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Live from the SPEER Newsroom:
- Two New SPEER Members!
- Just Released: SPEER's 90th Texas Legislative Priorities
- Upcoming Events & Webinars
- Noteworthy
- What We're Reading
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Join us in giving a huge welcome to TWO new SPEER members!
We're incredibly excited to have them on board as we continue driving energy efficiency, sustainability, and resiliency in Texas and Oklahoma.
Want to join them? See how your organization can get involved with SPEER and reach out to us with any questions!
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Just Released:
SPEER's 90th Texas Legislative Priorities
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In case you missed last week's Policy Newsletter: We are now roughly five months away from the 90th Legislative Session in Texas. The SPEER Policy Program has worked with our staff, board members, SPEER members, and external stakeholders to develop our legislative priorities for the upcoming session. We anticipate plenty of focus to be on energy affordability, with a specific look into data center development and energy/water consumption.
SPEER has organized our priorities into three sections:
- Affordability
- Flexibility
- Grid Reliability/Resilience
If you would like to discuss our priorities, opportunities for collaboration, or have questions on legislation, please reach out to us.
Head here to dive into our full list of priorities
| | Upcoming Events & Webinars | |
Energy Codes Webinar: Heat Pumps & the Modern Energy Code | |
TODAY, August 4 @ 10:30 am - 11:30 am
Heat pumps are becoming an increasingly important part of residential construction, offering builders an efficient way to improve comfort, reduce energy consumption, and meet the demands of today's energy codes.
This session provides a practical overview of heat pump technologies, how they operate, and why they are gaining popularity in new construction. Attendees will explore how heat pumps can support energy code compliance, improve building performance, and provide long-term value for both builders and homeowners.
Register here.
| | Powering Texas Energy Strategies: Summer Workshop Series | |
SPEER is partnering with the Capital Area Council of Governments (CAPCOG) to host a summer workshop series for stakeholders involved in water and energy conservation in Central Texas.
Supported by funding from the State Energy Conservation Office (SECO), this insightful series will highlight practical strategies, funding opportunities, and resources to help Central Texas communities strengthen energy and water management efforts.
We encourage you to attend if you are local government staff, elected officials, facility and operations personnel, sustainability staff, planners, water and infrastructure professionals, emergency management and resilience staff, community leaders, and others interested in conservation efforts in Central Texas.
While Session 1 has passed, we still have two workshops scheduled for August:
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Session 2 (Hybrid): Conservation in Practice: Energy & Water Strategies for Texas, August 11 @ 9:00 am
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Included tour: Wilkerson Center for Colorado River Education
- Presenters:
- Adrienne Longenecker, CFRE, Executive Director, Colorado River Alliance,
- Amy Atchley, EV Equity Development Manager, Austin Energy
- Margaret Cook, Vice President, Water & Community Resilience, Houston Advanced Research Center
Head over to our event calendar to save your spot!
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University of Houston Steam System Masterclass Workshop | |
Steam systems are integral to oil refinery and chemical plants, and they offer ample opportunities to boost both efficiency and reliability. Drawing on 48 years of experience with steam and condensate systems, Mr. Jim Risko, retired president of TLV Corp. and now Consultant for Risko LLC, provides unmatched expertise to this course. Jim is an Advisory Board member of both the Texas Industrial Efficiency Energy Program (TIEEP) & the Texas A&M TEES ESL Industrial Energy Technology Conference (IETC).
This course is suitable for engineers of all experience levels, plant operators, and maintenance managers seeking to deepen their practical understanding of steam and condensate systems and how they affect the serviced processes.
The workshop takes place Thursday & Friday, August 20 - 21, 8:00 am - 3:30 pm. Learn more and register here.
| ASES National Solar Conference | |
ASES is coming to Austin on October 19-21, 2026. Join SPEER and other industry and renewable energy professionals as well as students and advocates from across the country in Texas, where we have long been a leader in solar innovation and adoption.
Session topics include: How Data Centers are Reshaping Energy Demand, Strengthening the Grid with Solar, and Building Solutions, Grid Resilience, and Emerging Technologies. See the full agenda here.
Students can get 70% off registration. Email cities@eepartnership.org for the code.
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Mark Your Calendar: Energy Efficiency Day 2026
Add it to your calendar! Energy Efficiency Day 2026 is on October 7th this year.
Energy efficiency helps us save money, cut pollution, and create jobs.
It's a win-win-win. How will you celebrate Energy Efficiency Day this year?
Learn more!
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Need to Catch Up?
Missed our latest Policy newsletter or recent Local Government, Oklahoma, or Energy Code newsletters? Browse past issues of our newsletters and subscribe to other distribution lists here.
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