Energy Transition entrepreneurs make the most of heat, humidity at Greentown Labs Houston

meet and greet

Andrew Yang offers entrepreneurial advice to startups in the thriving Innovation Corridor seated in midtown Houston. Photo courtesy of Lauren M. Postler/Andrew Yang.

It’s not every day that an entrepreneur gets grilled on their go-to-market-plans by a former presidential candidate, but for a few nascent businesses, that’s just what happened last Friday at Greentown Labs Houston.

Grilled is perhaps too strong a term, as Andrew Yang, an entrepreneur turned politician, conversed convivially with a half-dozen growing businesses in the thriving Innovation Corridor seated in midtown Houston. Yang listened carefully to each company’s elevator pitch, interrupting only to exclaim, “that’s so cool!” and “congratulations, man!” like an awestruck coed before asking thoughtful questions about the journey ahead for each entrepreneur.

Lara Cottingham, vice president of strategy, policy, and climate impact at Greentown Labs Houston, set the tone for the tour with an overview of Greentown Labs and the entrepreneurial efforts in energy transition it supports.

“[Greentown Labs was] founded 12 years ago. We’ve supported about 550 startups. Our startups have created over 24,000 jobs – and that’s just in Boston and Texas,” says Cottingham. “We don’t really know how to fully measure everywhere, but they are operating globally.

“Our startups have raised about $4 billion dollars. Half of that was last year,” Cottingham continues. “When we talk about now being the time to be in climatetech, now is the time.”

The tour begins with WIP International Services, a start up solving the problem of thirst and water scarcity by extracting moisture from humid environments and converting it into usable water.

pouring water into tall glasses WIP International Services aims to make drinking water more readily available in humid locations. Image via Shutterstock.

“We can produce a purely distilled product, or a mineralized, pH balanced product for potable water,” explains Tracy L. Jackson, CEO of WIP International Services LLC.

The small group tagging along with Yang cheers the idea of creating clean water to drink while lowering the humidity of their homes, and effectively, their demand on energy for air-conditioning in a city that is now well into three-digit summer temperatures with average outdoor humidity above 70 percent.

Jackson almost stumbled into her startup by accident 8 years ago. She was visiting a site in Louisiana working on algae solutions, where she encountered an earlier (and much larger and noisier) model of the unit that stood in front of her now, no bigger than a standard water cooler. Inspired by scenes she witnessed in Africa during her tenure with an oilfield services company, Jackson knew this was a solution too good to keep quiet.

“Because I had been in Africa – I worked in an oil and gas services company – I had seen people standing in line for water from a water well in a village. And I thought, ‘this would be perfect for that situation,’” Jackson tells the tour group. “We now have developing relationships in Africa as well as Mexico on large scale projects for atmospheric water generation.”

At the next stop, Reid Carrazzone, president and CEO of Top Grain Technologies, softly explains how he and Zack Cordero, chief scientific officer, address the challenges of long-lead times and harsh environments impeding the ability to get hydrogen-fired turbines 100 percent hydrogen-fired.

close up of 3D printer making metal object Top Grain Technologies resolves how to make 3D printed metals more heat resistant. Image via Shutterstock.

“We are commercializing a heat treatment invented at MIT that will enable 3D-printed metal materials to serve in combustion turbine engines,” Carrazzone tells Yang. “Traditionally, 3D-printed metals are not well-suited to serving the environments of high temperature/high stress that you’d find in jet engines and natural gas settings.

“These [3D-printed] materials, certain classes of them, can be uniquely hydrogen-compatible, as well as have temperature capabilities in excess of the existing materials today,” Carrazzone says. “They will need our heat treatment to bridge that final gap in properties.”

Yang lights up with at the prospect that the duo may have come up with a truly unique solution, even suggesting the company may be in a name-your-own-price situation. The Top Grain Technologies team accepts the compliment with humility, insisting it’s more about solving the simple problems one step at a time.

Companies that Yang met along the Greentown Labs workshop floor represent just a fraction of the innovation proliferating across Houston in recent years, each with a different focus on energy sustainability and the circular economy. Maybe one day Yang, Jackson, and Carrazzone will look back on this interaction and think, “I knew them when…” Only time, and continued tending to the entrepreneurial spirit, will tell.

Energy Transition and Digital Transformation collide at next week's Can't Miss energy event. Image via Shutterstock.

