3 Houston sustainability startups score prizes at Rice University pitch competition

seeing green

HEXASpec was founded by Rice Ph.D. candidates Tianshu Zhai and Chen-Yang Lin, who are a part of Lilie’s 2024 Innovation Fellows program. Photo courtesy of Rice

A group of Rice University student-founded companies shared $100,000 of cash prizes at an annual startup competition — and three of those winning companies are focused on sustainable solutions.

Liu Idea Lab for Innovation and Entrepreneurship's H. Albert Napier Rice Launch Challenge, hosted by Rice earlier this month, named its winners for 2024. HEXASpec, a company that's created a new material to improve heat management for the semiconductor industry, won the top prize and $50,000 cash.

Founded by Rice Ph.D. candidates Tianshu Zhai and Chen-Yang Lin, who are a part of Lilie’s 2024 Innovation Fellows program, HEXASpec is improving efficiency and sustainability within the semiconductor industry, which usually consumes millions of gallons of water used to cool data centers. According to Rice's news release, HEXASpec's "next-generation chip packaging offer 20 times higher thermal conductivity and improved protection performance, cooling the chips faster and reducing the operational surface temperature."

A few other sustainability-focused startups won prizes, too. CoFlux Purification, a company that has a technology that breaks down PFAS using a novel absorbent for chemical-free water, won second place and $25,000, as well as the Audience Choice Award, which came with an additional $2,000.

Solidec, a company that's working on a platform to produce chemicals from captured carbon, and HEXASpec won Outstanding Achievement in Climate Solutions Prizes, which came with $1,000.

The NRLC, open to Rice students, is Lilie's hallmark event. Last year's winner was fashion tech startup, Goldie.

“We are the home of everything entrepreneurship, innovation and research commercialization for the entire Rice student, faculty and alumni communities,” Kyle Judah, executive director at Lilie, says in a news release. “We’re a place for you to immerse yourself in a problem you care about, to experiment, to try and fail and keep trying and trying and trying again amongst a community of fellow rebels, coloring outside the lines of convention."

This year, the competition started with 100 student venture teams before being whittled down to the final five at the championship. The program is supported by Lilie’s mentor team, Frank Liu and the Liu Family Foundation, Rice Business, Rice’s Office of Innovation, and other donors

“The heart and soul of what we’re doing to really take it to the next level with entrepreneurship here at Rice is this fantastic team,” Peter Rodriguez, dean of Rice Business, adds. “And they’re doing an outstanding job every year, reaching further, bringing in more students. My understanding is we had more than 100 teams submit applications. It’s an extraordinarily high number. It tells you a lot about what we have at Rice and what this team has been cooking and making happen here at Rice for a long, long time.”

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This article originally ran on InnovationMap.

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Peter Rodriguez, dean of Rice University's Jones Graduate School of Business, shares how the school is intrinsically and intentionally linked to the Houston energy community. Photo courtesy Annie Tao/Rice University

Why Rice University is 'deeply connected' to Houston's energy industry

power player

Houston is known as the energy capital of the world, and the industry is ingrained into Rice University's DNA — especially the university's business school.

"We are deeply connected — and have been for a long time," says Peter Rodriguez, dean of Rice University's Jones Graduate School of Business. "One of the five pillars of our strategy is to be the leading business school in the country for the studying and the advancement for the energy transition and decarbonization of the economy. We think we can be the premiere school for training people for this rapidly evolving field of energy and to promulgate great research."

One of the recent way the school has connect its student body to the Houston business community is through its recent Rice Energy Finance Summit, which took place last month. The student-led program has been ongoing for 15 years and gives students a chance to work with business leaders in the energy sector.

"It's aimed at something that's increasingly important now, which is thinking about energy transition and how do you really navigate the process," Rodriguez says. "It's an incredibly complex organization of many disprite units and government to pull off — and the finance side of that is particularly challenging."

This year, Rodriguez says the event had a packed house and even some wrap-around events, including a pitch competition. And he expects next year to be a continuation of that success.

Rodriguez shares more about what he's accomplished in his tenure as dean on the Houston Innovators Podcast.

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This article originally ran on InnovationMap.

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HETI discusses Houston’s energy leadership, from pathways to progress

The View From HETI

In 2024, RMI in collaboration with Mission Possible Partnership (MPP) and the Houston Energy Transition Initiative (HETI) mapped out ambitious scenarios for the region’s decarbonization journey. The report showed that with the right investments and technologies, Houston could achieve meaningful emissions reductions while continuing to power the world. That analysis painted a picture of what could be possible by 2030 and 2050.

Today, the latest HETI progress report shows Houston is not just planning anymore — the region is delivering.

Real results, right now

The numbers tell a compelling story. Since 2017, HETI’s member companies have invested more than $95 billion in low-carbon infrastructure, technologies, and R&D. That’s not a commitment for the future—that’s capital deployed, projects built, and operations transformed.

The results showed industry-wide reductions of 20% in total Scope 1 greenhouse gas emissions and a remarkable 55% decrease in methane emissions from global operations. These aren’t projections—they’re actual reductions happening across refineries, chemical plants, and production facilities throughout the Houston region.

How Houston is leading

What makes Houston’s approach work is its practical, technology-driven focus. Companies across the energy value chain are implementing solutions that work today:

Electrifying operations and integrating renewable power

Deploying advanced methane detection and elimination technologies

Upgrading equipment for greater efficiency

Capturing and storing carbon at commercial scale

Developing breakthrough technologies from geothermal to advanced nuclear

Take ExxonMobil’s Permian Basin electrification, Shell and Chevron’s lower-carbon Whale project, or BP’s massive Tangguh carbon capture project in Indonesia. These aren’t pilot programs—they’re multi-billion dollar investments demonstrating that decarbonization and energy production go hand in hand.

