Dim ranking

Texas logs gloomy ranking on list of states with clean energy

In Texas, 38 percent of the state’s electricity capacity comes from clean electricity.

Courtesy photo

In a new report that looks at states with the cleanest electricity across the country, Texas seems to have some room for improvement.

According to the December 2023 report from SmartAsset, Texas has the most clean energy capacity at 56,405 megawatts, but continues to trail states with similar geographic characteristics in overall clean electricity prevalence.

Texas ranks No. 22 on the list of states with the most clean energy. Washington is No. 1 and California, comparable in geographic size to Texas, comes in at No. 11. In California, 44.3 percent of its energy capacity comes from clean energy.

In Texas, only 38 percent of the state’s electricity capacity comes from clean electricity, SmartAsset says.

Texas has the largest wind capacity to help generate clean energy, with over three times more than Iowa, which is the second-biggest wind power producer. Clean electricity makes up 57 percent of Iowa’s total energy capacity (22,546.4 megawatts), the report says.

Texas also has the second-largest solar capacity, which means Texas has the most means, space, and potential to accommodate cleaner electricity, the report says.

SmartAsset compiled its study by comparing the amount of geothermal, solar, wind, and nuclear operations as a percentage of a state’s full electricity production capacity. States were ranked based on the percentage of clean energy sources used to generate the total net summer electricity production capacity. According to the report, the 2022 data comes from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Top 10 states with the highest proportions of clean electricity production, according to SmartAsset:

Washington
Oregon
Idaho
Vermont
South Dakota
Montana
Iowa
New Mexico
Kansas
North Dakota

One saving grace: In 2023, home service management platform Thumbtack ranked cities based upon solar panel installations; San Antonio was ranked No. 9 most “solar” city in the United States.

rankings electric surfing texas

University News

Univ of Texas at Arlington gets OK to proceed on west Fort Worth campus

Courtesy rendering

UTA West campus coming soon

A new university campus is in the works for west Fort Worth. According to a release, a proposal by the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) to purchase 51 acres of property in west Fort Worth got the thumbs up from the University of Texas System Board of Regents, paving the way for UTA West, a new campus that would be built in the Walsh Ranch development.

Advantageously positioned at the intersection of I-30 and I-20 at the western gateway of Fort Worth, the new campus could begin welcoming students as early as fall 2028.

UTA West will be developed as part of a multiyear plan to serve more than 10,000 students.

“Anytime the UT System can expand greater educational opportunity, access, and affordability to Texans, we’re going to do it,” says UT System Board of Regents chairman Kevin Eltife in a satement. “We’ve recently done it in east Texas and south Texas and now we’re heading west. We’re looking forward to planting a UT Arlington flag in west Fort Worth, currently the nation’s fastest growing city.”

"The western part of the metroplex has an ever-growing population, a plethora of student talent, and a wide breadth of opportunity for explosive economic advancement. UTA has long been a top supplier of talent to companies across Fort Worth, and this expansion will allow UTA to broaden its impact across our region,” said UTA President Jennifer Cowley.

Walsh Ranch is the 7,200-acre development in west Fort Worth that calls itself "Fort Worth's next great neighborhood," being developed with neighborhoods, town centers, mixed-use areas, and commercial space.

And now a university campus.

UTA in Fort Worth
The new campus would be only the latest in a decades-long partnership between UTA and the city of Fort Worth. That includes the UTA Research Institute (UTARI), a facility established in east Fort Worth in 1986; and the UTA Fort Worth Center, a continuing education center for the downtown Fort Worth community established in 2007.

In 2023, the UTA Institute of Urban Studies, the principal research center for the College of Architecture, Planning, and Public Affairs, opened at UTA’s Fort Worth Center with a mission is to conduct research and provide technical assistance to city and county governments, governmental agencies, and nonprofit organizations, and to offer education and teaching opportunities to individuals either already in or contemplating public service careers.

The University of Texas at Arlington is a comprehensive teaching, research, and public service institution with an enrollment of approximately 41,000 students, and is the second-largest institution in the UT System. In 2021, its combination of outstanding academics and innovative research contributed to its reaffirmation as a Carnegie R-1 “Very High Research Activity” institution, a significant milestone of excellence. The University is designated as a Hispanic Serving-Institution and an Asian American Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution by the U.S. Department of Education and in 2022 earned the Seal of Excelencia for its commitment to accelerating Latino student success.