The city of Houston is widely known as the Energy Capital of the World, but the city’s largest chamber of commerce, the Greater Houston Partnership, has presented a strategy that will change that to ‘Energy Transition Capital’.
The strategy builds on the City of Houston’s 2020 Climate Action Plan that was released in April last year. It follows a two-year period of rapid development of Houston’s technology incubation infrastructure
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The Greater Houston Partnership makes a case that the city is uniquely positioned to spearhead the global transition to clean energy. Houston already has the infrastructure, workforce and expertise in renewable energy to lead this transition. And what’s no less important, it can rely on the strong support of the local government.
The strategy document backs its case with numbers that are very difficult to ignore, arguing that the proposed Energy Transition could create as many as 400,000-560,000 new jobs and bring in up to $210B of annual revenue.
The framework of Greater Houston Partnership’s Strategy builds on the three goals outlined in the Houston’s 2020 Climate Action Plan:
1. Restore and promote the city’s natural ability to absorb CO2 by planting 4.6 million new native trees by 2030.
2. Increase the number of renewable energy systems and reach 5 million MWh of solar power by 2050.
3. Attract 50 clean energy companies to the greater Houston area by 2025 to make the city a leader in carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology.
In effect, the proposed strategy will help not only meet the ever-increasing demand for energy while also decarbonizing the atmosphere, but will also grow the regional economy and help the city achieve its climate targets. Should these initiatives all happen, Houston’s status as the Energy Capital of the World could ring true throughout the entire 21st century.
