 Thank you to everyone that is either at home or at work joining us today and a huge thanks to the LBJ Foundation for hosting Austin's energy innovation future. I cover Texas politics for KXAN here in Austin and at a time that the new Biden administration is settling in and already taking on a number of actions on energy, it's a perfect time to have this conversation couldn't come at a better time. So some housekeeping to start. This is how things will work. I will introduce you to each of our esteemed panelists who you just heard about. We'll share some opening remarks about Austin's energy future. I'll ask them some questions of our panelists and then we'll go to your questions where you can submit a question in the chat in the Zoom. So first up, we have Kali Taylor, the director of economic development and clean energy specialist for the Austin Chamber of Commerce a position she's held for the past five years before joining the chamber. She worked in energy energy's home solar division as the director of customer retention, a position centered on her passion for renewable energy. Her background holds a variety of positions comprised of 10 years of consulting, marketing, training and account management experience. I feel like I just introduced a prize fighter. So after all that, Kali, welcome. Thank you, thank you so much. I look forward to being here and John, thank you for that great introduction. I think that's a little bit, I feel like a prize fighter now. I don't know if I would have introduced myself quite like that. But great to be here. As you said, my focus at the chamber is focusing on bringing in new clean energy jobs here. So I think this could be a great conversation with Susanna and Dr. Rye today and look forward to it. Excellent and a perfect segue. Thank you, Kali. Next up, we will have Dr. Varun Rye. He conducts interdisciplinary research projects at the University of Texas at Austin which focus on energy systems, complex systems, decision science and public policy for the past 15 years. His research has been directed towards next generation carbon capture and storage fuel cells, oil and gas, plug in hybrid vehicles to name a few. As a testament to his success, he has presented at several important forums including briefings for the United States Senate, Global Intelligent Utility Network Coalition and Global Economic Symposium. His research group's work has been discussed in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Bloomberg News among other venues which include KXN and local TV reporting. I'll turn it over to you, Dr. Varun Rye. Great, thank you so much, John, for having me. I'm really looking forward to the discussion. I really appreciate how stakeholders and members from different parts of the community that have really been active for years and years are part of this discussion. I'm looking forward to that. Thank you. Excellent, thank you, Dr. Rye. And for the past seven years, Suzanne Russo has served as the CEO of Pecan Street, a cutting edge data research and product testing firm whose mission is to develop an innovative pathway for Austin to increase total generation from low carbon sources. Prior to joining Pecan Street, Suzanne Russo was the director of Sustainability Initiative for New York City's Department of Housing Preservation and Development where she led the development of green building and sustainable retrofitting of municipally funded affordable housing. Forms named Suzanne, one of five women using technology to blow up social change. Suzanne, over to you, welcome. Hi, John, thanks so much for including me. I'm really excited about the conversation today with Kali and Varun and you. And I also wanted to say a big thanks to Sarah McCracken for organizing this great event. Sarah's husband, Brewster, actually is the founder of Pecan Street. He thought up the whole idea for this organization when he was a city council member. And it's been my pleasure to take over the helmet organization for the past two years. But I worked under Brewster before that when he was CEO of the organization. Awesome, thank you, Suzanne. And we'll get back to you here in just a second. Next up, we have Nate Ryan, an entrepreneur, business leader, and organizer focusing on the convergence of creativity and economic growth. In my notes here, I'm supposed to call him Mr. Ryan. He's the CEO of Blue Sky Partners, a consulting firm. Nate plays a critical role in helping companies take full advantage of the resources available to them. As an economic impact expert, Nate understands the numerous benefits the clean energy brings to industries across Austin. I'll let him share some of those thoughts. Now, Mr. Ryan, Mr. Nate. What are you? Mr. Ryan is my, well, like we said before, before we kick this off, Pastor Ryan is my father, but Mr. Ryan is also my father. You can just call me Nate. I feel out of my league here with Dr. Ryan, Kali and Suzanne. I think this is going to be really fun conversation. It's about the future of Texas and the opportunities that are in front of us and the future of the US when it comes to our ability to take advantage of not only what I think is the right thing for us to do from a environmental perspective, but turns out to be a pretty great economic investment too. So I'm excited to talk about all that. Excellent, Nate. Okay, so we will move on to some questions for our panelists. And I will first tee this one up to you, Kali, but anyone can jump in as they've got some feedback here. So as Austin has been experiencing tremendous economic growth over the past several years, what role does clean energy play in promoting growth, encouraging investment and supporting businesses of all sizes across the city? Kali? Okay, sure. Well, what role does it play? It plays an enormous role. And I'll go into some additional information, but I think one of the biggest things is Dr. Ryan and Suzanne, the work that they're doing when companies are coming into a town, they are a large reason that these companies want to be here. That's a large part of what drives people into Austin is the work that the University of Texas and the Con Street and organizations like that are doing with clean energy research were sort of renowned nationally and internationally for that work. And so I think that spurs investment as well because companies that are coming in and looking at the kind of research that's here, they're wanting