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Hugh Daigle

@hdaigle.bsky.social
2.1K followers 269 following 901 posts

Professor, Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering, University of Texas at Austin. Into decarbonization, gas hydrates, nanotechnology, birds. #energysky

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Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
kind of addresses my comments but also adds new material that I have to review. It’s degrading the ability of (some) people to sit down, think through stuff, and do the iterative process that is research. But so far it’s only afflicting a subset of people I work wIth. 2/2
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Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
One thing I’ve noticed about AI use in academia is that it allows chaotic, scatterbrained people to be more chaotic and scatterbrained. Like, I’ve got a grad student who is trying to put a paper together and every time I send him comments he comes back with all this new, unrelated analysis that 1/2
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Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Dumb question and someone probably already asked it, but our current laws are WAY out of date; how do we ensure new regulations will be durable/nimble into an unknowable future? Like allowing flexibility like how we recently got all this battery storage on ERCOT. Texas seems to be oddly nimble.
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Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
It’s a tough week for UT students. ACL mudfest, OU weekend coming up, Daigle’s exam…
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Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Review session for midterm in my petrophysics class and I did my annual “you‘ll put the TROPHY in peTROPHYsics”. Always gets applause.
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Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
And there will be foul language! Possibly around your kids! Please avoid the foul language.
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Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Niche French horn post: if the end screw of your lever restraining rod falls off and gets lost (indicated in photo), do NOT remove the rod. Your levers will fall out and you will spend an hour+ repositioning the springs and strings on the rotary valves. Just buy a new screw. #themoreyouknow
My pinkie indicating the position of a screw that we lost somehow on my son’s French horn, which led to an evening of chaos and an eventual order from eBay
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Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
ACL Fest and OU weekend make it very difficult to schedule midterms at UT and I feel like we should abolish… something
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Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Timeline lol
Right below the post I got a post from USER WAS BLOCKED saying “When are you planning on sacrificing yourself?”
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Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
ATX is off the hook in apartment names. One of my grad students literally lives in “The Outlaw”.
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Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
In my experience the best approach is to be able to tell them what you think they need and get them to believe you. It’s a delicate process that takes time and experience. Interact with them individually as much as possible.
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Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Are those diesel prices I see, streaking across the desert?
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Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
No, this is expected given the strength of this el niño, right?
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Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I literally got a message last week inviting me to join the "EU Academy of Sciences" (not to be confused with the European Academy of Sciences, which is a real thing). Yet another scam preying on struggling academics.
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Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
”’it’s probably not such a great idea,‘ Daigle said.” Like I tell my kids when they’re about to do something that will send us to the emergency room
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Reposted by Hugh Daigle
Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Yeah, I wish more Americans understood there‘s no such thing as energy independence.
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Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Yeah, I wish more Americans understood there‘s no such thing as energy independence.
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Reposted by Hugh Daigle
Costa Samaras @costasamaras.com · 23/09/2026
Banning diesel exports will make diesel prices higher in the U.S., especially in the northeast, where a lot of goods that arrive by ship at ports need to travel inland to US stores, carried by trucks and trains, that use,,,diesel fuel.
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Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I will say again- this diesel nonsense is going to lead to unaffordable heating oil in New England, including for my parents. I am lucky that I can help them with $$ but so many are not so fortunate. The solution is to resolve the conflict in Iran. This is so dumb.
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Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Haha my quote made the headline! But seriously a ban on diesel exports is a bad move. Better to resolve the situation in Iran. www.marketplace.org/story/2026/0...
marketplace.org
"Not such a good idea": How banning diesel exports to lower prices could backfire
Some senators and governors are calling on the Trump administration to temporarily ban diesel exports to boost domestic supply. Experts say it might not work as well as they hope.
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Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Nobody is in the top right corner that’s for sure
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Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Cuantos Tacos, Stiles Switch, Loro, Homeslice Pizza, Posse East!
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Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Some of us got multiple notices for the same abstract, which I may use for debt collateral
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Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
And ironically it was due to a software error? C’mon man
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Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Nucleus physics
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Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
So we could take our exports off the market, but that would just drive up prices for everyone (note that crack spread is larger for Brent…). 3/3 Data from the EIA: www.eia.gov/energyexplai...
eia.gov
Where our diesel comes from - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)
