(Photo: Travis Bubenik, Houston Public Media)

It’s CERAWeek. The annual energy conference chaired by Cambridge Energy Research Associates co-founder Daniel Yergin features a sort of who’s-who for the energy industry meeting and discussing a variety of energy-related topics. This year, those topics include Russia’s energy future and adapting to the “new energy era.”

Attendees include a number of energy and environmental interests, including Patricia Espinosa, the executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

On this edition of Houston Matters, we take a closer at CERAWeek and some of the issues being discussed by talking with energy analyst Loren Steffy and News 88.7’s energy and environment reporter Travis Bubenik.

Also this hour…

Texas Energy: Wind

We’re setting aside time each Thursday in the coming weeks to discuss developments in energy production in Texas. Last week, we talked about solar. In the coming weeks, we’ll discuss nuclear and other forms of energy. Today, we turn our attention to wind power and talk with Michael Skelly, founder and president of Clean Line Energy.

Doing More With Less

Doing more with less — we’ve all been there. Whether it’s at our jobs or in our family budgets, most of us have experienced a time where we had to stretch our resources to go a long way. And, chances are, you probably would rather not be in those situations. Well, what if those tough times were better for you than the times when you had a surplus of resources?

Rice University management professor Scott Sonenshein makes that case in his new book, Stretch: Unlock the Power of Less – and Achieve More Than You Ever Imagined. He tells Michael Hagerty about the benefits of “stretching,” the dangers of what he calls “chasing” and gives some examples of companies and organizations who’ve succeeded at this principle.

Houston Jewish Film Festival

The 2017 Houston Jewish Film Festival runs March 5-19 at the Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center. Among the numerous films screened this year is the Academy Award nominee Life Animated. The documentary tells the story of a young man who was unable to speak as a child until he and his family discovered a unique way to communicate by immersing themselves in the world of classic Disney animated films. We talk with organizers of the festival about what else they’re screening and why.

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