to partner with these organizations, they're wanting to bring their companies here and be a part of this ecosystem that's been built by so many individuals over 20 years, the clean energy ecosystems and being built here by individuals from UT and the business world to bolster this kind of clean energy, they say clean energy reputation that Austin has. And so I think it plays an enormous growth. And also a lot of companies whether they're traditionally would be considered in the renewable energy space, it is a priority for most corporations these days to support renewable energy. It's part of their corporate renewability, their ethos. And so the fact that Austin Energy or municipal utility is so focused on renewables, that's a big part of it for them. But in addition to that, our regional utilities are as well. So I think it's huge. And Dr. Rai can probably speak to that too. I know that the Energy Institute at UT has a national profile. I speak to your colleague Michael Weber all the time. So what do you think is driving so much of that momentum? Great, thank you so much Kali for teaming that up and John for that question. If it is okay, and I wanna take a step back building off some things that Kali mentioned and three things I wanna briefly touch upon that we can pick up on later questions. One is just a couple of years ago we attracted Army Futures Command, one of the biggest efforts by the Army in the last several decades. And then just a few months ago, Tesla announced that they're going to be here. So you see both from the side of government as well as from private sectoral, the biggest and the most ambitious are coming to Austin. So that's very exciting. Many of the city of Austin and Austin energies and other work that is being done by our local government bodies and agencies really is helping build onto that. So it's not happening all organically. There's a lot of background work that happens. And as Kali mentioned, has been happening for the last several decades. So it goes back at least four decades. So that helps more and more companies and workers are coming here by the week. You all know that as a citizen of the city. And that's very exciting that because people of all professions are increasingly finding that this is both a place to live as citizens but then also provides them with the opportunity. And then it's really, I've been here in Austin live over 10 years now. It's a very, very special moment of time in Austin. They'll all look back 20, 30, 50 years from now and look back at this moment saying this was very, very pivotal. What got us here, what really got us here is I think fundamentally number one, and this will come back again is the community. A few years ago, I had the great honor and privilege of serving on Austin Energy's Electricity Utility Commission. And one of the single most important thing I always remember from the monthly meetings is the community. Folks from the community where always they're participating, sharing, providing input, being, providing activism as well. So this is a very, very engaged community. Where we are is fundamentally building on that community spirit. It will remain very, very important. I'll come back to that. Also lots of investments. A lot of the things that Austin Energy did, largely because of what the community wanted, also how city management really played into all of that. That's all been very, very, very important. Focus on innovation. You all already mentioned the work that UT does but then also Texas A&M, University of Houston, Rice, this is, I mean, Austin is in at the center of Dallas, San Antonio, Houston, which are powerhouses, global powerhouses in their own and historically and even today in many ways can be actually bigger than Austin. So that split very importantly, Dell, Samsung, this all started mid 80s and then have been playing out since. And then finally I'll just say on what got us here is this building of things on top of each other. And this did not happen overnight. It was, not everything was thought through, but then also there's some bigger pieces that are put in place and then the community really helped us that built. Very quickly, I just mentioned before stopping is how to get there, right? We are here in this moment. What we're really looking for is a massive socio-economic change, not just here, but in Texas and broadly in the U.S. and globally and that is essentially if you have to mitigate environmental impacts of energy production and use, John, you mentioned some of the actions of the Biden administration so early in its days is just a signal of what already has been happening in other parts of the world, including Europe and some parts of Asia. And that's going to grow shortly for the next years and it is going to require much bigger or deeper action. So we really need to continue the fabric of and focus of the community. Our extreme importance on equity and equal opportunity. Historically, I mean, is a huge part of the discussion is energy injustices of the past and how we don't want to carry those forward. And then finally our focus on investments and innovation. It's not going to happen. There are still many, many opportunities in hydrogen, in carbon capture and storage, in real earth, mining, recycling in grid and power electronics. There are big opportunities, but there are equally big problems that need to be addressed. And here in Austin, we have that moment to invest proactively. So I'll stop there, but thanks where we are, thanks what got us here and then it's a very important thing to keep in mind to go there. Yeah, Dr. Ray, you spoke to the two prongs, the private investment as well as government as a driving force of that. We know that private investment's going to drive innovation but governments, municipalities and central governments can really play a role in setting a tone for that equity that you talked about in this sector. And Suzanne, you probably can speak to that too with your work and in working with municipalities, governments to embrace this idea that cleaning energy renewable resources can be a sustainable and equitable path forward. Yeah, absolutely, John. And at Pecan Street, we really focus on trying to accelerate innovation around clean energy and conservation solution development as well as market adoption. And I would actually argue that government investment is really critical to drive innovation. If you look