Sunday, 03 January 2010

The United States Advanced Battery Consortium LLC, an organization whose members are Chrysler Group LLC, Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co., is seeking requests for proposal information (RFPIs) for four projects related to advanced battery development for hybrid electric, plug-in hybrid electric and electric vehicles.

USABC's four RFPIs, for consideration of contracts that will include a 50 percent minimum cost share by developers, are for:

• development of advanced high performance batteries for electric vehicle (EV) applications;
• development of advanced energy storage systems for high-power, lower energy-energy storage system (LEESS) for power-assist hybrid electric vehicle (PAHEV) applications;
• development of advanced high-performance batteries for plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) applications; and
• a technology assessment of proposed advanced battery technologies for EV applications.

December 28, 2009

Jim Avery, senior vice president of power supply for San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), has a story to tell about smart grid technology and workforce education. This pairing has really taken off at his utility and throughout the area.

"The story is really about the power industry. More will happen in our industry in the next 10 years than has happened over the past hundred years. Now we have smart grid and there's the potential for all sorts of change -- it tells us about outages, is capable of self healing and requires no human intervention," Avery said.

December 23, 2009

Energy's future may have come to light with Exxon Mobil Corp.'s proposed purchase of XTO Energy. If ExxonMobil's predictions are right, unconventional formations such as shale would provide significantly more of this country's generation and transportation fuels.

Texas-based XTO, which has the resource equivalent of 45 trillion cubic feet of shale gas, shale oil and coal-bed methane, might be the perfect fit for ExxonMobil -- or any deep-pocketed oil partner, for that matter. Indeed, Big Oil has made huge profits from high-priced gasoline in recent years and that money must get reinvested. By betting on natural gas, ExxonMobil is saying that fossil fuels will remain paramount but that tighter air quality restrictions are coming; natural gas emits far fewer emissions than either oil or coal.

December 21, 2009

Balancing the electricity load is a difficult job. The hard part is maintaining that portion of the system that often sits idle but which is necessary to meet high energy times.

Enter energy storage, where the electricity can be housed during periods of less demand and then subsequently set free when it is needed most. That, in essence, contributes to a more efficient production and delivery process while also adding to the potential for alternative sources. Stated differently, users can power-up with a "battery" or other device instead of directly from a congested grid or maxed-out power plants.

December 02, 2009

Warren Buffett is banking on the rail system to move America into the next era of prosperity. By extension, he might also be helping to boost the coal industry, which is dependent on rail transportation.

Through his purchase of the nation's second biggest railroad company Burlington Northern Santa Fe, Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway will now be transporting about 300 million tons of coal a year that account for 27 percent of the carrier's revenues. The railroad industry, generally, represents the pulse of America -- a point that Buffett has made in several interviews, saying that its importance will only expand.