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How Oil-Loving, Frack-Happy Texas Could Lead the Low-Carbon Future

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout: Debate & Discussion' started by Buck Turgidson, Aug 22, 2019.

  1. Buck Turgidson

    Buck Turgidson Member

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    Thought this was a really interesting article, it's long but good. Just quickly read it while I was eating lunch, need to read it again to get proper questions and thoughts, but thought I'd go ahead and post it in the meantime. Would love to hear @JuanValdez's thoughts (and all others too), since he seems to be the bbs denizen most involved with the electricity industry in Texas.

    https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/oil-frack-texas-lead-low-carbon-future-get-rich/

    "The good news is that Texas doesn’t have to choose between environmental sustainability and economic prosperity. Our economy is much more diversified than it was decades ago. As the world shifts to less-carbon-intensive forms of energy, Texas can lead the way. We can deploy our vast expanses of open land—buffeted by wind, bathed in sunshine, and saturated with natural gas—to help the world end its addiction to coal and transition to a low-carbon future. There’s a new kind of boom already underway in Texas, and it could define us as profoundly as Spindletop."

    Michael E. Webber is the Josey Centennial professor for Energy Resources in the Cockrell School of Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. His book Power Trip: The Story of Energy was published in May 2019 by Basic Books.
     
    #1 Buck Turgidson, Aug 22, 2019
    mdrowe00 likes this.
  2. JuanValdez

    JuanValdez Contributing Member

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    You summoned me? :)

    It's a good article and there isn't really anything I disagree with, though he does blow a lot of sunshine. But Texas really is the energy capital of the country, not just the oil & gas capital. All the O&G expertise we have ports over to gas and power which ports over to renewables and the rest. Most of the big global energy companies have offices if not their NA HQ in Texas to take advantage of the work force we have here -- even the ones that don't do E&P.

    But I think the environmentalists are going to be frustrated with Texas because Texas falls more on the gas-is-a-bridge-fuel side of the climate debate, where California wants to ditch all hydrocarbons now. Texas will do a lot of good for climate change because our LNG export terminals are just now coming on line and we're going to go Donkey Kong shipping all over the world. The low hanging fruit is going to be displacing coal as a fuel, and we'll do a lot of that. California is always going to look much better than us in emissions, but the only people they'll be powering is themselves, and they aren't going to be able to contribute much of anything to reducing emissions in China and India. Maybe it won't be "good enough" to avert climate disaster but it'll probably contribute more on the margin than taking California's carbon footprint from already-good to great.
     
    #2 JuanValdez, Aug 22, 2019
    Buck Turgidson and mick fry like this.
  3. pgabriel

    pgabriel Educated Negro

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    Natural gas is the immediate future and liquified natural gas will help Europe stop enriching Putin
     
    #3 pgabriel, Aug 22, 2019
  4. No Worries

    No Worries Contributing Member

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    Michael E. Webber is a know socialist.
     
    #4 No Worries, Aug 22, 2019
  5. JuanValdez

    JuanValdez Contributing Member

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    Speaking of which, the Chron had an opinion article by Ed Hirs recently that argued that Texas has a "Soviet-style" electricity market. I hesitate to post it because it's so stupid and wrong-headed and counter-factual and I don't want to abet him leading anyone astray. Dude is mad that we don't have capacity auctions to pay generators for sitting around on their asses like they've got in the Northeast.
     
    #5 JuanValdez, Aug 22, 2019
  6. Buck Turgidson

    Buck Turgidson Member

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    Judging by your font and typo, can I assume that this is sarcasm? I know nothing about the author other than his credentials seem legit.
     
    #6 Buck Turgidson, Aug 22, 2019
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