Can't Miss: Reuter's Data-Driven Oil and Gas Conference

DIGITAL SUSTAINABILITY

June 20-21 | Reuter’s Data-Driven Oil and Gas Conference

Energy Transition and Digital Transformation collide at next week’s Data-Driven Oil and Gas USA 2023 conference from Reuter’s Events. Join leaders in technology as they discuss digital best practices in upstream energy and how to balance going beyond Industry 4.0 with goals for energy sustainability.

“Reuters Events: Data Driven Oil & Gas 2023 will be the space for decision makers to get together to take their business to the next level by overcoming cultural blockers, breaking down silos and exploring innovative technologies to improve the bottom line and maximize output,” says Lee Cibis, global project director for oil and gas at Reuters Events.

With a robust speaker lineup, attendees can expect to hear insightful case studies, lessons learned, and visions for a lower-carbon energy future enabled by digitalization and innovative technologies. Be sure to catch a multi-operator perspective at the Tuesday panel, “One Common Goal,” which appears to echo sentiments from OTC about the importance of partnering, with emphasis on the data interoperability needed from and between vendors and operators alike.

Asking ChatGPT what all was made from petroleum produced surprising results - the answer: everything. Photo by Sanket Mishra/Unsplash

Energy truly IS everywhere according to ChatGPT

EVERYDAY ENERGY

I sat down to have a conversation with ChatGPT from OpenAI about energy by-products; specifically, everyday items we use that contain some form of petrochemicals. My first prompt was rather broad, so I wasn’t surprised to get back a rather broad answer highlighting product categories instead of specific examples. Plastics, synthetic fibers, cleaning products, personal care products, medicines, paints & coatings, and adhesives were all succinctly summarized, but I wanted to dive deeper.

Given that AI has an almost limitless reach, I asked for a comprehensive list of all the products we use in everyday life that are made from petrochemicals. Turns out, ChatGPT has some healthy boundaries, so it pushed back, only offering a slightly more detailed list of the categories produced from the first prompt.

Not to be deterred, I asked for additional examples. I didn’t want to continue getting spoon-fed 10 items at a time, so I asked for 200. Less than comprehensive, more than the crumbs I was getting.

In entertaining fashion, ChatGPT told me compiling a list of 200 items might be challenging, but that it could offer up 100. The brazen negotiation made me smile.

I complimented the list and nudged a bit, encouraging ChatGPT it could come up with another 100 items if it tried. Much like a teenager wishes to stave off further questioning from a nosy parent, ChatGPT proffered up a second response of 100 items–almost half of which were simply things before which it added the qualifier “synthetic.” Salty.

As my intention is not to bore you, but rather enhance the knowledge of our readers by understanding how pervasive petrochemical products are in our everyday life, I settled on a more direct inquiry with a capped demand prompt: “What would you say are the 10 most surprising things in common everyday use that contain petrochemical products?”

Most of the answers featured wax-based products, like lotions, crayons, and lipstick–not necessarily earth-shattering realizations given my familiarity with cosmetics as petroleum by-products. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that chewing gum, with its synthetic rubber base enabling theoretically endless chewing, is derived from petroleum. I was also surprised to learn that many artificial sweeteners, like saccharin and aspartame, are made from petrochemicals. Huh.

There was one item on the list, however, that helped me see how truly pervasive the energy industry is, and not just for petrochemicals. Tucked in nonchalantly at #6 was Deodorant. My brain jumped immediately to the waxy base of a solid sweat deterrent, but my eyes got a curveball. ChatGPT writes, “Many deodorants contain aluminum, which is often derived from bauxite, a mineral that is usually mined from the earth using petroleum-powered machinery.” Now that was an answer I wasn’t expecting.

While my initial inference stood true – the smooth glide of a buttery solid antiperspirant is without a doubt derived from petrochemicals (not to mention the plastic packaging surrounding it), I wasn’t expecting ChatGPT to rope in the oft petroleum-fueled tools used to make said product. If that’s true, then nearly every item on the planet is derived from petroleum. Or at the very least, some source of energy. Regardless of whether the machinery used runs on gasoline, electricity, or wind power, literally almost everything that is produced on this earth is related to the energy industry.

Even if it’s hand-made, it’s technically still energy-adjacent, assuming we all bathe regularly with soap, yet another on the list of commonly used items derived from petroleum by-products. It’s certainly directly powering some manual activities, for those busting stress and bad breath with gum, or drinking a diet soda to power through. No pun intended.

I share this amusing tale simply to clarify the ubiquitous nature of energy in all parts of the modern world. As we look toward the #futureofenergy, we must be cognizant of its universal reach. It’s not necessarily realistic to switch from one source of energy to another overnight, but we do have a responsibility to seek cleaner, healthier, more efficient sources of energy while sustaining the life to which we have all grown accustomed.

