Welcome to Material Way

2/5/2025 Between gigs, deciding what to work on next.

Interesting times. Hard to judge what merits attention, much less the best actions to take - but then another notice regarding substantive events passes by to remind me that there are real crisis that we should work on. Jan 2025 set another temperature record, surpassing the previous high for Januarys set in 2024. There does seem to be a pattern! If the Earth were a manufacturing line (meant solely to produce a habitat for humanity?) - the process engineer in charge of the line would be hitting the big red button for an emergency stop for fear that the system is out of control and probably in jeopardy of permanently damaging itself.

The fact that TX, as the leading energy producer and largest US green house gas producer, has relatively shallow and narrow energy policy narratives dominating policy debate is painful. The fact that preserving biosphere stability doesn't enjoy even line item attention from state leadership continually draws my attention. I find myself contemplating what I can or should do to address this challenge. I did a volunteer stint on the Electric Utility Commission of the City of Austin a few years back, and enjoyed a policy success at the municipal level through the City of Austin. REACH may well now represent the largest and most cost effective emission reduction program in the state*, and mechanistically it could be easily replicated at the state level and generates only benefits for the state (primary pollutants reduction, GHG reduction, likely more cost effective grid stabilization, and is so low in cost that few notice it), no new construction required.

That said, problems are still interesting. If you encounter an issue that I might help address, please feel free to send an Email. I will try to aid as I can - be it policy, energy, climate, process engineering, metrology, or project and account management spaces: info@materialway.com

Sincerely,

Matt Weldon

ps: For someone who crosses this site by happenstance, Material Way = Matt Weldon. What social media I maintain can be found at LinkedIn.
* I don't know that it is - but would like to know what policy or project in TX holds that title so that we might all do more of it too.

What else am I doing these days? Note the pictures below.

Keeping up with kids - they are on fire! College, science competitions, rock climbing, music, fencing, astronomy presentations, puppy raisers...who knew such fun and interesting people would appear on the scene?! As of 2025 Ben went on to work for Boeing in Seattle after graduate school at Stanford, Evan received his undergraduate degree in Biology at Texas A&M and is now pursuing medical school at UT Southwestern, and Marten is now a sophomore in college at UT Dallas.
I'm thinking about what I might do in the policy space. I served as an Electric Utility Commission (EUC) member representing District 6 of the City of Austin. I was honored that my City Councilman, Jimmy Flannigan, asked me to participate on this commission and I finished a term in the summer of 2021. The city's governance structure has many boards and commissions that wield relatively little direct authority but do serve as as a means of community oversight and provide a mechanism for citizenry to aid in issue prioritization. The EUC is the primary citizen oversight body for Austin Energy (AE), the largest city department, a billion dollar enterprise, and the 8th largest publicly owned electric utility. I used this role to great effect to champion internal carbon pricing and the REACH (Reduce Emissions Affordably for Climate Health) program came from these efforts - reducing citywide electric associated emissions generation by 30% in its first year of employ!

Some related Austin Energy update links: nice 2024 Generation Planning video from Austin Energy that devotes a few minutes to REACH program review , Nov. 2021 REACH Update, a disappointing FPP announcement - where AE leans on REACH (too much?), 2020 REACH Update

