Houston energy leader wins hydrogen program's competition

top project

The University of Houston's new hydrogen program selected an Houston executive's team as the top project of the course. Photo via Getty Images

An executive from Houston-based SCS Technologies is celebrating a win from his time at the University of Houston Hydrogen Economy Program.

Cody Johnson, CEO of SCS Technologies, a provider of CO2 measurement systems, petroleum LACT units, and methane vapor recovery units, was on the winning 2024 Spring Capstone Project team for the UH program with the project, "Business Roadmap for Utilizing Hydrogen in Houston." The presentation outlined possible profits of $1.8 billion over the contract life with $180 million in green H2 investments.

The winning capstone project demonstrated the implementation of decarbonization processes. It included the enhancement of “capacity utilization in existing industrial hydrogen production along the Houston Ship Channel through amine capture technology,” according to a news release.

The team also identified business opportunities in producing ammonia as a liquid carrier by using the Haber-Bosch process that would leverage maritime ammonia tanker fleets to ship to Western Europe and Northeast Asia markets.

"It was an honor to collaborate with my Hydrogen Economy Program teammates to explore business opportunities using existing technologies to produce clean hydrogen and reinvest profits to further advance decarbonization efforts in the future," Johnson says in a news release. "I extend my gratitude to the University of Houston for assembling top-notch resources on the critical topic of clean hydrogen production. By bringing together students, corporate leaders, engineers, and scientists, we are able to join forces to accelerate the renewable hydrogen economy."

Cody Johnson is the CEO of SCS Technologies, a provider of CO2 measurement systems, petroleum LACT units, and methane vapor recovery units. Photo courtesy of SCS

UH’s Hydrogen Economy Program helps energy professionals and students strategically at the world’s energy hub in the Houston area. The program provides a forum for information from faculty and industry leaders. Participants in the University of Houston Hydrogen Economy Program can develop a capstone project by using knowledge from the completed course and then present a business plan for a clean hydrogen start-up venture. The projects were evaluated by a panel of judges after class presentations.

"At the University of Houston, we are committed to advancing the energy transition by bringing diverse skills and knowledge together," Alan Rossiter, executive director of external relations and educational program development for UH Energy, says in a news release. "The Hydrogen Economy Program is one of the many ways we achieve this. With the new cohort beginning in August and registration now open, we look forward to working with a new group of passionate, curious, and intelligent energy professionals and students."

The Hydrogen Economy is a part of UH Energy's Sustainable Energy Development portfolio. The Hydrogen Economy Program is a joint effort by UH and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

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Navigating the energy transition is a relay race, and the baton is in Houston, says this energy executive. Photo courtesy of SCS

O&G exec: Houston is where the future of energy is taking shape

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Earlier this month, a West Texas-based oilfield equipment provider announced that it was opening an office in the Ion Houston. It's all a part of the company's energy transition plan.

SCS Technologies, based in Big Spring, Texas, has a new strategy and innovation-focused office in the Ion, the company announced last week. The company, which provides CO2 capture measurement and methane vapor recovery equipment for the energy, industrial, and environmental sectors, also announced René Vandersalm as the new COO.

These are just the latest moves for the company as the world moves away from hydrocarbons and toward a greener future, CEO Cody Johnson tells EnergyCapital, explaining that he recognizes Houston has a role in the energy transition.

"This is a relay race – a race that has already started," he says. "Houston is the place where the baton will be handed off – it’s the place where the race is occurring. SCS Technologies is determined to be part of this solution dreamed of and planned in Houston and then executed in the Permian Basin, where we call home."

In an interview with EnergyCapital, Johnson weighs in on the new office and the future of his company.

EnergyCapital: How has SCS’s business evolved amid the energy transition?

Cody Johnson: SCS Technologies was founded to design and fabricate customized Lease Automated Custody Transfer units in the Permian Basin. These LACT units were used primarily to measure the quality and quantity of crude oil at all points of custody transfer. Essentially, SCS Technologies produced the premier "crude cash registers" for the Permian Basin.

