Tech companies contribute to recovery fund for those affected by Houston storm

helping hands

High winds and flooding have devastated Houston over the past month. Photo by Eric Turnquist

The past month in Houston has been marked by severe flooding and a sudden storm that left nearly a million residents without power. The Houston Disaster Alliance has established the Severe Weather and Derecho Recovery Fund to help those impacted by the weather.

“The Greater Houston Disaster Alliance was formed so that in times of crisis, there is a swift and efficient response to help those severely impacted begin the process of recovery,” said Stephen Maislin, president and CEO, Greater Houston Community Foundation. “When disaster strikes, it requires a collaborative and coordinated response from the nonprofit, for-profit, public sector, and philanthropic community to ensure the most vulnerable in our region get the help they need to start the recovery and rebuilding process.”

At least a million dollars has been donated to the fund, courtesy of $500,000 from the CenterPoint Energy Foundation and another $500,000 from Comcast. With Houston now a federally declared disaster area by President Joe Biden, impacted residents are able to apply for various grants and aid.

Those still struggling from the weather events should call the 211 Texas/United Way HELPLINE. Assistance is available for housing, utilities, food, elder assistance, and other areas. Crisis counseling is also available.

“Outside of times of disaster, we know that 14 percent of households in our region are struggling on income below the federal poverty line and 31 percent of households in our region are working hard but struggling to make ends meet. It’s these neighbors who are disproportionately impacted when disaster strikes,” said Amanda McMillian, president and CEO, United Way of Greater Houston. “This fund allows us to lift up the most vulnerable who have been impacted by recent weather events to ensure they can not only recover from the immediate crisis, but also prepare themselves for future disasters.”

The derecho storm that hit Houston on Thursday, May 16 had wind gusts up to 100mph. Nearly a million people in the Houston area were left without power, and as of Wednesday CenterPoint was still working to restore electricity to more than 60,000 people. Photos showed that the storm toppled massive power pylons, took down trees, and even ripped the sides off buildings. Miniature tornadoes touched down in parts of the city, adding to the devastation.

The Houston Disaster Alliance was launched in 2023 as a joint effort between the Greater Houston Community Foundation and United Way of Greater Houston to help mitigate the damage of weather crises year-round. This has become increasingly necessary as Houston's weather has become more unpredictable than ever.

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This article originally ran on CultureMap.

Mayor Sylvester Turner announced the grant recipients last week. Photo via evolvehouston.org

13 initiatives receive grant funding from new EV-focused, Houston-led program

driving toward net-zero

Evolve Houston awarded its inaugural microgrants this week to 13 groups, neighborhoods and an individual working to make electric vehicles accessible to all Houstonians.

Launched in 2022, Evolve's eMobility Microgrant Initiative supports community efforts that propose electric vehicle, micro-mobility and charging infrastructure projects in some of Houston's most underserved neighborhoods. The grants ranged from $10,000 to $15,000.

Shell, NRG, CenterPoint, the University of Houston, and the city of Houston are partners in Evolve Houston. GM and bp America helped found the microgrant program.

“The eMobility Microgrant Initiative is a culmination of my vision and the collaborative efforts from many individuals and corporate supporters who recognize the importance of the transition to electric transportation,” Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner says in a statement. “The grant winners we recognized today are trailblazers in their communities, leveraging EV technology to residents in neighborhoods that have been historically underserved.”

Winners of the Round 1 eMobility Microgrants and their proposed projects included:

  • Alliance for Multicultural Community Services: Adding a charging station for the Gulfton area and a youth advocacy initiative
  • Third Ward Real Estate Council & Northern Third Ward Neighborhood Implementation Project: Introducing an interactive “mobility hub” to show what EV infrastructure would look like in Third Ward
  • Coalition of Community Organizations: Bringing eBikes and a charging station in the Fifth Ward
  • Edison Arts Foundation: Installing an EV charging station and green energy awareness at the Edison Center in Fort Bend
  • GROW: Promoting green energy careers to youth in underserved communities through EV education and outreach events
  • Hiram Clarke Fort Bend Houston Redevelopment Authority: Brining a bike share program to Southwest Houston
  • Houston Southeast: Expanding its existing rideshare program that offers free and reduced rides in partnership with Uber EV fleet of electric vehicles
  • Pangea Charging: Adding EV chargers to two Complete Communities apartment complexes/buildings
  • RYDE: Brining a free micro-transit service in the Third Ward, including two electric shuttles that could serve more than 1,000 passengers per month
  • Shawn R. Owens: Introducing a new eBike food delivery service, called Electric Eats, to bring food from from the Third Ward food pantries to the area's senior, underserved and immobile residents
  • South Union Community Development Corporation: Creating a workforce development program for green energy careers
  • The Reflections of Christ's Kingdom (The R.O.C.K.) Church–BroadwayCampus: Adding a DC-Fast charger in the South Houston/Hobby Airport area
  • University of Houston-Downtown: Installing a no-cost EV charging station on campus

