Share this page!

John Arnold Profile picture
Twitter logo
19 Apr, 4 tweets, 1 min read
There’s been seismic shift in the Houston energy industry of late. A year ago, there was a lot of defending the oil & gas sector and denouncing renewables. Anecdotally, about 75% of the talk was O&G and 25% clean energy. It feels like those numbers have reversed.
1/4
Three-quarters of discussions now are about wind, solar, batteries, transmission, lithium, cleantech, etc. Even those who are not ideological believers are taking the cues from the financial markets, which have no interest in oil production growth anymore. 2/4
The markets are rewarding those in a growth industry (zero carbon energy) vs one in secular decline. Plus, the capital available to O&G has dried up. Every energy PE firm in town is raising $ for clean energy (good luck pitching an oil fund to a university endowment now). 3/4
The shift has made me more optimistic about future of Houston and speed of decarbonization. The latter requires enormous scale and financial resources that large companies possess. The fossil fuel industry has that expertise and is now focusing on a low carbon future. 4/4

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with John Arnold

John Arnold Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @JohnArnoldFndtn

John Arnold Profile picture
18 Feb
Texas failed to insure against the consequences of a 100 year weather event but insurance costs $. And Texans hate any increase in taxes, fees, or service costs, even when the $ is used to prevent property damage and deaths. The story of drainage in Houston is a good example. 1/6
After major flooding in '98, '01, '06, '08, and '09 with significant property damage including 3 events with fatalities, Houston voters were asked to approve an impervious surface fee in 2010 to fund new drainage (average cost of $5/month per property). 2/6
Flooding was highly salient. This wasn't to fix a problem that happened every 20 or 50 or 100 years. It was to address an issue that happens every 2 or 3 years. Still, the vote was highly contentious, only passing 53-47%, & dominated mayoral politics for the following decade. 3/6
Read 6 tweets
John Arnold Profile picture
17 Feb
3 reports on philanthropy this week:
(1) Total giving increased 2%, from $450 to $459 bln. -@blackbaud
(2) DAF accounts increased from $112 to $142 bln over 2 yrs. -@AEI
(3) Fidelity DAF distributed $9.1 bln last year.

Combined, these studies show the best & worst of DAFs. 1/
On the + side, DAFs are very useful vehicles for donors. They allow ease of execution, low costs, & tax efficiency that promotes giving. For donors looking to contribute appreciated assets or bunch donations into a single year to get the tax benefit, these are great vehicles. 2/
However, the data shows growing problem of asset accumulation within philanthropic vehicles without a commensurate increase in giving to working charities. DAF assets should not be growing at a faster absolute dollar pace (15 bln/yr) than total $ giving to nonprofits (9 bln). 3/
Read 9 tweets
John Arnold Profile picture
4 Jan
NFL has hard salary cap. NBA sets a max player contract. Euro soccer limits the $ a team can lose. Pro team owners recognize folly of competing in zero-sum industry with huge external pressure to spend. College athletics, though, continues to engage in self-destructing acts. 1/
Recently fired head football coaches (+ assistants) are owed buyouts of $24 mil @ Texas and $22-30 mil @ Auburn. That public universities are paying coaching staffs 8-figure payments NOT TO WORK during Covid-era budget cuts in academic programs is wrong on so many levels. 2/
Boosters and alums get caught in the obsession, thinking their school should be above average. If Boise State can do it… If Stanford…If Oklahoma… But by definition, half of teams will be below avg. The mindset becomes “we just need a different coach and better facilities…” 3/
Read 7 tweets
John Arnold Profile picture
1 Dec 20
I'm proud to join a coalition of philanthropists and foundations to announce an effort to accelerate charitable giving. The effort calls for common-sense tax reforms to help increase the amount and flow of resources to charities. Short thread on the issues and our proposals. 1/
Private foundations (PFs) and donor advised funds (DAFs) are important vehicles to support giving. But asset aggregation in these vehicles is not enough. Our tax laws should ensure these dollars get distributed to the community in a timely manner. Today they don't. 2/
Moving money to a DAF is a tax strategy, not philanthropy. Distributing the money from a DAF to nonprofit orgs that support the community is when it becomes a charitable act.

Tax law should encourage both actions, not just the former.
3/
Read 9 tweets
John Arnold Profile picture
18 Nov 20
Proposals like $200 pharma gift cards & $50k student loan forgiveness are consequences of a political system that rewards politically expediency rather than addressing structural problems. These ideas not only perpetuate poorly designed systems but propagate them. 1/
Resource allocation has tradeoffs, even if they’re not explicit. With seemingly no constraints on deficits now, there is an illusion of no tradeoffs. The result is policymaking that, in using band-aids, weakens public demand (and hence political will) for needed reforms. 2/
The issues around student loan forgiveness are best summarized by @justinwolfers as “Worst. Idea. Ever.” So why is it even being considered? Giveaways are easy; fixing systems is hard. 3/
freakonomics.com/2011/09/19/for…
Read 16 tweets
John Arnold Profile picture
6 Nov 20
A few random musings about the election…

Yes, elections can see-saw back and forth each cycle but every congressional Dem in a competitive seat in 2022 has to be terrified right now. This will translate into a more moderate agenda regardless of who controls the Senate. 1/
It's clear the Dem platform/messaging is not translating well beyond the coasts. If Dems want to expand the map, they need leadership, punditry, and media that comes from outside the Northeast Megalopolis/California. 2/
The theory in “Coming Apart” by @charlesmurray that the fictionalized, elite “Belmont” is in such a bubble that it has lost touch with the white, working-class “Fishtown” is illustrated every day the NYT publishes multiple op-eds denigrating every Republican (48% of country). 3/
Read 13 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Like this author's thread?

Get emails when @JohnArnoldFndtn has new unrolls!

Check out other threads from @JohnArnoldFndtn!

Read all threads by @JohnArnoldFndtn