As the oil and gas industry has adapted into the energy transition industry, our customers and the communities we operate in have a growing need for SCS Technologies to use our design and fabrication of measurement skids to measure the quality and quantity of CO₂ or to design and fabricate methane — and other vent gases — Vapor Recovery Units. SCS Technologies’ design and fabrication expertise in measurement skids, pump skids, and compression skids, coupled with our Permian Basin based training and fabrication campus, ideally positioned us to answer the call to fill the expertise and capacity gap.

EC: How are you preparing for the future of energy?

CJ: Society has been powered for the past 100 years or so by the management of hydrocarbon molecules. The essential tools for that have been and continue to be oil rigs, pipelines, and refineries in large part. This has given society many benefits but at a price to the environment that isn’t sustainable. Over the next 50 years, society will complete a transition away from managing hydrocarbon molecules and towards managing electrons. Those electrons are created by wind, solar, geothermal, or nuclear processes and travel down copper wires. Managing this transition that is already occurring and working together to do it in the near-term future of energy.

As we execute this transition over the next several decades from managing molecules to managing electrons to provide energy, molecule management companies must find ways to reach net zero emissions in their management practices. This means primarily capturing and managing methane vapors and capturing and sequestering CO₂. This is starting in 2023 in a meaningful way and needs to continue past 2030 and probably past 2050 to have any chance to meet the globally shared social goal to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 and stay below a maximum increase of 1.5 degrees C in global temperatures.

The clock is ticking, and we are behind. The largest molecule management infrastructure investment in history must happen for us to reach these goals. It's mission-critical as one of the three things we simply cannot fail at to achieve net zero by 2050. SCS Technologies is very focused on being an intentional part of the tremendous supply chain buildout to support the infrastructure buildout.

EC: How does the new office in the Ion support these plans?

CJ: SCS Technologies needs to collaborate with the brightest minds working on the energy transition challenges. To contribute meaningfully to the overall effort and to be the thought leader in the methane vapor recovery and CO₂ compression and measurement niche, we need to be at the heart of the energy transition collaboration community. That beating heart is the Ion in Houston.

EC: What role does your new COO, René Vandersalm, play in SCS evolving with the energy transition?

CJ: René is a proven executive in growing mission-critical design and fabrication capacity without sacrificing quality. René’s experience, capabilities, and global network will play a key role in our path forward.

EC: Based in West Texas, SCS has a growing presence in Houston. Why do you see Houston as a leader in the energy transition?

CJ: West Texas has an amazing group of oil and gas professionals and infrastructure. We are proud of that heritage and will always maintain our roots and foundation there. Houston has the only community of engineers, scientists, universities, companies, investors, and key professional service providers that can deliver on the buildout of the molecule management infrastructure required to buy the electron management infrastructure folks time to transition fully to green energy after 2050.

This is a relay race – a race that has already started. Houston is the place where the baton will be handed off – it’s the place where the race is occurring. SCS Technologies is determined to be part of this solution dreamed of and planned in Houston and then executed in the Permian Basin, where we call home.

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This conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.

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Houston researchers win prestigious DOE early career awards

Researchers at Rice University, the University of Houston and other Texas universities have been awarded the Department of Energy’s Early Career Award for their work in quantum science, AI and more.

Each professor who received the honor will be awarded $875,000 over five years to continue their work.

The Houston-area recipients include:

James Shee, assistant professor of chemistry at Rice University
Tony Geng, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Rice
Naihao Chiang, assistant professor in the department of chemistry at the University of Houston

For Shee, the award will support his work to advance a “first principles platform to simulate the quantum dynamics of chemical systems of relevance to sustainable energy consumption and generation,” according to a news release from Rice.

“Support from the Department of Energy will enable my group to pursue the ambitious quantum chemistry development required to simulate the dynamics of transition metal-based molecular computing paradigms and multi-excitonic processes in a purely ab initio manner,” Shee said in the release.

