TEX-E names Houston VC leader as new executive director

new hire

TEX-E, a Houston-based energy transition nonprofit, has named Sandy Guitar as its executive director. Photo courtesy TEX-E.

The Texas Exchange for Energy & Climate Entrepreneurship (TEX-E) has named Houston venture capital and innovation leader Sandy Guitar as its new executive director.

Guitar succeeds David Pruner, who will move into the board chair role.

Guitar previously served as general partner and managing director at Houston-based VC firm HX Venture Fund and is co-founder of Weathergage Capital. She also sits on the advisory board of Rice University's Liu Idea Lab for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Lilie) and launched the Women Investing in VC in Houston group.

In a LinkedIn post, Guitar shared that she's looking forward to bringing her problem-solving skills to the energy transition.

"Innovating in the energy sector is as significant and intricate a problem as I have ever worked on — one that demands creativity, collaboration, and resourcefulness at every turn," she shared.

"I'm honored to join TEX-E at such a pivotal time in the energy transition," she added in a news release. "Energy and climate innovation is accelerating at the intersection of brilliant minds and bold ideas. I'm excited to help TEX-E amplify that collision between students who think differently and the real-world problems that demand fresh solutions."

According to TEX-E, Guitar will continue to lead the organization's programming that aims to connect student climate entrepreneurs with "industry reality."

"Sandy understands the complexities of the Texas energy ecosystem and brings a forward-looking vision for how related innovation can drive meaningful, lasting impact. She's exactly the leader we need to take TEX-E to the next level and help create the next generation of energy transition innovators," David Baldwin, TEX-E board member, added in the release.

TEX-E was founded in 2022 through partnerships with MIT Martin Trust Center for Entrepreneurship and Greentown Labs. It works with university students from six schools: Rice University, University of Houston, Prairie View A&M University, The University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University and MIT.

It's known for its student track within the Energy Venture Day and Pitch Competition at CERAWeek, which awarded $25,000 to HEXASpec, a Rice University-led team, at the 2025 event. It also hosted its inaugural TEX-E Conference, centered on the theme of Energy & Entrepreneurship: Navigating the Future of Climate Tech, earlier this year.

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Here were the top energy transition interviews on EnergyCapital — according to its readers. Photos courtesy

Who's who in Houston energy transition: Top 5 interviews of 2024

year in review

Editor's note: As the year comes to a close, EnergyCapital is looking back at the year's top stories in Houston energy transition. EnergyCapital launched specifically to cover the energy transition community — and that includes the people who power it. Throughout the year, we spoke to these individuals and some resonated more than others to readers. Be sure to click through to read the full interviews or stream the podcast episode.

David Pruner, executive director of the Texas Entrepreneurship Exchange for Energy (TEX-E)

David Pruner, executive director of TEX-E, joins the Houston Innovator Podcast. Photo via LinkedIn

David Pruner is laser focused on the future workforce for the energy industry as executive director of the Texas Entrepreneurship Exchange for Energy, known as TEX-E, a nonprofit housed out of Greentown Labs that was established to support energy transition innovation at Texas universities.

TEX-E launched in 2022 in collaboration with Greentown Labs, MIT’s Martin Trust Center for Entrepreneurship, and five university partners — Rice University, Texas A&M University, Prairie View A&M University, University of Houston, and The University of Texas at Austin.

Pruner was officially named to his role earlier this year, but he's been working behind the scenes for months now getting to know the organization and already expanding its opportunities from students across the state at the five institutions. Read more.

Barbara Burger, mentor and adviser

Houston energy leader Barbara Burger joins the Houston Innovators Podcast to discuss the energy transition's biggest challenges and her key takeaways from CERAWeek. Photo courtesy of CERAWeek

Last month, Barbara Burger participated in four panels at CERAWeek by S&P Global, and from her insider perspective, she had a few key takeaways from the event, which brought together energy leaders, tech startups, dignitaries, civil servants, and more.

In a recent podcast interview, Burger shared some of her key takeaways from the event — and how these trends are affecting the industry as a whole. Read through an excerpt or stream the full episode below. Read more.

