Experts link energy use, water woes

Amid the looming drought that threatens Central Texas for yet another summer, the Texas Coalition for Water, Energy and Economic Security hosted a panel discussion Feb. 2 in the Legislative Conference Center at the Capitol. The panel brought together top experts in their fields to discuss the current energy problems that are being faced by Texas.

The panel started off with Dr. John Nielsen-Gammon, Texas state climatologist and professor at Texas A&M University. Neilsen-Gammon discussed the current state of La Niña weather conditions and what that means for the future of Texas weather.

According to Neilsen- Gammon, this is our second year in La Niña and the past two cycles of it have been at least two years long, both having gone into a third year. Therefore, it is safe to guess that Texas will see a third summer of much drier, La Niña-like conditions, he said.

"[Last summer] we broke our previous record by 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit, it was also Texas' driest on record," Neilsen-Gammon said.

The next to speak was Dr. Carey King, research associate at the Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy at the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas. King drew a connection between energy consumption and the water turmoil.

According to King, Texas used over 400 terawatt-hours of electricity in 2011, which is 10 percent of what the nation as a whole used in the same year. Of that usage, 36 percent came from coal-fired power plants and 45 percent from natural gas. This can cause problems, King said that since power plants require a large amount of water for cooling-off procedures. If the heat index continues to rise, it could decrease the efficiency of plants and they would have to throttle back on their output, something that many power plants in Southwest Texas have been dealing with on a regular basis.

Speaking after King was Mark Armentrout, president and CEO of Texas Technology Partners and former Board Chair of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). Armentrout spoke highly of smart meters, electrical meters that are able to digitize readings and catalogue information much faster as well as provide added security and better asset management. He quoted a study done by Berkley Labs, citing that the United States loses $80 billion in electricity per year due to blackouts and sub-par grids. Amrentrout said better planning from electricity councils is a must.

"ERCOT has to consider that the droughts will continue," Amrentrout said. "They have to, it wouldn't make sense otherwise."

President of EnviroMedia Kevin Tuerff ended the discussion by talking about conservation education. Tuerff cited the Water IQ project and how it was able to reach consumers on multiple platforms.

"For someone's behavior to change, you need to be able to reach them seven to ten times," Tuerff said.

Water IQ is designed to meet people on multiple fronts such as at public events, in front of home improvement stores and through multiple media campaigns.

"Three out of four Texans, when they turn on the [faucet], don't know where their water comes from," Tuerff said. "And when people did know, they were twice as likely to conserve."

The panel members all agreed on one thing, Texans need to get smarter about their water and energy use, especially if we are to see it through another summer of record heat and drought.