focused on conservation, environment and recreation and session five on July 28th is focused on land use and transportation.
Note: After each briefing (5:30-8pm), there is an optional hour where Local organizations are invited to set up and staff a table display at one of the environmentally-focused nights (or during any of the other sessions). Groups that RSVP will be provided will be provided a table and two chairs, for free, from 8-9pm following each of the Imagine One Austin briefing sessions. Email to RSVP and save a space for your group.
Amy attended this week's ImagineOne Austin session which covered the city's budget and utilities. I know, it sounds dry, but these things are really important and some pretty crucial information was shared. Here's a rundown of the most thrilling tidbits:
- Austin Energy contributes $105 million a year to the City of Austin's general fund, which pays for fire, police, parks, and libraries. The value of this contribution is roughly equivalent to a 30 percent property tax increase, which is avoided because Austin is able to reap the rewards of having a municipally-owned utility.
- Austin Water is anticipating a 13.5 percent rate increase in 2015 because the drought has reduced water usage throughout the city. On top of that, the utility is reducing its budget by an unprecedented $30 million next year, due to this lack of demand.
- The City of Austin's total budget is $3.3 billion, which means that wading through it all and figuring out where it all goes can be pretty complicated. Luckily, the city has put together this great little video about the budget process. You can watch it here>>
Austin EcoNetwork partner company Compost Pedallers is getting NATIONAL AIR TIME on PBS channels. Catch their 8 minute segment live airing locally at the following times:
| KLRU |
Saturday Sunday Monday |
July 12 July 13 July 14 |
Noon & 4 pm 9:00 am 5:30 am |
|
KLRU Q (18/3) |
Tuesday Wednesday Friday |
July 15 July 16 July 18 |
6:30 pm 7:00 am 9:30 am |
or just watch it here >>
Congrats to TreeFolks and their new Executive Director Thais Perkins. Thais comes to TreeFolks from the City of Austin Watershed Protection Department. She has a Masters in Forest Science and lots of experience in environmental science and policy . She is also a singer! Fun! Wishing happy days to the staff at TreeFolks and the urban forest of Austin from your partners at Austin EcoNetwork.
Even more TreeFolks news…
Together with the Austin Urban Forestry, TreeFolks is hosting a series of workshops this fall called, "Urban Forest Steward." The goal is to equip students with the knowledge and skills that they need to take care of trees within their own communities. Topics to be covered include tree biology, planting and care, pest and disease issues, and tree identification. Learn more and register here>>
Austin Animal Center launched a new technology to help reunite pets and their people. In addition to offering free microchips and ID tags for all of Travis County’s animals they now offer an online stray locator map. More info >>
Austin has only a year and a half to reach its goal of 50 percent landfill diversion by 2015. Right now, the city diverts about 40 percent of its waste away from the landfill. That means that we still have a long way to go to reach our goal and not that much time to do it, so now is the time for the community to get mobilized. That effort begins with Austin Resource Recovery, which has been hard at work educating the public about waste diversion and recycling. Read Amy Stansbury’s blog to learn more about the utility’s plan for speedy waste reduction here>>
and learn how you can do your part to help move that process along here>>
Want to help expand Austin's local food economy?
Check out the Farmland Access Subcommittee, which is working to help farmers from diverse communities gain access to existing urban and rural farmland. The meetings are open to the public and the subcommittee is looking for potential partners to help provide more expertise, so get involved!
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