at all the work of the Department of Energy and RPE but also states like California and New York, California has the Epic program, New York has NYSERDA that for a long time have been investing even more in driving innovation around clean energy. Again, both in early development of products, providing support for startups, bridge funding and connecting opportunities for companies to come and learn about the innovative startups that are growing in those communities but also funding for demonstration projects which we know are critical particularly for clean energy when we need utilities which don't have a business model for the most part that really reward risk and innovation and technology. We need to have a lot of demonstration projects to look at how these new clean energy, smart home, smart building technologies are gonna impact the grid and how utilities can plan for them and take advantage of those emerging private sector investments around clean energy to make our energy supply more affordable, greener, more reliable as well. So I think as far as looking at the trends that have gotten us here in Austin to really be the clean energy capital of the world, Cali and Barun have done a great job in covering that and also a huge shout out to Cali's team because they just really work hard representing Austin and helping bring those companies here for all of us. But I think it also is just an indicator of the trend globally that clean energy is gonna be one of the largest sectors of growth around the world. And so both as a city and a state, I think we would be foolhardy at this moment where we really need a lot of economic development and growth to not be leaning 100% into clean energy. We are primed to do that better than probably anywhere else in the world. But we do need a lot more commitment from our state and from other community leaders outside of Austin to both invest in that R&D, but to continue to invest in the public universities that churn out these amazing researchers like Barun and his team that are drawing companies here and also the quality of life that the employees that these companies wanna have with really great public transportation, really great schools. We know what the pathway looks like to get there. I think just getting more public sector buy-in that clean energy is not political anymore, it's just the future of energy is gonna be critical to see that be realized over the next five years. But Austin's a fun place to be doing this right now for sure. And Nate, interested to hear from you too on the business side of things and you're consulting with the private sector, how did these conversations come up and play out with the businesses that are already actively pursuing these efforts and then also the ones that are just now catching up? What do you see? Well, I think there are two ways of looking at this, right? There's where is money being invested and how much of it, how what's the growth rate on that? And also just how does rhetoric shifted around it, right? So, the US invested 59 billion in clean energy projects in 2019 and that's up from 11.3 in 2005. So people know it's a good investment that those investment rates are going up quite quickly. And then the citizens for responsible energy solutions or CRES, they just released a poll recently that showed that 74% of Americans including 59% of Republicans support increased government action to boost clean energy development. 82% of voters including 78% of Republicans support providing tax credits to companies and individuals that invest in clean energy projects which obviously is gonna incentivize companies to be taking up those projects to keep that kind of stuff in mind. I just saw actually before we started this that they may have been released before but they're pushing it today that GM has a goal of being carbon neutral by 2040. They wouldn't be doing that if there wasn't consumer demand. They wouldn't be doing that if there weren't government incentives for them to move away from oil and gas. So I think that's a big deal. And we've seen movement federally with Biden's climate change executive orders of the last week like has already been discussed. And then there's bipartisan legislation that was passed in December with the Energy Act of 2020 and our own Texas Senator John Cornyn supported that which I think is great, right? I mean, that's a sign that this is not a partisan issue anymore as Suzanne said, this is just common sense. We have to move that direction. Things are already moving that direction. And from the standpoint of the way that our companies, the companies that we're talking to are thinking about this stuff, they understand that it's a growth opportunity. It's great for the environment. Yes, it's great for things related to climate and climate justice and things like that. And it also happens to be a pretty good plank as part of your business plan. And again, as has been touched on, I think central Texas specifically and Texas in general is quite well-primed not just because politically we kind of move in that direction anyway. And so therefore consumer demands gonna be higher but we're pretty well-primed just given the amount of land we have to work with, given the amount of energy related money that's already in the state and the desire for people who have maybe been working in oil and gas to continue working in energy related projects, that's an easier switch from the standpoint of maybe worker retraining and things like that. So yeah, I think the possibilities are quite endless and the clients that we work with and the people that we talk to in the business community understand that as well. Yeah, very well said. And I wanna get back into the politics of energy too, like you were speaking about especially what we saw in the campaign trail ahead of November, but also with the incoming Biden administration. We can get to that in a second. I wanna drill down a little bit more into Austin's future though too. So because Austin is a hub for next-gen renewable technology what opportunities do you all see in the near future for expanding our clean energy workforce here especially as we revitalize our economy after the COVID-19 pandemic? Anything? Suzanne, where are you gonna go? Oh, I was gonna say, I think Callie should jump in but I wanna make sure you talk about, Callie and I had an interesting conversation yesterday about this topic of the kinds