Using less and saving more through ingenuity and efficiency.
There are thousands of oil & gas wells in Texas that tap into the earth’s supply of hot water, some of it a boiling hot 250 F. There are modern, high tech steam engines that could use the water to make electricity. There was a federally-funded experimental power plant that proved the technology could work […]
While Texas leads the nation in the production of oil, natural gas and wind energy, the sunny state is lagging a little in the solar energy race. Texas comes seventh in installed solar, but ranks first in potential for solar energy. Several new developments in the state’s energy industry may begin to change that. If […]
Located just one county north of geographic center of Texas, Brownwood, population 20,000, might seem an unlikely place for high tech innovation. But about a year ago the town made headlines for proposing a cutting-edge solution to its water crisis: toilet to tap waste water treatment. The future of that project remains unclear as the […]
In the five years since Hurricane Ike knocked out power in most of metropolitan Houston, the city now has more high-tech power poles and fewer trees in power line rights-of-way. But there’s no real assurance of a better outcome the next time a big storm hits. “If you get another direct hit from a large […]
Texas leads the nation in wind energy production and capacity. Now the federal government is getting in on the action in an effort to clean up its carbon-emitting act. The Department of Energy announced this week that Texas will be the home of the country’s largest federally-owned wind farm. The farm will be built at the […]
It would be easy to mistake the small, translucent, object in Kyle Knust’s hand as just another cheap piece of plastic. With dozens more scattered around his section of a buzzing graduate assistant’s lab at the University of Texas, the thumbnail-sized chips don’t appear to be worth much. And that’s because they’re not. At 50 […]
It’s a sweltering Texas summer day in late June, and here at the Circuit of the Americas Formula 1 race track in Austin, the stands are empty. Just last fall, they were filled with fans witnessing the deafening roar of cars going upward of 200 miles an hour. But if you were to listen closely […]
Scientists are again trying to find oil and gas deposits by looking for them at the surface,this time with sophisticated satellite and digital technology.
Or Even Prevent Your Next Cold This year, students at Rice University in Houston developed a shoe that can charge a battery—and may someday be able to recharge cell phones and pacemakers. At Rice and other universities, electronic clothing (aka “smart clothes”) is being developed that has the potential to change how people monitor their […]
A Conversation with Kate Galbraith and Asher Price Texas is the oil and gas capitol of the country, with more rigs than any other state. With all that fossil fuel comes other industries, like refining and manufacturing, which also means Texas is the biggest polluter in the country. But in a surprising twist, the state […]
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