Energy@UT News

Bureau of Economic Geology: Ken Wisian spoke with Houston Public Media about how new drilling technology could enable geothermal energy to be deployed almost anywhere, massively increasing its potential to contribute to rapid decarbonization.  

Cockrell School of Engineering: Michael Webber was quoted by The New York Times about how important copper is for batteries in electric vehicles, wind turbines, solar panels, transmission lines, and even nuclear power plants. Read more about how a dramatic increase in demand for copper and other critical minerals has led to new conflicts over land use, as when a copper mine project in Arizona was proposed for land that tribal groups consider sacred. 

Jackson School of Geosciences: Don Blankenship was quoted by the Washington Post about scientists’ interest in predicting the impact of ocean warming on a vast oceanfront glacier in Antarctica. Read more about how data collected years earlier by tracking a curious seal’s movements led scientists working today to signs that changes to the Denman glacier could threaten coastlines significantly more than was previously expected. 

Energy Institute: David Tuttle spoke with KXAN and explained how distributed energy resources, when combined, could produce a meaningful amount of electricity, acting as a virtual power plant. Read more about the new pilot project in Texas. 

LBJ School of Public Affairs: Martin J. Luby was quoted by the Wall Street Journal about how Americans will likely be paying for storm recovery costs for decades to come, as utilities pass those costs on to consumers in the form of increased utility bills. 

Department of Physics | Institute for Fusion Studies: Francois Waelbroeck spoke with the Houston Chronicle about the cost of fusion technology in an article about the fusion breakthrough and the long path to technology development. Waelbroeck also spoke with the Texas Standard about what this discovery means for the future of energy. 

Webber Energy Group | Energy Institute: Joshua Rhodes and David Tuttle provided context for a recent study that quantified the percentage of current electricity generation that would be needed to electrify US road vehicle fleets. Read their comments in the S&P Global Commodity Insights report, “Megawatt Daily.”  

Cockrell School of Engineering: Michael Webber spoke with the Texas Tribune about the Texas electric grid and how the system was primarily designed for reliability during the hot summers, which presents issues for cold winters. 

Energy Institute: Brian Korgel wrote a letter to the editors of The New York Times in response to an opinion piece about a recent report from a U.S. House of Representatives investigation into the climate policies of major oil companies. 

Webber Energy Group | Energy Institute: Joshua Rhodes and Carey King discussed the factors expected to lead to an increase in the cost of heating American homes with natural gas this winter. Read the KVUE news story.   

Energy Institute: David Tuttle spoke with the Houston Chronicle about several reasons for increased electricity rates for Texas consumers. Read more about how Texas’ power grid stayed on despite ERCOT underestimating electricity demand in December 2022. 

Energy Institute: Jorge Piñon was quoted by Univision about Cuba’s energy emergency and the country’s broken electricity power system.  

Cockrell School of Engineering | Webber Energy Group: Joshua Rhodes spoke with KXAN about what fusion energy is and what it could mean for clean energy and our future. 

Energy Institute: Carey King was a guest on a podcast about the connections between energy consumption, economic output, and political polarization in the context of American history. Listen to the Fulcrum podcast here. 

Cockrell School of Engineering: Michael Webber was quoted by the Houston Chronicle about battery storage in Texas and the price swings of the technology that impact investor interest. 

McCombs School of Business | Department of Finance: Ehud Ronn spoke with MarketScale about his projections for oil and natural gas compared to renewables in 2050. 

Cockrell School of Engineering | Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering: Eric Van Oort and Jon Olson spoke to the Austin Chronicle about offering sustainability and data science coursework and the introduction of the sustainable energy minor to UT’s petroleum engineering program in light of a nationwide decline in petroleum engineering graduates. 

Cockrell School of Engineering: Michael Webber was quoted by the Houston Chronicle comparing the market share of coal and renewables considering the wind and solar energy boom. 

Cockrell School of Engineering | Webber Energy Group: Joshua Rhodes discussed potential effects of changes to the electricity market design in Texas with E&E News.