Local UT professor and energy expert, Michael Webber presents his take on the February grid failure in Texas as well as his proposed solutions. Among these, Webber suggests diversifying Texas' energy resource mix which relies too heavily on natural gas. According to Webber, natural gas systems rely heavily on electricity systems, and vice versa. The sequence of failures that resulted from this interdependence played a large role in the severity and length of the February disaster. As a fix, Webber suggests developing more geothermal, wind, and solar resources that do not rely on electricity to function. He also notes that coal and nuclear are other options, but does not recommend them due to their own environmental impacts and reliability issues.
Perhaps one of the more important points that Webber raises is how climate science denial impedes Texas regulators and officials from adequately protecting Texans. In his words, "What needs to change is that we need to build climate science into our planning so that we’re not building the infrastructure of tomorrow for yesterday’s weather." This not only includes resource diversification, but also the weatherization of energy supply chains and powerplants, breaking down the grid through distributed energy resources, energy storage, and microgrids, developing interconnections with the Eastern and Western grids, and improving the energy efficiency of Texas homes and businesses.
Michael E. Webber, "Texas’ grid should diversify to reduce interdependencies", contributed by James Adams, The Energy Rights Project, Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography, last modified 5 April 2021, accessed 22 November 2024. https://energyrights.info/content/texas’-grid-should-diversify-reduce-interdependencies
Critical Commentary
Local UT professor and energy expert, Michael Webber presents his take on the February grid failure in Texas as well as his proposed solutions. Among these, Webber suggests diversifying Texas' energy resource mix which relies too heavily on natural gas. According to Webber, natural gas systems rely heavily on electricity systems, and vice versa. The sequence of failures that resulted from this interdependence played a large role in the severity and length of the February disaster. As a fix, Webber suggests developing more geothermal, wind, and solar resources that do not rely on electricity to function. He also notes that coal and nuclear are other options, but does not recommend them due to their own environmental impacts and reliability issues.
Perhaps one of the more important points that Webber raises is how climate science denial impedes Texas regulators and officials from adequately protecting Texans. In his words, "What needs to change is that we need to build climate science into our planning so that we’re not building the infrastructure of tomorrow for yesterday’s weather." This not only includes resource diversification, but also the weatherization of energy supply chains and powerplants, breaking down the grid through distributed energy resources, energy storage, and microgrids, developing interconnections with the Eastern and Western grids, and improving the energy efficiency of Texas homes and businesses.