Energy production requires a reliable, abundant and predictable source of water. Virtually all energy produced from oil and gas, solar, biomass and electrical generation requires large volumes of water -- water that is needed for competing uses by a growing population.

The Texas A&M Energy Institute and the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service hosted a conference in College Station, TX on October 3-4 to discuss water-energy issues. More than 175 attendees heard presentations from and participated in discussions with local, state and Texas A&M experts regarding water supply and use in Texas, implementation challenges to the proposed statewide water plan, and details on initiatives to conserve and reuse water.

While water-energy issues are not new to Texas, last year's drought again highlighted the importance of the State's water supply. In 2011, Texas experienced its worst one-year drought on record. According to Robert Mace of the Texas Water Development Board, statewide reservoir storage dropped to 60% capacity -- the lowest point since 1978.

Mace, the Deputy Executive Administrator for Water Science and Conservation, explained that the predicted near doubling of Texas' population by 2060 means more water will be required to supply the state's consumption needs. The state's proposed water plan, to be presented to the Texas Legislature in January, will cost about $53 billion and take years to implement.

The consequences of not implementing the plan may be even more costly. Mace estimates that not executing the plan will cost $116 billion annually and eliminate up to 1.1 million jobs. However, according to Mace, there is a disconnect between the public's desire for secure water supplies and its desire to bear the cost of implementing the needed water plan.

Texas A&M is gauging the public's concerns. The Texas A&M Energy Institute and the Institute for Science, Technology and Public Policy (ISTPP) at the Bush School of Government and Public Service conducted a first-of-its-kind National Energy Survey that examined the public's opinion on concerns, perceptions, knowledge and understanding about current energy issues, especially hydraulic fracturing and shale gas development. This study will be followed up in early December by a similar survey on water issues.

Findings from the survey will be published soon, but Dr. Arnold Vedlitz, director, ISTPP, previewed the results during the conference. The findings reveal that the public is very concerned about an energy shortage and its relation to national security and foreign oil dependence. In addition, survey results indicate that there are marked differences among respondents based upon age, gender, region, political ideology and party affiliation.

Dr. Stephen A. Holditch, director of the Texas A&M Energy Institute, talked about the use of water in oil and gas development and offered suggestions on ways to use less fresh water and to clean up produced water for beneficial re-use. Dr. Holditch said he appreciated the speakers who shared their ideas and solutions to improve energy production while reducing fresh water use. If we are going to have the abundant energy we need, while providing for the water needs of our state, Texas must continue investing in research and solutions coming from our research universities. In addition to research results, Texas A&M University is also turning out graduates who will go to work in industry and solve these problems in the future.

Funding for the conference was generously provided by ConocoPhillips.

Stephen A. Holditch, director of the Texas A&M Energy Institute, recently served as a member of a distinguished panel of experts at the Society of Petroleum Engineer's Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition in San Antonio. In addition to Dr. Holditch, the panel, Making Unconventionals Conventional, featured David Hobbs, Chief Energy Strategist, IHS CERA; Mark Albers (TAMU Class of 1979), Senior Vice President, ExxonMobil; Tim Dove, President and COO, Pioneer Natural Resources; and David Lesar, Chairman of the Board, President and CEO, Halliburton.

The main goal of the panel was to go beyond current public perception and arrive at broad and practical ideas for making unconventional oil and gas resources part of the mainstream. "It is about transforming an entire industry to operating in a new and dynamic environment," said Mohammed Al-Qahtani, vice president of petroleum engineering at Saudi Aramco, during his introduction of the panel discussion on making the unconventional conventional.

To read more about the panel's discussion, click here.

With a generous donation of $40,000 from ConocoPhillips, the Energy Institute awarded eight fellowships to support outstanding graduate students doing energy research.  Over 40 applicants from 16 departments were nominated for this competitive award.  The award recipients are known as "Energy Institute Fellows."

Each month, a Fellow will be featured in the highlights section of News Briefs.  This month's featured Fellow is Hyun Soo Kim who is a PhD student in the department of Electrical & Computer Engineering.

Hyun Soo's research project is entitled "A High-Throughput Microfluidic Microalgae Screening Platform to Study Biofuel Production."  For a brief abstract of Hyun Soo's research, click here.   

To see the complete listing of EI Fellows, visit our web site at http://energy.tamu.edu.

FuelFix - Posted on October 18, 2012 at 11:19 a.m. by Zain Shauk in Drilling, Environment 

The enormous amount of water used in hydraulic fracturing draws criticism from environmentalists and raises costs for the industry, but at least one academic sees a simple solution.

"We start with fresh water and then we make it saltwater," said Stephen A. Holditch, director of the Energy Institute at Texas A&M University, referring to current practices. "Why not start with saltwater?"

Holditch posed the question at the 21st Century Energy Technology Conference & Trade Show hosted by the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers at the George R. Brown Convention Center this week.

Staff from the Texas A&M Energy Institute exhibited for the second time at the 41st Turbomachinery Symposium hosted by the Texas A&M University System Turbomachinery Laboratory September 24-27, 2012.

This year's event was held at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston and included over 300 exhibitors. Over 5,000 registered attendees toured exhibits and attended short courses, lectures, tutorials, case studies and discussion groups.

You keep hearing about all of the energy research going on around Texas A&M University but do you know who is doing the research? That information, and more, can be found on the Energy Institute's web site at our new web address energy.tamu.edu.

Currently, there are nearly 150 faculty researchers listed by research area - Bioenergy, Electric Power, Energy Efficiency, Geothermal, Nuclear, Oil & Gas, Solar and Wind. Clicking on the desired research area will take you to a page specific to that area. Once there, click on the "Faculty Expertise" tab which will direct you to a listing of all of the faculty members doing research in that area and their areas of expertise.

If you are involved in energy research at Texas A&M University and are not listed on the EI web site and would like to be, please contact Robyn Pearson at rlpearson@tamu.edu.