Dairy farmer: this is a familial activity into which each generation is drafted due to an Illinois farm established in 1849. Heartfelt thanks is given to my grandfather, who purchased the farm from his Uncle Lincoln (who had no children and passed away while still residing on the farm) to keep it in the family. The cousins and I are appreciative and love the time we spend there. There are some hot summer days, when painting or mucking the barn, that make one wonder if the enterprise has sufficient legs to continue on in its current form. The times are changing and challenging but our industrious tenant's focus is now on providing livestock and services to a larger regional dairy, so all is well for the moment. I'm sure you have heard the one about how one ends up owning a small farm: First, you start with a large farm...
Guide Dog training for use by the blind - my association to this activity is through my wife, Minda, and the boys, though having dogs about is always good. We also often act as substitute sitters for full time puppy raisers who have short term conflicts. Evan's third puppy, Toro, is now a working guide dog. Marten had this dog's brother, Trolley, who would up becoming a personal pet, as he suffered severe dog distraction and didn't go on to work (too much love to share, he can't help himself). Marten received his second dog, Sirius, before Christmas 2021 - a fortunate family addition and source of entertainment for which we were grateful during the Omicron COVID variant's round of social curtailment. Sirius is now a working dog for a college student. The most recent dog belonged to Minda and Libby is now at Dogs Inc receiving final training.
Climate change. This is an engrossing and challenging problem to which I am sensitized by my continual visits to my childhood home in southern Colorado. High altitude regions are among those affected most quickly as snow loss creates a rapid local feedback loop where the effects of shorter winters, faster snow melts, and longer hotter summers are quite visible to me. I'm in accord with the majority of economists, that putting a price on emissions is a logical step and duty of the government as the market maker. That we chose $0 as the price point for the use and abuse of atmospheric and ocean reservoirs is merely an accident of history and tradition, not a fixed nor logical choice for a market design.

Trying to convince political leadership to acknowledge the issue, to take mitigating action, and embrace the idea that competitive markets not only make sense but can be good for us, is more challenging than it should be. We certainly seem more interested in protecting the corporate status quo than actually enabling competitive capitalism, solving problems, improving everyone's situation, but I find volunteering time to the task to be a rewarding if still Sisyphean pursuit.

The US still has great opportunity for economic growth and world policy leadership on this issue - the net good of action looks large. Inaction simply looks silly - embracing all risk with no upside potential, while forfeiting many real benefits such as better near term pricing value for American fossil fuel products (the US enjoys high energy/carbon ratio natural resources - but we get no environmental bonus for these better raw fuels in the current market design). Pricing emissions at $0 perfectly socializes all risks and damages. Inaction is the path to maximize risk and damages - and unfortunately the one we are currently on. Taking action can address a number of physical, market, and social issues at the same time. Some links for consideration:

- Citizens Climate Lobby - I feel fortunate to have found a grass roots organization that supports a reasonable policy. Read up! Specifically review the "REMI study" - a 3rd party review of policy impact on the economy from a reputable analysis organization, and the news is good even just based on jobs and GDP. Environmental benefits are merely an existentially important added bonus.
- Miracle of miracles, decent bills with bi-partisan sponsorship(!) were introduced in both house and senate late in 2018, largely following the CCL policy recommendation: Energy Innovation & Carbon Dividend Act -H.R.7173 and S. 3791 - "To create a Carbon Dividend Trust Fund for the American people in order to encourage market-driven innovation of clean energy technologies and market efficiencies which will reduce harmful pollution and leave a healthier, more stable, and more prosperous nation for future generations." Learn more at: https://energyinnovationact.org/
  - This bill was re-introduced in the 117th congress as H. R. 2307 . It is one of several bills now supporting carbon pricing but it remains among the most ambitious and highly supported and has the largest number of co-sponsors. We still have a window to lead on this topic and avert the all too real danger of triggering environmental "tipping points" - but we are well into danger zone and are making the challenge harder still. We need to stop dithering and act!!
    - Fell just one vote short in the senate - per insider talk. Heartbreaking. The IRA bill was a big accomplishment, and a subsidy bill is better than doing nothing, but I think a huge opportunity missed to galvanize global markets and let the US claim global leadership across all energy arenas (not just oil volume, but volume, margin, longevity, and even a moral high ground once we modify the market to include a moral and beneficial goal).
  - 118th did nothing and 119th looks a mess.
- Climate Leadership Council - James Baker participates and late great George Shultz participated in this initiative. They are among the best elder statesmen of the Republican Party and informed my own early political thought when I reached voting age. I feel honored to share their company on this topic. CLC has gone on to produce some good analysis assessing the effects of rational emission pricing policy on the US economy. A recent publication pointing out that the US (#2 global manufacturer) still enjoys a carbon efficiency advantage over China (#1). https://clcouncil.org/blog/why-is-u-s-industry-3x-more-carbon-efficient-than-china/
  - Tariffs can be justified if tied to a purpose and beneficial goal.