Texas Grid – Voices of Austin @CCLATX

Re: March 21 article, “War fallout puts focus on renewable energy”

As this article highlights, rich and poor countries are suffering from the consequences of the horrific Iran war due to shortages of energy sources and food supply, jump in prices of daily needs and resulting panic.

Clean energy reduces dependence on polluting fossil fuels, improving people’s health. That is why most Americans want to transition to clean power.

Despite roadblocks by President Donald Trump, Texas’ grid is strong due to renewables. On March 21 at 5:15 p.m., 65% of energy came from solar and wind. Demand was two-thirds of the supply.

China has shown remarkable improvements in its economy by enormous investments in renewable energy while making it more resilient. Poor countries are attempting to upscale renewables, but for faster transition, global focus on clean energy investment is critical.

Instead of starting a war causing destruction, loss of lives and chaos, why not embrace clean energy sources for the well-being of people everywhere?

Kalpana Sutaria is an architect, author and environmental advocate dedicated to tackling global warming challenges. Kalpana is a longtime member of the Austin Chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby. This letter to the editor was published by the Austin American-Statesman on March 27, 2026.

Enthusiastic, committed and hardworking volunteers of Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) from across Texas held 66 meetings with 47 Republican representatives and 19 Democratic representatives. They also left behind educational information at 116 other offices at the Texas State Capitol.

Texas is a leader in generating solar and wind power. But due to inadequate transmission lines, generated renewable power is wasted. In 2022, power worth 2.9 billion dollars was wasted.

Our Citizens’ Climate Lobby volunteers conveyed a primary message to representatives to take action improve the transmission lines that will generate jobs, make our grid more resilient, save money for rate payers, reduce emissions and therefore improve the environment.

You can reach out to your representatives and ask them to take action, too! Thanks again to our amazing volunteers and to our elected representatives. We deeply appreciate your taking the time to visit with us.

Additional Information

KXAN Weather, “Texas leads the country in combined wind, solar renewable energy” (March 18, 2023)
Follow Citizens’ Climate Lobby Austin Metro on Twitter @CCLATX, on Facebook @CCLAustinTex, and Instragram @CCLATX
On Twitter, we also recommend @citizensclimate @cclconservative @ccl_ycc and @ccl_inclusion

This post was generated by Kalpana Sutaria and Carolyn M. Appleton on behalf of Citizen’s Climate Lobby Austin Metro Chapter.