“This program is designed to provide launch funding to community-based, EV ecosystem-related projects," says Evolve Houston President and Executive Director Casey Brown. "We see significant opportunities to make meaningful progress by using an exciting new technology that is centered around community-based direction. Our governance system puts the community in charge and knows that the ideas of those that know their communities best will carry the greatest impact.”

Applications for the second round of microgrants are now open.Information can be found here. The application deadline is Friday, September 22, 2023.

Evolve Houston was founded in 2019 through Houston's Climate Action Plan. The nonprofit relaunched in 2022, naming Brown as its new president and executive director. The organization's main goal is to improve air quality, reduce greenhouse gas and to accelerate EV adoption so that half of all new vehicles sold in the Houston area would be EVs by 2030.

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NASA names new chief astronaut based in Houston

new hire

NASA has a new chief astronaut. Scott Tingle, stationed at the space agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, assumed the post Nov. 10.

Tingle succeeds NASA astronaut Joe Acaba, who had been chief astronaut since February 2023. Acaba now works on the staff of the Johnson Space Center’s director.

As chief astronaut, Tingle runs NASA’s Astronaut Office. His job includes developing astronauts’ flight crew operations and assigning crews for space missions, such as Artemis missions to the moon.

Tingle, a former captain in the Navy, was named a NASA astronaut candidate in 2009. He has logged over 4,500 flight hours in more than 50 aircraft.

Tingle was a flight engineer aboard the International Space Station, where he spent 168 days in orbit during two expeditions that launched in December 2017. Since returning to Earth, he has held various roles in the Astronaut Office, including mission support, technical leadership and crew readiness.

Before joining NASA, Tingle worked in El Segundo, California, on the technical staff of The Aerospace Corp., a nonprofit that supports U.S. space programs.

Tingle recalls expressing his desire to be an astronaut when he was 10 years old. It took him four tries to be accepted by NASA as an astronaut candidate.

“The first time I figured it was kind of too early. The second application, they sent out some feelers, and that was about it. Put in my third application, and got a couple of calls, but it didn’t quite happen,” Tingle said in an article published on the website of Purdue University, his alma mater.

ExxonMobil officially pauses plans for $7B Baytown hydrogen plant

Change of Plans

As anticipated, Spring-based oil and gas giant ExxonMobil has officially paused plans to build a low-hydrogen plant in Baytown, Chairman and CEO Darren Woods told Reuters in late November.

“The suspension of the project, which had already experienced delays, reflects a wider slowdown in efforts by traditional oil and gas firms to transition to cleaner energy sources as many of the initiatives struggle to turn a profit,” Reuters reported.

Woods signaled during ExxonMobil’s second-quarter earnings call that the company was weighing whether it would move forward with the proposed $7 billion plant.

The Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act created a new 10-year incentive, the 45V tax credit, for production of clean hydrogen. But under President Trump’s "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," the window for starting construction of low-carbon hydrogen projects that qualify for the tax credit has narrowed. The Inflation Reduction Act mandated that construction start by 2033. But the Big Beautiful Bill switched the construction start time to early 2028.

“While our project can meet this timeline, we’re concerned about the development of a broader market, which is critical to transition from government incentives,” ExxonMobil Chairman and CEO Darren Woods said during the company’s second-quarter earnings call.

Woods had said ExxonMobil was figuring out whether a combination of the 45Q tax credit for carbon capture projects and the revised 45V tax credit would enable a broader market for low-carbon hydrogen.

“If we can’t see an eventual path to a market-driven business, we won’t move forward with the [Baytown] project,” Woods said.

“We knew that helping to establish a brand-new product and a brand-new market initially driven by government policy would not be easy or advance in a straight line,” he added.

ExxonMobil announced in 2022 that it would build the low-carbon hydrogen plant at its refining and petrochemical complex in Baytown. The company has said the plant is slated to go online in 2027 and 2028.

