City of Austin - Green Power Purchasing

Austin is the largest city in the U.S. to have all city-owned buildings and facilities powered by renewable energy resources. 

Under the Austin Climate Protection Plan, the City Council has set numerous goals for renewable energy, energy efficiency, and carbon emission reductions with the overall goal of making Austin a national leader in local climate change mitigation policy. Included in Climate Protection Plan is a goal of powering all city facilities with renewable energy by 2012. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Green Power Partnership, the City of Austin generates nearly 100% of its annual electricity consumption (372,000,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh)) from renewable energy sources and ranks third among Green Power Partners.

Furthermore, the Austin Independent School District (AISD) meets 11% of its annual electricity needs (15,000,000 kWh) through purchasing electricity generated from renewable energy sources and independently ranks 29th among Green Power Partners. AISD is an urban public school system with 104 campuses and more than 20 support buildings in Central Texas.

On April 10, 2014, Austin City Council passed Resolution 20140410-024, which establishes a new long-term goal of reaching net zero community-wide greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, or earlier if feasible.  Office of Sustainability Climate Program staff started planning efforts to develop energy, transportation, waste, and industrial sector-based action plans to meet this goal, which includes collaboration with public experts, City departments, and public input plan.