Becky Motal, Author at Association of Women in Energy

In 2014, Becky Motal was elected as the Association of Women in Energy's President and Chair of the Board. Prior to being elected AWE's President, Ms. Motal was LCRA's first female general manager in Lower Colorado River Authority's (LCRA) history. Ms. Motal led LCRA, which provides water and electricity to more than a million Central Texans, through a tumultuous time in its history including record-breaking drought conditions, devastating wildfires, settlement of a water-sharing contract lawsuit with the San Antonio Water, and a massive, streamlining reorganization of the organization's structure and operations. As a result of her efforts, LCRA was able to reduce rates, remain competitive in the Texas energy market, and increase its customer base. Ms. Motal first began working for LCRA in 1972 after receiving a bachelor's degree in math from the University of Texas. She left to pursue a law degree and worked as an environmental attorney before returning to LCRA in 1987 as manager of Economic and Financial Planning. In 2007, she was promoted to executive manager of External Affairs, where she coordinated LCRA's activities with state and federal regulatory agencies. In that position, Ms. Motal had oversight over local governmental affairs, public affairs, customer service and corporate events. She is also on the board of the Texas Public Power Association.

New research center to focus on energy law and business

New research center to focus on energy law and business UT Austin will create an innovative new center that combines the expertise and resources associated with three existing research units focused on energy law and business. The Kay Bailey Hutchison Center for Energy, Law and Business will merge the UT School of Law’s Center for Global Energy, International Arbitration, and Environmental Law; the McCombs School of Business’ Energy Management and Innovation Center; and the Kay Bailey Hutchison Center for Latin American Law.

The Kay Bailey Hutchison Center for Energy, Law and Business will be established jointly by the School of Law and the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin. The naming of the center was approved on May 15, 2014 by the University of Texas System Board of Regents. The mission of the interdisciplinary center will be to provide the finest educational opportunities in the U.S. to students pursuing careers in energy. The center will also provide critical analyses of legal, business and policy questions related to energy and the energy industry, both domestic and international, including an emphasis on Latin America. The center will combine three existing centers at the university: the School of Law’s Center for Global Energy, International Arbitrations, and Environmental Law; the McCombs School’s Energy Management and Innovation Center; and the School of Law’s Kay Bailey Hutchison Center for Latin American Law, which the Board of Regents honorifically named for Hutchison last July. The Center for Latin American Law was formally established in 2013 but is not yet active. The new Kay Bailey Hutchison Center for Energy, Law and Business will unite the expertise and resources of these three centers. “We are proud this new center will be named for such a wonderful public servant who has a long and cherished relationship with our university,” said UT Austin President Bill Powers. “This exciting new venture will help us continue to establish The University of Texas at Austin as the country’s premier energy university.” “We are proud to name the Kay Bailey Hutchison Center for Energy, Law, and Business in honor of an outstanding public servant and distinguished University of Texas at Austin alumna who has supported energy studies from a broad perspective for many years, including the legal, managerial, and policy issues relevant to the energy industry,” added Francisco Cigarroa, chancellor of the University of Texas System. “This new center will combine the expertise and resources associated with three existing centers in law and business at UT Austin and provide a world-class, innovative educational experience to students and researchers, and balanced and incisive analyses to policy makers.” Hutchison is a distinguished alumna (B.A. 1962, J.D. 1967) and staunch advocate for centers of excellence in higher education. She retired from politics in 2012 after serving for nearly 20 years as a U.S. senator from Texas. She joined Bracewell & Giuliani in 2013 and represents clients in banking, energy, transportation, telecommunications and public policy. She is active in supporting both the School of Law and the LBJ School of Public Affairs and has ardently promoted the importance of research and diversity within higher education.

UT Austin graduate student takes first prize in Pike Powers Research Fellowship Competition

UT Austin’s Krystian Perez, a Ph.D. student in chemical engineering, was awarded first place in the Pike Powers Research Fellowship Competition, sponsored by the Pecan Street Research Institute. The fellowship was awarded to a student or faculty member of the research consortium that developed the most impactful research using Pecan Street’s unique dataset to answer a question of critical importance to industry. The first place award came with a $10,000 cash prize.

Krystian’s work is supported by a fellowship from the National Science Foundation and is co-sponsored by Dr. Thomas Edgar and Dr. Michael Baldea, professors in UT’s Department of Chemical Engineering.

