Houston Climathon winning microgrid solution is more important now than ever

thinking small

One of the winning teams at Climathon has an idea for a microgrid system in Houston's emerging innovation corridor. Photo via houston.org

More than 6,000 participants in 145 cities around the world gathered virtually for last year's Climathon, a global event put on by Impact Hub Houston to unite innovators and collaborate on climate solutions. When Winter Storm Uri left the Texas energy grid in a state of crisis, one Climathon Houston team's proposal for energy reliability became all the more important.

Last year, the City of Houston unveiled its first Climate Action Plan to address the city's challenges and strive to lead the energy transition. It was the perfect roadmap for Climathon Houston, a hackathon where eleven teams gathered to develop and pitch a concept to align with the city's new plan.

Of the three winning teams, one idea was prescient in its approach to energy. Six energy-focused Texans drew up plans for InnoGrid, a cost-effective strategy to build the first microgrid in Houston. What started as a pitch has become a developed proposal gaining collaborator and city interest in the wake of Uri.

Bryan Gottfried, Edward D. Pettitt II, Andi Littlejohn, Paresh Patel, Ben Jawdat, and Gavin Dillingham created InnoGrid to to help achieve the CAP's energy transition and net-zero emissions goals. With climate events increasing rapidly, the team of innovators saw an opportunity to create a sustainable solution — the first Houston microgrid.

In just an hour and a half of brainstorming, the team sought to create a similar model to Austin's Whisper Valley microgrid — a project that's currently in development. While Whisper Valley is a master plan community, the team wanted to create a microgrid to support a larger picture: the city of Houston.

"I had been following transactive energy models [such as] peer-to-peer electricity trading like Brooklyn Microgrid/LO3 Energy and Power Ledger since their inception. This inspired my vision for a novel microgrid that would demonstrate such technologies in the energy capital of the world that is otherwise primarily focused on oil and gas, and natural resources," explains Patel, founder and CEO of e^2: Equitable Energy.

When Pettitt joined the group, he proposed the growing Houston Innovation Corridor as the home to InnoGrid. The four-mile stretch between the Texas Medical Center and Downtown is already home to green technology, making it an ideal fit.

"You're going into an area that was already being redeveloped and had this innovation kind of mentality already," explains Gottfried, a geoscientist and current MBA student at University of Houston Bauer College of Business.

After winning Climathon Houston, the team continued to meet weekly in hopes of making InnoGrid a reality.

The case for a microgrid

The InnoGrid team started with the goal of making energy reliable and resilient in the face of climate change. While previous storms like Hurricane Ike have left millions of Texans without power, Winter Storm Uri was one of the most destructive tragedies to face Texas. The unexpected February storm left 4.5 million Texans without electricity and resulted in at least 111 deaths.

As InnoGrid's team members struggled with burst pipes and loss of power, the team juggled the task of submitting a grant application to the Department of Energy during a catastrophic winter storm. The timing was not lost on them.

"It underscored the need for us to do something like this," shares Gottfried.

To understand how impactful a Houston microgrid can be, you first must understand how a microgrid works. A microgrid is a local energy grid made of a network of generators combined with energy storage. The microgrid has control capability, meaning it can disconnect from a macro grid and run autonomously.

Ultimately, microgrids can provide reliability and drive down carbon emissions. Using smart meters, the grids can even provide real-time energy data to show the inflow and outflow of electricity. In the instance a microgrid does go down, it only affects the community — not the entire state. Likewise, during a power outage to the main grid, a microgrid can break away and run on its own.

Microgrids have been deployed by other cities to mitigate the physical and economic risks caused by power outages, but the use of a project like InnoGrid feels especially timely given recent events and the limitations of the Texas Interconnect.

The Texas grid is isolated by choice, separated from the eastern and western interconnects. Texas' isolated energy grid resulted in a massive failure, proving deregulation can certainly backfire. Updating the electric grid has an expensive price tag, but microgrids show a promising and cost-effective model for the future.

"I thought if microgrids and mini-grids are enabling millions in off-grid frontier markets at the base of the pyramid [like Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, etc.] to essentially leapfrog legacy energy infrastructure, why should we not upgrade our aging power system with the latest tech that is digitalized, decarbonized, decentralized/distributed, and democratized at the top of the pyramid," asks Patel.

