Rice Alliance calls for participants for its annual energy conference

now's the time to apply

The deadline to apply to participate in an upcoming energy-focused event is approaching. Photo courtesy of Rice

This year marks the 20th anniversary of Energy Tech Venture Day, a one-day symposium for energy innovation put on by the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship. The organization is currently calling for applications for startups interested in participating.

The event is taking place on September 21 at Rice University and will bring together energy innovators, investors, corporate leaders, and the rest of the energy ecosystem. The programming will include panels and discussions as well as startup pitches from the Rice Alliance's Clean Energy Accelerator 2023 cohort.

In addition to the CEA pitches, energy tech startups from around the world can apply to be a part of the day and be in the running to be recognized as a select group as the "most-promising" at the conclusion of the pitches. Applications can be filled out online and are due July 14. Registration is also open online.

According to Rice, 90 or so companies will be selected to participate in one-on-one meetings with around 75 investors. The organization conducts a unique matchmaking round that pairs up investors and founders for four to 10 of these office hour meetings which will take place the day before the main event.

On the day of the Energy Tech Venture Day, around 40 companies will pitch to the rest of the crowd. At the end of the day and based off the investor feedback from the one-on-one meetings, 10 energy tech startups will be deemed the most-promising businesses and be presented with awards.

Last year, over a third of the companies that pitched were based in the Houston area. Two Houston-based companies received awards at the end of the day, including:

Kanin Energy, which works with heavy Industry to turn their waste heat into a clean baseload power source. The platform also provides tools such as project development, financing, and operations.
Syzygy Plasmonics, which is commercializing its light-reacting energy, which would greatly reduce carbon emissions in the chemical industry. The technology originated out of Rice University.

Kanin Energy set up shop in Greentown Labs last year to grow its impact on the energy transition. Photo via Getty Images

This energy transition startup taps Houston to grow, build its waste-heat-to-power tech

eyes on hou

Waste heat is everywhere, but in Houston, the Energy Capital of the World, it is becoming a hot commodity. What is it? Janice Tran, CEO of Kanin Energy, uses the example of turning ore into steel.

“There’s a lot of heat involved in that chemical process,” she says. “It’s a waste of energy.”

But Kanin Energy can do something about that. Its waste-heat-to-power, or WHP, concept uses a technology called organic rankine cycle. Tran explains that heat drives a turbine that generates electricity.

“It’s a very similar concept to a steam engine,” she says. Tran adds that the best term for what Kanin Energy does is “waste heat recovery.”

Emission-free power should be its own virtuous goal, but for companies creating waste heat, it can be an expensive endeavor both in terms of capital and human resources to work on energy transition solutions. But Kanin Energy helps companies to decarbonize with no cost to them.

“We can pay for the projects, then we pay the customers for that heat. We turn a waste product into a revenue stream for our customer,” Tran explains. Kanin Energy then sells the clean power back to the facility or to the grid, hence decarbonizing the facility gratis. Financing, construction, and operations are all part of the package.

Kanin Energy began at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, in the spring of 2020.

“We started like a lotus. A lotus grows in mud — you start in the worst conditions and everything is better and easier from there,” says Tran.

That tough birth has helped provide the team with a discipline and thoughtfulness that’s been key to the company’s culture. Remote work has forced the team to get procedures clearly in place and react efficiently.

Back in May of 2020, its inception took place in Calgary. But the team, which also includes CDO Dan Fipke and CTO Jake Bainbridge, began to notice that many of their customers were either based in Houston or had Houston ties.

A year ago, the Kanin team visited Houston to see if the city could be a fit for an office. In July of 2022, Tran opened Kanin Energy offices in Greentown Labs.

“We’re hiring and building our team office out of Greentown. It’s been really great for us,” she says.

With the company now in its commercialization stage, Tran says that becoming part of the Houston energy ecosystem has been invaluable for Kanin.

The investments being made in climate tech and in energy transition make Space City the right place for the company. For Canadian-born Kanin Energy, Houston is now home. Investors across the nation, including Texas, are now helping Kanin to blossom, much like the lotus.

Janice Tran is the CEO and co-founder of Kanin Energy. Photo via LinkedIn

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This article originally ran on InnovationMap.

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6+ must-attend Houston energy transition events for June 2026

Mark Your Calendars

Editor's note: Summer is here, and June brings a slate of must-attend events for those in the energy transition sector. CLEANPOWER is already underway, and the month continues with EPC Show and InnovateEnergy Week. Mark your calendars and register now.

June 1-4, 2026 — CLEANPOWER 2026 Conference and Exhibition

CLEANPOWER unites policymakers, experts, and corporate leaders to solve the challenges that none can solve alone. This must-attend, four-day conference is packed with cutting-edge discussions about wind, solar, storage, and transmission; dealmaking; networking; and fun.

This event continues through June 4 at the George R. Brown Convention Center. Register here.

June 4, 2026 — Energy Capital Conference

Join 300+ investors, operators, and capital providers in Houston for high-impact conversations shaping the next phase of energy investment. Hart Energy’s Energy Capital Conference is designed for senior decision-makers to meet the capital partners behind today’s deals; see where capital is flowing; strengthen the relationships that move business forward; and get ahead of where investment is going next. A pre-conference half-day workshop, titled Institutional Investing in Energy Workshop, will take place June 3.

This event takes place June 4 at the Post Oak Hotel. Register here.

June 9 — Greentown Go Make Kickoff

Head to the Ion to celebrate the Greentown Go Make 2026 cohort. The open-innovation program with Shell Catalysts & Technologies and Technip Energies focuses on catalytic solutions for industrial decarbonization and the energy transition. Hear pitches from the founders and network with a select group of startups while enjoying food and drink.

This event takes place June 9 at the Ion. Register here.

