With its blend of biotechnology, conservation, and education, RioRaiz seeks to inspire a new generation of conservationists. Photo via RioRaiz/Instagram

For centuries, humans have been negatively impacting the natural world around them. A Houston organization is looking to leave an impact on the environment — but this time for the better.

Based in Houston, RioRaiz is a 501c3 nonprofit organization charting a unique course in the world of conservation and education. Founded in March of 2021, RioRaiz – meaning "root of the river" in Spanish, a nod to its deep-rooted connection with South American culture – seeks to preserve biodiversity through biotechnology and offer transformative learning experiences to contribute to a healthier planet.

Led by Jeff Carlson, the president and CEO, RioRaiz's mission is driven by three core pillars: conservation, scientific discovery, and education.

Currently, the nonprofit's efforts are focused on regions on the edge of ecological disruption, specifically the East Texas area and the Tropical Andes. In Texas, the organization aims to expand the biome of the Big Thicket National Preserve in Kountze as well as engaging locals by hosting clean-up drives. In the Andes, RioRaiz aspires to establish biological corridors between national parks and natural reserves, diminishing potential disruptions to animal migration patterns.

The timeline for these critical initiatives, Carlson said, hinges on donations.

"We have a list of priorities that is cataloged from input from our scientific collaborators, as well as our ability to deliver on our promises to our donors and supporters,” Carlson said.

Partnerships form a critical role in RioRaiz's work, notably those with academic institutions in the United States and Colombia. One of these collaborations saw Carlson spend three months in Colombia, working with the local Páez tribe, also known as the Nasa, to explore the potential of their traditional medicines for modern treatments.

"We're really excited to learn and to share our techniques and our knowledge," Carlson said, underlining the organization's commitment to partnering with traditional and indigenous knowledge sources.

With its blend of biotechnology, conservation, and education, RioRaiz seeks to inspire a new generation of conservationists. By offering an intimate virtual glimpse into the world's biomes, the nonprofit aims to instill a deep-rooted respect for nature and encourage sustainable action.

"If you expose students to these different kinds of environments at an early age, that might inspire somebody to go into conservation," Carlson said.

With a progressive effort, RioRaiz is harnessing the power of virtual reality to redefine education. The organization uses specialized filming equipment during its expeditions, capturing moments like the discovery of new species or conducting bio surveys. RioRaiz's visually compelling stories will surpass language barriers, transporting students virtually to different biomes. In time, Carlson hopes to distribute pre-loaded systems to communities with limited internet access, taking the classroom to every corner of the world. These virtual reality experiences are expected to launch within the next year.

"We want to bring the rainforest into the classroom," Carlson said.

Through its work, RioRaiz aims to demonstrate that the route to a sustainable future lies not just in face-to-face interactions, but in a global, interconnected approach to education and conservation. Its vision is clear — to grow far beyond traditional reaches, preserving biodiversity and fostering a healthier world.

Memorial Park, which is currently undergoing a master plan renovation, and other Houston parks can be a great opportunity for introducing urban conservation inside the city limits. Rendering courtesy of Nelson Byrd Woltz

Houston conservationist is helping to find new ways to protect local species and ecosystems

Living on a prairie

The Houston toad is a species that was discovered in Harris County in the 1950s. It has a very distinct, loud call that reverberates at quite a high pitch. But the Houston toad's call hasn't been heard in the city of Houston for almost 50 years. The species is locally extinct and critically endangered elsewhere. In fact, it's the most endangered amphibian in North America, says Cassidy Brown Johnson, a Rice University lecturer and president of the Coastal Prairie Partnership.

"When we think about extinction, we think of the dodo bird or the woolly mammoth," Johnson says. "But extinction is happening right underneath our noses."

The Houston Zoo has a breeding facility for Houston toad, but other than that, it's extremely unlikely that the Houston toad will ever reside naturally in its namesake city.

"We have modified the environment so heavily, that it'd be a bit of a dicey thing to do [to reintroduce the species] because there are so few of them, it's better to focus on an environment where it's still OK for them," Johnson says. The largest population of the Houston toad is actually in Bastrop, however due to the Bastrop fires in 2011, the species is only just recently back to a good place even there.

