Michael Fitzsimmons

Cleantech, Optimism Squared and the Battery Industry

johnP: wrt your comment on constraints/opportunity, i think that is why i am such a big nat gas transportation fan. the constraints are pretty simple and very solvable: chicken-n-egg scenario with respect to NGV and refueling availability (of both). on the electric car front (i.e. battery technology) it doesn't seem as simple to me, nor, from a time constraint standpoint, as rational as NGV's. even if electric cars were available in quantity today, they'd be re-charged by coal (bad). it will be a minimum of a decade to build the wind/solar/nuclear infrastructure needed to signficantly reduce foreign oil imports. economically, environmentally, and from a national security standpoint - the US is simply running out of time. therefore, to take the pressure off electric and hydrogen powered vehicles, and to do something proactive over the next 10 years to address the trifecta of big problems just mentioned, it seems to me the pragmatic, technically proven, feasible, and logical move is to place a big bet on NGVs. not just for fleets, but for middle class homes and electrical power generation. americans can save $trillions of dollars and prevent trillions of lbs of CO2 from entering the atmosphere over the next 10 years by taking this step. meantime, let's build the solar, wind, and nuclear infrastructure we'll need to power EV's or generate hydrogen fuel. if i missed your point on constraints/opportunity trade offs, perhaps you could clarify. thanks!

Cleantech, Optimism Squared and the Battery Industry

i always enjoy your articles john. i couldn't help noticing how your "family reunion test" resembles my "can i fly-fish in colorado the rest of my life test". so here's the question: if natural gas vehicles were widely available at dealers, and if CNG refueling stations were abundant, would your family drive to your reunion in an NGV and would i go to the mountains of colorado in an NGV? i can answer affirmative to the later. so, it's not difficult to find a warren buffet type "known" technology...it is staring us right in the eyes and has been around for decades. unfortunately, honda appears to be the only company engaged. considering our abundant natural gas resources in this country, that is a sad commentary on america. regardless, your article was well written and made me think. good action.

Smart Grid's Enabler - Alternative Energy Storage

ok, while making my coffee i realized what my real problem is with battery storage of alternative energy. rather than store the energy in batteries in order to put that energy back on the grid to recharge EV and hybrid batteries, why not come up with a process that simply charges the end-use batteries directly? in other words, have a bank of EV batteries at the alt energy site, charge them at the site, and truck (or rail) the charged batteries into cities and towns such that they can be exchanged for discharged batteries. kinda like project better place's process, just expanded to the grid. this would have the advantages of lower overal battery requirements and prevents the losses associated with transmission and distribution. it would of course require standardizing on battery design types, both electrically and physically such that a minimum of different battery types would be used.

Smart Grid's Enabler - Alternative Energy Storage

i haven't done any calculations (haven't had any coffee yet...), but my gut feel is that the sheer size of battery capacity needed to provide ample and adequate energy storage for an alternative energy based smart grid will simply be enormous. i wonder if the price estimates for these various battery technologies have taken into account the magnitude of total battery production needed for energy grid backup and for providing batteries for EV's and hybrids? have you by any chance done so? perhaps this could be calculated in cubic meters of batteries needed to smooth out the supply. perhaps it is in the articles you refer to - i haven't read them yet.

there are two storage mechanisms I've been asked about previously that were not covered in this article: electrolysis and molten salt. does the omission of these two technologies mean they aren't cost efficient or that they are technologically insufficient in some way? thanks. btw - good article.

Lead-Acid, Lead-Carbon Batteries: The Only Option for Average Consumer

very interesting commentary on the economics vs range on EV's which seems obvious after reading, but i must admit the logic never struck me before. that said, discussions on EV battery technology, foreign battery manufacturing, and EV range bring me back to a the following model for a nuclear family's garage: an electric/nat gas hybrid, refuelable in the garage and on the interestate highway system by nat gas refueling stations (which obama's stimulus plan should be emphasizing now). this vehicle would:
0) leverage existing proven technologies
1) leverage electric use on short trips (wind, solar feeding the grid...)
2) reduce our imports of foreign oil
3) reduce greenhouse gas emissions
4) create good jobs in the energy and automotive industries
and
5) create an infrastructure that will pay dividends for decades.
any thoughts?

Alternative Energy Storage: It's All About Price vs. Performance

sorry, the above comment should have been Carter reduced US foreign oil imports by "5 million barrels per day", not "50%". typing too fast....

Alternative Energy Storage: It's All About Price vs. Performance

1) Carter's policies reduced US oil imports by 50%, made the country aware of energy's ability to cripple our economy (as the Arabs did), and raised fuel economy standards for automobiles (just think where we would be today without that). to detract from Carter's work in this area (the best of any president's), and not to mention the oil-centric disaster that Bush has been wrt energy policy, is simply not objective. i repeat, it was the bush ethanol mandates that brought on food inflation, not the Carter tax subsidies (note the food inflation didn't really hit until recently as Bush's idiotic ethanol mandates kicked in). you cannot blame Carter's actions in the late 1970s for something that happened in 2008.
2) the DOE publishes something like their prediction of vehicle sales in 2030?? come on John...anyone who has the slightest idea of oil supply/demand fundamentals (and the DOE has proven it hasn't the slightest clue), knows that these DOE estimates of vehicles sales is nothing but pure dreaming. the DOE has an oil centric bias, yet doesn't have a clue about oil supply/demand fundamentals. using their data is not only misleading, but dangerous. statistics, sure. prognostications about the future, F-
3) i understand it's an article about investment ideas. but at the same time, listing investment choices in an area as specific as "alternative energy storage" without acknowledging the possible competition to those investment choices seem an omission to me. much of your analysis on batteries is good, and they will certainly be used in electric only and hybrid cars. however, the larger playing field of solar and wind energy array storage, well, i am not so sure batteries are the way to go. are you? do you think batteries, with the cost and capacity needed, will be the way to go to store energy from wind and solar for those times when the wind isn't blowing and the sun isn't shinning? just curious.

Alternative Energy Storage: It's All About Price vs. Performance

John: nice article and you had some important things to say. that said, i'd like to point out a few things:
1) your implication was that the Carter ethanol tax credits were responsible for the recent food inflation. they were not. it was the bush ethanol *mandates* (i.e. mandates forcing the amounts of ethanol blended gasoline) that caused the huge disruptions in the food chain.
2) the DOE has been dead wrong on every major energy policy affecting the US and the department should simply be shut down. presenting DOE data is a good way to be discredited. for instance, the DOE has been wrong on oil price predictions, supply/demand prognositications, and you yourself point out the lack of support for US produced natural gas transportation. DOE policy and predictions make it one of the most dangerous departments of the US government.
3) i am very surprised an article on alternative energy storage didn't go into more detail on molten salt and electrolysis production of hydrogen. in my opinion (and i am still studying the matter) both these system are potentially more cost effective energy storage mediums for large wind and solar arrays than are batteries, as well as being more environmentally friendly.

Market for Electric Vehicle Batteries Is Heating Up

electric hybrids and pure electric cars are great. let's hope the new obama administration will have the political will to strongly encourage and their production and adoption, as opposed to governmental policies in the past which have actually encouraged SUV production (and now the US taxpayer will be bailing out those idiots).

however, as someone earlier pointed out, these electric transportation solutions need charging, and a back of the envelop calculation on replacting just 25% of our foreign imports used for gasoline is one tremendous energy challenge. that is why the *only* economically viable solution for a country as energy challenged as the US is a strategic, long-term, comprehensive energy policy like this one:

thefitzman.blogspot.co...