Then I realize that it isn't about using Bevo power and I'm thinking how nice to have your lights glow in burnt orange. It might be a little less light but its a warm, cozy color and glow.
Then I see A&M is thinking about this too and I think Maroon!? Maroon colored lights? That wouldn't help much at all.
Its Monday morning early. I'm still waking up after getting back from the course in South Carolina and the maroon lights aren't helping me at all.
Texas Longhorns Energy to power UT fans
Money will help with green programs on campus.By Asher Price - AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Soon the Longhorn faithful can expect their lights at home to glow burnt orange.
By the end of August, Texans in most of the state will be able to sign up to become customers of Texas Longhorns Energy. The company will provide renewable energy to alumni and fans, and money from each new customer account will pay for sustainability initiatives for the University of Texas and its athletic program.
The electricity is technically provided by Champion Energy Services, a Houston-based company that sends power to the equivalent of 450,000 homes. Power from the company will not be available in Austin, where city-owned Austin Energy provides electricity. Most Texas power customers can choose their electricity service from a variety of retail providers, unless they are served by a company owned by a municipality or a cooperative.
Texas A&M fans will be able to sign up for a similar service also by the end of August.
The deal with UT came about after Branded Retail Energy, a Dallas electricity marketing company, approached the university through IMG College, its multimedia and sponsorship sales partner.
Electric rates have not been announced. The university will get money for sustainability efforts with each customer who joins.
UT expects Branded Retail to spend "somewhere in the mid-six-figure range" on a media buy to promote the program. Roughly speaking, for every customer after the first 10,000 to convert to Texas Longhorns Energy, UT will earn about $25, confirmed Chris Plonsky, the women's athletic director and a senior associate athletic director in the division that handles marketing for the athletic department.
"What really sold us on this is that all of us are facing a responsibility to be energy conservation conscious,"
Plonsky said. The money, which will flow into the university through a contract between the athletic department and IMG, will pay for programs such as recycling on campus.
"Not only will Texas Longhorns Energy be powered through renewable green energy, but the university will receive credit and funding for each customer who joins," said UT men's athletic director DeLoss Dodds. "This revenue will help continue UT athletics and university efforts and programs in sustainability, recycling and energy conservation."
Texas Longhorns Energy is "not a gimmick," said Larry Weil, chief marketing officer for Branded Retail Energy. He said the partnership will work with people "invested emotionally" in UT athletics.
To offset power from sources such as coal plants, Texas Longhorns Energy will buy renewable energy certificates, which are bought and traded to pay for the generation of renewable power.
