Investing in any commodity producer bears a great deal of risk since the success of a commodities producer is heavily dependent on the price of the underlying commodity which in turn is subject to pricing factors that are out of the producers’ control, except of course in the case of a monopoly. Usually oil and […]
Energy storage has been a hot topic lately. While there are many forms of energy storage, the one we might be most familiar with is lithium-ion battery technology. All those smartphones you see around wouldn’t be here were it not for lithium-ion batteries. Perhaps the most visible user of lithium-ion batteries these days is Tesla […]
There’s no denying that Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) has established that certain “cool factor” that companies like Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) have managed to attain among their consumer/investor/fan base. In an article last year on Protean Electric’s in-wheel electric motor, we expounded on just how “cool” the Tesla Model S actually is. This stylish electric all-wheel drive with a […]
If you own a car that turns itself off when you’re idling, then you already know what a stop-start battery is. A stop-start battery system simply shuts down the engine in a vehicle when it begins to idle and then restarts the engine when the clutch or gas pedal is pressed. What are the benefits […]
As we highlighted in a recent article, with all the promises of graphene being the next super material to enable a host of disruptive technologies, the actual commercialization of graphene products seems to be progressing at a snail’s pace. However, one graphene enabled product we came across recently from a startup called Zapgocharger seems to […]
According to a 2012 market research report by MarketsandMarkets, the total thin film and printed battery market amounted to just $181.5 million in 2012, however it is expected to reach $1.2 billion by 2017, a CAGR of over +46.14%! In past articles, we covered Blue Spark’s green and disposable carbon-zinc batteries which are just .029 inches thick, and […]
In a previous article, we highlighted LightSail Energy, an interesting company which aims to produce the world’s cleanest and most economical energy storage systems using compressed air. Compressed air energy storage has been regarded as possibly the lowest-cost technology available for large-scale energy storage, however, it has never been commercially viable due to the thermodynamic inefficiency of conventional air compressors […]
According to the Department of Energy’s global energy storage database, there are only 24 recognized flow battery installations in operation in the United States using technologies such as vanadium, zinc bromide, hydrogen bromine, and zinc-nickel oxide. One company that recently added their battery storage technology, iron chromium, to this list of successful installations is EnerVault. About […]
In past articles, we discussed the rapidly growing grid storage market, and looked at one of the 5-largest recipients of VC funding in history, Bloom Energy, which is addressing this market with solid oxide fuel cells. However, fuel cells and flow batteries are not the only viable methods of storing grid energy. For many years […]
In a previous article, we highlighted printed electronics company PragmatIC Printing and their ability to produce sub-micron transistors on various flexible substrates. We also highlighted Blue Spark Technologies which produces flexible batteries and helped PragmatIC produce a flexible timer which they debuted at the recent IDTechEx Printed Electronics Europe event that was held in Berlin. Another company, Enfucell, produces eco-friendly printed […]