As we enter year two of the pandemic, the way hospitals function now and in the future is forever changed. Photo via Getty Images

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a drastic effect on every industry throughout the world. Additionally, we have all experienced multiple changes to our daily routine such as schools implementing virtual and hybrid learning while reconfiguring classrooms to promote social distancing and fitness studios closing off every other cardio machine and bench.

But no industry has had to pivot and innovate more than health care, which has been ground zero for the pandemic.

The pace of innovation for hospitals has been at breakneck speed — from the evolution of new treatment protocols to the need to reconfigure physical spaces to support an influx of patients while also promoting a healing environment during this unprecedented time.

Hospitals look and feel a lot different today because of significant modifications that have been made to care for patients and limit exposure to the virus. While a number of these modifications occurred under temporary state waivers, some of these changes may be here to stay.

Adding windows and alternative communication options to every room

Hospitals found that every room is valuable during a pandemic. Identifying and converting any available space, including private rooms like offices, break rooms, and conference rooms, was essential to accommodate an influx of patients during a surge. And when dealing with a highly infectious area, it is imperative to maximize staff and physician efforts while also safely minimizing the amount of time that staff members enter and exit rooms.

One way to do this is by adding windows in doors to promote patient visibility. This increased visibility can improve patient safety while conserving critical personal protective equipment. However, a down side to limiting the amount of times staff members enter and exit rooms is reduced valuable communication opportunities, which is why alternative mechanisms to communicate with patients must be in place in addition to increased visibility.

Implementing additional negative pressure capabilities

Like adding windows to every patient door, negative pressure rooms exist to keep non-contaminated areas free of airborne pathogens. In a negative pressure room, the air in the room is pulled into a room instead of being pushed out of a room, which is very effective in preventing airborne contaminants from escaping the room and infecting other people. But hospitals are not traditionally built with significant numbers of negative pressure rooms as demand for these types of rooms has historically been low.

In addition, the traditional way to design a facility is to spread negative pressure rooms throughout the hospital instead of consolidating them onto specific units. Although not required for COVID-19 patients, negative pressure rooms are helpful in ensuring maximum capabilities within different zones. In instances where negative pressure rooms could not be created, HEPA filters can still be used to "scrub" the air.

Converting anesthesia machines to ventilators

Anesthesia machines are capable of providing life-sustaining mechanical ventilation to patients with respiratory failure from diseases like COVID-19. They are used for this purpose every day in the operating room. Although they are not recommended for long-term ventilator needs, anesthesia ventilators can be modified to provide ventilatory support and are an obvious first-line backup when there are not sufficient ICU ventilators to meet patient care needs.

Building barriers to increase the safety of care

Plexiglass barriers have become a common sight in daily life including the front desks at hospitals. However, hospitals have taken it a step further and have either built or sourced equipment such as intubation boxes, which can be used during the intubation process, which consists of placing a breathing tube into a patient's airway and then connecting it to a ventilator or anesthesia machine if the patient is having surgery. Intubations are often done by an anesthesiologist, intensive care or emergency room provider; however, traditionally we had not often dealt with highly-contagious patients, so providing a higher level of protection is an important step in the containment of this type of virus.

The way healthcare providers enter and exit a COVID patient's room is as important as the proper use of PPE. In a pre-pandemic world, hospitals didn't specifically create spaces or areas within patient floors for staff to remove and discard their PPE and there wasn't any visible signage warning them that they were about to enter or leave a high-risk area. Many hospitals across the country have implemented color-coded zones within their COVID floors to caution staff of the type of precautions they should be taking at any given time. The creation of zones helps to protect staff and reduce contamination opportunities within the unit itself. Red, yellow and green zones using visual markers can be created to help provide staff designated areas that certain processes must be followed such as where PPE must be worn, where it can be donned and doffed and where PPE should not be worn.

Managing complex logistical challenges

Hospitals have been challenged with having to continue to provide uninterrupted care for COVID and non-COVID patients during the pandemic, while also handling, storing and administering vaccines. Hospitals have been at the forefront of the vaccine distribution system, working closely with state and federal officials to distribute vaccines on a large scale and reach the underserved populations that were hit hardest by COVID-19. For example, Baylor St. Luke's chose Texas Southern University, located within the Third Ward of Houston, as a vaccine site to reach communities of color and leverage its accessible location and the school's pharmacy students and faculty. And more recently, the hospital worked with Rice University to administer vaccines at its football stadium, a large venue that can be accessed easily through public transportation. Having these offsite venues with ample space has helped alleviate the space burden on hospitals during the vaccination efforts. Non-traditional healthcare delivery locations like these allow health care providers to administer more doses, closer to targeted communities than would be possible at a single hospital.