Tyler Lancaster, partner at Energize Capital

Tyler Lancaster, a Chicago-based investor with Energize Capital, shares his investment thesis and why Houston-based Amperon caught his eye. Photo courtesy of Energize Capital

One of the biggest challenges to the energy transition is finding the funds to fuel it. Tyler Lancaster, partner at Energize Capital, is playing a role in that.

Energize Capital, based in Chicago, is focused on disruptive software technology key to decarbonization. One of the firm's portfolio companies is Amperon, which raised $20 million last fall.

In an interview with EnergyCapital, Lancaster shares what he's focused on and why Amperon caught Energize Capital's attention. Read more.

Teresa Thomas, vice chair and national sector leader for energy and chemicals at Deloitte

Teresa Thomas, newly named vice chair and national sector leader for energy and chemicals at Deloitte, shares her vision in an interview. Photo via LinkedIn

Deloitte is undergoing a leadership shift — and this evolution for the nearly 200-year-old company directly affects its Houston office and the energy transition line of business.

Earlier this month, Teresa Thomas was named vice chair and national sector leader for energy and chemicals at Deloitte. Based in Houston, she will also serve as an advisory partner and leader in Deloitte & Touche LLP's Risk & Financial Advisory energy and chemicals practice. She succeeds Amy Chronis, partner at Deloitte LLP, who will continue to serve within the energy and chemicals practice until her retirement in June 2024.

In an interview with EnergyCapital, Thomas shares a bit about what she plans on focusing as she takes on her new role. Read more.

Sarah Jewett, vice president of strategy at Fervo Energy

Sarah Jewett, vice president of strategy at Fervo Energy, shares how Fervo has been able to leverage proven oil and gas technologies, such as horizontal drilling, and more, to pave the way toward a low-carbon energy future. Photo via HETI

Houston-based Fervo Energy, the leader in enhanced geothermal technology, is accelerating decarbonization by bringing 24/7 carbon-free electricity to the grid.

Fervo’s mission is to leverage geoscience innovations to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy. Fervo continues to demonstrate the commercial viability and scalability of enhanced geothermal energy, which uses breakthrough techniques to harness heat from the earth and generate continuous electricity.

Sarah Jewett, VP of Strategy at Fervo, shared more about how Fervo has been able to leverage proven oil and gas technologies, such as horizontal drilling, well stimulation, and fiber-optic sensing, to pave the way toward a low-carbon energy future. Read more.

Nearly 40 climatetech startups will pitch at this upcoming CERAWeek event from HETI, the Rice Alliance, and TEX-E. Photo by Natalie Harms

Houston orgs name student, industry teams for CERAWeek pitch competition

taking the stage

The Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship, the Houston Energy Transition Initiative and the Texas Entrepreneurship Exchange for Energy announced the 39 energy ventures that will pitch at 2024 Energy Venture Day and Pitch Competition during this month's CERAWeek.

The ventures are focused on driving efficiency and advancements toward the energy transition and will each present a 3.5-minute pitch before venture capitalists, corporate innovation groups, industry leaders, academics, and service providers during CERAWeek's Agora program.

The pitch competition is divided up into the TEX-E university track, in which Texas student-led energy startups compete for $50,000 in cash prizes, and the industry ventures track.

Teams competing in the TEX-E Prize track, many of which come from Houston universities, include:

AirMax, University of Texas at Austin
BeadBlocker, University of Houston
Carvis Energy Solutions, Texas A&M University
Coflux Purification, Rice University
Solidec, Rice University

Thirty-four companies will present within the industry ventures track, which is further subdivided into three industry tracks, spanning materials to clean energy. The top three companies from each industry track will be named. Click here to see the full list of companies and which investor groups will participate.

The pitch competition will be held Wednesday, March 20, at CERAWeek from 1-5 pm. An Agora pass is required to attend.

For those without passes, a pitch preview will be introduced to the programming for the first time this year. The preview will be held Tuesday, March 19, from 9:30 am to 2:30 pm at the Ion. It's free to attend, but registration is required. Click here to register.

Last year, Houston-based Helix Earth Technologies took home the top TEX-E price and $25,000 cash awards. The venture, founded by Rawand Rasheed and Brad Husick from Rice University, developed high-speed, high-efficiency filter systems derived from technology originating at NASA.