of jobs that clean energy is bringing to Austin because it's unique in that it's not just high tech where you need an advanced degree to get a job with a company like that. There's a lot of manufacturing that's coming to Austin around electric vehicles and solar, but even in other kinds of technology like Apple has a large customer service center here in Austin. And so that's one of the really, I think beneficial aspects of bringing more clean energy development and economic development to Austin is the wide variety of jobs that we can get from that. But we had an interesting conversation because I had assumed that a lot of those manufacturing jobs particularly with the EV plants that are coming would mean we have more blue collar job opportunities here. So more equitable economic opportunities for our community. And Callie pointed out some interesting things that are driving a lot of the manufacturing those blue collar jobs actually outside of the city of Austin limits. And I think it would be great to talk about that on this webinar Callie, if you don't mind. Wow, okay. Thanks for doing that. You're welcome. Okay. And I'll be happy to touch back on that. I just kind of wanted to back up a little bit because it might be helpful to discuss Opportunity Austin which is the organization that I work for. So it is a five county economic development organization that has run through the Austin Chamber. And so our entire mission is to bolster the five county regional economy and create those diverse jobs. So in 2004, a lot of our local civic and business leaders got together and decided, okay because we were a tech town at that time, right? And so we needed to diversify the types of jobs that are coming here. And I think they've done a pretty good job since 2004 and doing that and expanding the types of industries that are here. And so that's kind of a little bit about where I come from but the funny or the interesting thing is Dr. Ryan mentioned this has been a concerted effort for the past several decades in renewables. We didn't just get here by chance. The city of Austin and Austin Energy they're the reason that I have the job that I have. They were focused on clean energy jobs. So that's why that is what I, that's why it's what I do for a living. And so the city of Austin itself is really focused on bringing these clean energy jobs, these manufacturing jobs. They want those types of jobs in the city. They want our workforce to be able to go whether it's direct to college or direct to employment. And so they're wanting to incentivize those jobs. Some companies, if they're seeking incentives it is harder for these lower paying manufacturing jobs for these large companies where incentives are really important to receive the Texas Enterprise Fund which is known as the governor's ideal closing fund because of the fact that these jobs have to meet the average county wage where they're locating in order to qualify. And so because Travis County has a very high average wage where about 72,000 now here in Travis County helps a lot of these lower paying and more equitable jobs don't meet that threshold. And so sometimes corporations are driven into lower cost areas or lower average wage areas. And so it's kind of a while the city is prioritizing it. Oh, and this is not, I wouldn't say this is for every company that this happens but there are some larger corporate institutions where those incentives really help you get off the ground and or it's a focus of where they're going to locate. So it's definitely a fact. It's an interesting thing. It's something that we're working closely with all entities involved to try and figure out how we can alleviate that to encourage them to come back in the city. But the good news is we have the five counting region and there are still tons of opportunities available there that are going to help central Texas to create these jobs as well. So I think we're still positioned in a good place. Well, and I just wanted to add, you know you mentioned Austin Energy has a goal we're currently at what 55% of our energy consumption is clean energy sources. We wanna be completely powered or we wanna have 55% by 2025. And one third are currently being powered by clean energy sources. We've got the Prop A past which means we're gonna be building out, we're gonna be replacing our bus lines with clean energy buses. We've got light rail coming in. There's gonna be a lot of job opportunities through that. I think with a Pete Buttigieg run Department of Transportation, there's a good chance that maybe we're seeing those that funding from the federal level come in exactly as it was planned. So I think there's gonna be a lot that are coming through public works projects that will be magnets to bring really great kind of blue collar work into Austin and kind of solidify its place here a little bit more because the maintenance is gonna be ongoing and things like that. And last thing I would say is just that I think one thing that we're gonna really have to think about as a city in regards to clean energy and climate and this is a big energy project in and of itself is more dense housing and things like that and that construction, the conversion over to clean energy could in itself be a really important step that we need to take. I agree, I think there's gonna be all sorts of, there's all sorts of potential within the city to continue to increase these number of jobs. And you know, you can't even say that manufacturing isn't coming to Austin because Tesla and because CapSim, which is owned by Chanel that has their manufacturing plant, Southeast Austin at Velocity Crossing, they are using only, they drilled a well to use only non-potable water for their organic skincare products. They have solar arrays on site. They're about one of the cleanest manufacturing operations. So that's just a small number of projects that it's not happening, but it is. It's just something that comes up from time to time but I still think we're positioned to continue to create. John, I know you wanna move on to the next question and a couple of things that came up but I do wanna highlight them. We have a very large oil and gas workforce in Texas. Some of that will continue. A lot of that could continue. You know, I mentioned hydrogen, I mentioned potential ways to continue to mitigate impacts of methane emissions and natural gas could have a very big future. Certainly, that