One fascinating aspect of the East Texas lumber industry is that in one sense, the basic process of cutting logs into lumber using a rapidly moving piece of sharp metal, powered by some energy source (human muscle, hydropower, diesel, electricity), has not changed.
In the next few articles, we look at the history of the lumber industry in East Texas. By doing this, we will be reminded of numerous important realities of economics and thus of human civilization.
The Staggers Rail Act - also known as the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act - was passed by Congress in October, 1980.
The history of railroads in Texas from 1900 to 1970 is one of decline and resurgence, slow decay yet simultaneous slow innovation and growth. Railroads are equally resilient but slow to adapt. Two sides of the same coin.
The first railroads in Texas were built in the 1830s to connect small towns and cities, as well as to ports along the Gulf of Mexico. These early railroads were short in length and primarily used for transporting goods and passengers.
The Ports of Houston, Corpus Christi and Port Arthur are each strategically located, have deepwater access, and extensive infrastructure (including storage, pipeline, rail and trucking).
Is hydrogen the energy source of the future?
Predicting the future is, shall we say, difficult. So the best (safest) answer to that question is, “maybe…but maybe not.”
How many hydrogen revolutions and sub-revolutions could happen in Texas? Hard to say. The answer is limited first by imagination and then by the normal constraints on any innovation.
The key to beginning to understand hydrogen, I think, is to see its versatility. Hydrogen can be produced from a variety of processes, including electrolysis and gasification, and from and with a variety of resources, both traditional fossil fuels
Mark Cole: One of the biggest, most persistent issues is that there’s still a widespread misunderstanding about what blockchain is and isn’t…
The opportunities for supply chain management improvement through the use of blockchain are legion. What is supply chain but a series of transactions…
I think about civilization a lot. I think about what it means, how it is created, and how it is lost…
Texas is a global electricity powerhouse.
Texas is by far the biggest producer of electricity among the United States. Florida, a distant number two, produces about half as much according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. And all of that electricity stays in Texas (more on that below).
