Research Library

Experts in energy and economics explore how Texas can improve the reliability of electricity service in ERCOT, the state’s grid operator.

Electricity demand in Texas is evolving, posing major challenges for grid reliability. Center for Energy Studies experts lay out ways ERCOT, Texas’ grid operator, can enhance reliability and resource adequacy.

Baker Institute Rice faculty scholar Luz M. Garcini and co-authors analyze existing research on the compounded stressors and health risks faced by undocumented Latino older adults in the United States. Using a Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) lens, they examine the environments, conditions, and social structures that influence health risks, and provide policy and advocacy recommendations to address the issues.

Do remittances — the money sent home by migrants working abroad — drive economic growth? Research scholar Jose Ivan Rodriguez-Sanchez explores their impact Mexico's economy and argues that Mexico needs a more robust economic strategy for sustained growth.

This report takes a deep dive into how expanding the scope of the nonimmigrant TN Visa — available only to Mexican and Canadian citizens — could help solve the U.S. labor shortage. In a political climate where full-scale immigration reform seems impossible, more temporary work visas can help bridge the labor gap.

Child labor laws are failing migrant children. As children from Latin America migrate to the United States in record numbers, many are ending up in dangerous jobs that violate child labor legislation. What steps are needed to ensure that vulnerable migrant children are protected from exploitation?

As global energy markets continue their inexorable transition to a lower GHG future, sources of energy supply that are competitive, accessible, and environmentally favorable will thrive. This is exactly where U.S. natural gas can find its comparative advantage.

As greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise across the U.S., policymakers are looking to expand low carbon energy options — notably hydrogen. On this episode, Ken Medlock, director of the Center for Energy Studies, discusses the potential for Texas to become a hydrogen hub. 

Texas is in a very advantageous position to play a leading role in driving hydrogen market growth, but the evolution of policy and market structure will dictate whether or not this comes to pass.

This conference report summarizes the key takeaways of the 2022 Houston Energy Dialogues, where experts convened to discuss Houston’s potential to become a low-carbon hub, the role of gas in the global energy transition, energy market resilience and more.