From scenarios to strategy

The RMI analysis identified three key pathways forward: enabling operational decarbonization, accelerating low-carbon technology scale-up, and creating carbon accounting mechanisms. Houston’s energy leaders have embraced all three.

The momentum is undeniable. Companies are setting ambitious 2030 and 2050 targets with clear roadmaps. New projects are reaching final investment decisions. Innovation ecosystems are flourishing. And critically, this progress is creating jobs and driving economic growth across the region.

Why this matters

Houston isn’t just managing the energy transition—it’s proving what’s possible when you combine world-class engineering expertise, integrated infrastructure, access to capital, and a commitment to both energy security and emissions reduction.

The dual challenge of delivering more energy with less emissions isn’t theoretical in Houston—it’s operational reality. Every ton of CO₂ reduced, every efficiency gain achieved, and every technology deployed demonstrates that we can meet growing global energy demand while making measurable progress on climate goals.

The path forward

The journey from last year’s scenarios to this year’s results shows something crucial: when industry, policymakers, and communities align around practical solutions, transformation accelerates.

Houston’s energy leadership isn’t about choosing between reliable energy and environmental progress, it’s about delivering both. And based on the progress we’re seeing, the momentum is only building.

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Read the full analysis here. This article originally appeared on the Greater Houston Partnership's Houston Energy Transition Initiative blog . HETI exists to support Houston's future as an energy leader. For more information about the Houston Energy Transition Initiative, EnergyCapitalHTX's presenting sponsor, visit htxenergytransition.org.

TotalEnergies to supply solar power to new Google data centers in Texas

power deal

French energy company TotalEnergies, whose U.S. headquarters are in Houston, has signed power purchase agreements to supply 1 gigawatt of solar power for Google data centers in Texas over a 15-year span.

The power will be generated by TotalEnergies’ two solar farms that are being developed in Texas. Construction on the company’s Wichita site (805 megawatt-peak, or MWp) and Mustang Creek site (195 MWp) is scheduled to start in the second quarter of this year.

Marc-Antoine Pignon, U.S. vice president for renewables at TotalEnergies, said in a press release that the 1-gigawatt deal “highlights TotalEnergies’ strategy to deliver tailored renewable energy solutions that support the decarbonization goals of digital players, particularly data centers.”

The deal comes after California-based Clearway, in which TotalEnergies holds a 50 percent stake, secured an agreement to supply 1.2 gigawatts of solar power to Google data centers in Texas and other states.

“Supporting a strong, stable, affordable grid is a top priority as we expand our infrastructure,” said Will Conkling, director of clean energy and power at Google. “Our agreement with TotalEnergies adds necessary new generation to the local system, boosting the amount of affordable and reliable power supply available to serve the entire region.”

TotalEnergies maintains a 10-gigawatt-capacity portfolio of onshore solar, wind and battery storage assets in the U.S., including 5 gigawatts in the territory served by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT).

Other clean energy customers of TotalEnergies include Airbus, Air Liquide, Amazon, LyondellBasell, Merck and Microsoft.

UH lands $1.5M for endowed professorship and energy workforce initiative

funding the future

The University of Houston announced two major funding awards last month focused on energy transition initiatives and leadership.

Longtime UH supporters Peggy and Chris Seaver made a $1 million gift to the university to establish the Peggy and Chris Seaver Endowed Aspire Professorship, a faculty position “designed to strengthen UH Energy and expand the university’s leadership in addressing the most pressing global energy challenges,” according to a news release.

The new role is the third professorship appointed to UH Energy. The professorship can qualify for a dollar-for-dollar match through the Aspire Fund Challenge, a $50 million matching initiative launched by an anonymous donor.

“This gift will be key to cementing UH’s role as The Energy University,” Ramanan Krishnamoorti, vice president for energy and innovation at UH, said in the release. “By recruiting a highly respected faculty member with international experience, we are further elevating UH Energy’s global profile while deepening our impact here in the energy capital of the world.”

Also in January, the university shared that it would be joining the Urban Enrichment Institute (UEI) and the City of Houston to help train the next generation of energy workers, thanks to a $560,000 grant.

The Gulf Research Program of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine awarded the funding to the UEI, a nonprofit that supports at-risk youth. It will allow the UEI to work with UH’s Energy Transition Institute and the Houston Health Department to launch “Spark Energy Futures: Equipping Youth and Communities for the Energy Transition.”

The new initiative is designed for Houstonians ages 16-25 and will provide hands-on experience, four months of STEM-based training, and industry-aligned certifications without a four-year degree. Participants can also earn credentials and job placement support.

“Our energy systems are going through unprecedented changes to address the growing energy demands in the United States, Gulf Coast and Texas,” Debalina Sengupta, assistant vice president and Chief Operating Officer of ETI at UH, said in a news release.“To meet growing demands, the energy supply, transmission, distribution and markets associated with an ever-increasing energy mix needs a workforce skilled in multidimensional aspects of energy, as well as the flexibility to switch as needed to provide affordable, reliable and sustainable energy to our population.”

Keith Cornelius, executive director of UEI, added that he expects about 50 students to participate in the program’s inaugural year and that the program is looking to attract those interested in entering the energy workforce without a college degree.

“We’re looking to have tremendous success with the Energy Transition Institute,” Cornelius said. “This program is a testament to what can be done between a community-based organization, a major university and the city.”

The award was part of a $2.7 million grant that will fund four projects in the Gulf region, including two others in Texas. The Gulf Research Program Awards also granted $748,175 to launch the “Building the South Texas Energy Workforce” initiative in in Kingsville, Texas and $728,000 for “Texas Green Careers Academy: Activating a New Generation of Energy Professionals” in Austin.

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