Houston is the U.S. energy headquarters and a world center for virtually every segment of the petroleum industry.

Forty-seven percent of Houston’s employment base — those sectors of the local economy that export goods and services outside the region — is related to energy.

More than 3,600 energy-related businesses are located in Houston Area, including more than 550 exploration and production firms, more than 200 pipeline transportation establishments and hundreds of manufacturers and wholesalers of energy-sector products.

Ten of the 25 largest publicly traded oil and gas exploration and production firms are headquartered in Houston.

In September 2005, the Houston area held 30.9% of the nation’s jobs in oil and gas extraction (39,300 of 128,000), 16.2% of jobs in support activities for mining (30,800 of 226,500) and 10.2% of agricultural, construction and mining machinery manufacturing jobs (21,100 of 207,400).

Fifteen of the nation's top 20 natural gas transmission companies have corporate or divisional headquarters in Houston, controlling 57.1 percent of U.S. capacity.

Since 1965, revenue from the Outer Continental Shelf has helped fund more than 965 grants in Texas totaling more than $165 million, preserving 55,155 acres through the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

In fiscal year 2006, Texas received $8.9 million in revenue from the federal government from federal leases located within three miles of the state’s shoreline.

In fiscal year 2006, production volumes from Texas state-owned submerged lands were Oil/Condensate: 4.4 billion barrels (bbls) and Natural Gas: 122 thousand cubic feet (Mcf).

For fiscal year 2005, royalty revenue from state submerged lands managed by the Texas General Land Office totaled $60 million for natural gas royalty and $29 million for oil.

In 2005, the Federal Government reported $5.7 billion in total royalty revenues from the offshore Gulf of Mexico region.

In 2005, the Federal Government reported almost $6 billion in total royalty revenues from all offshore regions.

Over these last 14 years, there has been an overall expansion in all phases of deepwater activity. There are approximately 8,221 active leases in the Gulf of Mexico OCS, 54 percent of which are in deepwater.

Offshore oil and gas production account for 97% or the Total Federal Offshore Reported Royalty Revenues.

Since 1980, U.S. energy consumption has increased by 30 percent, while U.S. energy supply has increased by only 15 percent

Since 1995, U.S. energy consumption has increased by 12 percent, while U.S. energy supply has increased by only 1 percent

During 2003/04 growing seasons, farmers paid $6 billion for energy-related expenses – a 41 percent increase over prior years

Higher fuel prices cost U.S. commercial air carriers $9.6 billion in fiscal year 2005

High energy prices (particularly natural gas) have cost the economy 2.8 million U.S. jobs since 2000

Since 2004, high energy prices have slowed U.S. economic growth by 0.5 to 1.0 percent

Gulf of Mexico OCS has been producing since the 1950s

In 2003, the GOM offshore waters contributed 29 percent of the oil produced in the US and 22 percent of domestic natural gas production

The 1.5 million barrels per day of oil from Central and Western GOM waters is equivalent to our imports from Saudi Arabia

The 4.4 trillion cubic feet produced annually from Central and Western GOM waters is enough natural gas to meet more than 80 percent of the electric industry’s needs

In 2005 hurricanes hit 2900 platforms with 170 mph sustained winds for 5-7 hours with no appreciable leaks.

The volume of U.S. oil imports from the unstable Persian Gulf region is five and a half times what it was just 20 years ago.

Oil imports could be reduced by 40 percent within 5 years, 75 percent within 15 years, and eliminated entirely within 25 years using currently available U.S. oil and natural gas reserves.

These goals can be met without discovering a technological breakthrough.

The U.S. has enough energy resources to effectively reduce reliance on foreign oil imports.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the United States has almost 175 billion barrels of oil reserves. These include 21.9 billion barrels of “proved oil reserves” – oil that has been discovered and can be produced right now – and more than 150 billion barrels of “undiscovered” reserves.

The USGS estimates that the United States has 1,430.6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves.

The USGS estimates that there are 23.6 billion barrels of natural gas liquids reserves – products such as propane, butane and ethane – in the U.S. resource base.

The United States is the Saudi Arabia of coal, with 496.1 billion tons of demonstrated reserves – 27 percent of the world total.

The United States has between 500 billion and 1.1 trillion barrels of oil in the form of oil shale.

The United States has approximately 4.85 billion pounds of uranium reserves.

The 4.4 trillion cubic feet produced annually from Central and Western Gulf of Mexico waters is enough natural gas to meet more than 80 percent of the electric industry’s consumption of natural gas.

The Minerals Management Service (MMS) has called deepwater oil and natural gas development in the Gulf of Mexico “a workhorse for U.S. domestic oil and gas production.” According to MMS, offshore deepwater oil production rose 535% between 1995 and 2002 and deepwater natural gas production rose 620% over those same years.

Undeveloped resources in federal deep water is estimated at 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and almost 86 billion barrels of oil. For perspective, that is equivalent to three times the oil resources of Canada and Mexico combined and almost 6 times the natural gas resources of these two countries.

According to conservative estimates from MMS there are about 288 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 59 billion barrels of oil yet to be discovered on the OCS off the lower 48 states (NOT including Alaska).