June 11, 2026 — Goals & Gigawatts Kickoff Party

Head to downtown Houston for Goals & Gigawatts: The Power of & Kickoff Party. The exciting Houston Energy & Climate Week gathering will combine fútbol, culture, climate, energy, innovation, and community for one unforgettable afternoon. Celebrate the opening FIFA match in Mexico City while connecting with professionals, innovators, investors, community leaders, and organizations shaping the future of energy and climate initiatives in Houston and beyond.

This event takes place at 1:30 pm on June 11, and the location is provided after registering. Register here.

June 16-17, 2026 — Energy Projects Conference & Expo

The Energy Projects Conference & Expo (EPC Show) is the largest event in North America for professionals working at the heart of major energy projects. The essential event for engineering, construction, commissioning, operations and maintenance across multiple energy sectors brings together five leading conferences under one roof. Conference subjects span LNG exporting, hydrogen and ammonia, midstream, petrochem and refining, and sustainable aviation fuels.

This event begins June 16 at George R. Brown Convention Center. Register here.

June 22-24, 2026 — InnovateEnergy Week

InnovateEnergy Week 2026 brings together the Energy Drone & Robotics Summit, Industrial Digital Reality Summit, and Industrial AI Nexus Summit for three days of high-powered innovation in Houston. This highly anticipated event will unite 1,500+ industrial, energy, and engineering leaders to explore the future of autonomous operations, spatial computing, digital twins, XR, AI, geospatial intelligence, and remote systems from the stars to the seafloor.

This event begins June 22 at Woodlands Waterway Marriott. Register here.

New Texas water plan does not consider data center growth, critics say

For the Future

A draft of Texas’ 2027 State Water Plan is drawing concerns from some water protection advocates who say it fails to account for one growing industry: data centers.

The plan, created by the Texas Water Development Board, will guide tens of billions of dollars in water development projects over the coming decades.

On Memorial Day, people packed Lake Travis to enjoy the water and sunshine while the lake remains near full capacity. But some advocates warn drought conditions could quickly return.

“Once we get into August, September, we'll be probably right back in the same drought situation,” said Mike Clifford with the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance.

The Texas Water Development Board released the draft plan in April. It recommends thousands of water projects carrying a projected cost of $174 billion over 50 years.

“We're not as shocked about the dollar amounts as some people are,” Clifford said. "To secure our water future, that's not an insane amount to ask for."

However, Clifford said his organization was surprised the draft does not specifically account for the growing impact of data centers, which can consume large amounts of water.

“If you leave the data centers out, it's not really a plan in our opinion. It's going to have to be changed and it's going to fall short,” Clifford said.

According to Data Center Map, Texas is currently home to 461 data centers.

Clifford argues the state should use projected future growth, not just historical data, when planning for long-term water needs.

“They're looking at the previous 10 years or 20 years or whatever, and we didn't have a lot of data centers in Texas,” he said.

Researchers at the the University of Texas at Austin estimate data centers could account for as much as 9 percent of Texas’ total water use by 2040, or potentially surpass the oil and gas industry that same year.

Read the full story from CultureMap news partner KVUE.com.

Houston startup strikes deal to develop hydrogen production plant in Canada

hydrogen partnership

Houston-based cleantech startup Vema Hydrogen has reached a tentative agreement with Canada-based CHARBONE Corp. to develop a hydrogen production and processing plant in Québec.

The deal would couple Vema’s production of engineered mineral hydrogen with CHARBONE’s purification, compression and distribution capabilities.

Engineered mineral hydrogen, also known as orange hydrogen, is produced underground by accelerating naturally occurring geochemical reactions in iron-rich rock formations, according to the journal Energy & Environmental Science.

“Across high-value markets — from aviation and maritime fuels to industrial gases — there is incredible demand for Vema’s low-carbon [hydrogen]. Now, more than ever, we need a pathway to deliver these low-carbon fuels,” Pierre Levin, CEO of Vema, said in a news release.

The project would enable Vema to expand into emerging markets like low-carbon maritime and aviation fuel, e-fuels and power generation. Incorporating CHARBONE’s capabilities, the agreement would also support Québec’s hydrogen supply chain.

“The market is demanding high-value industrial gases, and our customers need cleaner, more reliable supply. By pairing Vema’s [hydrogen] feedstock with our purification and distribution capabilities, we’re strengthening Québec’s position as a regional hub for next-generation hydrogen,” Dave Gagnon, CEO of CHARBONE, added in the release.

Vema said in February that it had completed drilling of its first two pilot wells in Québec, making them the world’s first pilot well for orange hydrogen. It’s the first time Vema’s technology has been used outside a lab.

“This pilot will provide the critical data needed to validate [our hydrogen] at commercial scale and demonstrate that Quebec can lead the world in this emerging clean energy category,” Levin said. “The quality of the rock within our core samples is exactly what we expected and is very promising for hydrogen yields.”

Shortly before Vema carried out the pilot drilling, it signed a 10-year deal with California-based energy technology company Verne Power to supply clean hydrogen for California data centers. Over the course of the 10-year agreement, Vema will boost annual production of orange hydrogen to more than 36,000 metric tons.

“There is a robust market for baseload power generation across the U.S., where data centers are straining the grid,” Levin said. “As we power California’s fastest-growing markets with clean hydrogen, we look toward expanding our hydrogen to markets globally and supporting AI-driven power hubs.”

Vema, founded two years ago, raised $13 million in seed funding in 2025.

“The energy transition and emerging uses of hydrogen have spurred demand for clean hydrogen,” Levin said in its funding announcement. “However, existing decarbonized hydrogen production methods simply don’t work — they are too costly and energy-intensive. Vema is here to change that. It’s time to unlock a new era of scalable, low-carbon hydrogen.”

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