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Some real Bad News For Houston in the NYTimes opinion section today 1/ https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/12/opinion/solar-wind-natural-gas-climate-change.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage
The big threat isn't the fact that the authors are calling for energy companies to actively quit natural gas and stop building new plants. It's that they won't have to. The market is already adjusting. 2/
Renewables and energy storage are often cheaper than natural gas, particularly utility-scale solar and onshore wind 3/ https://www.lazard.com/perspective/levelized-cost-of-energy-and-levelized-cost-of-storage-2020/
Investors in Mid-Atlantic/Northeast and Texas markets aren't pouring as much money into new natural gas projects. Instead they're shifting to renewables. 4/ https://rmi.org/clean-energy-is-canceling-gas-plants/
At the rate things are going, defending natural gas is going mean defending more expensive energy production and higher bills for consumers. Of course, some legislators don't seem to mind people paying more money to bail out oil and gas. 5/ https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/Texas-bill-would-tax-wind-solar-generation-but-15719128.php
And even ignoring competition from renewables, the changing consumption patterns and increased efficiency (and also COVID) all pose a threat to profits for anyone trying to make money from energy production 6/ https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/Covid-19-power-demand-drop-raises-concerns-on-15697998.php
Meanwhile, the oil and gas industry sees where things are going and firms are starting to diversify. 7/ https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/New-Baker-Hughes-partnership-seeks-to-diversify-15721898.php
And trying to find ways to compete in a low-carbon economy future 8/ https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/Baker-Hughes-to-acquire-carbon-capture-company-15697306.php
Because clearly the status quo isn't working 9/ https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/Baker-Hughes-loses-170-million-in-third-quarter-15663731.php?source=nlp
The market simply isn't there anymore 10/ https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-oil-refinery-shutdowns-factbox/factbox-oil-refiners-shut-plants-as-demand-losses-may-never-return-idUSKBN27R0AI
But while the oil and gas industry faces this changing reality, too many politicians continue to live in a fantasy land — and want the rest of us to play pretend along with them 11/ https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/columnists/tomlinson/article/Crenshaw-wrong-on-wind-solar-energy-but-he-s-15626386.php
Oil and gas isn't going away anytime soon. But transitioning from a growth industry to a legacy industry means less capital, fewer entrepreneurs, and a shrinking job market. And that's Bad News For Houston. End/ https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/texas-inc/article/Daniel-Yergin-on-peak-oil-an-industry-rebound-15676645.php
