Research Library

The war in Ukraine could severely disrupt exports of Russian gas to Europe. Energy fellows Steven Miles and Gabriel Collins explain how existing LNG floating storage vessels can provide a concrete, rapidly implementable gas supply solution until longer-term infrastructure investments are in place.

Gabriel Collins, the Baker Botts Fellow in Energy & Environmental Regulatory Affairs, testified before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission during a hearing on China's energy plans and practices. In his written testimony, Collins focuses on China’s interests in fossil energy resources and how they affect its energy procurement infrastructure. He also examines the extent to which China's energy import dependence has shaped the development of its military capabilities.

The authors write that enormous volumes of “energy transition waste” — waste from wind turbines, solar panels, lithium-ion batteries, etc. — are anticipated in the coming decades. To cope with this waste and ensure a sustainable energy transition, they call for more data, planning and coordination across the entire global supply chain, in addition to waste management and recycling policies that align with environmental and sustainability goals.

The authors conduct a step-by-step examination of various factors that were blamed for the extended power outage on the ERCOT electricity grid in February 2021. While no single factor fully explains the calamity, the bureaucratic failure in identifying and addressing risks along fuel supply chains was a major failure. Most proposed remedies do not fundamentally address what occurred. The authors make several recommendations, some of which have already been implemented.

The authors take a realistic look at what's needed for the global energy transition to succeed and warn that moving away from fossil fuels too quickly could backfire — stranding climate progress in the so-called “valley of death.”

Many climate policy approaches place a disproportionate burden on lower-income families, writes fellow Mark Finley. Political leaders have started to recognize that climate policy must approach fossil fuels and energy transition as an “AND”, not an “either/or”, and that the distributional impact of policy must also be addressed. Read more on the Baker Institute Blog. This post originally appeared in the Forbes blog on January 26, 2022.

Recycling solar panels is an expensive, complicated and energy-intensive process, writes energy fellow Rachel Meidl. But with cumulative solar waste projections expected to rise globally over the next few decades, she argues that it is vital to design a more circular and sustainable management system for end-of-life panels.

By subsidizing only electric vehicles and EV batteries produced by union labor in the U.S., the auto industry could face trouble in valuable trade partnerships with Canada and Mexico, writes fellow David Gantz.

A lignite mine on the border of Poland and the Czech Republic is caught between global environmental and local economic concerns. For COP26 to make headway on climate action, the authors write, it must consider the local implications while proposing solutions.