David Pruner, the executive director of TEX-E joined the Houston Innovators Podcast last month. He discussed how the nonprofit is expanding opportunities for students at its five university partners—Rice University, Texas A&M University, Prairie View A&M University, University of Houston, and The University of Texas at Austin. Listen to the episode below.

David Pruner, executive director of TEX-E, joins the Houston Innovator Podcast. Photo via LinkedIn

Why this organization is focused on cultivating the future of energy transition innovation

Q&A

"Our mission is to create the next generation of energy transition climatetech entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs — they don’t all have to start companies," he says on the Houston Innovators Podcast.

Listen to the show below and read through a brief excerpt from the episode with Pruner.

EnergyCapital: Can you share a little bit about the origin of TEX-E?

David Puner: There were a variety of factories that led to its creation, but the seminal event was a piece of work that had been done for the Greater Houston Partnership by McKinsey on the future of Houston. It showed that if Houston isn't careful and doesn't make sure to go ahead and transition with this energy expansion we’re seeing, that they’re at risk of losing hundreds of thousands of jobs. If they catch the transition right and make the conversion to cleaner and low-carbon fuels, they can actually gain 1.4 million jobs.

It was this eye opener for everyone that we need to make sure that if the energy transition is going to happen, it needs to happen here so that Houston stays the energy capital of the world.

David Baldwin (partner at SCF Partners) literally at the meeting said, “listen I've got the beginning of the funnel — the universities, that’s where innovation comes from.” From that, TEX-E was born.

EC: How are you working with the five founding universities to connect the dots for collaboration?

DP: In the end, we have five different family members who need to be coordinated differently. The idea behind TEX-E is that there's plenty of bright students at each of these schools, and there's plenty of innovation going on, it's whether it can grow, prosper, and be sustainable.

Our main job is to look to connect everyone, so that an engineer at Texas A&M that has an idea that they want to pursue, but they don't know the business side, can meet that Rice MBA. Then, when they realize it's going to be a highly regulated product, we need a regulatory lawyer at UT — we can make all that happen and connect them.

At the same time, what we found is, no one school has the answer. But when you put them together, we do have most of the answer. Almost everything we need is within those five schools. And it's not just those five schools, it really is open to everyone.

EC: As you mentioned before, TEX-E started as a way for Houston to take the reins of its energy transition. What's the pulse on that progress?

DP: I spent the last decade building boards and hiring CEOs for all kinds of energy companies and there was the period I would say — pre-pandemic and a little bit into the pandemic — where not everybody was on board with climate change and the issue of carbon. The nice thing now is that’s fully in the rearview mirror. There’s not really a company of any size or a management team of any major entity that doesn’t fully believe they need to do something there.

The train has fully left the station — and picked up speed — on this whole issue of transition and climate. So, that’s been nice to see and create a lot of tailwinds.

———

This conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.

David Pruner will lead the Texas Entrepreneurship Exchange for Energy, known as TEX-E. Photo via LinkedIn

New leadership team named climate tech-focused organization for Texas college students

welcome aboard

A collaborative initiative between several colleges and Greentown Labs has named its inaugural executive director.

David Pruner will lead the Texas Entrepreneurship Exchange for Energy, known as TEX-E, which is comprised of partners including Greentown Labs, MIT’s Martin Trust Center for Entrepreneurship, and universities across Texas. Additionally, Julia Johansson was appointed chief of staff for TEX-E and will oversee operations and administration responsibilities.

“Dave is the ideal leader for TEX-E to build on the great work that’s been done to develop a robust entrepreneurial energy ecosystem across these five impressive universities in Texas and to directly inspire and support university students to pursue entrepreneurial careers that will power our clean energy future,” Greentown Labs CEO and President Kevin Knobloch says in a news release. “Dave’s expertise will have a tremendous impact on the strategy, evolution, and success of this ambitious and important program.”With over 30 years of experience within the energy, academic, and business worlds, Pruner will take the helm of the organization that launched in 2022 in collaboration with Rice University, Texas A&M University, Prairie View A&M University, University of Houston, and The University of Texas at Austin as its founding institutions.

