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Houston and Climate Change
2
The Effects Of Climate Change in Houston Texas
Morrgan Duffee
Energy Production
Energy
Wind turbines are a decently new addition to the power supply grid of Texas. Because the area is so windy it is an almost perfect solution for producing more energy because Texas is not connected to any other state power grids. These wind turbines are a step in the right direction towards producing green energy. However they do not come without their flaws. While these turbines may work very well across the rest of Texas, Houston has moved more towards the use of solar panals.
Issues
Maintenence
Weather Conditions
Amount of energy
Another issue with wind turbines is that while they produce energy they also lose some so it is not entirely efficient.
Issues with wind turbines
The first big issues with these turbines is that they require certain temperatures to be able to operate. This issue was brought to attention in 2021 when the wind turbines froze. This was an issue because they had to turn to other energy sources.
Another issue with these turbines is the amount of maintence they require. This maintence can be costly and requiring parts for these turbines is not always easy. Also they are very difficult to decomission after they no longer work. Wind turbines only last about 10-20 years.
Solar Panals
As I mentioned in the previous slide, Houston has moved towards solar energy. This move has been done because wind energy does not work as well in this area. Many homeowners in the area have been installing them in their homes. It is said that homeowner-installed solar capacity grew from 9.5 megawatts in 2017 to 42.5 at the end of 2019. In 2021 a plan was also approved to turn a former landfill into a solar farm (Climate Change and Renewable Energy)
Increasing Temperatures
In the past 40 years scientists have observed increasing temperature and climate changes, the last seven years being the warmest. Along with these increases of temperatures however they are also seeing Houston become wetter. As well as seeing this increase in temperature they are also seeing prolonged periods of this warmer weather. In addition to this, heat islands (pockets of heat accross an area) are being intensified (Climate Change and Renewable Energy).
Weather Patterns
Associated Risks
1.
Because of the increased rainfall there are lots of flooding risks that come with this change in weather patterns, I will speak more on this in the next slide.
2.
Dangers
With increased temperatures and prolonged increased temperatures comes health risks. As stated on the Understanding Houston website, "temperature extremes can exacerbate chronic cardiovascular, respiratory, and diabetes-related conditions" (World Health Organization). In addition to this it is stated that" seniors, young children and people with mental illness and chronic disease are at the highest risk of heat-related illness" (Climate Change and Renewable Energy). The biggest concern of all is the risk for death associated with this extreme heat.
Yearly Flooding
Flooding
Houston faces large amounts of flooding every year without even having to be directly hit by a storm. The reason for this is the location of Houston. It barely rises above sea level and its flat terrain and clay soil make it even more succeptable. In addition to these issues there is inadequate infrastructure to handle all of the drainage and managing of this water (NBC News, 2017). As I mentioned in the previous slide, Houston is facing much more extreme precipitation. When you take this into considering there is a real concern for the amount of damage that will be done in the future due to the increase in rainfall.
Hurricane Harvey
Hurricane Harvey
This hurricane was unique from others that have happened in the past because of the fact that much of the flooding that took place did not happen in areas identified as floodplains on the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) map. Because of this lots of the buildings that were damaged were not insured which caused much more extensive problems for the residents of Houston. In addition to this, Houstons rapid development has caused problems because information about flooding may not be known in all of these areas. To the right of this is an image of normal floodplains and where building damage took place (Bajaj et al, 2017).
Flood Map
So what is environmental racism?
According to Princeton University environmental racism is "the unequal access to a clean environment and basic environmental resources based on race" (Patnaik et al, 2020). The extent of this environmental racism in Houston is quite extreme.
Environmental Racism
Landfills
In class we learned about a sociologist named Robert Bullard. He is the so called father of environmental justice and environmental racisms. Over the course of his career he has focused on how many landfill sites are located in black communities across Houston. In addition to this another problem that is faced is trash dumping which also happens in these black communities (Bullard, 2014). This is a prime example of environmental racism and impacts the very large black population that resides in Houston.
Pollution
Another example of environmental racism is the locations of black communities in the flood plain. Communities that have historically flooded the most are in the locations of black communities in Houston. In many cases buildings should not have even been built in these areas because of the amount of flooding that occurs yearly (Bullard, 2020).
Flood Plain
What is being done?
Climate Action Plan
In April of 2020 Houston introduced their newest climate action plan. In this very detailed plan the future targets for emissions are detailed as well as strategies to be used to acheive these goals. The main areas focused on in this plan are transportation, energy transition, building optimization, and material management. In addition to this the plan will use science-based criteria that will cap the increased temperature associated with climate change at 1.5 degrees celcius to compy with the Paris Agreement. In the next few slides I show tables out of the climate action plan to better illustrate their plans (Houston Climate Action Plan, 2020).
Targets
Strategies
Strategies
Bullard, Robert D. “The Mountains of Houston: Environmental Justice and the Politics of Garbage,” Cite 93, Rice Design Center (2014)
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/09/05/opinion/hurricane-harvey-flood-houston-development.html
https://www.understandinghouston.org/topic/environment/climate-change#overview
https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/hurricane-harvey/why-does-houston-flood-so-often-so-heavily-n796446
References
https://www.houston.org/houston-data/wind-energy-overview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gU-D3YkOe-w&ab_channel=AmanpourandCompany
http://greenhoustontx.gov/climateactionplan/CAP-April2020.pdf
http://greenhoustontx.gov/climateactionplan/
https://psci.princeton.edu/tips/2020/8/15/racial-disparities-and-climate-change