As we enter year two of the pandemic, the way hospitals function now and in the future is forever changed. Hospitals continue to learn and adapt during the COVID-19 pandemic, and in case of another pandemic, hospitals are better equipped to quickly pivot to provide care for a surge of patients and to assist in the recovery efforts.

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Liz Youngblood is president of Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center and senior vice president and COO of St. Luke's Health.

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Texas-based energy startup raises $1 billion on heels of Houston expansion

Powering Up

Austin-based startup Base Power, which offers battery-supported energy in the Houston area and other regions, has raised $1 billion in series C funding—making it one of the largest venture capital deals this year in the U.S.

VC firm Addition led the $1 billion round. All of Base Power’s existing major investors also participated, including Trust Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, Thrive Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Altimeter, StepStone Group, 137 Ventures, Terrain, Waybury Capital, and entrepreneur Elad Gil. New investors include Ribbit Capital, Google-backed CapitalG, Spark Capital, Bond, Lowercarbon Capital, Avenir Growth Capital, Glade Brook Capital Partners, Positive Sum and 1789 Capital Management.

Coupled with the new $1 billion round, Base Power has hauled in more than $1.27 billion in funding since it was founded in 2023.

Base Power supplies power to homeowners and the electric grid through a distributed storage network.

“The chance to reinvent our power system comes once in a generation,” Zach Dell, co-founder and CEO of Base Power, said in a news release. “The challenge ahead requires the best engineers and operators to solve it, and we’re scaling the team to make our abundant energy future a reality.”

Zach Dell is the son of Austin billionaire and Houston native Michael Dell, chairman and CEO of Round Rock-based Dell Technologies.

In less than two years, Base Power has developed more than 100 megawatt-hours of battery-enabled storage capacity. One megawatt-hour represents one hour of energy use at a rate of one million watts.

Base Power recently expanded its service to the city of Houston. It already was delivering energy to several other communities in the Houston area. To serve the Houston region, the startup has opened an office in Katy.

The startup also serves the Dallas-Fort Worth and Austin markets. At some point, Base Power plans to launch a nationwide expansion.

To meet current and future demand, Base Power is building its first energy storage and power electronics factory at the former downtown Austin site of the Austin American-Statesman’s printing presses.

“We’re building domestic manufacturing capacity for fixing the grid,” Justin Lopas, co-founder and chief operating officer of Base Power, added in the release. “The only way to add capacity to the grid is [by] physically deploying hardware, and we need to make that here in the U.S. ... This factory in Austin is our first, and we’re already planning for our second.”

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This article originally appeared on EnergyCapitalHTX.com.

Expert on Houston’s energy advantage: Building affordability, reliability for all

Guest Column

As the energy capital of the world, Houston has been at the forefront of innovation, powering industries and communities for generations. Many Houston families, however, are facing a reality that undermines our leadership: high energy bills and ongoing concerns about grid reliability.

Affordability and reliability are not just technical issues; they’re equity issues. To remain the world leader in energy, we must ensure that every household has access to affordable and dependable power.

Affordability: The First Step Toward Equity

According to the recent 2025 study by The Texas Energy Poverty Research Institute, nearly 80% of low- to moderate-income Houstonians scaled back on basic needs to cover electric bills. Rising costs mean some Houstonians are forced to choose between paying their utility bill or paying for groceries.

Additionally, Houston now has the highest poverty rate among America’s most populous cities. Energy should not be a privilege for only half of our city’s population. That’s why affordability needs to be at the center of Houston’s energy conversation.

Several practical solutions exist to help address this inequity:

  • We can increase transparency in electricity pricing and help families better understand their electricity facts labels to make smarter choices.
  • We can expand energy efficiency programs, like weatherizing homes and apartments, swapping out old light bulbs for LEDs, and adopting smart thermostats.
  • Incentives to help families invest in these changes can deliver long-term benefits for both them and apartment complex owners.

Many small changes, when combined, can add up to significant savings for families while reducing overall demand on the grid.

Reliability: A Shared Community Priority

The memories of Hurricane Beryl, Derecho, and Winter Storm Uri are still fresh in the minds of Texans. We saw firsthand the fragility of our grid and how devastating outages are to families, especially those without resources to handle extreme weather. Reliability of the grid is an issue of public health, economic stability, and community safety.