Geng is developing next-generation AI for real-time digital twins for scientific systems. Geng and his team will make microchips that function as trainable electronic dynamical systems computing through natural, continuous evolution rather than digital instructions, according to the university.

Chiang’s work at UH addresses the DOE’s Quantum Information Science priority. Chiang leads a team that develops and applies “plasmonic-enhanced near-field optical techniques” to investigate fundamental light-matter interactions at the quantum limit before applying them to emerging technologies. In addition, the team will use AI to help with data acquisition and will utilize STEM workforce development.

Dr. Joshua Burby, an assistant professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Texas at Austin, and Junyeong Ahn, who is part of the University’s Texas Quantum Institute, also received early career awards for their work in superconducting and fusion technologies. See the full list of recipients from around the country here.

“The energy and creativity of early-career scientists is crucial for propelling scientific discovery forward. The Department of Energy is committed to nurturing this talent through programs like the Early Career Research Program,” Darío Gil, DOE under secretary for science, added in a release. “These awards provide essential resources and opportunities for collaboration, enabling these researchers to explore novel concepts and accelerate the development of solutions for our nation’s energy and scientific landscape.”

The DOE has also doled out funding to Houston researchers and companies in recent months through its Genesis Mission and geothermal initiatives.

Researchers from Rice, UH and Halliburton were named in July among the nearly 300 projects selected under the Trump administration's Genesis Mission, which aims to address some of the largest science and technology challenges in the country

In September, three Houston companies also received more than $45 million in funding from the DOE's Next-Generation Geothermal Field Tests and Geothermal Resource Characterization and Confirmation initiative to advance geothermal technologies and field tests. The projects were among 21 selected from around the country to receive a total of $99 million. Read more here.

Elon Musk's Tesla to cease cybertruck production in 2027

Tesla Talk

Tesla’s Cybertruck, the hulking, stainless-steel pickup that inspired devotion and derision with its science-fiction looks, will cease production next year.

CEO Elon Musk announced the model’s demise Friday, November 6, with a curt post on X, his social media site, simply noting production of the vehicle “will be winding down” around the middle of 2027 at its facility outside Austin, Texas. Musk said the move was to allow increased production of its Cybercab robotaxi.

For the Cybertruck, a pet project of Musk who insisted it was Tesla’s best product, it marks an unceremonious end to one of the auto industry’s most ballyhooed debuts.

“Few vehicles in history have generated as much attention,” said Armen Hareyan, whose Torque News site covers autos. “The Cybertruck became a cultural symbol – loved, mocked and impossible to ignore.”

The Cybertruck rolled onto the scene in a dramatic unveiling in 2019, when a Tesla designer hurled a metal ball at the vehicle to demonstrate its supposedly unbreakable glass, only to see it shatter. He repeated the stunt on another window of the truck only to shatter that one, too.

Even as some critics scoffed, Musk was steadfast.

“I just wanted to make a futuristic battle tank — something that looks like it could come out of ‘Blade Runner’ or ‘Aliens’ or something like that but was also highly functional,” he told Automotive News. He called it “a better sports car than a Porsche 911” and “a better truck than an F-150.”

It struck some as the perfect vehicular reflection of the brash, convention-busting Musk.

“A really controversial vehicle unveiled by a controversial individual into a market where none of the electric trucks have been able to really capture demand,” said Spencer Penn, a former Tesla executive who left the company before the Cybertruck’s launch and now heads software developer LightSource.

Penn remembered watching the unveiling and feeling initially revolted by the sight of the Cybertruck, calling its appearance “madness.” But the more he looked at it, the more his opinion changed. He signed up for a pre-sale reservation, though ended up not getting a Cybertruck when Musk’s promises of a price tag under $40,000 went unmet and the first trucks sold for double or more. Penn called the Cybertruck part of Tesla’s adventurous spirit that drives innovation.

“Some of these bets work and some of these bets don’t,” he said.