Sources of diesel fuel from petroleum refining and how diesel fuel is transported to consumers by pipeline, ships, trains, and trucks.
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Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Because diesel is traded on a global market, we have to consider import/export balance. US imported 60 million barrels (84% from Canada). Exports were 400 million barrels in 2025. 2/3
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Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Ok, so now y‘all are going to ask me about a diesel export ban. In 2025, U.S. refineries produced about 1.76 billion barrels of diesel. Total consumption was 1.42 billion barrels. 1/3
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Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
www.eia.gov/energyexplai... “U.S. petroleum refineries produce most of the diesel fuel the United States consumes.” This is not an Ukraine problem, folks. C’mon man.
The Insane Clown Posse magnet meme, but for diesel. “Diesel, how does it work?”
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Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
HOLY SHIT TEXAS
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Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Which is to say, yes, I’ve been paying out of pocket for myself and my students to attend AGU for the past 10+ years. See you there!
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Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
UT grants a nominal amount ($1.5k) for conference travel and I usually eat the rest if I don’t have grant funds (as I usually don’t). We’re lucky at UT that we’re relatively well compensated so my personal funds cover it + graduate students. But yes, this is unsustainable.
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Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Beautiful sunset in ATX. Ladies and gentlemen, the weekend. Photo by my 13-year-old.
A stunning post-thunderstorm sunset with brilliant colors
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Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
My parents, like many people in New Hampshire, rely on heating oil in the winter. Usually they lock in a low(ish) season-long rate during the summer. This year their oil provider couldn’t make this happen because of uncertainty. Now prices are rising again. I worry for them! This is all unnecessary.
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Reposted by Hugh Daigle
Danny Cullenward @ghgpolicy.org · 09/09/2026
This is a great story from @katearonoff.bsky.social on the new UNEP emissions gap report and a recent ERL paper from @arvindpawan1.bsky.social and @hdaigle.bsky.social
newrepublic.com
Carbon Capture Won’t Save Us Anytime Soon
A new U.N. climate report says ​that massive amounts of carbon capture and storage can keep a long-shot climate goal within reach. ​But nobody should be counting on it.
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Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
AI was actually helpful in telling me that UT's weekend parking leniency extends to Labor Day and pointed me to the exact section of the HOP that says so. A rare (so far) win! (Took the kids to the rec pool at Gregory Gym because it was 101 degrees out, and my F permit gets us a premium spot.)
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Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Just like on the license plate. “Drink free, or dry”
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Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
And it’s technically “bubbla”
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Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Straight outta New Hampsha baby
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Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Ok duh but what’s up with SoCal? Too many Eastern New England expats?
Daigle’s dialect map showing that he speaks most similar to eastern New England (where he grew up) but also somehow similar to the Santa Barbara area?
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Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Based on observations around Austin pertaining to competition, I’m with the latter. Waymo is already here, I’m not sure about Zoox, but they’re definitely the late entry. Also some bad press about not dropping off passengers where expected.
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Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
@vermontgmg.bsky.social and I were at the same college near Boston on this morning. I remember seeing the news of the first plane strike, shrugging, and heading off to my work study job where I heard of all the rest. Fighter jets around Boston the rest of the day. Millennial coming of age.
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Reposted by Hugh Daigle
Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Are colons the new em-dash or what
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Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Are colons the new em-dash or what
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Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Old boreholes are more likely to be leaky due to corrosion, bad cement etc. Entire assets consisting of old wells are bad news for this reason- you can’t just say “hey, this field used to hold a ton of oil, let’s sequester here.” Because there are too many existing wells.
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Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
You’re probably the best person to do this interview and it will be a great episode. Very topical and lots of detail to get into. I look forward to listening. Q: Can you offset emissions for a flexible load? You’re balancing energy demand vs carbon removal demand, temporally, which is hard.
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Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Donating blood is good for your community and good for your health. And you get free Gatorade!
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Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
It‘s got a lot of advantages over water - supercritical at lower PT, low viscosity, high heat capacity etc. Only drawback is you can only do it closed loop (In the absence of corrosion etc - color me skeptical.) Here’s some very enthusiastic local press coverage: bigbendsentinel.com/2024/12/11/p...
bigbendsentinel.com
Presidio among first in Texas to advance ‘World-changing’ carbon-negative geothermal project
PRESIDIO — In a groundbreaking move that could reshape the energy landscape of Far West Texas, the Presidio Municipal Development District (PMDD) unanimously voted on December 4 to authorize a letter ...
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Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
I had a discussion with our municipal electric utility where I found out they are going to purchase electricity from a company drilling a geothermal well in West Texas (where the rocks are hot and not seismically active) that will use CO2 as the working fluid in a closed-loop system. We'll see.
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Hugh Daigle @hdaigle.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
I literally said this on the radio 6 months ago come on guys
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