Policy Advisor, Infrastructure and Natural Resources
Alex Rose works on Texas 2036's policy area for infrastructure and natural resources, which includes water, energy, and infrastructure resilience. She is proud to contribute to data-driven policy work that improves lives and expands opportunities for all Texans.
Texas’ residential electricity prices have increased by more than 50% in the past 15 years, and voters have noticed. In Texas 2036’s 10th annual Texas Voter Poll, 82% said they’re more likely to back a candidate who prioritizes lowering their electricity bill. But when forced to name the most important electricity issue, voters didn’t choose…
No energy resource in Texas is growing faster than battery energy storage systems (BESS). VC-funded startups are surging here, there, and everywhere to build the industry. A search for “battery storage” returns thousands of recent headlines. But quantifying the actual utility-scale power available from batteries right now takes a bit more legwork. To quantify utility-scale…
Around the turn of this century, a small solar array sat to the side of the Decker Creek Power Plant in northeast Austin with the capacity to generate 0.3 megawatts (MW) of solar power. This capacity represented a fraction of the nearly two million megawatt-hours (MWh) generated annually with natural gas across the property. And…
Nuclear fission — the splitting of atoms to release heat and drive a chain reaction — is as fascinating as it is powerful. Today, nuclear power plants provide 20% of total U.S. electricity. Nuclear power continues to play a critical role in Texas’ “all of the above and below” energy portfolio, supplying nearly a tenth…
Over the last 25 years, Texas natural gas production has more than doubled. And it continues to grow, establishing Texas as the stronghold for U.S. and international energy security. If Texas were an independent country, it would be the third-largest natural gas producer on earth, behind the rest of the United States and Russia. But…
Texas’ wildcatter mindset has resulted in a maximalist — and surprising — expansion of renewable energy resources in a state traditionally associated with oil and gas. Exploring 25 years of U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data, this series traces the Lone Star State’s unexpected transformation into an “all of the above and below” energy powerhouse,…