About two-thirds of U.S. oil consumption is accounted for by the transportation sector; the majority of which goes to power more than 220 million privately owned vehicles.

Reducing oil consumption for transportation is not a simple task, as the average life of a car or light truck is 16.8 years and 8.5 years for a fleet.

Even if each new vehicle purchased used alternative energy sources, conventional fuels would still be needed for some time to come.

Encouraging the purchase of alternative fuel vehicles, such as hybrid electric, plug-in electric, propane and natural-gas vehicles, could reduce import requirements by 325,000 barrels of oil per day in five years.

Renewable energy comes in many forms, such as solar, wind, hydropower, biomass/biofuel, geothermal, ocean and hydrogen energy, and can be used to produce electricity, transportation fuels and other chemicals (in the cases of biomass and hydrogen energy).

Solar energy can be used for heating and lighting homes and other buildings, generating electricity, hot water heating and solar cooling, as well as for numerous commercial and industrial uses.

Wind turbines can be used alone, connected to a utility power grid or combined with a solar cell system to serve a number of functions ranging from electricity production to water pumping.

Hydroelectric power currently generates about 10% of the nation's energy.

A small or micro-hydroelectric power system can produce enough electricity for a home, farm, or ranch.

Biomass energy can be used for fuels, power production and products, which all have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Biofuels are the only renewable liquid transportation fuels available, with about 4 percent of all motor fuel currently blended with up to 10 percent ethanol.

Biomass energy supports the U.S. agricultural and forest-product industries by using feedstocks, such as paper mill residue, lumber mill scrap, and municipal waste for power.

Biofuels use feedstocks, like corn (for ethanol) and soybeans (for biodiesel), which are surplus crop.

About 4 percent of all motor fuel is currently blended with up to 10 percent ethanol.

If the use of ethanol were extended to all motor fuel, some 630,000 barrels of oil per day could be offset.

“Flex-fuel” vehicles can use fuel blends that contain up to 85 percent ethanol.

Agricultural residues, such as corn stover (the stalks, leaves, and husks of the plant) and wheat straw, are planned to be used in the near-term for the production of biofuels.

According to the DOE, the use of biomass/biofuel energy strengthens rural economies, decreases America's dependence on imported oil, avoids use of MTBE or other highly toxic fuel additives, reduces air and water pollution, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions.

Geothermal hot water is currently used to heat buildings (individually or entire towns), raise greenhouse plants, dry crops, heat water at fish farms, and perform various industrial processes, such as pasteurizing milk.

Geothermal heat pumps could replace the entire system of oil heating in homes, which currently uses 500,000 barrels of oil per day.

Geothermal power plants use steam produced from reservoirs of hot water found a couple of miles or more below the Earth's surface for generating electricity, rather than using fossil fuels to boil water and produce steam.

Geothermal heat pumps use significantly less energy than conventional heating systems and are more efficient when cooling buildings, which saves energy and money while reducing air pollution.

Oceans are considered the world’s largest solar collectors, as they cover more than 70% of Earth's surface.

The temperature difference between the heated ocean surface and the deep ocean waters creates thermal energy, of which a small portion could have the potential to power the world with electricity.

Most hydrogen production is currently made by steam reforming natural gas. However, natural gas is becoming scarcer and more expensive. Natural gas is also a fossil fuel, so the carbon dioxide released in the reformation process adds to the greenhouse effect.

Hydrogen has very high energy for its weight, but very low energy for its volume, so new technology is needed to store and transport it.

Fuel cells have the ability to cleanly produce electricity from hydrogen and oxygen, making hydrogen attractive as a 'fuel' for transportation use in particular.

Fuel cells could also act as a general energy carrier for homes and other uses, and for storing and transporting otherwise intermittent renewable energy.

Fuel cells function like a battery, where external fuel is supplied rather than being stored electricity, and generates power by chemical reaction rather than combustion.

Fuel cell technology is still in early development, needing improvements in efficiency and durability.

Current fuel cell work at the NREL aims to develop durable, less-expensive materials for its necessary components.

Platinum and other current electrode catalysts used in fuel cells are costly (particularly for low-operating-temperature fuel cells), where conditions can be highly corrosive (particularly for high-operating-temperature fuel cells) both for electrodes and membranes.

Design options for fuel cells and their relation to other vehicle operating systems remain quite complex.

Energy use in the average home is responsible for twice as much pollution as the average car.

If a refrigerator is 10 years old or more, it is best to replace it. Refrigerators use more energy than any other appliance in your home, but an energy efficient model uses about half the energy of a 10-year old conventional model.

Energy efficient light bulbs are 75% more efficient than incandescent bulbs. If one room in every home is brightened by an energy efficient bulb, the difference will keep over one trillion pounds of carbon dioxide out of the air.

Central air conditioning systems that are more than seven years old should be considered for replacement. An energy efficient model can use about 20% less energy than a standard model. If just one household in 10 bought an efficient heating and cooling system, the change would keep over 17 billion pounds of pollution out of the air.

Washing clothes in cooler water and using energy efficient machines can use 50% less water and 70 % less energy per load, which adds up to $100 every year.

Some thermostats are programmable and automatically adjust the temperature when inhabitants are away.