Batteries

The city of San Jose, Calif., will be the first to test electric-car charging stations from start-up Coulomb Technologies.

The company's products include 110-volt outlets that can be outfitted in public and mounted on poles, such as streetlights.

Coulomb is designing ChargePoint Network stations to scale to the national level, with a projected need of two stations per car, as electricity-powered vehicles become popular. Each Smartlet station would cost between $1,000 and $2,000 for a business or municipality to set up.

The company aims to demonstrate its technology on Tuesday on a Saturn Vue plug-in hybrid at … Read more

Better Energy Systems, maker of the sun-powered Solio gadget charger, snagged $5 million from TBL Capital on Monday.

The Berkeley, Calif., company produces the petal-shaped, fold-up Solio for powering iPhones, digital cameras, MP3 players, GPS, and other mobile devices. Its unique design often turns heads at trade shows.

"Almost half the world's population has limited access to consistent electricity; Solio not only offers an advanced solution to that inequity, but does so in an entirely sustainable manner," Joe Marshall, principal at TBL Capital, said in a statement.

The Solio's lithium ion battery is meant to take … Read more

Giant cousins of your laptop batteries are going to provide storage to the electricity grid.

Altairnano on Tuesday said that Indianapolis Power & Light, a division of utility AES, completed tests for using two megawatts worth of its batteries to maintain grid frequency.

The two one-megawatt units--each housed in a semi-trailer--can store up to 15 minutes worth of electricity, or 250 kilowatt-hours each. (The average U.S. home consumes 920 kilowatt-hours per month.)

The tests are important because they demonstrated that lithium-ion batteries can be used for utility-grade energy storage. Right now, most short-term energy storage is done by lead … Read more

There are several ways one can harness natural energy. In addition to the sun, wind, tides, and geothermal activities, the human body itself is increasingly being used to produce energy charge all sorts of electricity-hungry devices.

Music company Orange and GotWind, a firm specializing in renewable energy, have teamed up to create a device called the Dance Charge. Weighing 180 grams (about 6.3 ounces), you strap it around your arm. Dance Charge then uses the kinetic energy generated by your body in motion to juice up your phone.

It also uses a system of weights and magnets to produce … Read more

Someday, the electricity grid will operate with the equivalent of a giant hard drive. But in the short term, grid storage will look more like a PC's cache or RAM, able to serve up small bursts of power to keep things from crashing.

A panel of experts, organized by the New England Clean Energy Council, earlier this week said that the utility storage field has enormous potential. But rapid deployment of storage devices is held back by concerns over technology risk and financial complexity.

Technology optimists say that wide-scale energy storage will change the face of the transmission grid … Read more

A123 Systems has signed on electricity utilities to use its lithium-ion batteries for short-term energy storage, according to a company executive.

The company, spun out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is a closely watched venture that is best known for activity in the auto and power tools markets.

It is working with General Motors for plug-in hybrids and Think for all-electric town cars. A123 Systems also owns Hymotion, a company that converts hybrid cars to plug-in hybrids.

But lithium-ion batteries, already used in millions of consumer electronics devices, can be plugged into the electricity grid as well, according to … Read more

The push for energy-efficient lighting in the developed world focuses on replacing wasteful incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents and LEDs. In developing regions, however, kerosene lanterns still bring dim nighttime light to an estimated 1.6 billion people.

Off-grid lighting is a growing area of focus for social entrepreneurs eyeing opportunities for "green" technologies in developing markets.

Engineers, start-ups, nonprofit groups, and venture capitalists involved are working on portable flashlights and fixtures powered by solar panels and even bicycle-like pedaling contraptions.

Safe and affordable lighting can be key to development efforts in poor communities. With better light, people … Read more

Presumed Republican presidential nominee John McCain on Monday proposed a $300 million prize to develop a car battery that will "leapfrog" today's plug-in hybrids.

In an energy policy speech at Fresno State University in California, McCain also called for an overhaul to existing policies that favor domestic ethanol production--one of the biggest differences he has with his expected opponent, Senator Barack Obama.

McCain said that, if elected, his administration would issue a Clean Car Challenge that would give give a $5,000 tax credit to people who purchase "zero-emissions cars."

There would be a sliding … Read more

Billions of people continue to burn dangerous and costly kerosene in lamps to see at night.

Start-up d.light design, which aims for no less than to eliminate kerosene around the world within a decade, is launching three off-grid lighting products for developing regions.

"We believe that 1.6 billion people without regular access to electricity deserve high-quality, safe and dependable light that they can afford," said Sam Goldman, CEO of New Delhi, India-based d.light design, in a Monday statement.

Three lights from d.light will cost $30 or less and are designed to be cheaper for … Read more