the view from HETI

Houston Energy Transition Initiative celebrates milestones of 2024 amid global energy innovation

Jane Stricker and Bobby Tudor reflect on the Houston Energy Transition Initiative's three years of advancing Houston's leadership in the global energy transition through innovation, collaboration, and investment in a low-carbon future. Photos courtesy

As we wrap up our third year, the Houston Energy Transition Initiative and our region have much to celebrate. Alongside our members and partners, HETI strengthens Houston’s position as the global leader in meeting the dual challenge, leading the world to an affordable, secure, and low-carbon energy future.

Across our region, we continue to see strong growth in the number of energy and energy transition projects announced, energy and cleantech companies of all sizes and across all segments calling Houston home, and the volume of energy related capital investment flowing into Houston and Houston-headquartered companies.

As detailed in our year-end recap, HETI has engaged domestic and international business leaders, policymakers, and dignitaries across the US and the world, showcasing Houston as a destination for and producer of energy transition talent and innovation. Through those engagements and our members’ efforts in HETI Working Groups, we have continued to demonstrate the critical role Houston companies play in providing the world with affordable and reliable energy while also accelerating the development and deployment of innovative technologies in support of our collective climate goals.

As Bill Gates noted during his visit to Houston for CERAWeek this year, Texas has the potential to be the “Silicon Valley of Energy” and is “showing the world how to power a clean tomorrow.”

Through our collective efforts, the world is recognizing something we Houstonians have known for years – the world’s ability to meet the dual challenge of more energy with significantly less emissions requires a new level of collaboration across our entire energy ecosystem – including government, academia, startups, incubators, investors, and our incumbent energy industry – which has the assets, the resources, and the know-how to scale solutions for an energy-abundant, low-carbon future.

It’s been another tremendous year for HETI, but we still have a lot of work ahead. Your continued support and engagement will allow us to further Houston’s position as the global leader in a rapidly changing energy landscape. As we head into 2025, we will continue to convene, communicate, advocate, and engage in support of our collective vision – leveraging Houston’s energy leadership to accelerate solutions for an energy-abundant, low-carbon future.

To learn more about HETI’s 2024 Year, view the full year in review, click here.

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This letter — written by Jane Stricker, senior vice president, and Bobby Tudor, chair, of HETI — originally ran on the Greater Houston Partnership's Houston Energy Transition Initiative blog. HETI exists to support Houston's future as an energy leader. For more information about the Houston Energy Transition Initiative, EnergyCapitalHTX's presenting sponsor, visit htxenergytransition.org.

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A View From HETI

A team at the University of Houston is changing the game for sodium-ion batteries. Photo via Getty Images

A research lab at the University of Houston has developed a new type of material for sodium-ion batteries that could make them more efficient and boost their energy performance.

Led by Pieremanuele Canepa, Robert Welch assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at UH, the Canepa Research Laboratory is working on a new material called sodium vanadium phosphate, which improves sodium-ion battery performance by increasing the energy density. Energy density is the amount of energy stored per kilogram, and the new material can do so by more than 15 percent. With a higher energy density of 458 watt-hours per kilogram — compared to the 396 watt-hours per kilogram in older sodium-ion batteries — this material brings sodium technology closer to competing with lithium-ion batteries, according to the researchers.

The Canepa Lab used theoretical expertise and computational methods to discover new materials and molecules to help advance clean energy technologies. The team at UH worked with the research groups headed by French researchers Christian Masquelier and Laurence Croguennec from the Laboratoire de Reáctivité et de Chimie des Solides, which is a CNRS laboratory part of the Université de Picardie Jules Verne, in Amiens France, and the Institut de Chimie de la Matière Condensée de Bordeaux, Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France for the experimental work on the project.

The researchers then created a battery prototype using the new materia sodium vanadium phosphate, which demonstrated energy storage improvements. The material is part of a group called “Na superionic conductors” or NaSICONs, which is made to let sodium ions move in and out of the battery during charging and discharging.

“The continuous voltage change is a key feature,” Canepa says in a news release. “It means the battery can perform more efficiently without compromising the electrode stability. That’s a game-changer for sodium-ion technology.”

The synthesis method used to create sodium vanadium phosphate may be applied to other materials with similar chemistries, which could create new opportunities for advanced energy storage. A paper of this work was published in the journal Nature Materials.

"Our goal is to find clean, sustainable solutions for energy storage," Canepa adds. "This material shows that sodium-ion batteries can meet the high-energy demands of modern technology while being cost-effective and environmentally friendly."

Pieremanuele Canepa, Robert Welch assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at UH, is leading a research project that can change the effectiveness of sodium-ion batteries. Photo courtesy of UH

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