While the decision to end Cybertruck production may be driven by sales realities, it's also a reflection of Tesla’s shift to autonomous vehicles, on which Musk is betting the company’s future.

Musk once forecast he’d make 250,000 Cybertrucks a year. Kelley Blue Book estimated Tesla sold just 20,237 of the vehicles last year, down about half from the year prior. Sales through the end of September this year were down another 28%, according to Kelley Blue Book.

If the imposing, sharp-angled, dystopian appearance of the Cybertruck weren’t enough to turn many potential buyers away, Musk did so himself by allying with a panoply of right-wing figures, most notably U.S. President Donald Trump. He alienated some customers as his image morphed from eccentric innovator to polarizing force trading his billions for political influence.

Once-passionate Tesla drivers rushed to sell off their cars, or slapped stickers on the bumper declaring, “I bought this before Elon went crazy.” Organizers staged demonstrations outside Tesla showrooms and urged investors to dump shares of the company’s stock. Anger spilled into violence, with Molotov cocktails hurled at Tesla vehicles, charging stations set ablaze, and dealerships covered in graffiti.

Lovers of the Cybertruck became targets, too, subjected to shouts of “Nazi!” and extended middle fingers.

Ross Blankenship is one of them. When he first laid eyes on the Cybertruck, he felt transported to a world from his childhood, when he would play “Halo,” the sci-fi video game. He had to have it.

“I had that sort of child in me wanting to be part of something cool that would change the future of automotive,” Blankenship said in a call from his Cybertruck as he drove through Sunnyside, Colorado. Even as Blankenship found he agreed with Musk on politics, he hated seeing a vehicle he loved turned into a political symbol. “I never bought it for any other reason than the fascination with the future technology of trucks … so that was a little heartbreaking.”

He would buy another Cybertruck again in a heartbeat, calling its end “a sad moment.”

Tesla, Houston City College to receive millions for workforce training

texas talent

Gov. Greg Abbott announced $1.73 million in workforce training grants for the Houston and Rio Grande Valley regions late last month, with the bulk of the funding heading toward Houston.

The funding comes through the Skills Development Fund (SDF) grant program from the Texas Workforce Commission. The grants will help train 689 current and new workers in technology, manufacturing, technology, logistics and other fields in high demand.

Three grants totaling $1.56 million will go to Houston City College to develop training programs for 602 Houston-area workers.

The largest grant, totaling $782,998, will go toward training 261 employees for Tesla Inc. as welders, maintenance technicians, process technicians and other jobs. In addition to Tesla’s $200 million megafactory in Brookshire, Texas, the electric vehicle company is also considering building a $10.1 billion solar cell manufacturing facility in Fort Bend County called Project Sun City. The company recently expanded its self-driving Robotaxi service throughout 610 Loop and northwest Houston.

A second grant of $690,044 will go toward training 300 workers at Texas Tissue LLC and Karsten Management LLC as frontline supervisors, production line operators, design specialists and maintenance technicians. An allocation of $83,963 will go toward training 41 workers at Watchfire Signs LLC as production supervisors, operations specialists, industrial maintenance technicians, and more.

According to HCC, its Corporate Training and Development will coordinate the program in partnership with the college’s Advanced Manufacturing Center of Excellence Southwest and the Material Science Center of Excellence Welding Department.

“These grants demonstrate how state agencies, employers and Houston City College can work together to meet evolving workforce needs, strengthen Texas businesses and create meaningful opportunities for workers,” HCC Chancellor Margaret Ford Fisher said in a news release.

TWC granted an additional $169,087 to Workforce Solutions Lower Rio Grande Valley to train 87 workers at Denso Ten America Limited, Alps Logistics (USA) Inc., Index Fresh Inc. and Emerson Electric Co.

“When we align local training directly with the needs of expanding industries, we strengthen the regional economy,” TWC Chairman Joe Esparza said in the news release. “These Skills Development Fund grants empower Houston City College and Workforce Solutions Lower Rio Grande Valley to provide the specialized, high-demand training that employers need to succeed right here in Texas.”

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