In the Wild West of ecocapitalism, where billions of dollars are invested yearly into companies that invoke some measure of sustainability, the ideas spawned by start-ups can feel like elements of the sort of dystopian future dreamed up in a sci-fi movie from the sixties: vodka made from carbon captured out of the atmosphere; sneakers made out of recycled chewing gum; a solar geoengineering project that would’ve sent sunlight-reflecting particles into the atmosphere to cool the planet. That’s why Katy-based start-up NanoTech Materials stood out, said Matthew Peña, director of the Rice Alliance Clean Energy Accelerator, which supports innovative start-ups—its idea was comparatively simple. The company produces a particle that, it claims, is extremely effective at rejecting heat. The “Insulative Ceramic Particle,” when blended into common…
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