$1.5M donation secures new alliance for disaster resilience in Houston

supporting the Bayou City's future

Enbridge and Phillips 66 have made a commitment to making sure Houston has the support it needs to be resilient. Photo via Getty Images

Disaster resilience and recovery efforts in the Houston area are getting a boost.

Thanks to a combined $1.5 million commitment from natural gas company Enbridge and energy company Phillips 66, the Greater Houston Community Foundation, and United Way of Greater Houston have formed the Greater Houston Disaster Alliance.

Enbridge and Phillips 66 are each donating $250,000 annually for three years to finance the alliance. The alliance says it will seek additional funding and partnership opportunities to help ensure the organization’s longevity.

The alliance aims to bolster year-round disaster preparedness in the region. It builds on a partnership worked out two years ago between the foundation and the United Way to coordinate philanthropic responses to Houston-area disasters.

The alliance hasn’t yet named a director. However, it already has begun searching for someone to fill the post, a process that could take several months.

Among the initiatives that the alliance will undertake are:

  • Solidifying infrastructure for directing community-wide philanthropic responses following disasters.
  • Pursuing partnerships with nonprofits to improve disaster relief..
  • Accelerating disaster fundraising and providing seed funding for ongoing resilience and recovery innovations.
  • Establishing a council of public and private leaders to mesh disaster resiliency and recovery strategies.

In the event of a major disaster, the alliance will form a separate leadership council to support fundraising.

“When it comes to disasters, it’s only a matter of time before the Houston region will be impacted again, and the Greater Houston Disaster Alliance gives us the opportunity to take a more proactive and effective approach to disaster recovery and resiliency,” Stephen Maislin, president and CEO of Greater Houston Community Foundation, says in a news release.

Every disaster in the Houston area highlights the struggles faced by residents who already were struggling to meet basic needs, according to Amanda McMillian, president and CEO of the United Way of Greater Houston.

“Recognizing the economic peril that many in our community face when disaster strikes compels us to develop the most effective and equitable social service response that we can now. That is why the work of the Greater Houston Disaster Alliance is so important,” says McMillian.

Houston is certainly no stranger to natural disasters. For example, Hurricane Harvey ranks among the worst U.S. natural catastrophes in the 21st century. The 2017 storm caused an estimated $125 billion in damage in Texas and Louisiana, damaged over 200,000 homes and led to more than 100 deaths.

“Harvey was a wake-up call to all of us who set a course for the city’s future,” Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said in 2018.

From Your Site Articles
Ad Placement 300x100
Ad Placement 300x600

CultureMap Emails are Awesome

Property Showcase

Houston research breakthrough could pave way for next-gen superconductors

Quantum Breakthrough

A 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.

---

This article originally appeared on our sister site, EnergyCapitalHTX.com.

Houston humanoid robotics startup inks new deal to deploy its rugged robots

big deal

Houston-based Persona AI announced the expansion of its operations at the Ion and a major milestone in deploying its humanoid robots.

The company will establish a state-of-the-art development center in the prominent corner suite on the first floor of the Ion, and is slated to begin expansion in June.

“We chose the Ion because it’s more than just a building — it’s a thriving innovation ecosystem,” CEO Nicolaus Radford said in a news release. “This is where Houston’s tech future is being built. It’s a convergence point for the people, energy, and ideas that power our mission to redefine human-machine collaboration. For an industrial, AI-driven robotics company, there’s no better place to scale than in the heart of Houston.”

Persona AI’s new development center will be located in the suite utilized by the Ion Prototyping Lab, managed by TXRX Labs. The IPL will transition its operations to the expanded TXRX facility in the East End Maker Hub, which will allow the lab to grow its team and meet increased demand.

At the start of the year, Persona AI closed $25 million in pre-seed funding. Earlier this month, the company announced a memorandum of understanding with HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, HD Hyundai Robotic, and Korean manufacturing firm Vazil Company to create and deploy humanoid robots for complex welding tasks in shipyards.

The project will deliver prototype humanoids by the end of 2026, with field testing and full commercial deployment scheduled to begin in 2027.

"As heavy industry faces growing labor constraints—especially in high-risk trades like welding—the need for rugged, autonomous humanoid robots is more urgent than ever,” Radford added in a separate statement. “This partnership with HD Hyundai and Vazil is more than symbolic—deploying to the shipyard is one of the largest real-world proving grounds for Persona's tough, humanoid robots.”

Houston climatech co. to lead one of world's largest carbon capture projects

Big Deal

Houston-based CO2 utilization company HYCO1 has signed a memorandum of understanding with Malaysia LNG Sdn. Bhd., a subsidiary of Petronas, for a carbon capture project in Malaysia, which includes potential utilization and conversion of 1 million tons of carbon dioxide per year.

The project will be located in Bintulu in Sarawak, Malaysia, where Malaysia LNG is based, according to a news release. Malaysia LNG will supply HYCO1 with an initial 1 million tons per year of raw CO2 for 20 years starting no later than 2030. The CCU plant is expected to be completed by 2029.

"This is very exciting for all stakeholders, including HYCO1, MLNG, and Petronas, and will benefit all Malaysians," HYCO1 CEO Gregory Carr said in the release. "We approached Petronas and MLNG in the hopes of helping them solve their decarbonization needs, and we feel honored to collaborate with MLNG to meet their Net Zero Carbon Emissions by 2050.”

The project will convert CO2 into industrial-grade syngas (a versatile mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen) using HYCO1’s proprietary CUBE Technology. According to the company, its CUBE technology converts nearly 100 percent of CO2 feed at commercial scale.

“Our revolutionary process and catalyst are game changers in decarbonization because not only do we prevent CO2 from being emitted into the atmosphere, but we transform it into highly valuable and usable downstream products,” Carr added in the release.

As part of the MoU, the companies will conduct a feasibility study evaluating design alternatives to produce low-carbon syngas.

The companies say the project is expected to “become one of the largest CO2 utilization projects in history.”

HYCO1 also recently announced that it is providing syngas technology to UBE Corp.'s new EV electrolyte plant in New Orleans. Read more here.

---

This story originally appeared on our sister site, EnergyCapitalHTX.com.

View All Listings
X

INNOVATIONMAP EMAILS ARE AWESOME