Demonstrating its continued commitment to advancing the energy transition and bolstering the region’s workforce, BP donated $200,000 to Houston Community College (HCC) to fund an electrical vehicle safety and mechanic training course for City of Houston and Harris County employees. The initiative underscores the international company’s commitment to sustainability and aims to equip local technicians with the specialized skills needed for the future of transportation.  The program aims to train more than 250 fleet department employees this year by providing safety knowledge for handling EVs and advanced training on repairs and maintenance.  “We embrace Houston's role as the energy capital of the world and we continue to support the city and the county and their efforts to advance the energy transition,” Mark Crawford, Sr. Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at bp, said during a check presentation at an HCC Board of Trustees meeting. “We are excited for the year ahead and many technicians who will depart HCC campus with a certificate in hand and new knowledge to utilize.”  Click to expand bp check presentation to HCC to fund EV safety training   In 2020, the City of Houston released its Climate Action Plan which included converting non-emergency, light-duty municipal vehicles to electric by 2030. Harris County has a similar goal to transition its fleet to electric vehicles.  HCC’s Northeast College President Michael Edwards applauded bp’s investment and commitment to strengthening communities, creating sustainable jobs and advancing the transition.   “bp America seeks to work with partners to develop initiatives for the area's most impacted by the energy transition and enable the workforce to gain the skills needed for future energy systems,” said Michael Edwards, PhD, President of HCC’s Northeast College Campus.    Earlier this year, bp launched its first U.S. EV charging station, bp Pulse, at the company’s Energy Corridor headquarters. The station, offering 24 high-speed EV charge points, is part of bp’s plan to invest $1 billion in EV charging infrastructure by 2030.  Learn more about Houston's energy industry.

Two multinational corporations have announced a new collaboration to create energy-efficient and sustainable solutions for data centers as the market experiences significant growth.  ExxonMobil and Intel are working to design, test, research and develop new liquid cooling technologies to optimize data center performance and help customers meet their sustainability goals. Liquid cooling solutions serve as an alternative to traditional air-cooling methods in data centers.  “Our partnership with ExxonMobil to co-develop turnkey solutions for liquid cooling will enable significant energy and water savings for data center and network deployments,” said Jen Huffstetler, Chief Product Sustainability Officer, Intel.  According to consulting firm McKinsey, “a hyperscaler’s data center can use as much power as 80,000 households do,” and that demand is expected to keep surging. Power consumption by the U.S. data center market is forecasted “to reach 35 gigawatts (GW) by 2030, up from 17 GW in 2022,” according to a McKinsey analysis. Artificial intelligence and machine learning, and other advanced computing techniques are increasing computational workloads, and in return, increasing electricity demand. Therefore, companies are searching for solutions to support this growth.   ExxonMobil launched its full portfolio of data center immersion fluid products last year. The partnership with Intel will allow them to further advance their efforts in this market.  “By integrating ExxonMobil’s proven expertise in liquid cooling technologies with Intel’s long legacy of industry leadership in world-changing computing technologies, together we will further the industry’s adoption and acceptance as it transitions to liquid cooling technologies,” said Sarah Horne, Vice President, ExxonMobil.  Learn more about Houston's Energy Transition Initiative.