Topic: WTG Texas: Two cool articles about alternative energy.

[Sirgod]

http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/ts_...71945_0_10_0_M

Texas overtakes California in wind power
BY CLAUDIA GRISALES
Cox News Service

AUSTIN — All that business of harnessing the wind is starting the pay off in the bragging-rights department.

A leading industry group will announce today that Texas has become the top wind-energy state in the country, overtak-ing a title held by California since the 1980s when it pioneered the practice in the U.S.

“It’s a big deal,” said Tom Gray, deputy executive director for American Wind Energy Association. “Texas is coming from behind and taking over the lead.”

The Washington-based group, slated to release its quarterly report today, says Texas reached a total of 2,370 megawatts of wind power this year, surpassing California’s 2,323 megawatts.

It marks a milestone for the state as it aims to make the fledging wind-power industry big business. The state is slated to add more than 400 megawatts of wind power and is looking to add another 150-megawatt plant off the coast of Galveston.

“We really want to be the wind capital of the world,” said Jerry Patterson, commissioner of the Texas General Land Of-fice. “We are barely ahead now, but that gap will widen substantially.”

The news is especially pertinent in Austin, home to the country’s largest green-power program. Austin Energy’s Green-Choice program, which is made up of 95 percent wind power, is so popular the utility held a raffle for the last 1,400 residen-tial spots available until next year.

So far, the program has 9,000 residential and 400 industry customers, such as Advanced Micro Devices and Austin Inde-pendent School District.

and also... http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=19473 

Not a single nuclear power plant has been commissioned in the United States since 1978, but that is about to change as General Electric and Hitachi have announced a joint venture to build two nuclear power plants in Texas.

The Texas project, announced in June with plants scheduled to begin operations in 2014, is expected to be the first in a new wave of economical and emissions-free nuclear power plants.

NRG Energy, which will operate the plants, has already filed a request with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build the plants in Matagorda County about 70 miles southwest of Houston. Construction of the plants will cost $2.6 billion each, but they will thereafter produce power for a fraction of the cost of traditional power plants. NRG expects the new plants will create 6,000 new construction jobs and 1,000 permanent operator jobs.

Stephen