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Honeywell, Weatherford partner on emissions management for energy industry

team work

Weatherford and Honeywell announced the partnership that will combine Honeywell's emissions management suite with Weatherford's technology. Photo via Getty Images

Two major corporations have teamed up to provide a comprehensive emissions management solution that should have an impact on the energy transition.

Houston-based Weatherford and North Carolina-based Honeywell, which has a significant presence in Houston, announced the partnership that will combine Honeywell's emissions management suite with Weatherford's Cygnet SCADA platform.

Customers will be able to use the new tool "to monitor, report, and take measures to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, flammable hydrocarbons, and other potentially dangerous and toxic gases," per a news release.

"Through this collaboration with Honeywell, we have built an alliance that further bridges the gap between technological excellence and environmental stewardship," Girish Saligram, president and CEO of Weatherford, says in the release. "Together, our transformative offering provides cutting-edge tools and actionable data to help customers reach their sustainability goals with confidence and efficiency."

The combined platform will provide upstream oil and gas operators a way to access emissions data in near real-time to better make business decisions on potential issues and meeting regulatory requirements. Additionally, the software should equip users with ways to improve efforts to reach environmental goals.

Honeywell's partnership with Weatherford highlights the importance of empowering organizations with solutions that can help quantify and reduce emissions within the energy industry," Pramesh Maheshwari, president of Honeywell Process Solutions, adds. "By integrating our emissions management solution with Weatherford's well lifecycle technology, our customers can now accurately set targets and monitor near real-time progress on their path to net-zero."

Last fall, a Houston-based unit of industrial conglomerate Honeywell unveiled a gas meter capable of measuring both hydrogen and natural gas. Honeywell’s European launch follows a Dutch test of the EI5 smart gas meter, which the company touts as the world’s first commercially available hydrogen-ready gas meter.

Empact Technologies announced a multi-year agreement with Ampliform, which originates, builds, develops, and operates utility-scale solar and solar plus storage projects. Photo courtesy of Empact

Houston software company to manage IRA compliance for solar, storage company with national presence

tapping into tech

Houston company's Inflation Reduction Act compliance management software has scored a new partner.

Empact Technologies announced a multi-year agreement with Ampliform, which originates, builds, develops, and operates utility-scale solar and solar plus storage projects. The Empact platform uses a combination of software and services to ensure projects meet IRS regulatory requirements, which focus on wage and apprenticeship, domestic content, and energy and low-income community incentives. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed

Empact will partner specifically with Ampliform’s project Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) firms, subcontractors, and key suppliers of steel and iron products. In addition, they will work through a project’s life cycle for EPC’s solar modules, trackers, and inverters to manage prevailing wage & apprenticeship, domestic content, and other tax incentive qualification and compliance.

“The team at Ampliform had the leadership and foresight to recognize the significant risks of IRA non-compliance and the need to have third party compliance management in place prior to construction kick-off," Charles Dauber, CEO and founder of Empact, says in a news release. We look forward to helping Ampliform fully leverage the IRA tax incentives to develop and build their project development pipeline.”

Ampliform has approximately 700MW of projects in short-term development. Ampliform also plans 3GW of projects in its development pipeline. Ampliform’s future expansion plans exceed more than 13GWdc in total. Empact will manage the IRA compliance for these projects. According to a Goldman Sachs report, the IRA is estimated to provide $1.2 trillion of incentives by 2032.

Houston-based oil and gas engineering and construction services provider McDermott is making some major software changes to better operate in the ongoing energy transition. Image via mcdermott-investors.com

Houston company upgrades digital solutions with new partnerships to better address energy transition

software secured

A Houston engineering and construction solutions company serving the energy industry has announced an agreement that will introduce new software to the company's energy transition plans.

McDermott announced today that it has signed a lighthouse agreement with United Kingdom-based industrial software company AVEVA and Massachusetts-based product lifecycle management platform provider Aras. With the new software, McDermott plans "to develop its asset lifecycle management capability across the energy transition, oil and gas, and nuclear sectors," per the news release.

"McDermott is uniquely positioned to combine its extensive expertise in digital twin and industry-leading engineering procurement and construction (EPC) experience," Vaseem Khan, McDermott's senior vice president of Global Operations, says in the release. "The agreement represents our shared vision and commitment to data-centric digital deliverables management and creates an opportunity for robust digital transformation of industry processes."

The new technology should help reduce both cost and risk by improving decision-making, achieving better compliance and traceability, and enhancing performance.

"McDermott's engineering expertise forms an essential input in pioneering an industry solution that is urgently needed to improve outcomes in the energy, nuclear, marine, and other sectors," Rob McGreevy, chief product officer at AVEVA. "Together, we will provide competitive advantages for customers who join the lighthouse program."

The deal includes integrating Aras' Innovator platform with AVEVA Unified Engineering, AVEVA Asset Information Management, and other AVEVA tools and services to create, and McDermott will provide feedback and testing for its new software platforms.

"AVEVA's robust industry asset lifecycle management solutions, built on the Aras platform, will enable McDermott to leverage a fully connected digital thread of the asset's engineering and operations information," Roque Martin, CEO of Aras, says in the release. "We will create useful, usable, and powerful software for our joint customer base."

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Solidec secures pre-seed funding from Houston VC firm

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Houston-based Flathead Forge Fund 1 has invested in Houston startup Solidec, which specializes in modular onsite chemical manufacturing.

The investment was part of Solidec’s recent round of more than $2 million in pre-seed funding. The amount of Flathead Forge’s investment wasn’t disclosed.