would play into Texas' strength. While these changes happen, there is a huge responsibility nationally, statewide, locally also in Austin to work with our colleagues, our friends, our neighbors and this workforce to very responsibly and very proactively move them into these newer areas that build upon oil and gas strength or to invest very systematically to retrain, scale up and move them into newer jobs. That's not, you know, while we get very excited about here is all the growth and here's all the opportunities, we have equally big responsibility in making sure that it brings together the entire state and all our people. I think, you know, fundamentally, if we all have to, you know, it's a great opportunity for Austin and Austin has really been leading in many ways but the problem is global and there's no hope to address the global problem unless there is deep social commitment and support behind it and that will only happen when everybody, the masses really see this in their interest of family and this is not about money but this is about survival, right? So, you know, everybody has to, so I think that's a very huge point. We as Austinites have a big role to play in that the second point is growth. As a lot of this growth is happening and so, you know, I'll echo what Susan mentioned about, you know, Callie and her team and the city's work and really taking that effort to bring in these companies but, you know, showcase to them what different, you know, parts of the city really do them and I've been in several of those meetings. It's just fascinating to watch the process and be part of that and contribute, right? You feel in that moment that these companies are, you know, looking, they're very excited and they actually care about what we are all able to offer as a city. As we go down this path of, you know, really very exciting growth, well, you know, growth with a singular focus on money and economy has all sorts of distorting pools, right? Something I mentioned earlier is the aspect of community. Why are we here? Because of the community that Austin is, we have to make sure as these developments happen, as we grow, how do we keep that community? Because, you know, we'll be bringing in newer people, you know, different views and that's all actually strength but, you know, how does we all assimilate that within that fabric of community? From an Austin's internal perspective, I think that that's profoundly important. So these two things, how do we bring the masses together in this massive change? And then also how do we preserve and build on and keep the positive proactive community fabric of Austin? Well, and Dr. Ray, I think you kind of touched on the politics angle really briefly. I want you to drill into that a little more because I'm, you know, the politics reporter here on this panel. But you heard a lot on the campaign trail before November that then candidate Joe Biden wanted to transition away from oil and gas. And there was a lot made of that here in Texas as one of those kind of tentpole issues on the campaign trail, regardless of what the race was. But the market forces, which we usually look at to see how we're evolving and changing have been saying that we need to transition away from oil and gas for years. The impact on Texas that that industry had 20 years ago is not what it is today. So what are independent producers? Shell, for example, has said it needs to transition away from oil and gas. What is the market privately telling us about where this renewable energy industry has gone? No, I am curious to hear what, you know, all of my co-panelists are thinking on this. And, you know, I'll not talk about any one company in particular. You know, what is important to keep in mind, John, is these are all very large companies that have international presence, right? So this is not new for any of these companies. While, you know, in Austin or in Texas or even, you know, nationally, we have seen pulls and pushes in different directions in terms of, you know, where you want to head and what the balance is between, you know, conventional versus, you know, the new types of, you know, technologies and sources. Many of these companies have been experiencing that elsewhere, for example, in Europe, right? So it's a balance. It's a question of certainty, right? And as things become more clear, you know, you mentioned markets and, you know, companies are very good at following signals, right? And, you know, often, you know, already in this conversation, we have talked about government investments and incentives and direction more so, right? You know, government acts on behalf of the society and in the betterment of the society. And, you know, if we have clarity on what that direction is, you know, companies are very good at following that, but it requires that commitment and clarity. And, you know, we are starting to see that emerge. And flashes of that were already, you know, they're elsewhere. So I think, you know, John, we will see, you know, continued investments and continued change. Something that the jury is still out, right? Is, you know, it's, there is a lot of work in terms of what can be done with carbon capture and storage and hydrogen. There are, there's a lot of open discussion. And, you know, I write about this all the time is, you know, when we talk about the full transition and by full transition, I mean, you know, net zero carbon emissions by, you know, in the next three to five decades, the pathways to get there, there are still multiple technological pathways to get there. There is no single clear dominant solution that I know of that has been declared. I'm sorry, there's, you know, that cannot be said. Of course, you know, we all do our own scientific models and projections. We need, you know, we need to get there. And so, you know, there are multiple pathways where many of the work that happens across the world in major companies remains very important. And I'm seeing, I'm very excited every day. I mean, you know, meetings where I'm seeing new enthusiasm, interest and investments by corporations across the world in really thinking very deeply and trying to be part of this change. So I'm actually very excited. This is great time to be helping everybody but also, you know, being actually in the moment. And I'd love to jump in and just, I think it's important to point out that there are two trends that are happening