New battery could change world, one house at a time

[Baack]

In a modest building on the west side of Salt Lake City, a team of specialists in advanced materials and electrochemistry has produced what could be the single most important breakthrough for clean, alternative energy since Socrates first noted solar heating 2,400 years ago.
The prize is the culmination of 10 years of research and testing -- a new generation of deep-storage battery that's small enough, and safe enough, to sit in your basement and power your home.

It promises to nudge the world to a paradigm shift as big as the switch from centralized mainframe computers in the 1980s to personal laptops. But this time the mainframe is America's antiquated electrical grid; and the switch is to personal power stations in millions of individual homes.
Former energy secretary Bill Richardson once disparaged the U.S. electrical grid as "third world," and he was painfully close to the mark. It's an inefficient, aging relic of a century-old approach to energy and a weak link in national security in an age of terrorism.

http://www.heraldextra.com/news/arti...cc4c002e0.html

[kajidono]

Hope they don't fade from the public eye never to be heard from again like the last guy who created a cool new battery.

[GRAYMATTERS]

Originally Posted by kajidono

Hope they don't fade from the public eye never to be heard from again like the last guy who created a cool new battery.

These guys are not likely to "fade away"..... Like the article stated..... Cerametec is the R&D arm of COORSTEK. Ever heard of "Coors Beer"?..... Same family!!! Coorstek is located in Golden, Colorado, right in the same neighborhood as the brewery. It used to be called "Coors Ceramics", but the name was changed about 20 years ago, give or take. Coors has been engineering and producing high tech ceramic devices for at least 50 years, maybe longer.

Coorstek is a "heavy hitter"...... They are serious players...... know how to make money..... and if this technology is "legitimate", you can bet your bottom dollar, that these folks will bring it to market.

Colorado has been at the center of battery technology for quite a while now. Here's a short list of some of the local players:

Gates Energy Products
Optima batteries
Bolder Batteries.... who later became Bolder technologies
Western Inorganics (Lithium batteries)
and now.... Coorstek

It's no small coincidence that the last three on the list can be found in the same "industrial business park".

I once worked with a physicist who had working relationships with the first 3 on the list, a business relationship with the fourth, and quite possibly some form of influence with the fifth (probably indirect influence, but influence none-the-less). His research was seriously devoted to the membrane separating the positive and negative components inside the batteries. He, also, was concerned with creating as much surface area for the chemical reactions to take place, as was possible for a given volume. ie, thin positive and negative components, and especially thin membranes, separating those components.

Coorstek is on to something, with their ceramic membrane...... I guarantee it !!!!!!!!!!

[kajidono]

Good, cause I want one already.

[Ken]

I wonder how hard the utility companies lobbyists will try to put down this technology..

[kajidono]

About as hard as the recording industry has been for the last 30 years or so.

[GRAYMATTERS]

Originally Posted by KENMAR

I wonder how hard the utility companies lobbyists will try to put down this technology..

REAL HARD !!!!

It is only natural, that one try to protect one's "TURF".

But, like I said, the "Coors Folks" aren't johnny-come-lately's. In fact, they don't much care for utilities.... they've been producing their own electrical and energy needs for several decades. (They went off the grid some time ago, and as far as I know, haven't hooked back up).

If there ever were to be a turf war between the two, I think one would find it quite entertaining to watch..... and I, for one, wouldn't bet on the utilities.

[rookietrucker]

Originally Posted by KENMAR

I wonder how hard the utility companies lobbyists will try to put down this technology..

I was thinking the same thing, when I read this article. I can bet Oncor here in Texas would try to ban such a technology or "limit it's progress".

[kajidono]

That reminds me, didn't they come up with a tax for not being hooked up to the grid and generating your own power? That's one thing they'd have to drag me off to jail for.