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Getting Down to Business

April 27, 2022 - 05:00
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As we endure an exceptionally dry period in the Hill Country, many of us may have noticed even more effects than usual on the land around us. In my case, I have trees I planted 10 years ago dying…. and they are natives. I also observe decades old trees that have died that were vibrant 20 years ago… and it is not from oak wilt.

In my mind, I can attribute several impacts of the past decade toward weakening them. The severe drought in 2011, the lengthy freeze of February 2021, an untimely freeze in 2022 could possibly be counted as contributors, along with other weather phenomena. However, ultimately, I think we are seeing ourselves as not immune from a worldwide rapidly changing climate.

I have written previously on 2 reports from researchers released by the United Nations as part of the 6th assessment of climate observations since the early 1990’s. The third and final report of this particular assessment has come out. The short of it is that time is closing rapidly to avert the worse effects of a changing climate such that in the next few years, without a drop in carbon emissions, we are locked into an ominously changed world.

We have been warned about rapidly rising seas (note that 90 percent of commerce transportation is by sea which is conducted at ports at the current sea level); killing off of coral reefs (which are supportive for 25 percent of the world’s fish used by developing nations); forests dying off and being cut down (we have seen the bark beetle or drought devastated western forests become incredible firestorms); a changing ocean circulation that regulates temperatures in heavily populated areas of the world, etc.

Can we make changes in a society that has broken into non-compromising camps to conduct a massive change in (primarily) our fossil energy dependence? I fear not if we continue to pigeonhole the climate change challenge as just another partisan matter.

However, as much as my writing can sound like a lamentation, I wish to stir some kind of entrepreneurial zeal that can possibly buy us some time.

What could this look like?

I think we have a partial example in the 1990’s when Texas recognized wind powered electricity as an economic opportunity - not an environmental (read partisan) issue. Do we not have that kind of economic opportunity (and an even greater one) in continuing an energy transformation?

Solar energy in addition to wind is abundant in Texas. We do not need large solar farms in our face which many find objectionable - in light of the large spaces in our state we never see. Plus, we can handle, in many cases, more than (or a very large proportion of) our household energy loads right on our rooftops. Many business rooftops could supply more than their needs and have an energy cashflow.

Consider that our state is chocked full of holes from expired oil/gas drilling that could potentially be used to sequester carbon captured from the air. Carbon sequestration is a new technology that this state could lead in and possibly make use of its extensive pipeline infrastructure in playing a role. This is not to mention the large amount of skill, expertise, financial, and administrative infrastructure in this field already present in this state.

What else could we use all these drilled holes in the earth for? Storing excess wind generated power in the form of compressed air for use in peak demands has been discussed for years. How about a move in this direction? The thermal gradients that exist between the surface and the bottom of deep hole can be explored/ tapped as a geothermal energy resource – another possibility?

I would maintain that we have a mix of easy steps and intriguing opportunities to explore that call on our entrepreneurial zeal and economical interests that this state has always shown an abundance of. I am sure many readers have even more to throw in the mix that would help address my dying trees woes and have much more value than, say, the latest computer game or culture war angst in which to bury our heads.

W Laurence Doxsey, Retired, Former Director of Office of Sustainability for City of San Antonio, former Environmental Officer for US Department of Housing and Urban Development, former Sustainability Officer for City of Austin, resides outside Medina.