Johnson is giving a free lecture in April at Rice regarding extinction, where she'll bring her Astros-named Houston toads, Springer and Julia Morales, as her teacher aids.

Changing tides in conservation
As cities like Houston continue to be developed, scientists and researchers are challenged with finding new ways to effect conservation. Johnson says within the industry, there's been a shift in thinking when it comes to preserving nature.

"There's a new burgeoning movement in conservation called urban conservation," she says. "For a long time, if you talked to the traditional conservationists, the idea of conservation is to protect big spaces — the national and state park systems are the perfect example."

But large parks are expensive and a huge undertaking. It's still the strongest form of conservation, but introducing conservation efforts in a city — perhaps in some of Houston's parks, like Memorial Park or Hermann Park — helps not only the species of animals involved, but also educates the local population and forms a connection with residents.

"That has a twofold kind of benefit," Johnson says. "It protects the greenspace so species to live with us, and then also it makes the connection to this place we try to protect."

Of course, this type of effort is new, and there's not a lot of data to show how this would affect the ecosystem and its species, from the migratory and genetic diversity standpoints. Despite the lack of data, Johnson says this type of effort needs to happen.

"We're going to continue to manipulate the world, and maybe if we started thinking about this now, that we can get to a point were we understand enough were we can make these some sort of functioning ecosystem," she says.

Part of the shift in thinking about these ecosystems has to do with new ways of tracking species and understanding their environments.

"Technology is helping us ask a lot of these questions," Johnson says. "Ecology is surprisingly complicated. There's so many variables. ... I think technology and our advance with computing is definitely going to help us understand it."

Using preservation to solve flooding
The educational component is also very important to conservation, and Johnson is making strides on campus with her class. Last year, her department and her class introduced a pocket prairie right on the Rice campus.

Before it was the fourth largest city in America, Houston was a prairie. That type of ecosystem — thick with prairie grass — is very absorbing when it comes to rain water.

"It's really surprising to people that the trees and all this lushness is actually all artificial," Johnson says. "We know that this ecosystem evolved with the cyclical flooding events that happened here."

This movement to bring back Houston's ancient ecosystem is a new focus on a few prairie conservationist groups — and even the Harris County Flood Control. This has been going on for a while, but recent flooding events have opened the eyes of people now looking for reliable solutions to flooding problems.

"After Hurricane Harvey, people started realizing that this might be one of the solutions we could actually investigate and see if it can help us," Johnson says. "A green space is going to absorb way more water than a parking lot."

Of course, there are other flood solutions being discussed — some even incorporating tech or even a tube system underground.

"Historically, there has been some budding of heads between the environment and technology, but I really think moving forward, those two fields have to work together. We need to use technology to save the environment," Johnson says. "I think Houston is one of the places where that conversation is starting to happen."

Missing the toads

Courtesy of Cassidy Brown Johnson

The Houston toad has been locally extinct since the 1970s.

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Meet the 5 fastest-growing scaleup companies in Houston

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The 2024 Houston Innovation Awards will feature a new category: Scaleup of the Year, which honors a Bayou City company that's seen impressive growth in 2024.

From biotech companies to decarbonization startups, the inaugural finalists have expanded internationally, moved to larger facilities, completed clinical trials and more. Read on to learn more about these fast-growing startups.

Secure your tickets to the 2024 Houston Innovation Awards next Thursday, November 14, at TMC Helix Park.


Cart.com, a unified commerce and logistics solutions provider for B2C and B2B companies

With the acquisition of Amify, Cart.com has expanded its workforce and grown its suite of services. Photo courtesy of Cart.com

Clinching unicorn status with its 2023 series C raise, Cart.com is on a mission to unify commerce across sales and distribution channels and digital and physical capabilities with its omnichannel enterprise-grade software, services and logistics.

Founded in 2020 with nine acquisitions and $759.2 million raised to date, according to Crunchbase, Cart.com's recent achievements includes acquiring Pacsun’s fulfillment operators, brining a 2 million-square-foot facility online, expanding its executive team, and more.

"In the last 12 months, Cart.com has dramatically grown its fulfillment network’s scale and technological capabilities," writes CEO Omail Tariq in his Houston Innovation Awards application.