right now on the investment side that are important to watch that can help accelerate and expand Austin's clean energy economic growth here. One is exactly what you touched on John and what Varun is talking about, which is that we have a federal government that has set clear policies very quickly that gives signal to the markets here in the United States that align with these trends that we've been seeing globally both again in policy around climate and decarbonization but also market trends in other countries. So we now have this clear policy, clear market signal here in the US that clean tech, that ag tech, you know, any kind of climate technology is gonna be a pretty good investment. And at the same time with we're at in our economy and a real need for rapid economic growth. We have a huge surge in capital right now in private sector investment that's looking for growth stage companies to invest in and clean tech and climate tech are where a lot of these investors are trying to put their money because we've got these clear federal signals. I'm gonna say at last that helped them know there's gonna be a certain market, certainty of market here in the United States for those products and also support on the research and development side for funding. So we have a moment that probably is really gonna last about a year with the availability and the excitement of a lot of private sector investment and growth stage companies in Austin particularly again is primed to take advantage of that. And a lot of the work that Cali and Austin technology incubator are doing I think are gonna set us up for even more rapid growth over the next 12 to 18 months. And again, I think there's huge opportunities statewide to capture these opportunities but that's gonna take more state-level public sector buy-in. I thought it was really interesting that during the Trump years where there was definitely not much support for clean energy projects, at least rhetorically that that is when you started seeing a lot of these major companies, Shell, BP and I think some of this boils down to the fact that states like California and New York have changed their standards and it's kind of forced some of these companies who have massive markets in those states to have to shift and that changes their calculus entirely for the entire country. But these large corporations were acknowledging that they had to move in that direction. They needed to move in the direction of clean energy and I think that means that the governments may be catching up to at least rhetorically where the private market was now and then hopefully exceeds it and put some of those incentives and funding structures in place. But another thing that I'd note is that the price of electricity from solar is like down 89% over 10 years. And that is due to the work that a lot of folks have been doing to kind of get that down. But I think now that those price points are getting so low on clean energy solutions, it means that you may have this sort of like very slowly and then all at once there's an opportunity for that, right? And I think we're starting to see some of that movement now. And I think that there's, I mean, again, just keep hitting it, hitting that gong that Texas has some of the biggest opportunities possible in this space because so much of its economy is already built on energy in general. I wanna get one more question for the panel in here. And remember, you can ask your questions for the panel here in the Q&A. We've already got a couple of good ones. So I wanna leave enough time to get to those. I think it was you, Callie, who touched on equity early on. And I'd like to get into that a little bit more. How does clean energy help underserved communities in Austin and what more can be done to make sure that there is that equity and access piece to this? Okay, sure. And I really think that Suzanne needs to chime in here too. Whoever wants it. Well, no, I will speak just a little bit, but Suzanne and the concierge are kind of leading the charge in something that is going to revolutionize the future. I mean, it's a huge priority for them, but I'll let her speak to that. What's happening here locally in Austin, I think we still have a ways to go as far as what we're doing with renewables and how they're serving our underserved community here locally, but it is a focus. And there are conversations in the city of Austin's Economic Development Department with Austin Energy to find ways to come up with ways where they can put more programs in place that where renewables are affecting or are helping those communities. But if you think about the types of companies that we have here, some of the ways that renewables are already affecting are these communities is like ICON, 3D printing. They print affordable homes. They're working with mobile loaves and fishes out for their community first program that is, so they're creating affordable homes for some of our homeless population here. And so then ICON is a very low emission manufacturer here. So you've got a lot of people in our innovation community and our startup community that are coming up with technologies that were there implementing it. It might not be large scale now, but there are tons of examples like the ICONs that are helping here locally just because that's what Austin is about, right? The people are great and they love helping the community. Suzanne, you wanna jump in there, she? Sure, thanks, Kelly. Yeah, so in regards to Austin and equity around clean energy, we do have a lot of work that we can do in that regard. Austin really is, I think there's two Austin's right now, and if you look here, you're gonna think I'm talking about North and South Austin, but we really have White Austin and then Austin's community of color. Austin is the most racially segregated city in the United States. And Austin Energy and the city have been leading the charge for the past year and thinking about what does climate equity mean? What does that mean when we really try to put that into the form of policies and investments in action as a community? And we have a draft climate equity plan that the city council, I hope, will be adopting soon. I think they will, that the city put together in collaboration with the community, with a few hundred community members that participated in that year-long process. And what that's gonna look like are a lot of the things that Kelly talked