Under a new agreement, ExxonMobil and Rice University aim to develop “systematic and comprehensive solutions” to support the global energy transition. Photo via Getty Images.

Houston-based ExxonMobil and Rice University announced a master research agreement this week to collaborate on research initiatives on sustainable energy efforts and solutions. The agreement includes one project that’s underway and more that are expected to launch this year.

“Our commitment to science and engineering, combined with Rice’s exceptional resources for research and innovation, will drive solutions to help meet growing energy demand,” Mike Zamora, president of ExxonMobil Technology and Engineering Co., said in a news release. “We’re thrilled to work together with Rice.”

Rice and Exxon will aim to develop “systematic and comprehensive solutions” to support the global energy transition, according to Rice. The university will pull from the university’s prowess in materials science, polymers and catalysts, high-performance computing and applied mathematics.

“Our agreement with ExxonMobil highlights Rice’s ability to bring together diverse expertise to create lasting solutions,” Ramamoorthy Ramesh, executive vice president for research at Rice, said in the release. “This collaboration allows us to tackle key challenges in energy, water and resource sustainability by harnessing the power of an interdisciplinary systems approach.”

The first research project under the agreement focuses on developing advanced technologies to treat desalinated produced water from oil and gas operations for potential reuse. It's being led by Qilin Li, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Rice and co-director of the Nanosystems Engineering Research Center for Nanotechnology-Enabled Water Treatment (NEWT) Center.

Li’s research employs electrochemical advanced oxidation processes to remove harmful organic compounds and ammonia-nitrogen, aiming to make the water safe for applications such as agriculture, wildlife and industrial processes. Additionally, the project explores recovering ammonia and producing hydrogen, contributing to sustainable resource management.

Additional projects under the agreement with Exxon are set to launch in the coming months and years, according to Rice.

XGS Energy plans to “aggressively expand” its team in Houston this year thanks to its latest round of investments. Photo via Getty Images

Houston geothermal company closes $13M in investments to fuel growth

fresh funding

XGS Energy, a California-headquartered geothermal power company with a major presence in Houston, has closed $13 million in new financing that included new investors Aligned Climate Capital, ClearSky, ClimateIC and WovenEarth Ventures, in addition to inside investors.

The company plans to “aggressively expand” its team in Houston this year, according to a news release.

“We are facing global energy supply challenges of unprecedented scale and urgency,” Kevin Kimsa, Managing Partner at ClimateIC, said in the release. “The XGS team is uniquely primed to meet the moment, bringing together innovative technology and leading engineering talent with the deep experience in infrastructure development and financing critical to deploying large-scale energy systems at speed.”

As part of the financing deal, Mano Nazar, ClearSky Senior Advisor and the former Chief Nuclear Officer of NextEra Energy, will join the XGS Energy Board of Directors.

“XGS’s advanced geothermal technology is uniquely positioned to deliver abundant energy to the grid faster than any other baseload energy technology at a time of unprecedented demand for energy resources,” Nazar said in a news release. “We are excited to partner with XGS to deliver on their mission of sustainable, reliable, and scalable geothermal energy.”

XGS is known for its next-gen closed-loop geothermal well architecture. The company saw massive growth in the Houston market last year and recently completed a 100-meter field demonstration in central Texas. The new funding supports the XGS’s multi-gigawatt project pipeline.

The recent financing also builds on an oversubscribed Series A round led by Constellation Technology Ventures, VoLo Earth Ventures, and Valo Ventures that closed last year.

Researchers created a light-driven catalyst for hydrogen production, offering an emission-free alternative to traditional methods. Photo by Jeff Fitlow/Rice University

Houston researchers develop catalyst for emission-free hydrogen production using light instead of heat

switch flipped

Researchers at Rice University have developed a catalyst that could render steam methane reforming, or SMR, entirely emission-free by using light rather than heat to drive the reaction.

The researchers believe the work could prove to be a breakthrough for extending catalyst lifetimes. This will improve efficiencies and reduce costs for a number of industrial processes that are affected by a form of carbon buildup that can deactivate catalysts called coking.

The new copper-rhodium photocatalyst uses an antenna-reactor design. When it is exposed to a specific wavelength of light it breaks down methane and water vapor without external heating into hydrogen and carbon monoxide. The importance of this is it is a chemical industry feedstock that is not a greenhouse gas. Rice’s work also shows that the antenna-reactor technology can overcome catalyst deactivation due to oxidation and coking by employing hot carriers to remove oxygen species and carbon deposits, which effectively regenerates the catalyst with light.