"We have been laser-focused on improving quality, performance and efficiency at scale while continuing to aggressively grow our customer base, expand our capabilities to customers in new industries and grow our physical presence to new locations," he continues. "Prioritizing our strategic growth initiatives has been critical in the current macroeconomic environment as profitable growth remains paramount for our team."

In 2021, Cart.com moved its headquarters to Austin, with most of the leadership team remaining in Houston. Two years later, the company announced its HQ return to the Bayou City.

"We've found Houston's business and university communities to be incredibly supportive of our efforts and have found the city to be a place that is both easier and more affordable to bring together our global employee population at more regular intervals," Tariq adds in the app.

Coya Therapeutics, a clinical-stage company developing therapies for neurodegenerative, autoimmune, and metabolic diseases

Houston company with revolutionary neurodegenerative disease treatment shares milestones since IPOCoya Therapeutics rang the closing bell at Nasdaq last week, celebrating six months since its IPO, new data from trials, and additions to its team. Photo via LinkedIn

Revolutionary biotech company Coya Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: COYA) may have closed its IPO in January 2023 for more than $15 million, but the company has made some of its most significant strides in the development of its lead product that prevents the further spreading of neurodegenerative diseases this year.

Known as COYA 302, the product uses a unique dual mechanism that is now being developed for the treatment of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD), Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. The company published its phase 1 proof-of-concept study in the peer-reviewed journal Frontiers in Neurology that showed COYA 302's ability to stop clinical progression in ALS at 24 weeks in combination therapy, which helped earn the company a $5 million in strategic investment from the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation to continue to develop the product for a planned Phase 2 trial focused on FTD.

Last year the company also added to its C Suite, naming Dr. Arun Swaminathan as chief business officer and Dr. Fred Grossman as president and chief medical officer.

Coya merged with Nicoya Health Inc. and raised $10 million in its series A in 2020.

NanoTech Materials, a chemical manufacturer that integrates novel heat-control technology with thermal insulation, fireproofing, and cool roof coatings to drastically improve efficiency and safety

Growing Houston startup moves into 43,000-square-foot facility amid 'hypergrowth phase'NanoTech Materials celebrated its move into a new facility — a 43,000-square-foot space in Katy, Texas, this week

Mike Francis, co-founder and CEO of NanoTech Materials, told InnovationMap earlier this year that it was in a "hype growth" phase—and meant it.

NanoTech, known for its proprietary Insulative Ceramic ParticleTM (ICP) that uses nanotechnology to optimize energy efficiency and heat control in the built environment, expanded into a new 43,000-square-foot facility this year and tripled its valuation in the last two years, according to its Innovation Awards application. The company also expanded into the Middle East and Singapore and successfully scaled up its NanoTech Cool Roof Coat to commercial markets.

The company closed a $5 million seed round in 2020 and an oversubscribed Series A round last year for $13 million. It was the first company selected for the Houston-based Halliburton Labs in 2021 and joined the Rice Alliance Clean Energy Accelerator in 2023.

Square Robot, an advanced robotics company serving the energy industry and beyond by providing submersible robots for storage tank inspections

Square Robot has a team of 15 in Houston. Photo courtesy\u00a0of Square Robot

Submersible robotics company Square Robot launched its Houston office in 2019 and expanded in the Bayou City this past year.

According to the company's Innovation Award application, the company doubled its fleet of autonomous, submersible robots that service the energy industry, deploying to Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Australia, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Its robots are specifically used for storage tank inspections and eliminating the need for humans to enter dangerous and toxic environments.

Square Robot moved to a new, customer-facing Houston facility this year and also developed a new innovative technology that's able to gather phased ultrasonic readings on insulated tank shells while the tank is operational.

The company closed a Series A round in 2018 for $6 million.

Syzygy Plasmonics, a company that's decarbonizing chemical production with a light-powered reactor platform that electrifies the production of hydrogen, syngas, and fuel with reliable, low-cost solutions

Houston climatetech startup selected for inaugural global entrepreneur competitionSyzygy Plasmonics is going to be competing in Gastech's new startup competition. Photo courtesy of Syzygy

Known for the world’s first light-powered reactor cell for industrial chemical reactions, Syzygy Plasmonics began taking orders earlier this year for its Rigel reactor cell after meeting initial performance targets. The cell enables a customer to produce up to five tons of low-carbon hydrogen per day.