Much like ChatGPT thought she couldn’t come up with 200 items derived from petroleum products, many think Houston will be unable to drive the Energy Transition, given our extensive petroleum focus. But like so many fellow Houstonians before us, we love a good challenge.

Just keep prompting us, and we’ll eventually unlock infinite potential for the #futureofenergy. It’s a limitless time to be in Houston, absorbing wisdom the city so willingly wants to share with the growing ecosystem of innovators. Just ask the growing number of almost 5,000 Energy-related firms in Houston. We’re just getting started.

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Lindsey Ferrell is a contributing writer to EnergyCapitalHTX and founder of Guerrella & Co.

Rising temps could result in rolling brownouts this summer–unless we work together to reduce the strain on the electric grid. Photo via Shutterstock

NERC warns of summer energy shortfalls–what you can do now

THINGS ARE HEATING UP

The North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) issued a warning with the 2023 Summer Reliability Assessment yesterday – energy shortages could be coming this summer for two-thirds of North America if temperatures spike higher than normal.

“Increased, rapid deployment of wind, solar and batteries have made a positive impact,” Mark Olson, NERC’s manager of reliability assessments says in the release. “However, generator retirements continue to increase the risks associated with extreme summer temperatures, which factors into potential supply shortages in the western two-thirds of North America if summer temperatures spike.”

For Texans, the combined risk of drought and higher-than-normal temperatures could stress ERCOT system resources, especially in the case of reduced wind. But before there’s a mad rush on generators, keep in mind, electricity consumers can take simple actions to minimize the possibility of widespread shortfalls.

Electricity demand begins rising daily around 2 P.M. in the summer and peaks in the final hours of daylight. These hours are generally not only the warmest hours of the day but also the busiest. People return from work to their homes, crank down the air conditioner, turn on TVs, run a load of wash, and prepare meals using multiple electric-powered appliances.

If everyone takes one or two small steps to avoid unnecessary stress on the grid in the hours after coming home from work, we can prevent energy shortfalls. Modify routines now to get into the habit of running the dishwasher overnight, using the washer and dryer before noon or after 8 pm and pulling the shades down in the bright afternoon hours of the day.

Try to delay powering up devices – including EVs – until after dark. Turn off and unplug items to avoid sapping electricity when items are not in use. And if you can bear it, nudge that thermostat up a couple of degrees.

Energy sustainability demands consistent collaboration and coordination from every consumer of energy. Let’s get in the habit of acting neighborly now with conservative electricity practices before we start seeing temperatures–of both the literal and figurative kind–flare.

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Oxy subsidiary secures Microsoft as largest-ever DAC carbon removal credit customer

major move

Occidental Petroleum’s Houston-based carbon capture, utilization and, sequestration (CCUS) subsidiary, 1PointFive, has inked a six-year deal to sell 500,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide removal credits to software giant Microsoft.

In a news release, 1Point5 says this agreement represents the largest-ever single purchase of carbon credits enabled by direct air capture (DAC). DAC technology pulls CO2 from the air at any location, not just where carbon dioxide is emitted.

Under the agreement, the carbon dioxide that underlies the credits will be stored in a below-the-surface saline aquifer and won’t be used to produce oil or gas.

“A commitment of this magnitude further demonstrates how one of the world’s largest corporations is integrating scalable [DAC] into its net-zero strategy,” says Michael Avery, president and general manager of 1PointFive. “Energy demand across the technology industry is increasing, and we believe [DAC] is uniquely suited to remove residual emissions and further climate goals.”

Brian Marrs, senior director for carbon removal and energy at Microsoft, says DAC plays a key role in Microsoft’s effort to become carbon-negative by 2030.

The carbon dioxide will be stored at 1PointFive’s first industrial-scale DAC plant, being built near Odessa. The $1.3 billion Stratos project, which 1Point5 is developing through a joint venture with investment manager BlackRock, is designed to capture up to 500,000 metric tons of CO2 per year.

The facility is scheduled to open in mid-2025.

Aside from Microsoft, organizations that have agreed to buy carbon removal credits from 1Point5 include Amazon, Airbus, All Nippon Airways, the Houston Astros, the Houston Texans, and TD Bank.

Occidental says 1PointFive plans to set up more than 100 DAC facilities worldwide by 2035.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott demands answers from Houston power company following Beryl

investigation incoming

With around 270,000 homes and businesses still without power in the Houston area almost a week after Hurricane Beryl hit Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott on Sunday said he's demanding an investigation into the response of the utility that serves the area as well as answers about its preparations for upcoming storms.

