Friends of TREIA

What is FRIENDS OF TREIA?

Friends of TREIA was founded as a partnership of concerned Texans to provide them an opportunity to support efforts to increase renewable energy use across Texas.

Friends of TREIA is a coalition of concerned citizens who would like their voices heard in our state capitol. The coalition works together to bring grassroots voices to our elected officials that will benefit renewable energy development for Texas.

Friends of TREIA is helping current generations of Texans assure more abundant, non-depleteable, cleaner, and more secure energy for ourselves and future generations.

What is RENEWABLE ENERGY?

Renewable energy is any energy resource that is naturally regenerated over a short time scale and derived directly from the sun (such as thermal, photochemical, and photoelectric), indirectly from the sun (such as wind, hydropower, and photosynthetic energy stored in biomass), or from other natural movements and mechanisms of the environment (such as geothermal and tidal energy). Renewable energy does not include energy resources derived from fossil fuels, waste products from fossil sources, or waste products from inorganic sources.

Some examples of how we take advantage of renewable energy sources include:

Biomass	Using different types of collecting systems to convert the sun's rays to heat or electrical energy including wood and wood waste, municipal solid waste, landfill gas, and biogas, ethanol and biodiesel.
Water or hydropower	The production of power through use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water.
Geothermal	Geothermal energy is heat or energy generated from within the earth.
Wind	Using the motion of wind to turn the blades of a wind turbine to generate electric or mechanical power.
Solar	Using different types of collecting systems to convert the sun's rays to heat or electrical enery. This energy can be converted using solar panels into other forms of energy such as heat and electricity.

Our Mission

However much the American people may appreciate the need for renewable energy, it cannot become a reality unless federal, state and local governments work in conjunction with the private sector to make this a reality. We need your help contacting elected officials and telling them how important renewable energy is to you.

Friends of TREIA aims to attract everyday individuals such as yourself to help spread the word about benefits of renewable energy. We hope you will sign up to become a stakeholder in tomorrow’s energy needs.

Why Develop Our Renewable Resources?

Energy is one of the most important commodities in the world and more and more people are using more of it. While fossil fuels still supply some 90% of all our energy needs globally, and we understand they will continue to play a role well into the future, we believe renewable energy, for many critical reasons, must supply a rapidly and steadily increasing share of our energy mix. .

Increased use of renewable energy reduces our dependence on energy sources that are often imported from unstable and sometimes unfriendly regions of the world, have greater negative impacts on our health, and are in inevitable decline. Increased use of our non-depleteable renewables will help us compete in a world with rapidly increasing demand for remaining fossil energy resources, and serve as a hedge against the certainty of increasing costs of those sources over time.

Texas has some of the greatest renewable energy resources on the planet, ranking number one in the U.S. in developable solar and biomass resources, and number two in wind potential. Harnessing this energy to fuel our lives will mean more Texans producing more energy for Texans.

It is important to note that gas and oil price rises are reflected in a customer’s energy bills. Renewable energy sources are not subject to the same kind of price fluctuations as fossil fuels. And, if you are in business, customers, investors and other stakeholders increasingly want to deal with businesses which show that they are environmentally responsible. Improving your company’s environmental credentials through the use of renewable energy technologies, or through the purchase of renewable generated electricity can strengthen your brand.