Mid-Semester Update: Spring 2022

RNEF visits Houston innovation district in January

To kick off the first official semester of the Rice New Energy Fund, our team went on a tour of the Houston Innovation District in January. Throughout the tour, we visited Greentown Labs, the leading climate tech startup ecosystem, and The Ion, Houston's innovation hub developed by Rice. Several members of the RNEF team will be interning with firms based in The Ion or Greentown in the upcoming months. It was also inspiring to learn about the strong Rice presence in The Ion as Maynard Holt and Troy Thacker have both chosen the facility to be home to their leading energy transition platforms. Following the exciting tour of the innovation district, we went to midtown for some nice, warm Vietnamese food. We hope to continue this tradition of starting every semester with a new energy-themed tour and team outing.

RNEF leadership meets with Bloom Energy’s executives at Rice

Just this week, our leadership team attended a presentation by Bloom Energy executives on Bloom’s contributions to worldwide decarbonization efforts and role in the energy transition. During this session, our team had the opportunity to ask questions regarding Bloom’s current operations and growth plans. The session allowed us to both get direct insights from one of the world’s leading hydrogen operators and foster a new relationship in the energy transition industry. We look forward to hosting more energy transition leaders at Rice!