The groundbreaking technology earned the company regional, national and global attention. Fast Company magazine placed the company on its energy innovation list. It was also named a finalist for Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur Of The Year 2024 Gulf South Award and was invited to participate in Gastech's global entrepreneur competition.

The company most recently raised $76 million in a Series C round in 2022.

Houston organizations issue seed grants to fuel AI-driven equity, digital health innovation

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Three Houston organizations have doled out seed grants for research initiatives focused on digital health and equity.

Rice University's Educational and Research Initiatives for Collaborative Health (ENRICH) office — in partnership with Baylor College of Medicine and the Houston Methodist Academic Institute — has awarded a total of $50,000 to two projects. BCM and Rice announced three other grants earlier this year.

The seed grants were deployed earlier this year at the Health Equity Workshop from Rice’s Digital Health Initiative and chaired by Momona Yamagami, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Rice.

“To achieve equitable health outcomes, a comprehensive approach is essential — one that spans all phases of digital health from technology design and development to implementation, dissemination and long-term sustainability,” says Ashutosh Sabharwal, who leads the Digital Health Initiative and serves as Rice’s Ernest Dell Butcher Professor of Engineering and a professor of electrical and computer engineering, in a news release.

Both the workshop and the grant opportunity help to allow collaboration between researchers and health care providers working on health equity research across disciplines.

“This seed grant not only fosters interdisciplinary collaborations between Rice University and the Texas Medical Center but also enables us to leverage our combined knowledge to enhance innovations in health equity and digital health, ultimately creating impactful solutions for improving patient care,” adds Sharon Pepper, executive director of ENRICH.

The two projects receiving funding, according to Rice's release, include:

  • Evaluating Equity and Community-Level Vulnerabilities in the Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence-based Symptom Checkers for Self-diagnosis — Using AI-based symptom checkers, the project aims to mitigate vulnerabilities for patients using and improve data precision specifically when it comes to patients' social and cultural differences.
  • Al-Driven ECG Analysis for Equitable Cardiovascular Risk Assessment and Prevention: Leveraging Transformer Models and Big Data to Reduce Health Disparities — Also backed by AI, this project will harness the untapped potential of electrocardiogram data for improving cardiovascular risk assessment, hopefully reducing cost and invasiveness of the standard practice of care.

Texas vs the nation: Comparing energy grid resilience across America

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The 2024 Atlantic hurricane season has proven disastrous for the United States. On July 8th, Hurricane Beryl barreled into Texas as a Category 1 storm knocking out power for nearly 3 million, causing over $2.5 billion in damages, and resulting in the deaths of at least 42 people.

More recently, Hurricanes Helene and Milton tore through the East Coast, dropping trillions of gallons of rain on Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee, causing dams to collapse, flash flooding, trees to fall, millions of power outages, complete destruction of homes and businesses, and the deaths of hundreds.

Amidst the horror and rescue efforts, wariness of the increasing strength of natural disasters, and repeated failures of energy grids around the nation begs a few questions.

  1. Is there a version of a power grid that can better endure hurricanes, heat waves, and freezes?
  2. How does the Texas grid compare to other regional grids in the United States?
  3. What can we do to solve our power grid problems and who is responsible for implementing these solutions?

Hurricane-proof grids do not exist

There is no version of a grid anywhere in the United States that can withstand the brunt of a massive hurricane without experiencing outages.

The wind, rain, and flooding are simply too much to handle.

Some might wonder, “What if we buried the power lines?” Surely, removing the power lines from the harsh winds, rain, flying debris, and falling tree branches would be enough to keep the lights on, right?

Well, not necessarily. Putting aside the fact that burying power lines is incredibly expensive – estimates range from thousands to millions of dollars per mile buried – extended exposure to water from flood surges can still cause damage to buried lines. To pile on further, flood surges are likely to seriously damage substations and transformers. When those components fail, there’s no power to run through the lines, buried or otherwise.

Heat waves and winter freezes are a different story

During extreme weather events like heat waves or winter freezes, the strain on the grid goes beyond simple issues of generation and distribution—it’s also a matter of human behavior and grid limitations.

