Houston Republic

The University of Houston established UH Energy to increase efforts made on behalf of the city to reduce emissions from industrial sources. 

The organization will assist with the deployment of carbon collecting and geologic storage on Texas land and offshore in the Gulf Coast, through which it seeks to support the transition from fossil fuel usage to renewable energy.

“Houston is positioned more favorably than anywhere else in the world to immediately jumpstart a regional CCUS hub and ecosystem to service Texas, the Gulf Coast and the extended U.S. energy system and to enable its businesses to export this capability internationally,” Charles McConnell, executive director of the Center for Carbon Management in Energy at the University of Houston, said. 

The project will require $10 billion in capital distributed over a 30-year period, set to cover the costs for its labor and development, carbon-gathering technologies, pipelines, and expanded storage abilities. According to McConnell, the lack of CCUS development in the area serves as a threat to the energy industry.

UH Energy will work alongside Gutierrez Energy Management Institute and nonprofit organization, Center for Houston’s Future to draft the document, “Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage – Lynchpin for the Energy Transition,” which outlines ways the city will help reduce its emissions to net-zero by 2050, a 52 million ton reduction per year. The report details a structured plan detailing the steps companies involved will take to increase the use of CCUS. The approach will be dependent on existing sources to lower power plant emissions, revise manufacturing operations and create low-carbon products. 

“This model is our effort to build in capital and operations costs and necessary expansions and to drive out the business returns that the marketplace should expect with the scenarios of assumptions and the realities of return on investment,” said McConnell, who admits the undertaking will be expensive.

CCUS helps drive a healthier transition toward renewable energy in the future, as supported by the International Energy Agency, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and the U.S. Energy Information Administration. According to McConnell, Houston’s oil, gas, petrochemical, and electric power markets produce a substantial amount of carbon emissions and an efficient pipeline infrastructure. 

“For Houston to remain the energy capital of the world, it must lead in several critical aspects of the energy transition, including CCUS,” McConnell said. “That leadership means ensuring the energy mix is sustainable not only in terms of providing reliable and affordable energy to meet growing global demand – the city’s traditional role – but also ensuring that carbon emissions associated with that energy are dramatically lowered.”