ExxonMobil had said the Baytown plant would produce up to 1 billion cubic feet of hydrogen per day made from natural gas, and capture and store more than 98 percent of the associated carbon dioxide. The plant would have been capable of storing as much as 10 million metric tons of CO2 per year.

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This article originally appeared on EnergyCapitalHTX.com; it was updated to include new information about the plant in December 2025.

8 can't-miss Houston business and innovation events for December

where to be

Editor's note: Houston’s innovation scene is loading up the calendar before the holidays. From climatetech pitch days to the return of favorite festive shindigs, here's what not to miss and how to register. Please note: this article may be updated to include additional event listings.

Dec. 3 — SouthWest-Midwest National Pediatric Device Innovation Consortium

This annual event brings together members, colleagues and guests of the FDA-supported pediatric consortium who are dedicated to assisting device innovators throughout the lifecycle in delivering innovative solutions to patients. Featured speakers include Dr. Danielle Gottlieb from Le Bonheur Children's Hospital, Balakrishna Haridas from Texas A&M University and Dr. Chester Koh from Texas Children’s Hospital.

This event is Wednesday, Dec. 3, from 3:30-8 p.m. at Texas A&M EnMed Tower. Register here.

Dec. 4 — Resiliency & Adaptation Sector Pitch Day: Scaling Solutions to Address Climate Disruption

Join innovators, industry leaders, investors and policymakers as they explore breakthrough climate and energy technologies at Greentown's latest installment of its Sector Pitch Day series, focused on resiliency and adaptation. Hear from Adrian Trömel, Chief Innovation Officer at Rice University; Eric Willman, Executive Director of the Rice WaTER Institute; pitches from 10 Greentown startups and more.

This event is Thursday, Dec. 4, from 1-3:30 p.m. at the Ion. The Ion Holiday Block Party follows. Register here.

Dec. 4 — The Ion District Holiday Block Party

The Ion District, Rice Alliance and Greentown Labs will celebrate the season during the Ion District Holiday Block Party. Expect to find local bites, drinks, music and meaningful connections across Houston’s innovation ecosystem. Guests are invited to participate in Operation Love’s holiday toy drive supporting local families.

This event is Thursday, Dec. 4, from 4-7 p.m. Register here.

Dec. 8 — Pumps & Pipes Annual Event 2025

The annual gathering brings together cross-industry leaders in aerospace, energy and medicine for engaging discussions and networking opportunities. Connor Grennan, Chief AI Architect at the NYU Stern School of Business, will present this year's keynote address, entitled "Practical Strategies to Increase Productivity." Other sessions will feature leaders from Cena Research Institute, NASA Ames Research Center, ExxonMobil, Southwest Airlines and more.

This event is Monday, Dec. 8, from 8 a.m.-5 p.m., at TMC Helix Park. Register here.

Dec. 9 — Jingle and Mingle

Don your ugliest sweater and snap a pic with Startup Santa! Bayou City Startups, Rocket Network, Founder Institute and Energytech Nexus are bringing back their popular Jingle Mingle for the third year. Network and celebrate with founders, community stakeholders and others in Houston's innovation scene. Donations to the Houston Food Bank are encouraged in place of tickets.

This event is Tuesday, Dec. 9, from 5-7 p.m., at the Solarium in Midtown. Register here.

Dec. 9 — European Innovation Spotlight

Celebrate European cooperation and innovation with the European Innovation Council during an exclusive demo night and networking event at Greentown Labs. Hear from 15 EIC-backed founders supported by the European Union with top-class climatetech technologies, listen to a fireside chat and engage in a networking event following the pitches.

This event is Tuesday, Dec. 9, from 4:30-7 p.m., at the Ion. Register here.

Dec. 9-10 — Energy LIVE

Energy LIVE is Reuters Events' flagship ConfEx that brings the full energy ecosystem together under one roof to solve the industry's most urgent commercial and operational challenges. The event will feature 3,000-plus senior executives across three strategic stages, a showcase of 75-plus exhibitors and six strategic content pillars.

This event is Dec. 9-10 at NRG Park. Register here.

Dec. 15 — Innov8 Hub Pitch Day

Hear pitches from members of the latest Innov8 Hub Innovators to Founders cohort, which empowers academic scientists and innovators to become successful startup founders. Meet and network with the founders over light bites and drinks at a reception following the pitch competition.

This event is Monday, Dec. 15, at the Innovation Center at UH Technology Bridge (Bldg. 4). Register here.

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