Houston to enter the the wind farm business, maybe...

About 10^2 bloggers have beat me to this story, but here's the scoop. The city, i.e. Bill White, is going through the motions to set up a wind farm in order to help control it's energy bills. This is a commendable goal considering the huge jump in natural gas prices over the last year. However, on closer inspection it seems that Mayor White's old pal Michael Zilkha of Horizon Wind Energy may be on the receiving end of a huge windfall (ugh, I know it's a bad pun) from this deal. This sort of partnership/"make your friends rich" gimmick is generally how things get done in government, but I don't like it one bit and would love for someone to review the legalities of the venture. Unfortunately, that won't happen until a huge amount of taxpayer money disappears.

Now let's ask some questions regarding the project.

1. Should the city look for ways to insulate itself from energy price spikes? Yes, a general top down review of all services, staff and assets should be completed, followed by a realistic, common sense conservation program implemented. For example, one of the energy savings strategies being implemented by my employer is to replace every fluorescent light in it's buildings with newer more energy efficient fluorescent lights. The savings are there otherwise they wouldn't be going to the trouble.


2. Should the city be looking at renewable energy to solve the problem? Yes, why not. London, England is promoting new construction using solar shingles. Why can't we?


3. Should the city really be in the energy generating business?Hmm, that's a tough one. I know New York City has a number of large generators but they are more to solve grid and emergency problems rather than save money. If it can be proved and windmills aren't going to be a money pit like MetroRail, I could be persuaded to give them my approval.

For more information on the story check out blogHouston