UH survey: Majority back solar energy expansion

The majority of Texans support expanding the country’s reliance on solar energy and other alternative power sources, according to a survey by the University of Houston’s Hobby School of Public Affairs.

The survey found that 64 percent of Texans favor expanding U.S. reliance on solar power plants, 59 percent favor reliance on geothermal plants and 57 percent favor reliance on wind turbine farms.

“Texas has an established energy legacy – it leads the nation in both energy production and consumption,” Renée Cross, senior executive director and researcher at the Hobby School, said in a statement. “But we are part of the energy transition and a majority of Texans across-theboard – across partisan lines – are supporting alternate energy sources.”

The survey found that 42 percent of Texans favor increasing reliance on nuclear power plants and natural gas-fired power plants. And the majority of the 41 percent who preferred expanding onshore conventional oil and gas came from Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation (those born after the Greatest Generation and before the Boomers).

However, there was a “noteworthy increase” of between 8 percent and 11 percent in the proportion of Texans who favor expanding offshore oil and gas wells, fracking and coal, Mark P. Jones, senior research fellow at the Hobby School, said in a statement. The online survey polled 1,200 Texans who were 18 and older about legislation to be considered during the 2023 legislative session. It was conducted between Jan. 9 and Jan. 19 in English and Spanish. The margin of error is 2.8 percentage points.