Business Insight Zone

My college classmate Michael Webber is now on the faculty of our alma mater, and he’s been writing up a storm over the past few years in support of innovative ideas for the energy future of Texas, the United States, and the world.

In this Texas Monthly article (free registration required), Michael lays out several pro-business, pro-environment, non-Flash-Gordon-esque ideas that could move Texas away from its position as the country’s top contributor to global warming, and make it instead “the leader in reducing air pollution and greenhouse gases.”

Green Star State

What I like so much about the article is that Michael has focused on non-partisan approaches that would use limited government activity (sometimes simply in the form of getting out of the way) to open the door for waves of entrepreneurship — something that Texas has always had in spades, and especially in the energy sector. One passage makes this point especially well:

Contrary to the fears of some politicians, our incipient greenness has not been bad for business. The clean-technology sectors are booming, creating jobs and revenues in many locations that needed them badly. But we’ve barely begun. Texas used its natural gifts to become the leader of the world’s energy industry, and we can once again use them to lead the green energy revolution. Just as we were blessed with the nation’s greatest allocation of oil and gas, we have also been graced with the nation’s greatest collection of renewable resources. Arizona and Nevada have the most sun, the Dakotas have the most wind, and Iowa is the most prominent supplier of corn ethanol. But Texas has the most combined wind, solar, and biomass sources of any state. We can make a lot of money putting these resources and other clean energy capabilities to work.

The piece goes on to give details on everything from underground carbon sequestration to algae-based biofuels. If you have any interest — even a purely commercial, non-environmental interest — in the future of alternative energy, it’s well worth a read.

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Photo by cjc4454, used under a CC-Share Alike license.

Category: Green & Clean, Technology