Earth Equity News

A Quest for Batteries to Alter the Energy Equation. By Matthew L. Wald, NYTimes, July 28, 2009. "This summer the Obama administration plans to announce how it will distribute some $2 billion in stimulus grants to companies that make such advanced batteries for hybrid or all-electric vehicles and related components... The hope is that the grants will spur far higher levels of experimentation and production, pushing down the costs that have prevented these batteries from entering the mass market. The batteries would not only replace the fuel tanks in millions of cars and trucks, but would also make windmills and solar cells more practical, by absorbing excess energy when their production jumps and giving it back when the wind suddenly dies or the sun goes behind a cloud. But first, companies like International Battery, a high-tech start-up, will have to tweak the chemistry of their devices and improve the manufacturing process, bolstering the batteries' capabilities. And prices will have to come down -- a problem that is far more daunting when it comes to batteries for vehicles and the grid, because the packs are hundreds or thousands of times the size of those for handheld electronics.