Storage posts, articles, and infographics

Renewable Energy via Fuel Cells: Solid Oxide Comes of Age

May 18, 2012 by Christopher Miles
with 403 views

In our previous post, we outlined some of the ways that the Hydrogen Fuel cell is slowly making its way into the transportation energy mix. It’s benefits seem manifold: Hydrogen Fuel Cells release only water vapor, and once generated, Hydrogen can be stored for long periods with minimal loss. It also can be supplied... [read more]

Assessing Arun Majumdar's Legacy at ARPA-E

May 15, 2012 by Clifton Yin
with 349 views

Flickr

Last week saw the unfortunate news that Dr. Arun Majumdar will resign – effective June 9 – from the U.S. Department of Energy, where he has served as the head of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) since October 2009. His departure is a “big hit for energy innovation policy,” ITIF’s Matt Stepp commented (... [read more]

Why Storage?

May 14, 2012 by James Greenberger
with 263 views

cardiae /Shutterstock

It is not clear that the automotive market alone will provide an advanced battery market of sufficient size and immediacy to attract the necessary capital and innovation. Using a potentially larger market for the deployment of similar batteries in DES systems on the grid to leverage the automotive market, however, would make for a large, combined market. [read more]

Overheated rods & rhetoric

May 8, 2012 by Steve Skutnik
with 1,005 views

IEEE spectrum

A little knowledge is sometimes a dangerous thing - particularly when fundamentally incomplete technical knowledge is used to make sweeping engineering recommendations. The latest example of this is the concern over the spent fuel storage pools at Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4, which has been getting attention from several corners. First,... [read more]

Is An Electricity Négociant in our Future?

May 7, 2012 by Christine Hertzog
with 406 views

David Kay/Shutterstock

Ahh, California. The land of milk and honey. And wine – lots of it. Silicon Valley denizens like me can find vineyards and wineries within a 30 minute drive in any direction. So it stands to reason that we’re more focused on the wine business than other parts of the country. There’s a term that is... [read more]

Lithium-Air Battery R&D Moves Forward

April 26, 2012 by Clifton Yin
with 1,147 views

Several different companies are now working on making lithium-air batteries, that can power an electric car for 500 miles on a single charge. In comparison, today’s conventional lithium-ion batteries can only take cars roughly 150 miles between plug-ins. [read more]

The 1 Percent’s Electric Car: The $980,000 Rimac Concept One

April 24, 2012 by Nino Marchetti
with 461 views

In life there will be most of us, and there will be the one percent. There will be those of us who fly in coach, and there will be those of us who have their own private jets. When it comes to green cars, there will be those of us who drive the Prius, and those who drive the $980,000 Rimac Concept One electric sports car. [read more]

NAATBatt Meets with Secretary Chu; New Initiatives to Follow

April 21, 2012 by James Greenberger
with 591 views

NAATBatt looks forward to following the progress of the distributed energy storage market and to playing an important role in promoting it. The white paper predicts a possible combined DES/automotive market for advanced batteries of as much as 370 GWh by 2022. That market may happen, but it will only happen if the groundwork is properly laid for it. NAATBatt expects to follow-up our success with Secretary Chu with the announcement of two new initiatives at the ESA meeting in Washington next month. Watch this column for more details. [read more]

Pitching Cleantech: Are startup competitions a good idea for energy entrepreneurs?

April 17, 2012 by Henry Spethmann
with 354 views

More and more energy investors are giving entrepreneurs the opportunity to pitch their idea in so-called 'startup competitions'. Is there any value to these? [read more]

Battery Fires and Rick Santelli

April 14, 2012 by James Greenberger
with 465 views

Photo by matthewvenn via Flickr

Advanced batteries and compressed natural gas can both power vehicles and can do so safely if properly engineered and manufactured. The key to the safety of both technologies is rigorous testing, high quality manufacture, and minimum safety standards. As between the safety technology coming out of the GM Technical Center and that coming out of Mr. Santelli’s garage, I will take the GM technology any day of the week. Hopefully, the press will catch on soon. [read more]

Is hydropower necessary to make wind work?

April 9, 2012 by Michael Giberson
with 660 views

From time to time a promoter of wind power will encourage the U.S. to follow Denmark’s lead and aim for a much higher levels of wind power on the grid. (Recently Denmark’s legislature established a goal of attaining 50 percent of its energy from wind power by 2020.)A working paper by Johannes Mauritzen explains one of the key factors... [read more]

Experience with Energy Storage Technology Is The Key to Promoting Innovation

April 1, 2012 by James Greenberger
with 1,069 views

Photo by einstraus via Flickr

It is clear that new innovation is needed to bring down the cost of energy storage and that the innovation must produce technologies and systems that are different than what we use today. But in looking for that innovation and trying to promote it, it is important to identify from where it is most likely to come. Innovation that matters, that truly impacts mature technologies such as automobiles and the electricity grid, will not occur in a vacuum (or in a laboratory alone). Innovation that matters can only be promoted by giving battery manufacturers, auto makers and utilities real world, practical experience with existing energy storage technology, insufficient as it may be, and letting them figure out how best to increase its power and decrease its cost. [read more]

Thinking About Disruptions in the Advanced Battery Supply Chain

March 24, 2012 by James Greenberger
with 534 views

Photo by Danny Fowler via Flickr

Disruptions to the supply chain of processed materials and finished goods can be far more destructive than disruptions to raw material supplies. If lithium carbonate or rare earth metal supplies are disrupted, new mines or sources of supply can simply be opened when prices rise above a certain point. Processed materials and finished goods, however, are more problematic. Producing processed materials and finished goods requires human experience and know-how. If this experience and know-how is lost as a consequence of a disruption in the manufacture of processed materials or finished goods, simple price signals may be insufficient to restart production. The deficit will be more critical and of much longer term. [read more]

Will Cheap Energy Storage Come to Coal and Nuclear's Rescue?

March 22, 2012 by Jesse Jenkins
with 1,391 views

Everyone knows that the development of low-cost, large-scale electricity storage technologies will be critical to the future of wind and solar energy--or at least everyone who reads The Energy Collective knows that! The ability to cheaply store electricity when the sun is shining or the wind is blowing and use it later when... [read more]

A Story about Energy Innovation Policy: Envia Systems

March 22, 2012 by Matthew Stepp
with 394 views

Since the ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit, emerging next-generation electric vehicle battery company Envia has been gaining headlines because its technology holds the promise of much cheaper electric cars within a few years. [read more]