At a meeting of the Webber Energy Group this month, UT Professor and Strauss Center Distinguished Scholar Michael Webber identified his picks for the top energy and environment stories of 2014. His predictions range from the rise of solar to the risk of shipping oil by rail to the future of natural gas. Regarding the latter, Webber expects the fight over oil exports, major reductions in flaring during production, and the continuing shift from coal to natural gas in the power sector to be major themes in 2014. In addition to short-term predictions, Webber also provided a longer-term outlook on the growing importance of water, which he predicts, “will join petroleum as one of the world’s great strategic resources.”