The new SMR reaction pathway build off a 2011 discovery from Peter Nordlander, Rice’s Wiess Chair and Professor of Physics and Astronomy and professor of electrical and computer engineering and materials science and nanoengineering, and Naomi Halas. They are the authors on the study about the research that was published in Nature Catalysis. The study showed that the collective oscillations of electrons that occur when metal nanoparticles are exposed to light can emit “hot carriers” or high-energy electrons and holes that can be used to drive chemical reactions.

“This is one of our most impactful findings so far, because it offers an improved alternative to what is arguably the most important chemical reaction for modern society,” Norlander says in a news release.

The research was supported by Robert A. Welch Foundation (C-1220, C-1222) and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (FA9550-15-1-0022) with the Shared Equipment Authority at Rice providing data analysis support.

“This research showcases the potential for innovative photochemistry to reshape critical industrial processes, moving us closer to an environmentally sustainable energy future,” Halas adds.

Hydrogen has been studied as it could assist with the transition to a sustainable energy ecosystem, but the chemical process responsible for more than half of the current global hydrogen production is a substantial source of greenhouse gas emissions.Hydrogen is produced in large facilities that require the gas to be transported to its point of use. Light-driven SMR allows for on-demand hydrogen generation,which researchers believe is a key benefit for use in mobility-related applications like hydrogen fueling stations or and possibly vehicles.

Rice University will open a hub in Bengaluru, India, to focus on sustainable energy, AI, biotechnology, and global research collaboration. Photo via Rice University

Houston university launches global hub to drive innovation in sustainable energy, advanced technologies

incoming, India

Rice University is launching Rice Global India, which is a strategic initiative to expand India’s rapidly growing education and technology sectors.

The new hub will be in the country’s third-largest city and the center of the country’s high-tech industry, Bengaluru, India, and will include collaborations with top-tier research and academic institutions. Rice continues its collaborations with institutions like the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru. The partnerships are expected to advance research initiatives, student and faculty exchanges and collaborations in artificial intelligence, biotechnology and sustainable energy.

“India is a country of tremendous opportunity, one where we see the potential to make a meaningful impact through collaboration in research, innovation and education,” Rice President Reginald DesRoches says in a news release. “Our presence in India is a critical step in expanding our global reach, and we are excited to engage more with India’s academic leaders and industries to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time.”

India was a prime spot for the location due to the energy, climate change, artificial intelligence and biotechnology studies that align with Rice’s research that is outlined in its strategic plan Momentous: Personalized Scale for Global Impact.

“India’s position as one of the world’s fastest-growing education and technology markets makes it a crucial partner for Rice’s global vision,” vice president for global at Rice Caroline Levander adds. “The U.S.-India relationship, underscored by initiatives like the U.S.-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology, provides fertile ground for educational, technological and research exchanges.”

On November 18, the university hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Bengaluru, India to help launch the project.

“This expansion reflects our commitment to fostering a more interconnected world where education and research transcend borders,” DesRoches says.

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This article originally ran on InnovationMap.

Energy Tech Nexus has opened in downtown Houston. Photo by Natalie Harms/EnergyCapital

Houston leaders launch new downtown hub to support energy transition innovation

ribbon cutting

Three Houston energy innovators have cut the ribbon on a new space for energy transition innovation.

The Energy Tech Nexus, located in the historic Niels Esperson Building at the corner of Travis and Rusk Avenue, opened on September 10, which was proclaimed Energy Tech Nexus Day by the city.

Jason Ethier and Juliana Garaizar, formerly in leadership roles at Greentown Labs, teamed up with Nada Ahmed, previously headed innovation and transformation at Aker Solutions, launched ETN as a community for energy transition startups. The new hub plans to host incubation programs, provide mentorship, and open doors to funding and strategic partnerships for its members.

"We are creating more than a space for innovation," Garaizar says in a news release. "We are crafting a community where pioneers in technology and energy converge to challenge the status quo and accelerate the shift to sustainable energy solutions."

The hub describes its goal of tackling the "trilemma" of energy security, sustainability, and affordability while also contributing to the mission of setting up Houston as the global center for energy transition. To accomplish that mission, ETN will help facilitate rapid deployment of cutting-edge energy technologies.