about, which is really thinking differently and more innovatively about what do solar rebates look like? It's gonna include a lot of the work of ruins team around community solar, innovative financing around electric vehicles and more public services rather than rebates for private citizens to be able to invest in clean energy and then participate in those markets. So I think we're gonna see a lot of really cool policy development at the municipal level that, again, Austin's gonna be a leader on nationally, really pivoting that climate movement around equity. And then more broadly, we at Pucon Street have been working for the past couple of years to think about how do we also pivot this just general early adopter model so that it's not focused around a typical early adopter profile which is higher income well-educated family which you're in the United States usually means white household. And how do we really create community-informed technology around clean energy and climate innovation that brings together a broader swath of the United States? So we're gonna soon be launching the Center for Race, Energy and Climate Justice where we're gonna seek to bridge a lot of those research gaps, data gaps, information gaps that exist just generally in the private sector around technology development and what does America look like and what does America want? And then also bringing to the forefront solutions for technology development, but also policy development that are gonna prioritize investing in communities and households of color. And so for example here in Austin, as I mentioned, we've got Austin Technology Incubator, we've got a really wonderful community that supports our entrepreneurs here in the community. But I think there's more that we could do to really focus our support and our resources around our local communities of color. Getting in and identifying black entrepreneurs and Hispanic entrepreneurs that are developing solutions that come from their unique perspective and trying to wrap the services around those entrepreneurs that are gonna go out and change the world but right now really lack of clear pathway for how to engage in these spaces, technology and clean energy that are predominantly white. So I'm excited about where we'll go over the next year and again, a huge shout out to Cali and Varun as well for their leadership in these spaces. Sounds like a great local news politics story. I'll be telling you in a couple of weeks. I wanna leave some time to get to some questions here. So if you have been sitting on a question, feel free to put it in the chat box there. Click the Q and A. I'll share these and whoever wants to jump in and go after them. I appreciate the people being patient with us getting to these. The question is, you mentioned incentives in Texas, renewable energy generation rides on chapter 313 tax incentives. Do you foresee any changes in chapter 313 or other incentive programs this legislative session affecting renewable energy in Texas or Austin specifically? I saw this one in the chat early. So I'll jump in. I've been waiting for this one. Yes, I mean, chapter 313 is going, if there are any changes to it, it's going to have a huge impact on renewables, right? Chapter 313 has been instrumental in a lot of our large scale renewable projects that have happened in this state. I could tell you our advocacy team at the chamber is working very hard to advocate for the funding of chapter 313 and to not eliminate that. So it's a huge priority for us. What we're working on. And what about additional incentives? Anyone have any ideas on what could potentially be coming either federally or here at the state level? I think federally, you'll see, you're already starting to see several things in terms of exactly what shape the incentives take or other programs. Those will depend, but you will see a lot more investment in incentives from the federal level, from the state level, not in terms of what will happen in this list, particularly, but in terms of going back to looking forward and really building up of the strengths we have in Austin, but really more broadly in Texas, this really massive experience, massive investment, massive capital, international workforce to build upon, how do we, and knowing that really the winds of change are very strong, right? Again, this is not new for our companies. They have been in the midst of this, for many, many years, but working with them and helping them to really reinvent themselves or reposition themselves, if you will, and also along with them, their employees and make sure everybody has a good and strong future. And that is where I really think a lot of thinking at all levels in Texas, local as well as in above is needed. What can we be doing to support things in future of the grid in power electronics? That's a huge area of interest that really plays into the strength of Austin and Texas and it's really a lot of the future everywhere is built upon a lot of things getting electrified, right? So that's a huge opportunity. I mean, Texas has great experience doing that. Can we play into that carbon capture and storage is has potentially a huge role. Texas already is a leader in that. How can we further accelerate that journey working with what else might be happening elsewhere? And then I already mentioned hydrogen and pathways for natural gas. These are very important things and they're not in hundreds of these things. They're big buckets of what you already know. How do we proactively and very systematically now come together and support this? I think that's going to be very important. Nate, do you wanna weigh in on that on the importance for incentives to drive that business investment as well? Yeah, absolutely. I think he's a controversial figure and lots of people have lots of thoughts on him but the governor was very excited to welcome Elon Musk in to Texas. I think the truth is that any kind of business growth is going to be incentivized in a state like Texas and anytime you can bring in kind of a heavy hitter in the business world who's doing some real innovation around anything, Texas is gonna be welcoming to that person and to that company. I think here in Austin, we have a real responsibility to make sure that Tesla comes in and becomes a constructive part of the community and that we are thinking about how they contribute from an equitable standpoint and things like that, that