Many hospitals, universities, and large technology firms have already established their own microgrids to protect equipment and provide safety. Still, smaller businesses and homes in the community can suffer during outages.

InnoGrid's proposal seeks to use existing and proven renewable energy sources like wind, solar and geothermal energy. The storage technologies used would include battery, kinetic, compressed air, and geomechanical pumped storage.

"From the perspective of an early-stage hardware startup, one of the most important things is finding a way to validate and test your technology," explains Jawdat, founder and CEO of Revterra and adviser to the InnoGrid team. He explains that the microgrid "can also be a testbed for new technologies, specifically, new energy storage technologies," through potential partnerships with companies like Greentown Labs, which is opening its Houston location soon.

Battling inequity 

While the outlook for a community microgrid is enticing, there are also challenges to address. One key challenge is inequity, which is a key focus of Pettitt who was drawn to the team's goal of providing stability for companies and residences in Houston.

Pettitt, who is seeking a Ph.D. in urban planning and environmental policy at Texas Southern University, has a background in public health and frequently works with the Houston Coalition for Equitable Development without Displacement. "I'm really looking at the intersection of the built environment and how to make cities healthier for its residents," he shares.

"A lot of companies are trying to prevent this climate crisis where we have climate refugees that can't live in certain areas because of ecological damage. But in the process, we don't want to create economic refugees from the gentrification of bringing all of these companies and higher-wage jobs into an area without providing folks the ability to benefit from those jobs and the positive externalities of that development," explains Pettitt.

The InnoGrid would plan to provide positive externalities in the form of energy subsidies and potentially even job training for people who want to work on the grid.

Power to the consumer

Much like the gamification in feel-good fitness trackers and e-learning tools, reward systems can inspire friendly competition and community engagement. InnoGrid's proposal seeks to challenge other major cities to build their own grids and compete with a gamified system.

The Innovation Corridor is currently undergoing major redevelopment, the first 16 acres of which are being developed by Rice Management Company and will be anchored by The Ion, which is opening soon. The timing of this redevelopment would allow a prospective project like InnoGrid to build in visual and interactive aspects that depict energy usage and carbon offsetting.

The microgrid's statistics would also engage Houstonians by sharing up-to-date data through dashboards, apps, and even billboards to track Houston's carbon footprint. Pettitt paints a picture of interactive sidewalk structures, leaderboards, and digital billboards in the public realm to showcase how energy is used day-to-day. The team hopes to build positive feedback cycles that encourage tenants and building owners to be more energy-efficient.

"If we're having an Innovation Corridor, an innovation district, I think the built environment should be innovative too," explains Pettitt.

The future of InnoGrid

Every innovation has to start somewhere. While InnoGrid is in its early stages, the team is working to establish partners and collaborators to make the project a reality.

Inspired by projects like the Brooklyn Microgrid, InnoGrid is in the process of pursuing partnerships with utilities and energy retailers to form a dynamic energy marketplace that pools local distributed energy resources. The team hopes to collaborate with microgrid experts from around the nation like Schneider Electric and SunPower. Other potential collaborators include The Ion, CenterPoint, Greentown Labs, and Rice Management Company.

Can Houston remain the energy capital of the world as it transitions to a net-zero energy future? The InnoGrid team wants to make that happen. The argument for a microgrid in Houston feels even more fitting when you look at the landscape.

"If we are going to create an innovative microgrid that also functions as a testbed for innovators and startups, [we] have proximity to some of the biggest utilities and power generation players right in that sector," explains Patel, who is also an inaugural member of Greentown Labs Houston.

"The microgrid itself is not novel. I think what makes it compelling is to situate that right here in the heart of the energy capital as we, again, reincarnate as the energy transition capital world," Patel continues.

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9 can't-miss Houston business and innovation events for March

where to be

Editor's note: March is here, and that means the return of some of Houston’s signature innovation events, as well as insightful talks and a Mardi Gras block party. Here are the Houston business and innovation events you can't miss in March and how to register. Please note: this article might be updated to add more events.

