UH Energy Perspectives
August 25, 2026
As U.S. Electricity Demand Rises, How Can the Grid Keep Up? Insights from Texas
The United States is going through a fundamental shift in how electricity is produced, delivered and consumed in the country. At the same time, rapid data center development and industrial growth and electrification are pushing electricity demand up at a time when the existing national power system is already under pressure.
July 24, 2026
Future of the Electric Grid and the Growth of Large Loads in Texas
The Texas grid has long served large industrial loads like refineries, petrochemical facilities, manufacturing plants, ports, LNG terminals, and other energy-intensive industries. What is different about the ongoing, unprecedented development of data centers and hyperscalers in the state is the scale, speed, and geographical concentration of the projected electricity and resource demand. Data centers are emerging in clusters, seeking significant power, and doing so on timelines that are much faster than the timelines required to typically build the generation, transmission, natural gas delivery infrastructure, and water systems required to serve them.
June 8, 2026
What is Driving Our Increasing Electricity Bills: Is it Market Structure, Fuel Costs, or Grid Infrastructure?
Residential electricity prices have increased by about 30% over the last five years across the United States, outpacing inflation. This raises the question of what is driving this increase? Is it changes in fuel costs, differences in market structures across the country, weatherization investments for an aging grid, or new large loads like data centers and AI hubs? We focus on the first two in this Perspective.
June 3, 2026
Who Bears the Burden? The Socioeconomic Determinants of Household Energy Insecurity
The new Residential Energy Consumption Survey’s (RECS) finding that one in three American households experienced energy insecurity in 2024 is striking on its own. However, the national average hides the more important and unsurprising story: energy insecurity is not randomly distributed. It is concentrated where income, housing, race, geography, and limited access to energy assistance already leave households with the least margin.
June 1, 2026
Where is Energy Insecurity Concentrated in the United States?
New data from the Energy Information Administration's Residential Energy Consumption Survey highlights that one in three American households could not reliably afford electricity in 2024. Household energy insecurity is best understood not only through difficulty in paying electricity bills, but also through the tradeoffs households are forced to make. For some, these tradeoffs to keep the lights on range from choosing not to keep their homes at a safe temperature to foregoing food and medicines to pay their electricity bill. In 2024, almost 44 million households reported experiencing at least some form of energy insecurity, while 33 million reduced or went without food or medicine to cover their electricity bills.
April 23, 2026
Climate Tort Litigation Finally Reaches the Supreme Court — Again
On February 23, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in Suncor Energy Inc. v. County Commissioners of Boulder County. This case poses a sweeping question arising from literally decades of litigation: does federal law preclude state-law claims that seek relief for injuries allegedly caused by the global climate effects of interstate and international greenhouse gas emissions? A ruling on the merits could reshape or even eliminate dozens of pending climate tort lawsuits filed by cities, counties, and states across the country. But then the Court surprised observers by adding a second question of its own: whether it even has jurisdiction to hear the case at all.
March 12, 2026
Speed-to-Power: Solving the Infrastructure Mismatch for Texas’s AI Boom
Texas is witnessing an unprecedented growth in the number of massive AI-driven data centers across the state. So much so that according to recent reports, Texas is set to become the data center capital of the world by 2030. Across the state, data centers are being planned and constructed at extraordinary speed, often in as little as 18 to 24 months. Accompanying that is the race to get them connected to the existing power grid: by late 2025 ERCOT received 230 gigawatts of large-load interconnection requests, driven mainly by data centers.
February 27, 2026
The Grid Had Many Winners During January’s Winter Weather Event, but This Was Not an Extreme Stress Test
The Texas electric grid withstood the late-January cold spell without any major disruption. Relief around not experiencing a repeat of the February 2021 winter storm Uri was followed by a familiar narrative: speculating on what saved the system. Some declared grid-scale batteries as the winner, while others picked natural gas, or baseload coal and nuclear. However, the data point to a more nuanced reality.
February 24, 2026
Winter Storm Uri, Five Years Later: Why Texans Who Suffered Most Now Trust the System Least
Five years ago this month, Winter Storm Uri killed 246 Texans and caused up to $195 billion in damage. For days in February 2021, 4.5 million homes lost power as temperatures plunged. As we mark this grim anniversary, Texas's grid remains vulnerable, and the fundamental reforms needed to ensure reliability have stalled.
February 17, 2026
Our Approach to Plastic Waste is Broken. How Do We Fix It?
Imagine grabbing a bottle of water before a flight from California to Washington. You finish it mid-air, recycle it when you land, and assume it will enter a familiar recycling system. But in the United States, that is rarely the case. The fate of the plastic bottle, whether it becomes a new one, ends up in a landfill, or is incinerated, depends entirely on where your plane lands.