it's not driving displacement and stuff like that as much as possible. But it is a big opportunity and it is good and it does signal that I think Texas is ready for and is interested in that stuff. I think there are lots of political reasons for Texas politicians to kind of cater to oil and gas but that doesn't mean that they may not be making moves on the legislative side. I haven't seen anything yet. I should have done my research. I should have assumed that a question like this would have been asked but my assumption is that there may be some moves that move in that direction to further incentivize clean energy, to further retrain a workforce that maybe was previously working in oil and gas and as much as Texas likes to take the fight to the federal level, in most cases for things like this if it's a jobs related program which I know the Biden administration and the president have really, really focused on angling their clean energy and climate programs to towards being seen as a big jobs program, Texas is not gonna turn down money for jobs. And so I think it's looking pretty good. And I just think we're the only state in the lower 48 with our own power grid. We have a lot of power pun intended, I guess over what we can do with this. So yeah, I feel, I don't know anything specifically but I'm feeling pretty good about the winds of change as Dr. Rice said. Winds of change, we have a lot of power. And great podcast. I also said that we needed to drill down when having a conversation about oil and gas. So I think we've hit all the boxes on the bingo sheet this time. We're getting some puns and we've got some good like 80s rock, I don't know, vibes going. Electric conversation. We have time for one more question. I really like this one. So what do you recommend citizens, especially college students should do to help grow the clean energy industry and combat climate change? Who wants it? I'll say start a company. If you have a great idea, start a company. Try to make it happen. Don't be afraid. This is the time. I'll just say, a lot of what is happening is really your future. This is you all are starting to help build it and you will most certainly live in it. And really what we have seen from the youth in the last decade or so really taking this up and challenging us, the more grown ups to say, hey, why are you guys messing up with our future? And this is not limited to just energy, right? But this is also about information. This is also about how we interact as citizens and how we think about our exchanges and thinking of societies. And so you guys have, this is your future and we all are trying to do our part in anticipating that we have been all fortunate and literally the fact that we're all here. What has been the conversation? Well, how great a time it is for Austin. Aren't we also very fortunate? Yes, we play into it, but we're also very fortunate. We really have that responsibility to work with all the energy and dedication we have to make sure that we all are able to give you all the future in Austin and elsewhere for that matter that in the future you can have a similar discussion like this about talking about great times and great events of change. So this will not happen without you because this is your future. So do everything you can do. And certainly, as Susan said, one of the great things you can do in Austin is to start companies. I'd add three things. Yes, start a company. Two, if you're much smarter than me, which I would assume you probably are, get involved in science, start creating those solutions that somebody else, you can work with somebody else to run the business side of it. And then number three, if I've learned anything over the last few years, it's that politics looks scary, but actually like everybody's kind of making it up as they go. And so if you wanna get involved and advocate, I would highly recommend. There's tons of stuff happening here locally, tons of stuff happening at the state level, tons of stuff happening at the federal level. And it is worth it to jump in and get a feel for how to talk to lawmakers and interest groups about how to shape that policy as well. So it's only slightly terrifying for about three minutes until you start talking to a politician and you realize they're just like you and they're pretending as well. And know that those emails and those phone calls, they work. I mean, when members get those calls and those emails and they get pestered, they think differently. Callie, any final thoughts here? I was just going to piggyback on what Nathan and what you just said, getting involved is so important. I mean, it makes a world of difference. And one thing that I just remembered when we were talking about what's happening in the new legislative session, that's something to watch that I think would be of interest for people on this call is there is a new bill proposed in the Senate that is Senate Bill 170. That would require the Public Utility Commission to send feasibility of 50% of generating capacity in the state coming from renewables by 2030. So it's a stepping stone to carbonization. Might be one to watch. It might be for those people looking to get involved for the first time. That might be your first reach out because I think that would be a pretty important first step. And I think it's pretty cool. Something like that's even in the legislative session. Suzanne, final thought before we head out. Oh, Callie, you're so awesome. That was, I'm going to close with Callie. All you're a little representative about that bill. It's going to be a good one. Awesome. Well, thank you to all of you. Dr. Rai, Suzanne Russo, Callie Taylor, Nathan Ryan, Mr. Ryan, we appreciate you. And thank you to the LBJ Foundation and Future Forum for hosting us. I will send it back to Amy Garza. Thanks, John. So many thanks to our panelists and giving you all your time. I just wanted to say that if you're not a Future Forum member, definitely take a look at our website for series of events, in addition to potentially becoming a member at lbjfutureforum.org. And just to let you know next month, we'll host a preview of the legislative session. And for members only, a live Q&A with Tanya Williams, who served as director of legislative affairs for then vice president, President Biden. More details are available on the website. Y'all have a great afternoon and certainly look forward to seeing y'all soon again.