George Pillsbury (of doughboy fame) grew up in the next town over from my hometown in NH. After the family moved to MN to start their company, he donated money to start libraries in Warner (my hometown) and Sutton (his). I guess people were different back then. library.warnernh.gov/about/histor...

5 years ago today

The city replenished the water in Shipe Pool this week and it was so still and reflective this evening. Already looking forward to our summer community meeting spot.

Offshore wind rocks. "Once fully operational, [Vineyard Wind] will deliver power at a price of $84.23 per [MWh] to the New England grid. That’s markedly less than spot wholesale prices during the storm, which spiked to over $870 per MWh on Jan. 25."

We are hosting a scientific ocean drilling workshop here in Austin May 19-21 to develop a drilling proposal to investigate submarine slope failure dynamics and their relationship with gas, hydrates, and ocean currents around the Cape Fear Slide. Details here: usoceandiscovery.org/workshop-lan...

UT did a nice story on our carbon management program. Get in loser, we’re managing carbon news.utexas.edu/2026/02/06/u...

Winter in Austin: it’s February 9 and your AC goes out. Easier to get someone out to fix it than in August!

Opening ceremonies are making Mrs. Volts cry, and she can't quite explain why. I honestly just think that, these days, in the US, any glimpse of decency or beauty or love or wonder in public life is like an oasis in the f'ing desert. A reminder that humans can be good & creative & cooperative.

I was hoping @dieworkwear.bsky.social would have commentary on Olympic opening ceremony fashion and he delivered! This is why I keep coming back here.

I just finished “Multiple Choice” by Alejandro Zambra for a book club, and it’s a story of generational trauma from living in Pinochet’s Chile. The demeanor sadly reminds me of @vermontgmg.bsky.social post about what we’re going through in this country. www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/the-physic...

The best shibboleth in the world is the pronunciation of Bexar County (home to San Antonio). We once heard a couple trying to get free admission to the art museum and pronouncing it as spelled. Still laughing about it. (It’s pronounced “bear”)

Welcome to bsky US Scientific Ocean Drilling! @us-sciod.bsky.social

Zomg show up to ask me anything about energy tomorrow! calendar.utexas.edu/event/ut-ene...

You think it’s not playing out in red states but you’re wrong. This is in response to 1/2 www.kxan.com/news/local/a...

Given the recent discourse on Cuba, Bad Bunny, etc. I would be interested in analyses of the Spanish-American War in the context of current events. McKinley was president then, apparently Trump admires him.

Art and the challenge of the visual (Expos class, Harvard iykyk) Music theory Modern Irish Gaelic Existentialism Complex analysis (hardest class I ever took, was an elective, contributed to my crap GPA, would not do again, but I used it for a paper in grad school!)

The Challenger disaster is one of my earliest memories. I was 4 years old, living in Concord NH. I was at a daycare run in the house of Mary Langevin. We were all watching the launch because of Christa McAuliffe. 1/6

Sad to hear this. Prof McElroy inspired a quantitative approach to sustainability problems in me as an immature undergraduate.

Welp, better not throw a lateral at last and goal this time GO PATS

Snow day (ok, actually ice day) in AUS. All good fun, power was on, crowds of kids roaming the neighborhood. Like my yankee childhood!

It’s icing in ATX tonight and the mayor needs to post this message. Way to go everyone! Elections have consequences.

Stay home and poast, we need you. It’s been a day.

Grilled cheese!!!

Wouldn’t be a winter weather event without an @evilmopacatx.bsky.social HEB inventory

It’s going to be cold but the ERCOT grid can handle it. Brownsville: 22 Uri vs 32 this weekend; Austin 6 Uri vs 19 Monday. & we have more battery storage and renewables on the grid. Don’t sensationalize!

It’s going to be cold in Texas this weekend but not Uri cold. Lowest forecast temp in AUS is 22 (we had 6 in Uri). But biggest difference is growth in non-fossil energy + storage. Watch this space!

Writing is thinking Outsourcing the entire task of writing to LLMs will deprive us of the essential creative task of interpreting our findings and generating a deeper theoretical understanding of the world.

Paywalled article (sorry!) but these quotes get to the point. Analysts expect revitalizing VZ oil production to early 2000s levels will take $183 billion with a breakeven price of $80/bbl (for Orinoco Belt anyway). jpt.spe.org/industry-ana...

My grandfather was stationed in Greenland during WWII in the Air Force servicing bombers returning from runs to Europe. I think at Narsarsuaq. This would have been around 1942-43. The US already has had plenty of access to Greenland.

I gotta pump this podcast series by Andy Uhler (who should be on bsky!) about energy in Texas. Andy came by my office today and we had a good chat. Any of y’all should come by if you’re in Austin! energy.utexas.edu/phases-stage...

Younger son is still working on his Halloween candy, in case anyone is curious

Happy to contribute some 🔥spicy takes! 🔥to this Politifact article on Venezuela and oil. www.politifact.com/article/2026...

Petroleum engineering professor here. I can‘t believe I need to put this on the record, but sour crude is a real thing that we have a rigorous definition for

Well, the keg of takes on the Venezuelan oil industry is just about tapped out - thanks to everyone who knows a lot about it- but who remembers 1-800-JOE-4-OIL? A great phenomenon that combines W Bush, Chavez, Maduro, Trump, the Kennedys, and the Jones Act! 1/

Still relevant. Add the 1980s and 1990s to the list of years it’s not in the oil industry.

👇like I’ve been saying

Get in loser, we’re having black-eyed peas and cornbread

Omg the font design for this Times Square thing. It looks like ”2024”. Like seriously.

We were late to the 37th street Xmas lights but made it tonight! Kids learned about democracy by voting for the 37th street mayor (go Junior!) and I appreciated the Pac-Man display

River Place Nature Trail with the tween/teen this morning. Beautiful winter day in ATX. No idea where the water in Serenity Pool was coming from given our drought. Probably don’t want to know.

Like I’ve said: this Venezuela stuff isn’t about putting more crude on the market. It’s about Cuba (cracking down on illicit shipments) & China (preventing from taking over CVX’s operations there). That’s why effect on crude markets & price at pump is nil. Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/27/u...

Finished the NYT super mega crossword, please clap

Y’all, I’ve been following this Recent Discourse and I’ll note that it’s not 2008, it’s not 2012, not 2016 nor 2020. It sure isn’t 2004. The energy industry, and attitudes/expectations, have changed DRASTICALLY. 1/2

Our paper outlining an integrated research program for carbon management systems is out. We define a roadmap that combines technology deployment with policy, economics, and community impacts to work towards a net-zero future in the face of policy uncertainty. iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...

There’s enough scientific ocean drilling core to stretch from NYC to Buffalo and most of it has not been measured. There an only ~800 permeability tests, for example. You need physical samples for those.

I keep having people ask me about this and, again, the oil aspect is a joke. Invest for decades to revitalize heavy oil fields at $50-60 WTI? Whom are you kidding. Whom.

Here I am at my AGU talk making the point “industrial scale CO2 injection projects have underperformed by average 40% relative to announced injection rates with an average of 0.21 Mt per well per year.” Thanks to @sergiocastellanos.bsky.social for the photo!

I just finished grading 62 essays and have 94 exams in my future, but let’s get excited about AGU! Who’s going? I’ll be there Tues & Wed. Come hear my talk on carbon storage! agu.confex.com/agu/agu25/me...