March 5 – SheSpace Women’s Day Open House

Connect with like-minded women during a free day of coworking at SheSpace. And while you're there, take a break and enjoy a floral arranging class, complimentary breakfast, pop-up shops, happy hour and raffle prizes. Space is limited.

The event is Wednesday, March 5, from 9 a.m.–7 p.m. Click here to register.

March 5 — Science and the American Presidency

Hear from former presidential science advisors—Kelvin Droegemeier who served under President Trump, Neal Lane who served under President Clinton and Alondra Nelson who served under President Biden—as they discuss their experiences leading the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and how science is used to address issues from climate change and public health to national security and economic competitiveness. An exhibit inside Baker Hall will complement the event. The Baker Institute Science and Technology Policy Program and Rice Innovation will host the talk.

This event is Wednesday, March 5, from 5:30–8 p.m. at James A. Baker Hall. Click here to register.

March 6 — Ion Block Party - Mardi Gras Edition 

Let the good times roll this week while networking with potential collaborators, mentors and investors at the Ion. Food and drink will be available while supplies last and the Ion will provide drink tickets for one free drink at Second Draught upon check-in.

This event is Thursday, March 6, from 4–7 p.m. at the Ion. Click here to register.

March 10-14 — CERAWeek 2025

The foremost annual gathering in the energy sector returns to Houston March 10-14, 2025. Themed "Moving Ahead: Energy strategies for a complex world," CERAWeek 2025 will focus on the challenges ahead for energy security, supply, and climate ambitions. More than 10,000 participants from over 2,050 companies across 80 countries will convene in Houston for this ambitious event. CERAWeek comprises three platforms: the Executive Conference, the Innovation Agora, and Partner Programs. We'll dive into comprehensive CERAWeek recommendations in future articles.

This event begins Monday, March 10. Click here to register.

March 11 — Energy Venture Day at the Ion

Preview pitches from 40-plus energy ventures competing at CERAWeek's Energy Venture Day and Pitch Competition, co-hosted by the Rice Alliance, Ion, HETI, and TEX-E. This free, fast-paced pitch event offers an alternative to the CERAWeek event, which requires an Agora pass.

This event is Tuesday, March 11, from 9 a.m.–2:30 p.m. Click here to register.

March 13 — Code4Y'allMeetup

Connect with fellow coders at Code4Y’all's meetup at the Ion. Andrew Baines, Founder of No Experience Jobs, will present "How I Built a Job Board to Help Entry-Level Tech Talent (And What I Learned)." Hear from Baines and learn lessons from job seekers.

This event is Thursday, March 13, from 6–7 p.m. Click here to register.

March 17 — Women in Innovation 

Celebrate Women's History Month with an engaging panel discussion hosted by the University of Houston's Division of Energy and Innovation. UH's Tanu Chatterji, Stacey Gorniak and Chrysa Latrick will discuss the achievements of trailblazing women across various industries, as well as share challenges and experiences. Lunch will be provided.

This event is Monday, March 17, from noon–1 p.m. at UH's Faculty Cafe. Find more information here.

March 24-28 — H-Town Roundup 2025

Celebrate innovation, entrepreneurship and collaboration this month during Houston Exponential's H-Town Roundup. During the fifth-annual free event series, previously known as Houston Tech Rodeo, attendees can expect insightful talks, workshops and networking events at venues across the city like the Ion, Greentown Labs, University of Houston and more.

This event begins Monday, March 24. See the full schedule of events here.

​March 27 — NASA Tech Talks

Every fourth Thursday of the month, NASA experts, including longtime engineer Montgomery Goforth, present on technology development challenges NASA’s Johnson Space Center and the larger aerospace community are facing and how they can be leveraged by Houston’s innovation community. Stick around after for drinks and networking at Second Draught.

This event is Thursday, March 27, from 6-7 p.m. at the Ion. Register here.

Texas startup's lunar lander aces moon touchdown with special delivery for NASA

Touchdown

A private lunar lander carrying a drill, vacuum and other experiments for NASA touched down on the moon Sunday, the latest in a string of companies looking to kickstart business on Earth's celestial neighbor ahead of astronaut missions.

Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lander descended from lunar orbit on autopilot, aiming for the slopes of an ancient volcanic dome in an impact basin on the moon’s northeastern edge of the near side.

