The Texas Grid Failure

Even for energy veterans, the depth of failures in Texas last week were breathtaking. 

As arctic air froze power plants, gas lines, and mechanical instruments, the grid was shut down -- leaving 4 million people without electricity, unknown millions without heat, and three times that many without water. 

Texas has been through freezes like this before in 2011, 2014 and 2018. Regulators were warned. So who is to blame for this historic catastrophe?

This week, we’ll talk about what happened in Texas -- reflecting on the responses and projecting the consequences for how we engineer the grid. 

Then: did the shale boom fail to create all those promised jobs? 

New research shows that the natural gas boom did not bring a massive employment wave to counties in the Marcellus and Utica shales. Wealth yes, but not so many jobs. 

Wall Street Journal: In Frigid Texas, Desperate Families Take Risks to Stay WarmAssociated Press: Texas governor’s biggest donors: Energy industry that failedNBC: The GOP is rapidly becoming the blue-collar party. Here's what that means.Inside Climate News: A Decade Into the Fracking Boom, Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia Haven’t Gained Much, a Study Says

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Covering breaking news in clean tech, going deep on global energy policy, and debating the levers that need to move to accelerate the energy transition. Energy Gang is the podcast covering clean energy technology, renewable energy, and the environment. The world of clean energy moves fast, and you need a reliable source to stay on top of the news that matters. You’ll find it on Wood Mackenzie’s Energy Gang.

How will changes to the US government affect decarbonisation and energy security? When will hydrogen, nuclear and carbon capture deploy at scale? Where’s the money for the energy transition green finance coming from and how much more is needed? What’s the outlook for EVs? What are the energy predictions for solar energy? What's the latest on climate change?

Get answers to questions like these, bi-weekly on Tuesdays at 7am ET. Plus, get special live episodes recorded at the biggest climate and energy events throughout the year, like COP30 and Climate Week NYC. Don’t worry if you can’t make it in person, Energy Gang brings you all the updates on energy policy, energy finance and energy innovation you need to hear.

Energy Gang is presented by Wood Mackenzie and hosted by Ed Crooks, Vice-Chairman of Energy at Wood Mackenzie and a former Financial Times and BBC News journalist. Regular guests are Amy Myers-Jaffe (Director of NYU’s Energy, Climate Justice and Sustainability Lab), and Dr Melissa Lott (Partner at Microsoft) – plus a roster of industry leaders and policy influencers, like Jigar Shah (Industry figurehead and former director of the Loan Programs Office in the US Department of Energy), Caroline Golin (Head of North America, Global Energy Market Development and Policy at Google) and Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt (Former Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources).

If you like The Energy Transition Show, Catalyst with Shayle Kann, The Big Switch from Columbia University, Open Circuit with Stephen Lacey or The Green Blueprint, you’ll enjoy Energy Gang.

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• Latest episode: 2025-07-08
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