Green Technology

Startup Eos Energy Storgae announced on Monday that it has raised a $15 million series B round from a group of investors including power company NRG Energy. Eos Energy, based in New Jersey, has been building a low cost grid battery using air and zinc that it hopes utilities and power companies will buy to help manage their grids and combine with solar and wind projects. The company is looking to use the funding to help commercialize its batteries, which they’re calling Aurora, and Eos Energy hopes to deliver those to the market in 2014. According to a filing, this B round has been under development for over a year, and the company also says in its release that it is already in the process of raising a series C round, too. Eos Energy is testing out its first batteries with New York utility ConEdison, and the two are using a state grant to install batteries on the New York grid. The company says it also has other utility partners in the works. Scientists have been working on using air as the cathode for batteries for half a century. A battery is made up of an anode on one side and a cathode on the other, with an electrolyte in between. Air, of course, is abundant, light weight, and doesn’t require a heavy casing to contain it inside a battery cell. Also theoretically air can achieve a high energy density, or amount of energy that it can store. Eos Energy tech innovation comes from founder and inventor Steven Amendola who discovered a breakthrough with his original design of the bi-directional air cathode that could last for 10,000 cycles (or around three decades). The company has told me that its initial battery could cost $160 per kWh, lasts 30 years and be made up of everyday benign materials. Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.After Solyndra: analyzing the solar industryGreen IT Q4: solar, subsidies and the outlook for EVsGreen IT Q1: Cleantech Breaking Out — and Bracing for Hard Times

Dirk Winkel's slick desk lamp uses a fossil-free bio plastic.

Despite a steady decline in deforestation in recent years, the latest figure suggests indicate a change of direction.

New vehicle emission and fuel standards proposed by the EPa will reduce pollution, save gas, protect public health, and create jobs.

This one will go into the "no comments" and "speaks for itself" category.

To celebrate its 10th anniversary, ARKive asked its users to vote for their favorite species. Over 14,000 votes from 162 countries have been cast, and now the results are in.

They turn the classic box into a modular furniture system at the Design Mart at ICFF

Designers focused on improving lives for poor farmers have a solar-powered pumping plan.

They have done in five months what normally times four years, in a process that should be a model for how it's done.

Here’s an article from SmartGridNews that raises an interesting and important question about the siting of renewable energy projects. Siemens is asserting that the large European governments are in the process of wasting 45 billion Euros by not properly thinking through the consequences of its siting decisions. No one likes to waste money, especially not tens of billions of Euros. But this is tricky business for several reasons, like the opportunity cost of waiting while various forces argue the merits of different alternatives. This, btw, is exactly what the Nature Conservancy wants to do here in the U.S., i.e., take as long as required to find the perfect spot for solar panels – one that has exactly zero impact on natural systems. In case it’s not obvious, I believe that there is a real cost to this behavior, and that making a few compromises in the name of expediting the build-up of renewables is acceptable. Related posts:U.S. Awards $28 Million to Offshore Wind Farm ProjectsPredicting Our Energy FutureWhat Will Your House Look Like In 2020?Air Pollution Exceeds International Health Standards for European UrbanitesWill power lines sink offshore wind? Money talksCopyright © 2008-2010 CleanTechies, Inc. and Partners This feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. Written by 2GreenEnergy. To the comments (Digital Fingerprint: b008bf120fbd682ffd7ee5812c495c9a)Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)