Extend the City’s efforts to develop more renewable energy projects on City facilities.
As part of the carbon neutrality (action B1), the City will identify further suitable locations for photovoltaic panel installation on its facilities. As a local demonstration project, the City will consider a solar energy project on large, city-owned tracts of land that have little opportunity for future development, such as a brownfield site or closed landfill (the City of Houston’s Sunnyside Energy project on a landfill is an example of this strategy). Opportunities include expanding the existing City’s Southside treatment facility and McCommas Bluff renewable energy projects.
The City could develop case studies outlining the cost-benefits gained from its own renewable energy projects to encourage other installations. This information could be used in the education campaign under Action E3.
use low-cost bond funds for these city investments as they will pay back but it will take longer than private sector since the city cannot use the tax credits that dramatically reduce solar costs.
I applaud Dallas for looking for local projects as I mentioned Houston's proposed Sunnyside project in an earlier comment, but actual investment is not limited to "city-owned" tracks of land. If Houston can invest in a solar farm in West Texas in Presidio - no one is stopping Dallas from investing in a solar farm with partners or even a wind farm in the Panhandle. Other cities besides Houston are already doing this. Again, investment instead of credits expands the market and can lower the cost per kilowatt statewide for EVERYONE.
The current Dallas plan needs to be far more aggressive if we really hope to achieve the Paris Climate goals.
Dallas should should strengthen this action by adopting a policy to generate renewable energy on all city-owned properties and buildings to increase renewable energy generation.
The city should adopt this policy for all new construction or major renovations, and they should add renewable power to all existing buildings & properties by 2030 as well. Such projects are cash flow positive in the long-term.
AGREED
Dallas should also refit existing building with solar panels, and require new buildings to be designed with built-in solar. The city could eventually get revenues by selling electricity from these sources. Dallas could go back to having municipal electricity like Garland.
The city should use their buildings and properties to produce renewable energy. (This means solar and wind, not natural gas.) The policy should be applied to new construction or renovations, and the city should commit to this action by adopting a policy to have all city properties converted by 2030. If this is adopted the city would be able to use it to generate revenue.
Don't leave out church locations, especially in less affluent communities. A very high percentage of the cost is project planning, financing and other fixed and connectivity costs. If the city could develop a cookie cutter approach to multiple projects, each resilience center could become the battery storage for a local community solar facility. One of the major problems less affluent families have is the extremely high cost of their credit. Pooling their credit in a community solar center could be used to reduce financing costs. Can a demo project be done, that would provide a model for a large scale roll out?
Rooftop solar creates jobs, improves community health, and spurs development. In order to keep those benefits close to home, we recommend increasing direct investment in clean energy — like rooftop solar — for the Dallas Green Energy Policy. We can't just rely on the purchase of Renewable Energy Credits.
More renewable energy projects on city facilities will enhance the Dallas effort to be a true leader among cities in this type of infrastructure. The plan needs more strength here.
The draft states to enroll 5% and 50% of residents and businesses in renewable energy plans by 2030 and 2050. How is the city going to incentivize this? And the % goals for enrollment for both 2030 and 2050 should be significantly higher, especially 2030.
The city should absolutely use city property to produce renewable energy. And we need to do whatever we can to achieve the Paris Climate goals.
If Dallas generates more energy than it can use on buildings, then it can also sell that energy back to residents in the form electric vehicle charging. This would also provide incentive to keep making buildings efficient even if they have solar panels which produce as much or more energy than the building uses.