Confirmation of successful touchdown came from the company's Mission Control outside Austin, Texas, following the action some 225,000 miles away.

“You all stuck the landing. We’re on the moon,” Firefly’s Will Coogan, chief engineer for the lander, reported.

An upright and stable landing makes Firefly — a startup founded a decade ago — the first private outfit to put a spacecraft on the moon without crashing or falling over. Even countries have faltered, with only five claiming success: Russia, the U.S., China, India and Japan.

A half hour after landing, Blue Ghost started to send back pictures from the surface, the first one a selfie somewhat obscured by the sun's glare. The second shot included the home planet, a blue dot glimmering in the blackness of space.

Two other companies’ landers are hot on Blue Ghost’s heels, with the next one expected to join it on the moon later this week.

Blue Ghost — named after a rare U.S. species of fireflies — had its size and shape going for it. The squat four-legged lander stands 6-foot-6-inch tall and 11 feet wide, providing extra stability, according to the company.

Launched in mid-January from Florida, the lander carried 10 experiments to the moon for NASA. The space agency paid $101 million for the delivery, plus $44 million for the science and tech on board. It’s the third mission under NASA’s commercial lunar delivery program, intended to ignite a lunar economy of competing private businesses while scouting around before astronauts show up later this decade.

Firefly’s Ray Allensworth said the lander skipped over hazards including boulders to land safely. Allensworth said the team continued to analyze the data to figure out the lander's exact position, but all indications suggest it landed within the 328-foot target zone in Mare Crisium.

The demos should get two weeks of run time, before lunar daytime ends and the lander shuts down.

It carried a vacuum to suck up moon dirt for analysis and a drill to measure temperature as deep as 10 feet below the surface. Also on board: a device for eliminating abrasive lunar dust — a scourge for NASA’s long-ago Apollo moonwalkers, who got it caked all over their spacesuits and equipment.

On its way to the moon, Blue Ghost beamed back exquisite pictures of the home planet. The lander continued to stun once in orbit around the moon, with detailed shots of the moon's gray pockmarked surface. At the same time, an on-board receiver tracked and acquired signals from the U.S. GPS and European Galileo constellations, an encouraging step forward in navigation for future explorers.

The landing set the stage for a fresh crush of visitors angling for a piece of lunar business.

Another lander — a tall and skinny 15-footer built and operated by Houston-based Intuitive Machines — is due to land on the moon Thursday. It’s aiming for the bottom of the moon, just 100 miles from the south pole. That’s closer to the pole than the company got last year with its first lander, which broke a leg and tipped over.

Despite the tumble, Intuitive Machines' lander put the U.S. back on the moon for the first time since NASA astronauts closed out the Apollo program in 1972.

A third lander from the Japanese company ispace is still three months from landing. It shared a rocket ride with Blue Ghost from Cape Canaveral on Jan. 15, taking a longer, windier route. Like Intuitive Machines, ispace is also attempting to land on the moon for the second time. Its first lander crashed in 2023.

The moon is littered with wreckage not only from ispace, but dozens of other failed attempts over the decades.

NASA wants to keep up a pace of two private lunar landers a year, realizing some missions will fail, said the space agency's top science officer Nicky Fox.

“It really does open up a whole new way for us to get more science to space and to the moon," Fox said.

Unlike NASA’s successful Apollo moon landings that had billions of dollars behind them and ace astronauts at the helm, private companies operate on a limited budget with robotic craft that must land on their own, said Firefly CEO Jason Kim.

Kim said everything went like clockwork.

“We got some moon dust on our boots," Kim said.

Houston startup Nap Bar pivots with VR and big plans for growth

power nap

Houston’s Khaliah Guillory takes a 30-minute nap every day. She says this is how she’s so productive.

The habit also led to the founding of her white-glove, eco-friendly rest sanctuary business, Nap Bar.

Guillory launched the luxury sleep suites company back in 2019 to offer a unique rest experience with artificial intelligence integration for working professionals, entrepreneurs and travelers who needed a place to rest, recharge and rejuvenate. The company was named a Houston Innovation Awards finalist last year.

She says naps are backed by science. And by her professional network, too.