Building and maintaining a power grid is extremely expensive, and storing electricity is not only costly but technically challenging. Most grids are designed with little "buffer" capacity to handle peak demand moments, because much of the infrastructure sits idle during normal conditions. Imagine investing billions of dollars in a power plant or wind farm that only operates at full capacity a fraction of the time. It’s difficult to recoup that investment.

When extreme weather hits, demand spikes significantly while supply remains relatively static, pushing the grid to its limits. This imbalance makes it hard to keep up with the surge in energy usage.

At the same time, our relationship with electricity has changed—our need for electricity has only increased. We’ve developed habits—like setting thermostats to 70 degrees or lower during summer heat waves or keeping homes balmy in winter— that, while comfortable, place additional strain on the system.

Behavioral changes, alongside investments in infrastructure, are crucial to ensuring we avoid blackouts as energy demand continues to rise in the coming years.

How the Texas grid compares to other regional grids

Is the Texas grid really in worse shape compared to other regional grids around the U.S.?

In some ways, Texas is lagging and in others, Texas is a leader.

One thing you might have heard about the Texas grid is that it is isolated, which restricts the ability to import power from neighboring regions during emergencies. Unfortunately, connecting the Texas grid further would not be a one-size fits all solution for fixing its problems. The neighboring grids would need to have excess supply at the exact moment of need and have the capacity to transmit that power to the right areas of need. Situations often arise where the Texas grid needs more power, but New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana have none to spare because they are experiencing similar issues with supply and demand at the same time. Furthermore, even if our neighbors have some power to share, the infrastructure may not be sufficient to deliver the power where it’s needed within the state.

On the other hand, Texas is leading the nation in terms of renewable development. The Lone Star State is #1 in wind power and #2 in solar power, only behind California. There are, of course, valid concerns about heavy reliance on renewables when the wind isn’t blowing or the sun isn’t shining, compounded by a lack of large-scale battery storage. Then, there’s the underlying cost and ecological footprint associated with the manufacturing of those batteries.

Yet, the only state with more utility-scale storage than Texas is California.

In recent years, ERCOT has pushed generators and utility companies to increase their winterization efforts, incentivize the buildout of renewables and electricity storage. You might have also heard about the Texas Electricity Fund, which represents the state’s latest effort to further incentivize grid stability. Improvements are underway, but they may not be enough if homeowners and renters across the state are unwilling to set their thermostats a bit higher during extended heatwaves.

How can we fix the Texas grid?

Here’s the reality we must face – a disaster-proof, on-demand, renewable-powered grid is extremely expensive and cannot be implemented quickly. We must come to terms with the fact that the impact of natural disasters is unavoidable, no matter how much we “upgrade” the infrastructure.

Ironically, the most impactful solution out there is free and requires only a few seconds to implement. Simple changes to human behavior are the strongest tool we have at our disposal to prevent blackouts in Texas. By decreasing our collective demand for electricity at the right times, we can all help keep the lights on and prices low.

During peak hours, the cumulative effort is as simple as turning off the lights, turning the thermostat up a few degrees, and running appliances like dishwashers and laundry machines overnight.

Another important element we cannot avoid addressing is global warming. As the temperatures on the surface of the earth increase, the weather changes, and, in many cases, it makes it more volatile.

The more fossil fuels we burn, the more greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere. More greenhouse gases in the atmosphere leads to more volatile weather. Volatile weather, in turn, contributes to extreme grid strain in the form of heat waves, winter freezes, and hurricanes. This is no simple matter to solve, because the energy needs and capabilities of different countries differ. That is why some countries around the globe continue to expand their investments in coal as an energy source, the fossil fuel that burns the dirtiest and releases the most greenhouse gases per unit.

While governments and private organizations continue to advance carbon capture, renewable, and energy storage technology efficiency, the individual could aid these efforts by changing our behavior. There are many impactful things we can do to reduce our carbon footprint, like adjusting our thermostat a few degrees, eating less red meat, driving cars less often, and purchasing fewer single-use plastics to name a few.

If we want to see real change, we need action by all parties. The complex system of generation, transmission, and consumption all need to experience radical change, or the vicious cycle will only continue.

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Sam Luna is director at BKV Energy, where he oversees brand and go-to-market strategy, customer experience, marketing execution, and more.

This article originally ran on EnergyCapital.