'The future of energy is not just being written here in Houston; it's being rewritten in more sustainable, efficient, and innovative ways," adds Garaizar. "Houston provides the perfect backdrop for this transformation, offering a rich history in energy and a forward-looking approach to its challenges and opportunities."

"We believe that a broad spectrum of perspectives is crucial in solving global energy challenges. It's about bringing everyone to the table — startups, industry leaders, and investors from all backgrounds," she continues.

Ethier, who co-hosts the Energy Tech Startups Podcast with Ahmed, says he hopes that ETN acts as a meeting place for energy transition innovators.

"By providing the right tools, access, and expertise, we are enabling these companies to leap from ideation to implementation at an unprecedented pace;" Ethier explains. "The interaction between startups and established companies within Energy Tech Nexus creates a unique synergy, fostering innovations that might otherwise take years to mature in isolation."

Payal Patel, an angel investor who has held leadership roles at Station Houston, Plug and Play Ventures, and Softeq, also contributed to launching ETN, which is collaborating with George Liu, who has over 15 years of investment banking experience across energy, cleantech and hardtech with more than $20 billion in M&A projects across his career.

In May, ETN teamed up with Impact Hub Houston to establish the Equitable Energy Transition Alliance and Lab to accelerate startup pilots for underserved communities. The initiative announced that it's won the 2024 U.S. Small Business Administration Growth Accelerator Fund Competition, or GAFC, Stage One award.

ETN celebrated its opening during the inaugural Houston Energy and Climate Week.

Debalina Sengupta has been named as the chief operating officer of UH's Energy Transition Institute. Photo via UH.edu

University of Houston names new energy transition-focused executive

leading the way

The University of Houston has named a new C-level executive to its energy transition-focused initiative.

Debalina Sengupta has been named as the chief operating officer of UH's Energy Transition Institute, which was established in 2022 by a $10 million commitment from Shell USA Inc. and Shell Global Solutions (US) Inc. The institute focuses on hydrogen, carbon management and circular plastics and works closely with UH’s Hewlett Packard Enterprise Data Science Institute and researchers across the university.

Sengupta, who was previously a chemical engineer with over 18 years of experience with sustainability and resilience issues, was called to ETI’s mission and its focus on Houston, which is home to more than 4,500 energy companies and a pivotal international oil and gas hub.

“UH Energy Transition Institute is the first of its kind Institute setup in Texas that focuses solely on the transition of energy,” she says in a news release. “A two-way communication between the academic community and various stakeholders is necessary to implement the transition and I saw the UH ETI role enabling me to achieve this critical goal.”

Originally from India, where she saw first-hand the impact of natural disasters, she has been working with Texas coastal communities over the past two years to not help bring coastal resilience projects along the coast. The Texas coast will serve potentially as an economic development zone for several energy transition projects.

“It is necessary that we think deeply about sustainability quantification for our energy systems, diversify and expand from fossil to non-fossil resources, and understand how it can impact our future generations,” Sengupta continues. “This requires rigorous training and adopting new technologies that will enable the change, and I am dedicated to work towards this goal for UH ETI.”

Sengupta has also worked as a postdoctoral research fellow in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. She has a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Jadavpur University in India and a doctorate from Louisiana State University with a focus on process systems engineering. Sengupta previously was at Texas A&M University where she was the Coastal Resilience Program director for Texas Sea Grant,which is a federal-state partnership program funded by the U.S. Department of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. She has served as the associate director of the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station’s Gas and Fuels Research Center; coordinator of the Water, Energy and Food Nexus at Texas A&M Energy Institute; and lecturer at the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering.

The ETI has helped catalyze “cross-disciplinary cooperation” to expand funding opportunities for UH faculty, which includes direct funding of over 24 projects via seed grants. As the new COO, Sengupta will work alongside founding executive director of the institute, Joe Powell, their executive team and the ETI advisory board to develop and implement strategic plans. Her position is partially funded by a $500,000 grant from the Houston-based Cullen Foundation.

“We are excited to have Dr. Sengupta join us at UH to help drive the Energy Transition Institute to fulfill its mission in educating students, expanding top-tier research, and providing thought leadership in sustainable energy and chemicals for the Houston area and beyond,” Powell adds. “Dr. Sengupta brings a strong background and network in collaborating with academic, community, governmental and industry partners to build the coalitions needed for success.”

