Whole house battery

[begreen]

This is quite interesting. $2000 for a 5kw/hr battery? Wow. Given the number of power outages we have here (one today on a clear sunny day), this could be a reasonable solution. I'd like to know a bit more about the maintenance.

(broken link removed to http://www.heraldextra.com/news/article_b0372fd8-3f3c-11de-ac77-001cc4c002e0.html)

 

[peakbagger]

Its a real positive article but it looks like it might be awhile before there is one for sale. I expect that there is an attempt at accessing stimulus money to develop the process. I expect there will be a IPO pretty quickly.

One of the tough aspects of high energy density storage is short circuits.Like the infamous defective Dell Lithium Ion batteries, when there is a lot of power stored in a small area, if there is a short circuit, a lot of heat is generated whihc usually melts the battery and starts a fire. The introduction of large amounts of sodium into a residential use might make the firefighters a bit wary.

Nevertheless its a game changer if they pull it off.

 

[Gooserider]

I have my doubts, the article read more like a "puff piece" written by the company's PR department than a serious investigative article... From what I've seen they were real shaky on the non-battery related details, which makes me doubt the main part is any better... (Thin film solar has been getting talked about for a long time, but has yet to actually appear in the market place, conventional batteries last longer than claimed if operated properly, and so forth...)

I also seem to remember that paper as being real fond of SCO and their "Litigate your way to riches" business plan as well...

Gooserider

 

[DiscoInferno]

Since there is no product, and won't be in the near future, an article like this has no purpose other than to lure investors and/or pump stock prices (for traded companies). It's not objectively informative, in that there is no independent verification of the science, the size of the remaining technology hurdles, or the reality of the pricing. Just PR. Go to the Ceramatec website (http://www.ceramatec.com) and click around. Big lists of press releases and patents, but the "products" link is empty.

Bottom line: some companies will inevitably develop better and cheaper batteries and other energy storage devices. But you won't know which ones based on articles like that. Only by big sales of real products.

 

[Gooserider]

Since there is no product, and won't be in the near future, an article like this has no purpose other than to lure investors and/or pump stock prices (for traded companies). It's not objectively informative, in that there is no independent verification of the science, the size of the remaining technology hurdles, or the reality of the pricing. Just PR. Go to the Ceramatec website (http://www.ceramatec.com) and click around. Big lists of press releases and patents, but the "products" link is empty.

Bottom line: some companies will inevitably develop better and cheaper batteries and other energy storage devices. But you won't know which ones based on articles like that. Only by big sales of real products.

Exactly... Just my take is that the cited article, and the paper it is printed in are seemingly less accurate sources than most...

Gooserider