Climate change in Texas

As of February 2020, Texas's energy mix includes 18,705 MWh Natural Gas, 4,823 MWhs Coal, 3,548 MWhs Nuclear and 8,317 MWhs renewables.[9] Half of energy consumed in the state is from refineries and petrochemical plants. [9]

Texas oilfield account for 41% of crude oil production, 25% of natural gas, and 31% of refining capacity.[3] Texas is also the largest Lignite producer in the United States.[10] An April 2020 statement by a representative of the Texas Oil and Gas Association leadership expressed a commitment to reducing emissions through low carbon technologies.[11]

In some parts of the state, precipitation will fall. The amount of precipitation on extremely wet or snowy days in winter is likely to decrease, and the amount of precipitation on extremely wet days in summer is likely to increase.[1] Rainstorms are expected to become more extreme, causing localized flooding.[1]t is not clear how severe storms such as hurricanes would change.[1]

The frequency of extremely hot days in summer would increase because of the general warming trend.[1] Many arid climates in Texas will likely enter desertification or lose its productivity for activities like livestock.[1]

Sea level is rapidly rising, estimated 2-5 feet, on many parts of the Texas coast, due to both sinking land from groundwater extraction and climate change.[1] These changes plus more extreme hurricanes and other coastal storms, mean that the state's coastal infrastructure, including public infrastructure like roads, fossil fuel infrastructure such as refineries, and housing.[1]

Several major river basins lie partly or entirely within Texas. Unless increased temperatures are coupled with a strong increase in rainfall, water could become more scarce. A warmer and drier climate would lead to greater evaporation, and less water for recharging groundwater aquifers, especially in Western texas where aquifers are already under significant pressure.[1] In some parts of the state, increased rainfall could mitigate these effects, but also could contribute to localized flooding. Additionally, climate change could give rise to more frequent and intense rainfall, resulting in flash flooding.[1]

Satellite image showing wind whipped smoke and dust from wildfires blowing southeast across Texas.

Texas has the following Clean Cities coalitions:

• Alamo Area Clean Cities[13]
• Loan Star Clean Fuels Alliance (Central Texas)[14]
• Dallas-Fort Worth Clean Cities[15]
• Greater Houston Clean Cities[16]

Georgetown, Texas is powered 100% by renewable energy.[10]

The renewable energy industry is rapidly growing in the state. The state has high potential for both solar and wind, with high complementarity, where wind peaks when solar bottoms out and vice versa. This means that the states grid will be better able to handle the inconsistency of renewable.[10] However, full access to that resource requires rebuilding the power grid.[10]

During the COVID 19 pandemic and 2020 Russia–Saudi Arabia oil price war, green energy companies actively hired fossil fuel workers lost form the industry.[17]

The wind farms in Texas are spread over 40 projects and had a total installed nameplate capacity of 25,629 megawatts as of the second quarter of 2019.[18][19] If Texas were a country, it would rank fifth in the world[18] behind only China, the United States, Germany, and India. As of the third quarter of 2013, Texas produced the most wind power of any U.S. state.[18][20] According to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), wind power accounted for at least 15.7 percent of the electricity generated in Texas during 2017. Wind power accounted for 17.4 percent of the electricity managed by ERCOT.[21][22] ERCOT set a new wind output record of nearly 19.7 gigawatts at 7:19 pm Central Standard Time on January 21, 2019.[23]

The Texas Emissions Reduction Plan (TERP) provides grants for alternative fuel and advanced technology demonstration and infrastructure projects. Under TERP, the New Technology Research and Development Program provides incentives to encourage and support research, development, and commercialization of technologies that reduce pollution in Texas. The NTRD Program is administered by the Texas Environmental Research Consortium, with support from the Houston Advanced Research Center.

The Texas State Energy Conservation Office researches and assists public and private entities in securing grants to encourage the use of alternative fuels. This includes the use of hybrid electric vehicles and the conversion of state and local government fleets to operate on compressed natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, hydrogen, biodiesel, and bioethanol.