DRich

PHEVs and EVs: Plugging into a Lump of Coal

Atta-Boy John!!!

Energy Storage on the Smart Grid: 99.45% Cheap and 0.55% Cool

Great article & Thank to you for all the links over the year. The Sandia test really gave the validation of this 5 yr. old obsession and got me thinking of investing in the full package. Being a believer that cheap wins with customers everytime. I thought that old-made-new again was the way, but couldn't justify my instincts. I was very interested to see results from emerging technology I could believe in.

Most of the discussion to date in your articles comment sections has been about PHEV, L-ion (neither of which peak my interest,though I'm invested) and major national grid applications (also invested in). The link is driving me crazy. Being a rural Texan (with all the stubborn, obnoxious independance that entails), I, my neighbors, and investing friends want to live off-the-grid as soon as possible. We still want the Grid as our UPS system, but ....

For major Utility installations the conversion of low voltage storage systems into the "smart" grid transmission seems to be covered by all the usual player suchas Eaton(ETN), International Business Machines(IBM), Emerson Electric(EMR), Siemens AG(SI), Johnson Controls(JCI), Honeywell(HON), and the like. All good companies and I would not hesitate to reccomend any of them, but they are too diversified and solutions too costly to have upside specific to this investing thesis. Most of the world doesn't have a mature or even an existing electrical grid. Our thesis is that the real upside to renewable energy is in these undeveloped places and the return of rural life that our kids and grandchildren will experience. I'm a believer that this urban sprall that is the USA will start to fade in the next fifty years and am looking out that far for investing beyond my lifetime. I know it's too soon to know but the local energy source is a today problem for us. That is why the link between our renewable sources and the house is a problem. Hell, our little co-op even tried to get A123 to install a household test at our expense just because their system uses Energy Conversion Devices(ENER) laminate, one my favorite companies, and we would be able to see what I don't fully understand in action. They thought us crazy and inefficiencies of cost were nutty even to me.

My question to you and this site would be: What might be an investable company that can invert low voltage storage into household existing energy?

Chinese & Indian companies can do this now, but I don't understand either countries bookkeeping/finacial structure well enough. The major industrials are too costly and nonspecific. I'm just driving myself nuts with the large number of smaller companies that are mostly private. Thought??????

Auto Batteries: Short Term Revenue Growth Favors Lead-Acid by 6 to 1

J.Petersen, I think I've read every article and most links you've provided over the last year. I was an uniformed fan of battery tech, but you've helped a lot. Thanks.
I'm starting to branch out of the storage manufacturing, that I've chosen to invest in, and am now moving into the the search for the build-out firms. The motive industries have certainly gotten a large amount of pixels and ire from your postings, but I'm really not interested (from my investment POV). I'm much more interested in the resurrection of USA industrial base, which to me is energy, and the resources, i.e. the mining, needed to do this. I'm a big fan of the VAT that is Cap&Trade carbon credits since it's been demonstrated to work with SO2 and NOx in the past (and been profitable) that I'm building toward this next wave.

Auto Batteries: Short Term Revenue Growth Favors Lead-Acid by 6 to 1

Just curious, but who besides the motive industries is the largest consumer of lead acid batteries? I'm trying to build a basket of cleantech using existing off-the-shelf technology.