Rubber is a critical component of the modern world. From tires in cars and airplanes, to gaskets and seals, to sneaker treads, the material has technical characteristics which make it exceptionally helpful to the global standard of living. However, the 30 million tons needed annually put strain on the natural environment because the product is without a technically equivalent and scalable substitute today. However, there are innovations driving down the impact of this materia

Healthcare is essential for human well-being, but it exerts significant environmental pressures that contribute to climate change, pollution, and resource depletion. These impacts arise from energy-intensive operations, supply chains, waste generation, and pharmaceuticals. The sector accounts for about 5% of global emissions, and 10% in some developed nations. This footprint exacerbates global challenges and indirectly harms public health, leading to an estimated loss of 388,

The Trinity River flows through the center of the City of Dallas and divides the downtown center from West Dallas, with the riverbanks providing little connection to the greenery, except for a few walking paths and trails. The infrastructure serves to transport vehicles across the river, and it's not built as a place to stay and engage the natural environment. However, that is changing with the Harold Simmons Park Project which broke ground in spring 2025 and is set to be com

In February 2021, Texas and the ERCOT grid were hit with Winter Storm Uri which brought severe freezing temperatures and substantial precipitation, including rain, sleet, snow and ice, and now Texas has passed through another deep freeze this weekend. In 2021, temperatures plunged to -2°F in some areas and killed at least 246 Texans. Electric grid infrastructure was not prepared for an event of this magnitude and length. 75% of the disruptions to service were caused by unplan

Our January 6 th article discussed the nature of price declines of emerging energy technologies. After a technology advances out of the initial stages, the theory of experience curves breaks down, and the technology becomes commoditized. The most recent Levelized Cost of Energy analysis from Lazard, demonstrates consistent early-stage declines in solar PV prices, followed by overall stability within a constrained range over the last 10 years.   Solar PV pricing history shows

A core challenge of EV adoption is the roll-out of public EV charging infrastructure. To jolt adoption, it’s critical that the process and system of charging is as similar to regular fueling as possible. By siting EV charging infrastructure at existing gas stations, the public is more likely to view ICE and EV vehicles as substitutes.   A gas-diesel-electricity fueling station model fits neatly into the public’s mindset about transportation. Monument pricing on the corner sho

The pace of the cost decline in the solar PV industry isn’t random. It tracks with a known pattern called an experience curve. An experience curve plots the per-unit cost of power against the total installed capacity. The amount of cost decline for every doubling of capacity, is called the learning rate, and it demonstrates how efficiently an industry makes progress in reducing prices. For example, between 1980 and 2003, the cost per watt of solar PV fell 18% with each doubli

In one of the US Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) most interesting articles of 2025, they publish that every US state from 2005 to 2023, had a decline in energy-sector carbon emissions per capita. The total weight fell by 20%, and when considering the 14% increase in population, they fell by 30% per capita. The reduction is attributed to emissions reductions in the electricity sector, specifically from switching from coal to natural gas generation, and additions of s

Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) offer a promising solution for clean, reliable baseload power amid rising electricity demand. We had the chance to speak with Ron Marinzel from X-energy on their XE-100 reactor, at Reuters Energy LIVE in Houston, TX. Key innovations include its passive safety design—relying solely on natural forces for shutdown—and TRISO fuel, featuring robust ceramic coatings that contain fission products and enable higher operating temperatures. TX Energy Buyer

Digital twins are transforming oil and gas operations by optimizing assets, reducing emissions, and enabling carbon capture and storage (CCS). We spoke with Nathan Leonard of Kongsberg Digital at Reuters Energy LIVE in Houston, TX, to discuss the opportunities and challenges. TX Energy Buyers: Easily Compare 100+ energy providers to get your best rate: ⁠⁠⁠ https://go.comparepower.com/orgel⁠⁠⁠ Follow ORGEL across multiple platforms: ⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠ www.ORGEL.u

The 1973 oil crisis started a paradigm shift in the US regarding oil’s importance. Energy independence and security reemerged as critical goals of the country. To deal with the geopolitical issue and achieve energy independence, the US passed the Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards (CAFE) under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act. Feasibility studies are conducted by the NHTSA to determine the thresholds for CAFE standards, which require auto manufacturers to incremen

Natural gas has greater energy density and lower impact to the atmosphere compared to legacy fossil fuels like coal or liquid petroleum. The adoption of natural gas has helped to displace them as its cost has dropped due to the shale gas revolution that began in the Barnett Shale deposits near Ft. Worth, TX. Regarding its place in the energy system, natural gas appears to be a stepping-stone to ideal systems with even less impact. Environmental impacts occur in the extraction

Direct Air Capture, or “DAC”, is a technology that reduces the carbon dioxide concentration of the atmosphere. DAC works by pulling outdoor air into filtration machinery that chemically captures CO2 by combining it with a solvent, in one process, or physically trapping it with particle filters, in another process. In both, the captured CO2 is then heated and released in a concentrated form that can be sequestered into a permanent destination. The development, scale, and cost

Many of the improvements to sustainability originate as advancements in STEM. New techniques, materials, designs, and processes offer better efficiency and less waste, helping to reduce environmental impacts, especially when those concepts are integrated across the economy to a substantial degree. The significant upside from a massive push of STEM education will come with new challenges as well though.   With sufficient advancement and complexity, scientific fields divide, re

The condition enabling industrialized society to improve environmental conditions is economic wealth. For businesses, having resources and capital makes it possible to research, develop, and deploy sustainable technologies. It’s wealth that enables businesses to scale, leading to price reductions and widespread adoption. Even regulatory compliance requires that the regulated party is sufficiently wealthy. Municipalities depend upon the wealth of taxpayers to support shared sy

Today’s corporate sustainability marketing is unfocused and wide-ranging, a situation that can be traced to the comprehensive format of reporting schemes. They cover nearly every sustainability topic, regardless of industry, greatly reducing each corporation’s focus on the environmental impact of its core product or service. Meeting the current disclosure burden requires most of a sustainability program’s bandwidth, ensnares multiple teams in the disclosure cycle, and produce

The primary goal of the sustainability industry today is to prevent GHG emissions from entering the atmosphere, with a goal of equal additions and removals, a concept called “net-zero.” Efforts to date have been one direction - to restrict, stop, and mitigate emissions. It’s all one direction. On the day net-zero is achieved though, society enters a new paradigm where removals are not the endless mission, and “climate control” is the goal. The world will hold legacy emissions

The sustainability story of the first year of the Trump administration has been the substantial reduction of agency personnel and federal funding. This shift has forced the industry to open its mind to new pathways to sustainability solutions, without the presence of agency support or federal funding sources. The industry is taking on a new shape as its capital and human talent migrates from public institutions to corporate efforts.   Above the market dynamics at play, a key