“I am very excited about helping Houston and the state of Texas navigate the energy transition,” Pruner says in the release. “We are at a crucial pivot point for the industry and it will be essential for us to help create the next generation of energy transition entrepreneurs.

"An ecosystem in this area has been building and it will be our mission to inspire, equip, connect and accelerate these individuals and teams working with the universities to make it robust," he continues. "If we succeed we will assure Texas’s role as the leader in energy globally.”

Before this new role, Pruner held leadership positions at business management consulting firm Heidrick & Struggles and Wood Mackenzie, as well as other energy firms and in financial services companies including Bridgewater Associates and Manufacturers Hanover Trust.

The two new hires are based out of Greentown Labs Houston. The next role TEX-E hopes to fill is director of university engagement, which will lead programming, recruitment, and partner management for TEX-E.

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This article originally ran on InnovationMap.

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Micro-nuclear reactor to launch next year at Texas A&M innovation campus

nuclear pilot

The Texas A&M University System and Last Energy plan to launch a micro-nuclear reactor pilot project next summer at the Texas A&M-RELLIS technology and innovation campus in Bryan.

Washington, D.C.-based Last Energy will build a 5-megawatt reactor that’s a scaled-down version of its 20-megawatt reactor. The micro-reactor initially will aim to demonstrate safety and stability, and test the ability to generate electricity for the grid.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) fast-tracked the project under its New Reactor Pilot Program. The project will mark Last Energy’s first installation of a nuclear reactor in the U.S.

Private funds are paying for the project, which Robert Albritton, chairman of the Texas A&M system’s board of regents, said is “an example of what’s possible when we try to meet the needs of the state and tap into the latest technologies.”

Glenn Hegar, chancellor of the Texas A&M system, said the 5-megawatt reactor is the kind of project the system had in mind when it built the 2,400-acre Texas A&M-RELLIS campus.

The project is “bold, it’s forward-looking, and it brings together private innovation and public research to solve today’s energy challenges,” Hegar said.

As it gears up to build the reactor, Last Energy has secured a land lease at Texas A&M-RELLIS, obtained uranium fuel, and signed an agreement with DOE. Founder and CEO Bret Kugelmass said the project will usher in “the next atomic era.”

In February, John Sharp, chancellor of Texas A&M’s flagship campus, said the university had offered land at Texas A&M-RELLIS to four companies to build small modular nuclear reactors. Power generated by reactors at Texas A&M-RELLIS may someday be supplied to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid.

Also in February, Last Energy announced plans to develop 30 micro-nuclear reactors at a 200-acre site about halfway between Lubbock and Fort Worth.

Rice University partners with Australian co. to boost mineral processing, battery innovation

critical mineral partnership

Rice University and Australian mineral exploration company Locksley Resources have joined together in a research partnership to accelerate the development of antimony processing in the U.S. Antimony is a critical mineral used for defense systems, electronics and battery storage.

Rice and Locksley will work together to develop scalable methods for extracting and utilizing antimony. Currently, the U.S. relies on imports for nearly all refined antimony, according to Rice.

Locksley will fund the research and provide antimony-rich feedstocks and rare earth elements from a project in the Mojave Desert. The research will explore less invasive hydrometallurgical techniques for antimony extraction and explore antimony-based materials for use in batteries and other energy storage applications.

“This strategic collaboration with Rice marks a pivotal step in executing Locksley’s U.S. strategy,” Nathan Lude, chairman of Locksley Resources, said in a news release. “By fast-tracking our research program, we are helping rebuild downstream capacity through materials innovation that the country urgently requires.”

Pulickel Ajayan, the Benjamin M. and Mary Greenwood Anderson Professor of Materials Science and Nanoengineering at Rice, is the principal investigator of the project.

“Developing scalable, domestic pathways for antimony processing is not only a scientific and engineering challenge but also a national strategic priority,” Ajayan said in the news release. “By combining Rice’s expertise in advanced materials with Locksley’s resources, we can address a critical supply chain gap and build collaborations that strengthen U.S. energy resilience.”

The Rice Advanced Materials Institute (RAMI) will play a major role in supporting the advancement of technology and energy-storage applications.

