high honor

Houston professor receives prestigious energy economics award

Peter Hartley has accepted one of the highest honors of his career. Photo via Rice.edu

A Rice economist, Peter Hartley, received the most prestigious honor awarded by the United States Association for Energy Economics earlier this month.

Known as the Adelman-Frankel Award, the honor is granted to "an individual or organization for a unique and innovative contribution to the field of energy economics," according to a statement from Rice. It was presented to Hartley for his wide-ranging work in the energy economics field on November 7 at USAEE/International Association for Energy Economics North American Conference in Chicago.

The Rice Baker Institute’s Center of Energy Studies was granted the award as an organization in 2013. Last year, two professors from the University of California, Berkeley received the award.

“I’m honored to be included among the distinguished group of economists,” Hartley says in a statement.

Hartley has worked as an energy economist for 40 years. He is the George A. Peterkin Professor of Economics at Rice and is a Rice Scholar of Energy Economics at the Baker Institute. His work focused originally on electricity but has shifted to focus on natural gas, oil, coal, nuclear and renewable energy in recent years. He's also published work on more theoretical topics, including money, banking and business cycles.

Prior to coming to Rice, Hartley served as an assistant professor of economics at Princeton University. He is originally from Australia and holds a bachelors in mathematics and masters in economics from Australian National University. He received his PhD in economics from University of Chicago.

Also at the conference, Connor Colombe, a PhD graduate student at the University of Texas at Austin, received the Best Student Paper award, according to the USAEE's LinkedIn page. The winner was granted $1,000 and received feedback from energy economists at the conference.

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A View From HETI

Halliburton Labs has named its newest members. Photo courtesy of Halliburton

Three new companies have joined Halliburton Labs, the incubator for early-stage energy and hardtech startups run by Houston energy giant Halliburton.

Halliburton Labs provides the emerging companies with mentorship, industry connections, laboratory access and other resources as they work toward commercialization. The latest companies to join the incubator focus on battery materials, resource recovery and gas separation solutions to address some of the "key bottlenecks in the energy and industrial landscape," according to a news release.

The new members include:

  • Electroflow, a California-based company that produces lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathode material from lithium brines through its proprietary process. LFPs are critical components in batteries used in electric vehicles, grid storage systems and industrial electrification, according to Halliburton Labs.
  • Osmoses, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company that has developed a membrane platform to reduce the energy use, cost and emissions associated with gas separations used in natural gas, hydrogen, helium and other industrial applications
  • SiTration Inc., another Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company that has developed electro-extraction and filtration technologies to recover critical metals like copper directly from mining waste streams more quickly and affordably. Its process has completed successful pilot projects with Tier 1 mining companies in three continents.

"Affordable and reliable molecules are essential building blocks of the energy future. Each company brings a bold, technical solution to a complex industrial challenge. We look forward to helping them scale and deploy their technologies," Andres Cabada, Halliburton Labs managing director, added in the news release.

Halliburton Labs previously added four new members from around the world —Nandina REM, Noon Energy, Proof Energy and Tidal Metals—this spring. Alumni from the incubator include Houston-based companies like NanoTech Materials, which is developing insulation and fireproofing to reduce heat transfer in buildings and outdoor infrastructure; and SolvCor, which develops water additives to improve cooling for data centers and thermal storage.

With the addition of the three new members, the incubator currently supports nine early-stage companies.

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