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UH's $44 million mass timber building slashed energy use in first year

building up

The University of Houston recently completed assessments on year one of the first mass timber project on campus, and the results show it has had a major impact.

Known as the Retail, Auxiliary, and Dining Center, or RAD Center, the $44 million building showed an 84 percent reduction in predicted energy use intensity, a measure of how much energy a building uses relative to its size, compared to similar buildings. Its Global Warming Potential rating, a ratio determined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, shows a 39 percent reduction compared to the benchmark for other buildings of its type.

In comparison to similar structures, the RAD Center saved the equivalent of taking 472 gasoline-powered cars driven for one year off the road, according to architecture firm Perkins & Will.

The RAD Center was created in alignment with the AIA 2030 Commitment to carbon-neutral buildings, designed by Perkins & Will and constructed by Houston-based general contractor Turner Construction.

Perkins & Will’s work reduced the building's carbon footprint by incorporating lighter mass timber structural systems, which allowed the RAD Center to reuse the foundation, columns and beams of the building it replaced. Reused elements account for 45 percent of the RAD Center’s total mass, according to Perkins & Will.

Mass timber is considered a sustainable alternative to steel and concrete construction. The RAD Center, a 41,000-square-foot development, replaced the once popular Satellite, which was a food, retail and hangout center for students on UH’s campus near the Science & Research Building 2 and the Jack J. Valenti School of Communication.

The RAD Center uses more than a million pounds of timber, which can store over 650 metric tons of CO2. Aesthetically, the building complements the surrounding campus woodlands and offers students a view both inside and out.

“Spaces are designed to create a sense of serenity and calm in an ecologically-minded environment,” Diego Rozo, a senior project manager and associate principal at Perkins & Will, said in a news release. “They were conceptually inspired by the notion of ‘unleashing the senses’ – the design celebrating different sights, sounds, smells and tastes alongside the tactile nature of the timber.”

In addition to its mass timber design, the building was also part of an Energy Use Intensity (EUI) reduction effort. It features high-performance insulation and barriers, natural light to illuminate a building's interior, efficient indoor lighting fixtures, and optimized equipment, including HVAC systems.

The RAD Center officially opened Phase I in Spring 2024. The third and final phase of construction is scheduled for this summer, with a planned opening set for the fall.

Experts on U.S. energy infrastructure, sustainability, and the future of data

Guest column

Digital infrastructure is the dominant theme in energy and infrastructure, real estate and technology markets.

Data, the byproduct and primary value generated by digital infrastructure, is referred to as “the fifth utility,” along with water, gas, electricity and telecommunications. Data is created, aggregated, stored, transmitted, shared, traded and sold. Data requires data centers. Data centers require energy. The United States is home to approximately 40% of the world's data centers. The U.S. is set to lead the world in digital infrastructure advancement and has an opportunity to lead on energy for a very long time.

Data centers consume vast amounts of electricity due to their computational and cooling requirements. According to the United States Department of Energy, data centers consume “10 to 50 times the energy per floor space of a typical commercial office building.” Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory issued a report in December 2024 stating that U.S. data center energy use reached 176 TWh by 2023, “representing 4.4% of total U.S. electricity consumption.” This percentage will increase significantly with near-term investment into high performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI). The markets recognize the need for digital infrastructure build-out and, developers, engineers, investors and asset owners are responding at an incredible clip.

However, the energy demands required to meet this digital load growth pose significant challenges to the U.S. power grid. Reliability and cost-efficiency have been, and will continue to be, two non-negotiable priorities of the legal, regulatory and quasi-regulatory regime overlaying the U.S. power grid.

Maintaining and improving reliability requires physical solutions. The grid must be perfectly balanced, with neither too little nor too much electricity at any given time. Specifically, new-build, physical power generation and transmission (a topic worthy of another article) projects must be built. To be sure, innovative financial products such as virtual power purchase agreements (VPPAs), hedges, environmental attributes, and other offtake strategies have been, and will continue to be, critical to growing the U.S. renewable energy markets and facilitating the energy transition, but the U.S. electrical grid needs to generate and move significantly more electrons to support the digital infrastructure transformation.

But there is now a third permanent priority: sustainability. New power generation over the next decade will include a mix of solar (large and small scale, offsite and onsite), wind and natural gas resources, with existing nuclear power, hydro, biomass, and geothermal remaining important in their respective regions.

