Bill White, Dem. Candidate for Governor of Texas, Runs on Renewable Energy Platform. By Jonathan Hiskes, Grist, September 24, 2010. "Earlier this year, Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) made news with a characteristically rash declaration that the Gulf of Mexico oil spill was 'an act of God' and that he had 'full confidence' in BP's diligence. His opponent, Bill White (D), responded with a 10-page memo asserting that Perry's 'sweeping generalizations are not helpful.' It followed with a detailed analysis of the law and engineering of offshore drilling disasters, drawing on White's experience working in the energy industry and at the Department of Energy. The underdog White, is betting that his sober, pragmatic approach will appeal to voters ready for a change from the secession-talking, EPA-blasting Perry, the longest-serving governor in the state's history. Polls put White within 7 points of Perry, and if the challenger is able to cast the race as a decision between the past and the future, he may have a chance.
"During White's time as mayor of Houston, the nation's fourth largest city, he ran a highly successful home-weatherization program and engineered a major purchase of 50 megawatts of clean energy, giving momentum to the state's booming wind industry… White: 'In Houston, we retrofitted older housing stock at a very large volume. It created jobs, and we did it without any federal stimulus or weatherizing funds… We gave everybody in a neighborhood a one-page form that said Yes or No. For everybody who wanted it, a crew would come in and pressurize the house, seal the leaks, put or replace insulation in the attic if it was insufficient, replace light bulbs with energy-efficient light bulbs, those types of things. We could do one house in about 2 hours and 10 minutes. In the neighborhoods where we did this, we brought down the average utility bill for all who participated by 10 to 20%. We scaled up, trained crews, created jobs, and had certifications and quality control, for a little more than $1,000 per house, versus $8,000 for the traditional weatherization program. That's the type of program we need throughout the country, especially in middle-class neighborhoods built from 1940 to 1970.'"
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