This Lockhart Greenhouse Wants to Grow Your Salad Using Robots
Iron Ox, a San Francisco–area company with a Texas-bred CEO, builds greenhouses that use data to yield pretty produce.
Senior editor Russell Gold was born somewhere east of the Sabine River, but has lived in Austin, Dallas, and San Antonio since 1996. He has spent most of that time writing about energy in its many forms. He has dodged polar bears on Alaska’s North Slope, climbed a wind turbine in Oklahoma, and spent time on frac pads from Carrizo Springs to Fort Worth and Odessa to Carthage. He worked at the San Antonio Express-News before joining the Wall Street Journal, where he worked from 2000 to 2021. Gold has won multiple business-writing awards and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for his coverage of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the electric line–caused Camp Fire in California. His 2014 book, The Boom, was long-listed for the FT Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year prize. His 2019 book, Superpower, wasn’t—but it is even better. It profiles Houstonian Michael Skelly’s attempt to build a very, very long extension cord. Gold joined Texas Monthly in 2021 to write about the business of Texas. He lives with his wife in Austin.
Iron Ox, a San Francisco–area company with a Texas-bred CEO, builds greenhouses that use data to yield pretty produce.
By Russell Gold
One year after the deadly blackout, Texas officials have done little to prevent the next one—which could be far worse.
By Russell Gold
The salty water spewing high on a Crane County ranch could be a sign of a “whack-a-mole” future in the Permian Basin.
By Russell Gold
A Pecos County well has leaked noxious salt water for almost two decades. No one is taking responsibility for getting it cleaned up.
By Russell Gold
Twenty years have passed since the notoriously corrupt energy-trading company collapsed. Maybe it’s time to acknowledge that it wasn’t all bad for Texas.
By Russell Gold
Elon Musk’s company aims to transform the energy business. So, of course, it’s relocating to the energy capital.
By Russell Gold
Texas start-ups are harnessing know-how born of the shale boom in pursuit of a greener future.
By Russell Gold
With taxpayer money now committed to the project, alongside private pledges, the oil billionaire’s push to create a conservative think tank on the Austin campus nears the goal line.
By Russell Gold
Tesla has filed to become a Texas power retailer in a move that could shake up an already fast-changing market.
By Russell Gold