“Power companies along the Gulf Coast must be prepared to deal with hurricanes, to state the obvious,” Abbott said at his first news conference about Beryl since returning to the state from an economic development trip to Asia.

While CenterPoint Energy has restored power to about 2 million customers since the storm hit on July 8, the slow pace of recovery has put the utility, which provides electricity to the nation’s fourth-largest city, under mounting scrutiny over whether it was sufficiently prepared for the storm that left people without air conditioning in the searing summer heat.

Abbott said he was sending a letter to the Public Utility Commission of Texas requiring it to investigate why restoration has taken so long and what must be done to fix it. In the Houston area, Beryl toppled transmission lines, uprooted trees and snapped branches that crashed into power lines.

With months of hurricane season left, Abbott said he's giving CenterPoint until the end of the month to specify what it'll be doing to reduce or eliminate power outages in the event of another storm. He said that will include the company providing detailed plans to remove vegetation that still threatens power lines.

Abbott also said that CenterPoint didn't have “an adequate number of workers pre-staged" before the storm hit.

Following Abbott's news conference, CenterPoint said its top priority was “power to the remaining impacted customers as safely and quickly as possible,” adding that on Monday, the utility expects to have restored power to 90% of its customers. CenterPoint said it was committed to working with state and local leaders and to doing a “thorough review of our response.”

CenterPoint also said Sunday that it’s been “investing for years” to strengthen the area’s resilience to such storms.

The utility has defended its preparation for the storm and said that it has brought in about 12,000 additional workers from outside Houston. It has said it would have been unsafe to preposition those workers inside the predicted storm impact area before Beryl made landfall.

Brad Tutunjian, vice president for regulatory policy for CenterPoint Energy, said last week that the extensive damage to trees and power poles hampered the ability to restore power quickly.

A post Sunday on CenterPoint's website from its president and CEO, Jason Wells, said that over 2,100 utility poles were damaged during the storm and over 18,600 trees had to be removed from power lines, which impacted over 75% of the utility's distribution circuits.

Things to know: Beryl in the rearview, Devon Energy's big deal, and events not to miss

taking notes

Editor's note: Dive headfirst into the new week with three quick things to catch up on in Houston's energy transition.

Hurricane Beryl's big impact

Hundreds of thousands of people in the Houston area likely won’t have power restored until this week, as the city swelters in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl.

The storm slammed into Texas on July 8, knocking out power to nearly 2.7 million homes and businesses and leaving huge swaths of the region in the dark and without air conditioning in the searing summer heat.

Although repairs have restored power to nearly 1.4 million customers, the scale of the damage and slow pace of recovery has put CenterPoint Energy, which provides electricity to the nation's fourth-largest city, under mounting scrutiny over whether it was sufficiently prepared for the storm and is doing enough now to make things right.

Some frustrated residents have also questioned why a part of the country that is all too familiar with major storms has been hobbled by a Category 1 hurricane, which is the weakest kind. But a storm's wind speed, alone, doesn't determine how dangerous it can be. Click here to continue reading this article from the AP.

Big deal: Devon Energy to acquire Houston exploration, production biz in $5B deal

Devon Energy is buying Grayson Mill Energy's Williston Basin business in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $5 billion as consolidation in the oil and gas sector ramps up.

The transaction includes $3.25 billion in cash and $1.75 billion in stock.

Grayson Mill Energy, based in Houston, is an oil and gas exploration company that received an initial investment from private equity firm EnCap Investments in 2016.

The firm appears to be stepping back from energy sector as it sells off assets. Last month EnCap-backed XCL Resources sold its Uinta Basin oil and gas assets to SM Energy Co. and Northern Oil and Gas in a transaction totaling $2.55 billion. EnCap had another deal in June as well, selling some assets to Matador Resources for nearly $2 billion. Click here to continue reading.

Events not to miss

Put these Houston-area energy-related events on your calendar.

2024 Young Leaders Institute: Renewable Energy and Climate Solutions is taking place July 15 to July 19 at Asia Society of Texas. Register now.
CCS/Decarbonization Project Development, Finance and Investment, taking place July 23 to 25, is the deepest dive into the economic and regulatory factors driving the success of the CCS/CCUS project development landscape. Register now.
The 5th Texas Energy Forum 2024, organized by U.S. Energy Stream, will take place on August 21 and 22 at the Petroleum Club of Houston. Register now.

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