Krystian’s research, titled “Meters to models: Using smart meter data to predict and control home energy use,” centered on developing simplified, dynamic models of air-conditioning use in residential houses, which account for a large and variable load on the electric grid. Employing controls strategies developed for the chemical industry, Krystian used a centralized controller to adjust thermostat settings for a community of houses to spread energy use throughout the day.

Competitors for the Pike Powers award submitted a research proposal in December 2013. The Industry Advisory Council (IAC) reviewed proposals and 10 competitors were selected to complete and submit a draft of their research papers to the Pecan Street Institute prior to a March 2014 technical workshop. Draft findings of the finalists’ proposals were presented to IAC members for industry review (similar to peer review), and award winners were announced June 2014.

Study: Duke Energy tops among world power companies for women in key posts

John Downey
Senior Staff Writer-
Charlotte Business Journal

A new study on women in the power and utility industry ranks Duke Energy Corp. (NYSE:DUK) first among the 100 largest power companies internationally for women in decision-making positions. The report — released by international consulting firm EY, formerly known as Ernst & Young — is titled “Talent on the table: index of women in power & utilities.” It is the first attempt by EY to evaluate the industry’s record in tapping women for important board, executive and management posts.

Charlotte-based Duke’s CEO is Lynn Good, and the CEO of the second-ranked company, San Diego-based Sempra Energy, is also a woman. But more important for EY’s analysis is that each are members of their company’s board of directors.

The EY report finds the power industry as a whole “fared better for gender diversity than other infrastructure-specific industries such as telecommunications, oil and gas (and) mining.” But it lags behind less technical industries such as consumer services.

Other U.S. companies
Among power companies, Duke scores well because, beyond Good, there are two other women on the senior management team, two other women on the board of directors and at least half a dozen women in business unit and audit leadership positions.

The report profiles one of them: Chief Customer Officer Gayle Lanier. She told EY that diversity is a key for successful companies.

“At Duke we need diverse teams more than ever as we get more personal with customers and move from the meter into the home,” she told EY. “One of the reasons I joined Duke five years ago was to bring diversity of thought.” Duke and Sempra are the only U.S. companies EY ranks in the top 10 worldwide. New York based-Consolidated Edison, Virginia-based Dominion Resources and the Tennessee Valley Authority rank in the top 20 at 14th, 15th and 19th, respectively.

John Downey covers the energy industry and public companies for the Charlotte Business Journal.

TIME shows how attitudes toward conservation may be guided by gender

A new global survey for TIME shows how attitudes toward conservation may be guided by gender.

More women than men worldwide say energy conservation is a “very important” issue, while men report greater personal concern about global warming, according to the results of a new global energy survey conducted for TIME.

The survey polled online respondents in six countries—the U.S., Germany, India, Turkey, Brazil and South Korea—on their attitudes toward energy. It revealed that conservation habits and perspectives about energy challenges differ along gender lines, and not always in the ways you might expect.

Silhouetted electricity pylon grid — Source: Getty Images

Nearly 70% of women said energy conservation was a vital issue, compared with less than 50% of men. At the same, 65% of males reported that global warming was a very important issue to them, far outpacing the 37% of females who said the same.

The survey suggests that women are more leery of nuclear power (by a 48% to 40% margin), slightly more convinced the earth is warming (60% to 56%) and more likely to report high degrees of concern over rising sea levels, pollution and gas prices. By a couple of percentage points, women also took a more favorable stand on the oil-and-gas industry’s role in the issue.

Men, on the other hand, were more likely to say that rich nations should take the lead in the fight to reduce emissions (50% to 46%), and more likely to lay blame for the global warming crisis at the feet of the United States (45% to 38%), which has long held the ignominious title of the world’s largest carbon emitter.

The sexes were also split in their assessment of their home country’s role in the climate crisis. Sixty-three percent of women say their nation is part of the problem, compared with 54% of men. Men were more likely to say their country was part of the solution, by a 46% to 37% margin.

The survey was conducted among 3,505 online respondents equally divided between the U.S., Brazil, Germany, Turkey, India and South Korea. Polling was conducted from May 10 to May 22. The overall margin of error overall in the survey is 1.8%