“Once I polled and surveyed my friends, most of them said that they also took naps during their lunch break, whether it be in their office or in their car,” says Guillory, former vice president of marketing strategy at Wells Fargo. “Once they overwhelmingly agreed that they would absolutely use a dedicated place for them to take naps if I created it, I got to work, and Nap Bar was born.”

Simply put, Guillory has effectively made it acceptable and, yes, even cool for working adults to take naps.

“I played D1 basketball at the University of Central Florida and that’s really where I learned the art of a power nap and the benefits of it,” Guillory says. “And I just continued to nap throughout my corporate career. So, in November of 2018, I retired from corporate America … I just knew I had a higher calling to do something else.”

Guillory first opened up shop in Rice Village as a beta test for her novel nap idea and it took off. She soon forged strategic partnerships with organizations like UT Health, where Nap Bar provided much-needed naps to postpartum mothers.

“Nap Bar showed what the benefits of a good nap was, specifically to postpartum moms in terms of mental stressors, productivity, and things of that nature,” Guillory says.

In November 2019, Guillory moved Nap Bar to The Galleria and says the business produced revenue from day one. However, in March 2020, she was forced to shut us down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I promised myself that I was not going back to corporate America, so I pivoted. I moved forward by creating a better sleep box, with a vegan pillow mist and soy-based candle. I also became a certified sleep coach. And I just kept pivoting from there, reinventing Nap Bar as a company,” she says.

One pivot included adding a virtual reality sleep experience, MetaSnooze.

“MetaSnooze is a really cool technology that offers sleep therapy and relaxation that I curated myself,” Guillory says. “Basically, the user puts on the VR headset, and it escapes them. They're transported to places all over the country. For example, they're sitting in serene environments all the while listening to these rhythmic beats that are designed to help them release and relax. Visualizations have been scientifically proven to improve one’s mental health and mental stressors.”

Guillory initially rolled out MetaSnooze in 2020 at events like South by Southwest and kept improving the experience and building her business. By February 2024, she was curating a wellness experience at The Grammy Awards.

“That was huge for us,” Guillory says. “Being able to get feedback from the celebrities, with a handful of them even inquiring where they could purchase the headset. They were excited about the future of Nap Bar, so that was really, really cool.”

The widespread interest in Nap Bar has Guillory thinking big. She aims to expand to 30 locations in three years.

“When I say that, it sounds ambitious,” says Guillory. “It is, but I come from the school of thought that if you shoot for 30 and you get 25, no one's going to shake their finger at you for doing that, right? It's really aiming towards this big, hairy, audacious goal. I learned that in corporate America. So, what we're looking to do now is raise money like crazy.”

Guillory says she’s now looking to scale the business by partnering with like-minded investors with experience in the wellness space.

She envisions locations at national and international airports, which she says offer ripe scenarios for patrons needing to recharge. Additionally, Guillory wants to build on her initial partnership with UT Health by going onsite to curate rest experiences for patients, caregivers, faculty, staff, nurses and doctors. Colleges also offer an opportunity for growth.

“We’ve done some really cool pop-ups with the University of Houston, where we brought the rest experience on campus,” Guillory says. “That means we bring a portable, full-size, organic mattress with disposable sheets, as well as our virtual reality experience.”

Nap Bar will also serve companies, office buildings, and even sports venues, according to Guillory.

“We can literally go any and everywhere,” she says. “Our collected data suggests that we’ve just got to go where sleepy people are so that they can get restorative sleep.”

From a pricing standpoint, Nap Bar’s model is a dollar a minute. Depending on where the client is, the pop-up experience is based on a day rate or a half-day rate, starting at $4,000.

Add-ons include a full-size organic mattress or hosting a masseuse or massage therapist onsite.

With the Grammys already under her belt, Guillory would like to see Nap Bar utilized at the 2028 Olympics and build partnerships with other virtual reality companies to bring its licensed MetaSnooze software to the masses.

She also sees opportunities in athletic treatment, sleep apnea, and insomnia.

“We have done several studies with proven results that MetaSnooze has reduced mental stressors and anxiety,” Guillory says. “I'm excited about what the future holds for MetaSnooze. It definitely is a game-changer … We will continue to innovate sleep or provide sleep resources and tools in a very innovative way.”

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