Experts in the News

Demand is strong for entry-level workers to build out renewable energy projects in Texas, where more wind and solar capacity is expected to be added to the grid in the coming months and years than anywhere else in the country, said Ken Medlock, senior director of the Center for Energy Studies.  Medlock is the James A. Baker, III, and Susan G. Baker Fellow in Energy and Resource Economics.

“I’d say this announcement by ExxonMobil is massive in the carbon capture space,” said Ken Medlock, the senior director of the Center for Energy Studies. He added that a major outcome of the establishment of this hub would be the reduction of barriers to entry for other carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects.

Ken Medlock, senior director of the Center for Energy Studies, explored the causes of last month's power grid collapse — and whether knowledge gained after a similar cold snap in 2011 could have prevented the disaster.  Medlock is the James A. Baker, III, and Susan G. Baker Fellow in Energy and Resource Economics.

The idea of cleaner sources of energy sounds great, unless you are one of the workers who has lost your job in the industry transition. “It is critical that, to the extent policy is going to take steps to make sure the energy system is cleaner and greener as we move forward, it addresses the people who are potentially left behind,” said Ken Medlock, senior director of the Center for Energy Studies. “Nobody wants to lack an opportunity because they spent their time learning how to do something that is being displaced.”

As demand for oil and gas falls and world leaders and businesses pledge to fight climate change, it is possible that major oil industry players could come up with new uses for carbon dioxide, like strengthening concrete or making carbon fiber, which could replace steel and other materials. If they can "crack those nuts, the entire discussion about hydrocarbons changes,” said Ken Medlock, senior director at the Center for Energy Studies. “That kind of change is slow until it’s not. Think about wind and solar, which were slow until they weren’t.” Medlock is the James A. Baker, III, and Susan G. Baker Fellow in Energy and Resource Economics.