February 16, 2026
A New Chapter for Geothermal Energy and Texas’s Chance to Lead Energy Innovation
When it comes to energy, Texas has seen it all: from being at the forefront of the conventional and then unconventional oil and gas eras to leading the nation in wind and now solar deployment. Now, as U.S. electricity demand begins to grow again driven by new energy-intensive industries like data centers as well as electrification of industry, buildings, and transportation, Texas is poised to lead one of the next big development in the energy transition—advanced geothermal energy.
December 10, 2025
Texas Can Lead on Carbon Capture Through Smart Legislation and Thoughtful Rule-Making
By winning the recent primacy over the permitting program for Class VI wells used for carbon sequestration Texas now has the authority to become a market leader on carbon capture. Qaraman Hasan and Tracy Hester remind us that success isn’t automatic and smart legislation and transparent permitting is required to secure the state’s CCS future.
November 21, 2025
EPR Policies Are the Need of the Hour: Here’s Why It Matters for Recycling of Plastics Packaging Waste
The recent interest in the adoption and implementation of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policies for plastics packaging waste presents an excellent opportunity to adapt and evolve policies to lower costs, meet consumer needs, and achieve a circular economy. Here’s what Aparajita Datta, Debalina Sengupta and Ramanan Krishnamoorti have to say about it.
November 18, 2025
Escalating Electricity Prices Deepen Energy Insecurity in Texas
Electricity costs in Texas are rising, hitting low-income, minority, and rural households hardest. Maria Paula Perez Arguelles, Gail Buttorff, and Pablo M. Pinto discuss how the most recent Texas trends Survey shows that energy burdens are deepening and explain why targeted policies are needed to protect Texans’ finances and resilience.
September 2, 2025
The Dangers of Eliminating EPA’S Endangerment Finding
The Environmental Protection Agency’s plan to repeal the 2009 Endangerment Finding promises short-term savings but creates a long-term regulator vacuum. The cost, Dr. Chinonso Anozie explains, will be too high: dismantling climate authority could trigger legal chaos, major long-term damages, and greater risk for Americans.
August 19, 2025
The Electricity Costs We Don’t Talk About
Electricity bills are rising even as energy production across the U.S. is at a record high. Ramanan Krishnamoorti and Aparajita Datta explain why costs keep going up because of drivers such as transmission, distribution, and regulatory costs, and why families are paying the price.
June 18, 2025
Carbon Capture Business Case Requires Showing Strategic Value
Find out why strategic value and not subsidies will determine CCUS success. Charles McConnell shows how viable business cases can still win by building projects that have strategic value for investors and customers who desire what CCUS can deliver.
May 22, 2025
The Definitive Business Case for CCUS and the 45Q Tax Credit
Why does the 45Q tax credit matter for U.S. energy leadership? Charles McConnell explains how it drives jobs, investment, and low-carbon innovation. He also shows us why CCUS is central to America’s energy future.
May 21, 2025
Eliminating Energy Assistance Programs Will Hurt the Poorest in Houston and Across the Southeast
Eliminating federal funding for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), could leave millions of low-income families in the U.S. and especially the Southeast, unable to afford power. Ramanan Krishnamoorti and Aparajita Datta argue that doing away with such a vital assistance program will worsen the nation’s energy affordability and reliability issues.
April 15, 2025
The Battle for Primacy: Texas’s Legal and Policy Crossroads in Carbon Capture
Texas has immense potential to lead the nation in carbon capture and storage (CCS). But legal, regulatory, and public hurdles stand in the way. Qaraman Hasan discusses how securing primacy will unlock the state’s CCS potential. Read the full analysis here.
April 2, 2025
Texas Can’t Compete for Data Centers Without Diversified Energy
Texas is poised to be the market leader in data center growth. But grid reliability and power diversity will decide the state’s success in the coming years. Can Texas deliver affordable, resilient energy at scale? Here’s why Charles McConnell thinks the next five years will matter the most.
March 17, 2025
Beyond the Grid: Diversifying Energy Delivery for Disaster Resilience
Weather disasters like wildfires and hurricanes are becoming more frequent and exposing cracks in America’s power grid. Gail Warren and Emma Jenny show us how a decentralized energy model could transform disaster recovery deliver resilience and affordability.
March 13, 2025
Can Trump Unleash U.S. Energy Dominance?
Trump’s push to drill, baby, drill collides with market realities. Global supply, prices, and demand may limit new drilling, despite executive orders promising energy dominance and cheaper fuel. Read the full analysis by Ramanan Krishnamoorti here.