Houston has an opportunity to lead by embracing innovation. Grid modernization, from deploying microgrids to expanding battery storage, can provide stability when the system is under stress. Partnerships between utilities, businesses, and community organizations are key to building resilience. With Houston’s innovation ecosystem, we can pilot solutions here that other regions will look to replicate.

Energy Equity in Action

Reliable, affordable energy strengthens equity in tangible ways. When households spend less on utilities, they have more to invest in their children’s education or save for the future. When power is stable, schools remain open, businesses continue to operate, and communities thrive. Extending energy efficiency programs across all neighborhoods creates a fairer, more balanced system, breaking down inequities tied to income and geography.

Studies show that expanding urban green spaces such as community gardens and tree-planting programs can lower neighborhood temperatures, reduce energy use for cooling, and improve air quality in disadvantaged areas, directly reducing household utility burdens.

In Houston, for example, the median energy burden for low-income households is 7.1% of income, more than twice that of the general population, with over 20% of households having energy burdens above 6%.

Research also demonstrates that community solar programs and urban cooling investments deliver clean, affordable power, helping to mitigate heat stress and making them high-impact strategies for energy equity and climate resilience in vulnerable neighborhoods.

Public-Private Partnerships Make the Difference

The solutions to affordability and reliability challenges must come from cross-sector collaboration. For example, CenterPoint Energy offers incentives through its Residential and Hard-to-Reach Programs, which support contractors and community agencies in delivering energy efficiency upgrades, including weatherization, to low-income households in the greater Houston area.

Nonprofits like the Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC) received a $1.9 million Department of Energy grant to lead a weatherization program tailored for underserved communities in Harris County, helping to lower bills and improve housing safety

Meanwhile, the City of Houston’s Green Office Challenge and Better Buildings Initiative bring private-sector sponsors, nonprofits, and city leadership together to drive energy reductions across millions of square feet of commercial buildings, backed by training and financial incentives. Together, these partnerships can result in real impact that brings more equity and access to affordable energy.

BKV Energy is committed to being part of the solution by promoting practical, consumer-focused strategies that help families save money and use energy more efficiently. We offer a suite of programs designed to provide customers with financial benefits and alleviate the burden of rising electricity bills. Programs like BKV Energy’s demonstrate how utilities can ease financial strain for families while building stronger customer loyalty and trust. Expanding similar initiatives across Houston would not only lower household energy burdens but also set a new standard for how energy companies can invest directly in their communities.

By proactively addressing affordability, energy companies can help ensure that rising costs don’t disproportionately impact vulnerable households. These efforts also contribute to a more resilient and equitable energy future for Houston, where all residents can access reliable power without sacrificing financial stability.

Houston as a Blueprint

Houston has always been a city of leadership and innovation, whether pioneering the space race, driving advancements in medical research at the Texas Medical Center, or anchoring the global energy industry. Today, our challenge is just as urgent: affordability and reliability must become the cornerstones of our energy future. Houston has the expertise and the collaborative spirit to show how it can be done.

By scaling innovative solutions, Houston can make energy more equitable, strengthening our own community while setting a blueprint for the nation. As the energy capital of the world, it is both our responsibility and our opportunity to lead the way to a more equitable future for all.

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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.

Houston professor awarded $2.6M grant for retina, neurological research

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University of Houston College of Optometry Professor John O’Brien has received a $2.6 million grant from the National Eye Institute to continue his research on the retina and neurological functions.

O’Brien is considered a leading expert in retinal neuroscience with more than 20 years of research in the field. The new funding will allow O’Brien and his team to continue to study the dense assembly of proteins associated with electrical synapses, or gap junctions, in the retina.

Gap junctions transfer electrical signals between neurons. And the plasticity of gap junctions changes the strength of a synapse, in turn changing how visual information is processed. Previous research has shown that reduced functions of electrical synapses could be linked to autism, while their hyperfunction may lead to seizures.

“The research we propose will significantly advance our understanding of the molecular complexes that control the function of electrical synapses,” O’Brien said in a news release.

The team at UH will work to identify the proteins and examine how they impact electrical synapses. It is particularly interested in the Connexin 36, or Cx36, protein. According to O’Brien, phosphorylation of Cx36, a short-term chemical modification of the protein, serves as a key driver of plasticity. And the protein has been linked to refractive error development, which is one of the largest vision problems in the world today.

Additionally, OBrien’s research has shown that plasticity is essential for all-day vision, allowing the retina to adjust sensitivity and sharpen images. He has also built a catalog of the core set of proteins surrounding electrical synapses that are conserved across species. His research has been funded by the NEI since 2000.