Energy industry can spur sustainable future

The city of Houston released its climate action plan last week amid calls to make Houston the sustainable energy capital of the world. This may seem far-fetched to those that see not just the city but the entire Gulf Coast and state as simply a large emitter of greenhouse gases, but that’s exactly why the region must play a critical role in driving the energy transformation. We already have many of the pieces in place.

Yes, it will be hard. No single fuel, technology or magical thinking will make it happen overnight. It is not a generational issue, and it should not be a partisan issue. It is about all of us having the necessary will and committing to real solutions.

In fact, getting to zero carbon will require letting go of the popular idea that fossil fuels and the legacy energy industry are to blame and cannot be part of the solution. It’s essential that these companies instead invest and lead.

The industry has the scale, the technological and leadership capacity to forge the public-private partnerships with communities and academia that will be required to transform all sectors of the energy industry, from oil and gas to petrochemicals and electric power. The Houston area is headquarters to many of the world’s leading energy companies, and when you count the refining and petrochemical plants along the Gulf Coast, we are the leading producer and consumer of energy in the United States — and the leading exporter to other states.

So what needs to happen to get us to a sustainable future? I see five major opportunities: • Carbon management is at the top of the list. We must attack emissions of both carbon dioxide and methane by improving energy efficiency — more efficient systems will lower the overall amount of fuel used, thereby minimizing emissions — and by using advanced technologies to capture the emissions that do occur. Those emissions can be converted to useful products or safely and permanently stored. The National Petroleum Council last year issued a report suggesting a path to making this economically and environmentally sustainable. Hydrocarbons make up 85 percent of the world’s energy sources and will not vanish overnight. We have to invest in technologies to capture and reuse carbon emissions now.

• Hydrogen receives much global attention, and the fossil fuel industries in and around Houston produce and use more hydrogen than anywhere in the world. Pipelines and other hydrogen infrastructure here can be expanded, allowing for greater use of hydrogen as a carbon-free fuel and energy carrier. Transformation in the form of fuel cells will lower the transportation emissions that make up the majority of carbon emissions today.

• Integrating renewables into the electric grid is essential to controlling emissions. Texas produces more wind power than all but four countries, and solar capacity is expanding rapidly. Yet we still burn more coal and natural gas to generate electric power than any other state. Our growing population and our energyintensive manufacturing sector demand affordable energy that is reliable 24/7. We need to use all energy sources, taking advantage of the lower cost of renewables but mindful of the reliability provided by fossil fuels. This means investing in advanced grid management, energy storage, advanced emission controls and efficiency.

• Petrochemicals and plastics reuse and recycling is receiving greater global attention, as well. That’s not just about emissions but about the impact of plastic waste on rivers, oceans and other waterways. Houston can lead here through efforts ranging from engineering more earthfriendly plastics — some of which may be produced from plants, rather than fossil fuels — and pioneering the recycle and reuse of plastics.

• None of these things will happen without workforce training to ensure workers have the skills in digitalization, computational proficiency and a basic understanding of STEM skills. Expanding education for the regional workforce is critical and will involve not just traditional classroom learning but remote learning and in-field experiential learning.

We are often told not to waste a good crisis, and this one provides an opportunity to jumpstart the re-invention of Houston as we get our economy back on track and generate employment and investment. We offer a fertile field in which to catalyze the energy transformation.

Much of that work has begun in partnerships between energy and the University of Houston and other research institutions. The difficulty will be making the smart investments and policy decisions as the nation emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic. We have to walk the talk.