power move

Solar energy co. expands Houston office to support growth

Spruce's home solar assets and contracts grew about 50 percent over the past year, which represents 25,000 rooftops. Photo via Pexels

Distributed solar energy asset company Spruce Power Holding Corp. announced the expansion of its operating headquarters in Houston, which will support business functions.

Technology, asset operations, customer Support, and billings and collections teams will be housed in the newly expanded office located at Two Memorial City Plaza at 820 Gessner Road in Houston. The expansion of its Houston office will be over 40,000 square feet. Spruce is one of the largest tenants in the Memorial City Plaza office complex.

"This announcement comes on the heels of our corporate headquarters' relocation in Denver, with both expansions and the execution of a value-creating move from California to our long-term work homes,” Christian Fong, CEO of Spruce said in a news release.

“Houston is our largest employment base, and being able to add high-paying jobs to our Houston location underpins our commitment to the community and continued growth in Texas," he continues.

In 2019, Denver-based Spruce Power built a residential energy services solution platform for the distributed generation (DG) solar sector. Spruce's home solar assets and contracts grew about 50 percent over the past year, which represents 25,000 rooftops.

Trending News

 

A View From HETI

A team led by M.A.S.R. Saadi and Muhammad Maksud Rahman has developed a biomaterial that they hope could be used for the “next disposable water bottle." Photo courtesy Rice University.

Collaborators from two Houston universities are leading the way in engineering a biomaterial into a scalable, multifunctional material that could potentially replace plastic.

The research was led by Muhammad Maksud Rahman, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of Houston and an adjunct assistant professor of materials science and nanoengineering at Rice University. The team shared its findings in a study in the journal Nature Communications earlier this month. M.A.S.R. Saadi, a doctoral student in material science and nanoengineering at Rice, served as the first author.

The study introduced a biosynthesis technique that aligns bacterial cellulose fibers in real-time, which resulted in robust biopolymer sheets with “exceptional mechanical properties,” according to the researchers.

Biomaterials typically have weaker mechanical properties than their synthetic counterparts. However, the team was able to develop sheets of material with similar strengths to some metals and glasses. And still, the material was foldable and fully biodegradable.

To achieve this, the team developed a rotational bioreactor and utilized fluid motion to guide the bacteria fibers into a consistent alignment, rather than allowing them to align randomly, as they would in nature.

The process also allowed the team to easily integrate nanoscale additives—like graphene, carbon nanotubes and boron nitride—making the sheets stronger and improving the thermal properties.

“This dynamic biosynthesis approach enables the creation of stronger materials with greater functionality,” Saadi said in a release. “The method allows for the easy integration of various nanoscale additives directly into the bacterial cellulose, making it possible to customize material properties for specific applications.”

Ultimately, the scientists at UH and Rice hope this discovery could be used for the “next disposable water bottle,” which would be made by biodegradable biopolymers in bacterial cellulose, an abundant resource on Earth.

Additionally, the team sees applications for the materials in the packaging, breathable textiles, electronics, food and energy sectors.

“We envision these strong, multifunctional and eco-friendly bacterial cellulose sheets becoming ubiquitous, replacing plastics in various industries and helping mitigate environmental damage,” Rahman said the release.

Trending News