by Eugene Han and Alex Rozenfeld

Modernizing Texas’ power grid will stimulate jobs and resilience. The time is right to look at ways of cultivating robust power sources that can withstand both pandemics and climate events.

Throughout  history, civilizations have seen pandemics as mechanisms for innovation to support the future well-being of their people. In the 19th century, multiple cholera epidemics broke out in New York, causing traffic jams of horses and carriages as people fled for the perceived safety of the suburbs. These outbreaks resulted in the building of underground wastewater systems and green spaces like New York City’s Central Park to make the city more livable and healthy. Covid-19 may have similar effects in Texas and larger urban metropolitan areas around the world.

In Texas, we are now seeing the first glimpse of Covid-19’s impact on the state’s legendary sprawl. Early evidence shows that Covid-19 lifestyle changes may reverse the two-decade-long national trend of people moving back to cities. This would undermine efforts to increase urban energy efficiency and the implementation of so-called “smart” cities, that seamlessly integrate energy management, transportation and social services. It also highlights  the need to modernize already strained suburban power grids across Texas.

Texas is among the nation’s hottest and mostly energy deregulated states. Texas’ unwieldy urban sprawl is seen in some of America’s fastest-growing cities: Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio. The Texas Triangle, as it is known, is home to more than 18 million residents. From 2010 to 2018, the state’s metropolitan areas were the only places  in the U.S. to have added more than 1 million people.

This rapid growth, combined with record heat waves and droughts, has often strained Texas’ electrical power reserve, which faces even more demand if Texans shift in a permanent way to working from home and if the record summer heat waves intensify. With these changes may also come a future decrease in power reliability, impacting businesses and employees working from home.

These important changes in energy demand emphasize the need to modernize the aging networks of power grids across Texas. The good news is that Covid-19 offers the opportunity for a fresh look at how the state organizes its energy infrastructure. The hope would be that the future would bring greater focus on distributed energy resources, which can provide robust and resilient power capable of coping with both the pandemic and Hurricane Harvey-type climate events.

Modernizing Texas’ power grid will also help fill a growing employment void created by the depressed state of Texas’ fossil fuel industry, which has seen thousands of jobs lost since the pandemic began. Texas is already home to more than 263,000 power grid workers. Pandemic or no, jobs in the energy sector are expected to grow. Between 2015 and the end of 2019, electric power generation added 177,000 jobs, energy infrastructure created 156,000, and energy efficiency an impressive 400,000, according to a report by Steven Pedigo Director at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs LBJ Urban Lab.

In the short term, the health needs caused by the pandemic are paramount. But we must also look to the future and be sure to facilitate an economic recovery. By embarking on a smarter and less carbon-reliant energy future, Texas has the chance to serve as a future model for supporting the health and safety of its citizens and its economy.

Original post and comment on Climate & Capital Media

More:

• Op-Ed: How Texas can improve its chances for post-pandemic economic recovery (Dallas Morning News, May 18, 2020)
• Texas Policy Experts Offer Playbook for Post-Pandemic Recovery (UT News, May 13, 2020)

The post Texas’ Big Post-Covid Opportunity to Modernize Its Power Grid  appeared first on Climate Impact Capital.

Let me start 2020 with a confession: I’m not a Texan, but I got here as fast as I could. Why, though? What’s so special about this state? Historically, people flocked to Texas to take advantage of its resources, which spurred three big Texas industries: ranching, oil, and real estate. More recently, it has become known for its affordable cost-of-living, business-friendly policies, and of course, as the epicenter of the shale oil & gas revolution.

Texas is the self-proclaimed oil & gas capital of the United States, producing more than a third of the nation’s crude oil, a quarter of its natural gas, and a significant fraction of its liquified natural gas (LNG) export capacity.

However, with the energy transition underway, we now also believe we can become the low-carbon energy capital, with an emerging landscape that both decarbonizes and goes beyond fossil fuels. Given Texas’s 25,000 megawatts (MW) installed wind capacity (nearly 5x that of California), and its 3,400 MW installed solar capacity (still behind California’s 26,000 MW, but getting closer each year), Texas is well-poised to be the frontline of all things energy for the foreseeable future.

And in case you forgot, Texas is a historically red (purple, at best) political state. Combining the very conservative rural areas, which embrace both wind farms and fracking, and liberal urban cities with ambitious climate action and renewable energy targets, we have very diverse viewpoints.

To me, that means this state has the potential to make the largest impact on the future of energy and climate change in the USA, and the world. Whether through reducing emissions from big oil, developing clean energy projects, or growing an energy startup, Texas is THE place to be.

Each month, we will explore a business climate change topic in Texas, looking at views from all perspectives. We’ll let you know how what’s going on in the Lone Star State is relevant to you and to the global energy community.

Original post and comment on Climate + Capital Media

The post The World’s Climate Solution Capital May Be Texas appeared first on Climate Impact Capital.