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Brent Bennett, Ph.D.

Brent Bennett, Ph.D., is the policy director for Life:Powered, an initiative of the Texas Public Policy Foundation to raise America’s energy IQ.

Dr. Bennett has an M.S.E. and Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and a B.S. in physics from the University of Tulsa. His graduate research focused on advanced chemistries for utility-scale energy storage systems.

Energy & Environment

Tight Grid Conditions This Summer Highlight the Investment Problem Plaguing the Texas Grid

On Wednesday night, September 6, 2023, ERCOT had its first emergency energy alert (EEA) since the winter storm in February 2021 and its first summer EEA since August 2019. While the mainstream media continues to misdirect the public toward the preferred talking points of wind and solar lobbyists, examining the real reasons behind why this happened points us...

September 8, 2023

Energy & Environment

Offshore Wind: Today’s Promise, Tomorrow’s Challenge

Along the coast of Rhode Island, a 10-story steel tube is being hauled on the first trip to the construction site. A ship hauls a monopile, weighing more than 700 tons, 15 miles offshore. The massive metal structure is hammered into the seabed with the assistance of a jack plate barge. The ship then returns...

August 10, 2023

Energy & Environment

The Texas grid is reaching a turning point, but there is still time to fix it if we start now

KEY POINTS The summer situation for the Texas grid is actually better than advertised, but winters are becoming a bigger and bigger problem with no clear solution on the horizon. Legislators took some baby steps with HB 1500 to eliminate the last vestiges of state subsidies for unreliable electricity and move toward real market reform....

June 20, 2023

Energy & Environment

Eco-Insanity: The Symptoms and the Cure

With Gen Z reportedly being twice as likely to battle depression when compared to Americans over 25, there’s no denying that today’s youth are more mentally ill, or at least more inclined to respond to surveys about it, than the generations that precede them. But what if there was an unrealized factor in these perpetual...

May 17, 2023

Energy & Environment

Bill Will Help Ensure Affordable, Reliable Electricity for Texas Families

Ryan Reynolds says, “When you have expectations, you are setting yourself up for disappointment.” But when it comes to Texas and our electric grid, we must have high expectations—our modern lives are completely dependent a reliable supply of electricity to our homes. And the reliability of electricity supply is the fundamental problem facing the ERCOT...

April 13, 2023

Energy & Environment

If Wind and Solar are so Cheap, Why are Texans Paying More for Electricity?

As Texas moves closer to the much-awaited conclusion of another hot summer—thankfully without any electric grid emergencies so far—it’s a good time to break from the conversation on grid reliability and talk about the coming rise in Texans’ electric bills. A common claim is that wind and solar are dampening the impact of rising natural...

August 18, 2022

Energy & Environment

How Environmentalists are Making it Harder to Produce the ‘Green’ Energy They Claim to Love

It’s not just energy prices. Over the past year, the prices of a wide range of other commodities are also increasing—most notably the “critical minerals” needed for a wide range of advanced technologies. Lithium prices are up more than tenfold over the past two years, copper is up almost 50%, and nickel has roughly doubled....

July 6, 2022

Energy & Environment

Biden’s Use of the Defense Production Act is Useless and Illogical

As of June 2022, President Biden has authorized the use of the Defense Production Act (DPA) to accelerate domestic production of five energy technologies: solar, transformers and grid components, heat pumps, insulation, electrolyzers, fuel cells, and platinum group metals. The Biden administration also invoked the DPA in March to increase the domestic output of critical...

June 22, 2022

Energy & Environment

The Texas Grid Should Pass Its Test this Week, But the Problems Are Not Fixed

Texas is seeing record June heat, reminiscent of the scorching summer of 2011, and record electricity demand is being forecast. After the disaster in February 2021, many Texans are wondering how long the grid will be able to handle the state’s growing electricity demand. They’re right to wonder, and while the Texas grid should pass...

June 9, 2022

Energy & Environment

Texas Pension Funds Being Used to Undermine American Energy

When we think about how American energy production is being undermined, we usually think about policies emanating from Washington, D.C., and the inexorable march of the federal regulatory state. But a quieter and more sinister movement is afoot to bypass the messy process of lawmaking and regulation and force large corporations to stop financing American...

April 28, 2022

Energy & Environment

Will Texas Fix Its Grid? Here is the Midterm Report Card

Today, after nearly three months of taking input from electric market participants, the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) is now past the midway point of a lightning-fast effort (by the PUC’s historical standards) to come up with a market redesign plan by the end of this year. The open meeting held last week and...

October 27, 2021

Energy & Environment

Responding to the Texas blackouts: SB 3 is just the first step on a long road toward reform

With the tragic events of Winter Storm Uri fading into history and the expected success of the main electric grid reform legislation, SB 3, later this week, it is a good time to take stock of what we have learned from the event and what changes we can expect for the Texas electricity market in...

May 27, 2021