“This partnership aligns with our mission to lead in materials innovations that address national priorities,” Lane Martin, director of RAMI, said in a news release. “By working with Locksley, we are helping to build a robust domestic supply chain for critical materials and support the advancement of next-generation energy technologies.”

Expert examines how far Texas has come in energy efficiency

Guest Column

Texas leads the nation in energy production, providing about one-fourth of the country’s domestically produced primary energy. It is also the largest energy-consuming state, accounting for about one-seventh of the nation’s total energy use, and ranks sixth among the states in per capita energy consumption.

However, because Texas produces significantly more energy than it consumes, it stands as the nation’s largest net energy supplier. October marked National Energy Awareness Month, so this is an ideal time to reflect on how far Texas has come in improving energy efficiency.

Progress in Clean Energy and Grid Resilience

Texas continues to lead the nation in clean energy adoption and grid modernization, particularly in wind and solar power. With over 39,000 MW of wind capacity, Texas ranks first in the country in wind-powered electricity generation, now supplying more than 10% of the state’s total electricity.

This growth was significantly driven by the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), which requires utility companies to produce new renewable energy in proportion to their market share. Initially, the RPS aimed to generate 10,000 MW of renewable energy capacity by 2025. Thanks to aggressive capacity building, this ambitious target was reached much earlier than anticipated.

Solar energy is also expanding rapidly, with Texas reaching 16 GW of solar capacity as of April 2024. The state has invested heavily in large-scale solar farms and supportive policies, contributing to a cleaner energy mix.

Texas is working to integrate both wind and solar to create a more resilient and cost-effective grid. Efforts to strengthen the grid also include regulatory changes, winterization mandates, and the deployment of renewable storage solutions.

While progress is evident, experts stress the need for continued improvements to ensure grid reliability during extreme weather events, when we can’t rely on the necessities for these types of energy sources to thrive. To put it simply, the sun doesn’t always shine, and the wind doesn’t always blow.

Federal Funding Boosts Energy Efficiency

In 2024, Texas received $22.4 million, the largest share of a $66 million federal award, from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency Revolving Loan Fund Capitalization Grant Program.

The goal of this funding is to channel federal dollars into local communities to support energy-efficiency projects through state-based loans and grants. According to the DOE, these funds can be used by local businesses, homeowners, and public institutions for energy audits, upgrades, and retrofits that reduce energy consumption.

The award will help establish a new Texas-based revolving loan fund modeled after the state’s existing LoanSTAR program, which already supports cost-effective energy retrofits for public facilities and municipalities. According to the Texas Comptroller, as of 2023, the LoanSTAR program had awarded more than 337 loans totaling over $600 million.

In addition to expanding the revolving loan model, the state plans to use a portion of the DOE funds to offer free energy audit services to the public. The grant program is currently under development.

Building on this momentum, in early 2025, Texas secured an additional $689 million in federal funding to implement the Home Energy Performance-Based, Whole House (HOMES) rebate program and the Home Electrification and Application Rebate (HEAR) program.

This investment is more than five times the state’s usual energy efficiency spending. Texas’s eight private Transmission and Distribution Utilities typically spend about $110 million annually on such measures. The state will have multiple years to roll out both the revolving loan and rebate programs.

However, valuable federal tax incentives for energy-efficient home improvements are set to expire on December 31, 2025, including:

The Energy Efficiency Home Improvement Credit allows homeowners to claim up to $3,200 per year in federal income tax credits, covering 30% of the cost of eligible upgrades, such as insulation, windows, doors, and high-efficiency heating and cooling systems.
The Residential Clean Energy Credit provides a 30% income tax credit for the installation of qualifying clean energy systems, including rooftop solar panels, wind turbines, geothermal heat pumps, and battery storage systems.

As these incentives wind down, the urgency grows for Texas to build on the positive gains from the past several years despite reduced federal funding. The state has already made remarkable strides in clean energy production, grid modernization, and energy-efficiency investments, but the path forward requires a strategic and inclusive approach to energy planning. Through ongoing state-federal collaboration, community-driven initiatives, and forward-looking policy reforms, Texas can continue its progress, ensuring that future energy challenges are met with sustainable and resilient solutions.

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Sam Luna is director at BKV Energy, where he oversees brand and go-to-market strategy, customer experience, marketing execution, and more.

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