Friday, Oct. 24, 2008

Energy Efficiency Event Hosted at Palace

Efficiency Experts Gather to Learn About the Newest Things in 'Green’

By Scott Price

Staff Writer

Oncor presented "Lights! Camera! Efficiency!"— the kick-off for its energy-efficiency campaign — last week at the Palace Arts Center in Grapevine. About 140 electric service providers attended.

"Oncor has the largest energy-efficiency program in the state," Oncor spokeswoman Carol Peters said.

Last week’s event had a movie theme with a "green carpet" and celebrity impersonators.

Oncor supplies electricity to retail providers in about a third of Texas, and offers incentive programs for residential and commercial customers to be more energy efficient.

"It’s better for the environment; it’s better for the state of Texas if we make better use of what we have," Peters said.

Peters said Oncor does not work directly with retail customers, but works to inform energy experts. In 2006, Oncor started "Take a Load Off, Texas" to promote its energy-efficiency programs.

"It’s our attempt to reach out and put a face on it that is consumer-friendly," Peters said.

Douglas Garrett, an energy-efficiency consultant, was the keynote speaker at the event in Grapevine. He said he looks at a house or a building as a system to determine how to improve it.

The average Texas house loses about 35 percent of the air in air ducts. He said that is just throwing away money, and using unneeded energy.

Garrett, who is called the "Green Guru" by some, said building science tests a house or building from a scientific perspective to find what is working and what isn’t.

"My wife calls it CSI for homes," Garrett said.

"It took the sick building syndrome back in the 1980s for us to really understand what was going on," he added.

Garrett said efficiency brings with it multiple benefits, including saving money, reducing energy usage and making homes and buildings healthier. Leaky ducts mean that dust and other things can get blown throughout homes.

The three most important areas to look at for energy efficiency, Garrett said, are air ducts, roofs and insulation.

Oncor operates the largest distribution and transmission system in Texas, providing power to three million electric delivery points over more than 102,000 miles of distribution and 14,000 miles of transmission lines.

See www.TakeALoadOffTexas.com to find residential and commercial incentive programs to be more energy efficient.