Stay Informed

Dear Mueller Residents,

As many of you know, the Department of Energy has awarded the Pecan Street Project, Inc. federal stimulus funds to develop an advanced clean energy system at Mueller that’s called an “Energy Internet.” An Energy Internet is a next generation smart grid that makes it possible to integrate rooftop solar, sophisticated smart grid software, electric vehicles, green building and water and sprinkler systems.

Over the next five years, this project will deploy some of the most advanced clean energy and smart grid technologies, and we will be doing it at Mueller.

The purpose is to create an electric system that –

• reliably produces carbon free clean energy
• gives consumers greater value and more control over the electric and water bills, and
• catalyzes new job opportunities for people of all skill levels.

In other word, we’re reinventing the energy and water systems to reflect our community’s ingenuity and our deepest values.

We have included a “Day in the Life” description at the end of this message that gives one example of what the future might look like for consumers.

We chose Mueller for reasons that you already know: 100 percent of all new buildings green built.  A compact mixed-use community. A neighborhood that includes affordable housing, native landscapes and reclaimed water. Even the public art has solar panels.

Most importantly, Mueller is an active, engaged community of pioneers who want to take on the planet’s toughest challenges and make the world a better place.

That’s where you come in.

We are currently in the early planning phase. This planning is led by the project’s Executive Committee. The Executive Committee has the responsibility for planning what technologies will be deployed, what clean energy systems we will ask Mueller residents to use in their homes, and what outcomes the project will seek to achieve.

The Executive Committee’s membership consists of a representative from Austin Energy, the Austin Technology Incubator, Austin Water, Catellus, the City of Austin, the Environmental Defense Fund and the University of Texas.

And we also want Mueller residents to have a seat at the table where the decisions are made.

In the coming months, we will be asking Mueller residents to volunteer to participate in this nationally significant clean energy project. Today, we are writing to ask for a Mueller resident to serve on the Executive Committee as well.

We have asked the Mueller Neighborhood Association to manage the application process, review applicants and recommend three finalists to Pecan Street Project’s Board of Directors. Pecan Street Project’s Board of Directors will then select a resident from among these finalists.

Be on the lookout in the coming days for more information from Pecan Street Project on the selection process and next steps. If you are interested and willing to serve, please feel free to contact us right away by email at info@pecanstreetproject.org.   You can also check the Pecan Street Project website for the latest information at www.pecanstreetproject.org.

The Executive Committee meets every two weeks, usually first thing in the morning. You don’t have to commit to volunteering on the project itself (though we hope you will). A lot is expected of Executive Committee members. This is a working committee that will have access to confidential information. Members can’t have a conflict of interest from working on the project. And members need to commit to attend Executive Committee meetings.

We aren’t aware of any other smart grid project in the nation where a resident is a member of the project team. But Mueller isn’t every other community. It is a community built on public input, collaboration and inclusiveness. These are the very qualities that make Mueller the right place to innovate in clean energy and reinvent our nation’s electricity and water systems.

We are excited to be partnering with the Mueller community on this nationally significant project.

Sincerely,

Brewster McCracken

A Day in the Life

Opening an app on her mobile phone one summer afternoon in 2014, Mueller resident Mattie Camacho receives a real-time report on energy usage inside her home. She learns that her electricity usage will cause her to exceed the energy and carbon budget she had set at the beginning of the month. But, her home energy system informs her, the software linked to her smart appliances can adjust settings on her air conditioner and washer/dryer while she is at work during the day to take advantage of peak pricing.

It won’t just be to take advantage of peak pricing for the energy she uses.  It will also be to take advantage of peak pricing for the power coming from the solar panels on her roof. She touches a button on her phone screen. Instantly, she sees that electricity from the solar panels on her roof is now feeding into the Energy Internet and reducing her electric bill.

Her monthly water bill is also on track – thanks to her smart sprinkler system, which detected a leak at a sprinkler head earlier this month. Undetected, the leak could have cost her a hundred dollars or more in water.  If she could have even figured out what the source of the problem was.

This wasn’t the first time the smart grid water system had saved her money. Earlier in the summer, the system had detected a leak in her toilet while she was at work. It had automatically shut off the leak and alerted her. She had stopped by the green built  Home Depot at Mueller on the way home, and she had even been able to charge her Chevy Volt at one of Mueller’s solar-powered car charging stations while she shopped.