Solar, in particular, will grow as a percentage of U.S grid generation. The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) reported that solar added 50 gigawatts of new capacity to the U.S. grid in 2024, “the largest single year of new capacity added to the grid by an energy technology in over two decades.” Solar is leading, as it can be flexibly sized and sited.

Under-utilized technology such as carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) will become more prominent. Hydrogen may be a potential game-changer in the medium-to-long-term. Further, a nuclear power renaissance (conventional and small modular reactor (SMR) technologies) appears to be real, with recent commitments from some of the largest companies in the world, led by technology companies. Nuclear is poised to be a part of a “net-zero” future in the United States, also in the medium-to-long term.

The transition from fossil fuels to zero carbon renewable energy is well on its way – this is undeniable – and will continue, regardless of U.S. political and market cycles. Along with reliability and cost efficiency, sustainability has become a permanent third leg of the U.S. power grid stool.

Sustainability is now non-negotiable. Corporate renewable and low carbon energy procurement is strong. State renewable portfolio standards (RPS) and clean energy standards (CES) have established aggressive goals. Domestic manufacturing of the equipment deployed in the U.S. is growing meaningfully and in politically diverse regions of the country. Solar, wind and batteries are increasing less expensive. But, perhaps more importantly, the grid needs as much renewable and low carbon power generation as possible - not in lieu of gas generation, but as an increasingly growing pairing with gas and other technologies. This is not an “R” or “D” issue (as we say in Washington), and it's not an “either, or” issue, it's good business and a physical necessity.

As a result, solar, wind and battery storage deployment, in particular, will continue to accelerate in the U.S. These clean technologies will inevitably become more efficient as the buildout in the U.S. increases, investments continue and technology advances.

At some point in the future (it won’t be in the 2020s, it could be in the 2030s, but, more realistically, in the 2040s), the U.S. will have achieved the remarkable – a truly modern (if not entirely overhauled) grid dependent largely on a mix of zero and low carbon power generation and storage technology. And when this happens, it will have been due in large part to the clean technology deployment and advances over the next 10 to 15 years resulting from the current digital infrastructure boom.

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Hans Dyke and Gabbie Hindera are lawyers at Bracewell. Dyke's experience includes transactions in the electric power and oil and gas midstream space, as well as transactions involving energy intensive industries such as data storage. Hindera focuses on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and public and private capital market offerings.

Rice researchers' quantum breakthrough could pave the way for next-gen superconductors

new findings

A new study from researchers at Rice University, published in Nature Communications, could lead to future advances in superconductors with the potential to transform energy use.

The study revealed that electrons in strange metals, which exhibit unusual resistance to electricity and behave strangely at low temperatures, become more entangled at a specific tipping point, shedding new light on these materials.

A team led by Rice’s Qimiao Si, the Harry C. and Olga K. Wiess Professor of Physics and Astronomy, used quantum Fisher information (QFI), a concept from quantum metrology, to measure how electron interactions evolve under extreme conditions. The research team also included Rice’s Yuan Fang, Yiming Wang, Mounica Mahankali and Lei Chen along with Haoyu Hu of the Donostia International Physics Center and Silke Paschen of the Vienna University of Technology. Their work showed that the quantum phenomenon of electron entanglement peaks at a quantum critical point, which is the transition between two states of matter.

“Our findings reveal that strange metals exhibit a unique entanglement pattern, which offers a new lens to understand their exotic behavior,” Si said in a news release. “By leveraging quantum information theory, we are uncovering deep quantum correlations that were previously inaccessible.”

The researchers examined a theoretical framework known as the Kondo lattice, which explains how magnetic moments interact with surrounding electrons. At a critical transition point, these interactions intensify to the extent that the quasiparticles—key to understanding electrical behavior—disappear. Using QFI, the team traced this loss of quasiparticles to the growing entanglement of electron spins, which peaks precisely at the quantum critical point.

In terms of future use, the materials share a close connection with high-temperature superconductors, which have the potential to transmit electricity without energy loss, according to the researchers. By unblocking their properties, researchers believe this could revolutionize power grids and make energy transmission more efficient.

The team also found that quantum information tools can be applied to other “exotic materials” and quantum technologies.

“By integrating quantum information science with condensed matter physics, we are pivoting in a new direction in materials research,” Si said in the release.