| Texas Greenbelt Coalition |
|
Mission The coalition is made up of a group of concerned public and private companies which include utilities, cities, higher education, private sector entrepreneurs, business owners and financial institutions.The coalition was formed as a way to bring economic development to the Central TX region. The premise is that green energy is here and the cities of Central TX need to be prepared to not only take advantage of stimulus dollars, but to also build sustainable solutions which will continue to be standing once stimulus dollars are gone. Objectives The coalition’s aim is to facilitate public and private alliances and partnerships to green businesses, which provide green energy solutions to residential and commercial consumers. Our goal is to work with cities and utilities as a way to reach their customers and provide green energy solutions that the utility or city is not providing, or to augment such services as applicable.There are two end user customers, commercial businesses and residential customers. The solutions for both may have overlap, but there will be specific solution providers for each target market, and the solutions for each may come from one source or multiple sources.Solutions will also include not so obvious elements. As an example, commercial businesses may require professional services specific to their green solution. that may create a new division or spin-off business. To do this the company may require services such as legal, accounting, marketing, sales, public relations, human resources and operations. Therefore, the solution stack should be made of green solution providers who can provide the a full spectrum of services and not just the obvious solutions such as energy efficiency services or upgrades, building services, alternative power product providers, smart grid companies and sustainability services. The coalition is about not only making a business/residence green, but creating new green businesses for the Central Texas area or facilitating the growth of existing green businesses.The overall objective of the coalition is to develop and facilitate turnkey partnerships and solutions that assist individuals and companies to improve energy efficiency, create employment opportunities, facilitate partnerships with the private and public sector and to bring economic development to the Central TX region. Uniqueness What makes the Coalition unique is the focus on the corridor of Central TX and the people and companies that are involved in the project. The diversity of the Central Texas corridor demands that a set of solutions be developed that cater to both the rural customer and the urban customer. To that end, a quick look at the geographical features of the region showed that the resources available from the rural areas supply abundant land and other resources for green energy projects. Projects such is solar farms and anaerobic digestion, done as community sized projects or as utility sized projects are possible. A confluence of these technologies combined with smart grid networks which are already in place from some of the utilities in the area and enable a quicker rollout of these types of projects. Because the region is smaller in its urban footprint, the integration of community size projects are also easier to manage and make it easier to gain consensus to accomplish.The innovation and technology from the Central Texas corridor typically comes from the urban areas, and to a large extent Austin and San Antonio. Having the cities as the book ends of the corridor allow the best of both worlds, the use of best of breed thinking, innovation and technology coupled with the close proximity of the corridor and the land available make the coalition value proposition unique. In addition to being centers of innovation, the cities of Austin and San Antonio are unique in their quest to bring sustainability to Texas. In fact, the argument could be made that both cities are on the forefront of this. The coalition’s aim is to unite the two as foundations for green solutions in both the urban and rural areas of the Central Texas corridor. Impact The impact of the coalition will be felt by cities, utilities, businesses and ultimately the end users who are the residents of these communities. The coalition’s aim is to partner with all of these entities to provide a turnkey or one stop “shopping” experience for them to find whatever green solution they may need for their business or residence. The other impact that the coalition will make will be directly to businesses who offer these green services and to assist them in the evolution of their business to be a supplier to the end users.The coalition is not a group that will screen or make recommendations of which businesses an end user will choose. That will be up to the end user. However, the coalition will showcase successes of those businesses so that the end user can make a good decision based on their own due diligence.Another large impact the coalition will make is to the cities of Austin and San Antonio. There is not a group in the TX corridor whose purpose is to unite the two cities together; this is one of the main purposes of the coalition. The sustainability of the coalition will be dependent upon its ability to provide clear and concise guidance for end users to procure green energy and green solutions. Furthermore, sustainability is also attained by insuring that the coalition has the right type of partners that provide the turnkey solutions. As an example, an industrial business wants to install solar panels on their building as part of an expansion. They may need engineering assistance, solar installation services and products, financial assistance, and architectural assistance. The goal of the coalition will be to provide a listing of vendors who have done this type of work and to provide the case studies to validate the vendor’s work.Sustainability will also be achieved as the coalition continues to be involved and partners with other sister organizations such as the Austin Eco Network, the Clean Technology Forum from San Antonio, Austin Energy, CPS, and the Pecan Street Project. To join the TX Greenbelt Coalition and be part of the green energy revolution, contact us today. |
Our Results
Press
Affiliates
Current Projects
