The Institute for Electric Efficiency (IEE) recently completed a white paper detailing the effect variable electricity pricing has on low-income customers.

The IEE commissioned The Brattle Group to look at five studies undertaken during the past few years that examined how variable or dynamic electricity prices affected residential customers.

The IEE found that, “while there is mixed evidence on the magnitude of the responsiveness of low income customers relative to other customers, there is strong evidence across these five programs that low income customers do respond to dynamic rates”.



See for yourself by downloading the full report .

To learn more about the IEE, visit their web site .

“The Future of Natural Gas is the third in a series of MIT multidisciplinary reports examining the role of various energy sources that may be important for meeting future demand under carbon dioxide emissions constraints. In each case, we explore the steps needed to enable competitiveness in a future marketplace conditioned by a CO2 emissions price.”

We’re proud to note that PAT Board Member Ralph Cavanagh served on the Advisory Committee.

Check out the full report here -

Yesterday, Power Across Texas’ Board Member John Hofmeister was a featured guest on NBC’s Meet the Press. John was joined by Senator Mary Landrieu, Congressman Ed Markey, BBC's Katty Kay, Governor Hailey Barbour and Ken Feinberg, the appointed administrator of BP's escrow fund.

The group discussed the status of the oil spill in the gulf, the government's response, and the reaction to BP's recent testimony.

John’s new book Why We Hate the Oil Companies: Straight talk from an Energy Insider is now available for sale.

Stay up to date on John’s past and future media appearances at .

In addition, check out John’s non-profit organization Citizens for Affordable Energy at .

Power Across Texas Announces New Advisory Board Member And New Corporate Member.

We are very pleased to announce the addition of a new Advisory Board Member of Power Across Texas – Mr. Ralph Cavanagh. Ralph is a senior attorney and co-director of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s energy program. I am excited to welcome Ralph to the Advisory Board and believe his guidance and support will help PAT further it's mission as a nonpartisan, independent organization. Please see our website for Ralph’s complete bio: poweracrosstexas.org.

Additionally, we are excited to announce that Calpine Corporation has joined Power Across Texas as a Gold Level corporate sponsor. Calpine, founded in 1984, is a major U.S. power company, capable of delivering nearly 25,000 megawatts of clean, cost-effective, reliable and fuel-efficient electricity to customers and communities in 16 states in the U.S. and Canada.

Calpine “generates electricity in a reliable and environmentally responsible manner for the customers and communities it serves” and “believes that a strong commitment to environmentally responsible electrical generation is a key element to achieving its goal of being the finest power company in North America.”

We appreciate Calpine’s support in achieving our mission to provide a learning center for energy issues that draws allies from all corners of the political, academic and corporate sectors, and that fosters awareness around aspects of energy issues that affect us all.

In January, Power Across Texas' Advisory Board and Corporate Members met in Austin for a Strategy Session to ensure PAT's mission was filling an appropriate vacuum in the energy market and to identify projects that PAT should focus on during 2010 and 2011.

See photos, and hear more about the event inside.

The natural variability of wind power makes it different from other generating technologies, which can give rise to questions about how wind power can be integrated into the grid successfully. This article aims to answer several important questions that can be raised with regard to wind power.

This report responds to a request to the Energy Information Administration (EIA) from Chairman Henry Waxman and Chairman Edward Markey for an analysis of H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACESA).1 ACESA, as passed by the House of Representatives on June 26, 2009, is a complex bill that regulates emissions of greenhouse gases through market-based mechanisms, efficiency programs, and economic incentives.

The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and the American Council for Capital Formation (ACCF) releases a comprehensive study on the impact of The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, also known as the Waxman-Markey Bill (HR 2454). The bill aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to cap the amount of carbon that is emitted by U.S. industry. The legislation does so by mandating a cap and trade program and other provisions governing fuel choices available to businesses and consumers. This bill passed the House of Representatives by a slim margin (219-212) earlier this summer. The Senate is expected to release its version of climate legislation in September.

The large decline in U.S. emissions in 2008 and 2009 due to the economic recession ensures that if the House-passed Waxman-Markey climate legislation becomes law, the bill's emissions reduction cap will require no reduction of carbon emissions over the first two to five years of the program. The resulting oversupply of emissions permits will allow regulated firms to continue business as usual emissions through as late as 2018, according to a new analysis by Breakthrough Institute based on new Energy Information Administration emissions projections that take into account the impacts of the global recession.

The Texan economy is becoming ever more diversified, but energy remains a favourite
HIGHWAY 84, as it descends from Lubbock through Snyder to the small town of Sweetwater, is a road worth taking. Spread across the vast plain are thousands of windmills, gently turning in a favourable wind; not too slow, not too fast and, above all, fairly consistent.

Only as you draw near to one do you realise that these towers are the height of 40-storey buildings; their blades are the length of a jumbo jet’s wing. They are clever too. Without human intervention, they can turn their heads and alter the pitch of their blades to make the most of the wind. They cost about $5m apiece.

Sweetwater calls itself the windpower capital of America, and with roughly 3,300MW of installed capacity within a 50-mile (80km) radius the claim is not extravagant. Already endowed with oil and gas, Texas is blessed with a fair wind as well. Even stronger and more consistent winds are to be found further north along the “wind corridor” that stretches from the west Texas plains up through the panhandle and into Oklahoma and beyond. But for now these areas are too remote to be connected to any of America’s three main grids: the eastern, the western and Texas’s very own ERCOT grid.