“Flathead Forge brings exactly the kind of domain-specific capital and operational network that a company at our stage needs. Their focus on water and critical minerals makes this a genuinely strategic relationship,” Ryan DuChanois, co-founder and CEO of Solidec, said in a news release.

Other investors in the round included New Climate Ventures, Collaborative Fund, Echo River Capital, Ecosphere Ventures, Plug and Play Ventures, Safar Partners and Semilla Climate Capital.

Solidec produces industrial chemicals, including hydrogen peroxide, formic acid and acetic acid, using only air, water and electricity. Its modular reactors eliminate the need for energy-intensive production and long-haul distribution.

“Solidec’s platform cuts cost, emissions, and supply-chain fragility at the source,” Douglas Lee, managing director of Flathead Forge, added in the statement.

DuChanois said in an email that the company plans to use the funding to "scale (its) modular chemical manufacturing platform."

Solidec recently announced a pilot project with Lynas Rare Earths, the world’s only commercial producer of separated light and heavy rare earth oxides outside China, for production of hydrogen peroxide for a Lynas facility in Australia.

Solidec, a member of Greentown Labs Houston, spun out of associate professor Haotian Wang’s lab at Rice University in 2024. Wang focuses on developing new materials and technology for energy and environmental uses, such as energy storage and green synthesis.

Greentown Labs names new COO, appoints new Head of Houston

new leaders

Greentown Labs has reshuffled its leadership, elevating Houston leaders into new roles.

Lawson Gow was named COO of the Houston- and Boston-based climatech incubator in February 2026. In his new role, he will focus on optimizing Greentown's structure, building new internal and external systems and developing a plan for growth.

Gow was named Head of Houston in July. He previously founded The Cannon, a coworking space with eight locations in the Houston area, with additional partner spaces. He also recently served as managing partner at Houston-based investment and advisory firm Helium Capital. Gow is the son of David Gow, founder of Energy Capital's parent company, Gow Media.

Kelsey Kearns, who previously served as Director of Community Strategy at Greentown, was named as Gow's replacement in the Houston-focused role. As the new Head of Houston, she will lead daily operations, work to connect the city's climate and innovation ecosystem and founders, strengthen partnerships and accelerate solutions.

"I'm honored and grateful to step into this new role," Kearns said in an email. "My goal is for Greentown to thrive so our founders can thrive! That means supporting their connection to the capital, pilots, and customers they need to grow while building partnerships across Houston's innovation ecosystem. I want Greentown Houston to become the playbook for every future Greentown expansion."

Before joining Greentown Houston, Kearns served as director of business development at Howdy.com, an Austin-based technology staffing company.

"Kelsey is such a perfect fit to lead Greentown Houston," Gow added in an email. "She's deeply passionate about the entrepreneurial community here and has worked throughout and across the ecosystem for years. She's built an awesome dream team here and has helped reinvigorate Greentown's presence and role in Houston's innovation economy."

Earlier this year, Greentown also named Julia Travaglini as the Head of its Boston incubator. Travaglini has held multiple leadership roles at Greentown since 2016. The organization named Georgina Campbell Flatter as its new CEO in early 2025.

Texas sees 5th highest surge in gas prices in the U.S. since 2025

Pay at the Pump

Residents all around Texas are seeing soaring prices for regular and diesel fuel in 2026.

In fact, the Lone Star State has seen the fifth-highest percentage increase in gas prices in the country from April 2025 to April 2026, a just-released SmartAsset study has found. The current cost of a regular gallon of gas is 36.1 percent higher now than it was a year ago, and diesel is 60.9 percent more expensive.

The report, "Gas Prices Hit Records in 2026: State by State Breakdown," compared average gas prices from AAA from April 1, 2025 and April 1, 2026 and calculated the one-year change across all 50 states. The study looked at the price of a gallon of regular, premium, and diesel.

According to AAA, the cost of a regular gallon of gas in Texas at the start of April was $3.77, while premium is $4.62 per gallon. Diesel ticked over $5 a gallon — ouch — at $5.11.

Houston gas prices aren't much cheaper than the statewide average. A gallon of regular costs up to $3.76 at some Houston-area pumps, and diesel is $5.05 per gallon. AAA says the highest recorded average price for gas in the city was in June 2022, when a gallon of regular cost $4.68 and diesel cost $5.24.

Though Texas' gas prices are continuing to climb, it ranks 35th in the national ranking of states with the highest cost for regular gas as of April 2026. Texas' diesel prices are the 14th highest nationwide.

With the national average price for gas at $4.06, SmartAsset said the sudden surge in prices can be attributed to the United States' war on Iran, and "subsequent pressure on the Strait of Hormuz."

"Many states have experienced a 33 percent year-over-year increase in the cost of a gallon of regular gas – and in some places it’s even higher," the report's author wrote. "Commercial and public programs may be feeling similarly pinched, with diesel prices upwards of $6.00 per gallon in many states."

California currently has the highest average price for regular and diesel — $5.89 per gallon and $7.52 per gallon, respectively.

Arizona leads the nation with the highest one-year increase in gas prices. Regular gas in the Grand Canyon State is nearly 38 percent more expensive than it was last year, at $4.70 per gallon, and diesel is about 69 percent higher at $6.04 for a gallon.

The state with the cheapest gas prices in April is Oklahoma, where regular costs $3.27 per gallon, premium is $3.97, and diesel is $4.49.

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This article originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

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