Research Library

Even before the high heat of summer, the Texas power grid is struggling — but the lessons for adapting future energy plans amid climate change apply globally, writes faculty scholar Daniel Cohan, and a better connected grid with cleaner energy is critical. Read his commentary in The Hill.

How can a U.S. response help Europe if Russian gas cuts off energy supplies of more countries following Poland and Bulgaria? The authors explain why currently, more drastic actions by the U.S. could prove counterproductive, unnecessary and harmful to U.S. trade policy. Read the post on the Baker Institute Blog.  This article originally appeared in the Forbes blog on May 2, 2022.

"With the pressures of climate change and the urgency to incorporate alternative energy resources like wind and solar, the fixation on the purported benefits of energy transition technologies overshadows the glaring reality — an absence of strategy around identifying and quantifying other life cycle externalities, such as waste disposal or environmental impacts," write fellow Rachel Meidl and research assistant Mathilde Saada. Read more on the Baker Institute Blog.

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.

This year's Nobel Prize in Physics broadens the traditionally defined scope of the discipline, writes Kenneth Evans, demonstrating how discoveries in physics play a crucial role in addressing global issues like climate change.

In the push for decarbonization, "turquoise" hydrogen offers a unique, commercially viable technology that reduces CO2 emissions, argue Rachel A. Meidl and Kenneth B. Medlock III.

Circular processes cannot solve the sustainability problem, but critically implementing circularity with system-level thinking can help to urgently adopt a more resilient, regenerative model for avoiding resource scarcity while fostering economic growth, argues a Forbes piece co-authored by Rachel Meidl.

Amid recent disputes on oil trade, "fractious Saudi-UAE relations are ... better understood as a return to the pre-2015 status quo than a unique diplomatic breach," write Jim Krane and Kristian Coates Ulrichsen.

Baker Institute Rice Faculty Scholar and University Professor Moshe Vardi analyzes three recent crises — the 2021 winter storm in Texas, the COVID-19 pandemic and the Boeing 737 Max software failure — that highlight the cost of valuing efficiency over resilience and provide lessons for bringing society into balance.

Energy experts suggest a few market design remedies to improve weatherization incentives following the deadly Texas freeze in 2021.