Berkeley Lab researchers continue to boggle my mind. Most recently, Seung-Wuk Lee came up with the idea of using a virus (true!) to create electricity. Granted, it’s not a lot of power, yet, but you can see the promise there. The materials might one day coat your shoes or laptop. As you walk or work, energy could generate power for your smartphone or iPod, or, keep the laptop going when you’re on the road and nary an outlet in sight.
“It works by tapping a finger on a postage stamp-sized electrode coated with specially engineered viruses. The viruses convert the force of the tap into an electric charge.
Their generator is the first to produce electricity by harnessing the piezoelectric properties of a biological material. Piezoelectricity is the accumulation of a charge in a solid in response to mechanical stress,” said the news release.
KGO-TV Channel 7’s Jonathan Bloom took a look at the virus=electricity equation:
We all know electricity is important, and as we peer into the crystal ball the future we see looks like it’s going to need a lot more of it…electric vehicles, demanding appliances and buildings, all crying out for a superhero to save the day.
Where to start? One effort is the newly established battery consortium that might become the brain trust of everything batteries. Led by Berkeley Lab, along with the California Clean Energy Fund (CalCEF), the consortium’s name is CalCharge. Get it? CalCharge.
Loading a lithium coin cell for testing on an Arbin battery cycler. (Photo: Roy Kaltschmidt, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)
The goal is to unite the Bay Area’s growing number of battery technology companies, academic institutions, and government resources, creating a regional ecosystem to,
“…jumpstart a new era of battery technologies, but also help ensure that U.S. companies succeed in this highly competitive environment,” CalCharge announcement.
So, here’s what we know:
• Hybrid and electric vehicles now make up more than 2% of the U.S. auto market, and it’s even higher in Europe and Asia,
• Local VC investment in battery companies exceeds $100M,
• and, more than $46M is being invested by the Department of Energy into battery innovation.
“There’s a lot of battery know-how in California, specifically the Bay Area, but technology startups need an ecosystem to thrive,” said Venkat Srinivasan, head of Berkeley Lab’s energy storage research program. “The Berkeley Lab battery program, long known for its deep expertise in solving the problems in advanced batteries, is ideally positioned to work with battery companies in the region.”
Berkeley Lab's Venkat Srinivasan (Photo: Roy Kaltschmidt)
The Bay Area alone has more than 30 startups and larger companies focusing in this area. California had 258 patent filings between 2008 and 2010 for battery technology. No state is even close to that.
Companies joining CalCharge will send their researchers up to Berkeley Lab, giving them access to facilities like the Advanced Light Source and Molecular Foundry, and all the testing and diagnostic equipment that goes with that. Plus…
- Battery University: In-depth training courses on the latest developments in battery technology
- Market and Policy Seminars: Quarterly series of 3-hour education workshops on market and policy matters related to grid storage and electric vehicles
- Web Series: Webinars covering technical, market or policy developments related to storage
“We wanted to start CalCharge because we know that emerging energy storage companies are facing a complex market and major technical challenges,” said Doug Davenport, co-lead of the CalCharge initiative at Berkeley Lab.
From the Lab’s perspective, working side-by-side with private industry will give its researchers a better perspective on the needs of the public and industry. Are we on the right track with our research? This will tell us.
While we can’t promise a virus-powered car anytime soon, this new battery coalition should get us headed in the right direction, towards less-expensive and more sustainable technologies. Who knows what the “power” of numbers will help us achieve?
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How much has the battery improved through the last 150 years? Compared to other developments, the progress has only been modest. A battery holds fairly little power, is bulky, heavy, and has a short life span. Battery power is also very expensive. The smaller the battery, the higher the cost per watt becomes. Yet humanity depends on the battery as an important portable power source.
I totally agree. It is kind of sad how little new battery technology is in the marketplace. They started with solar powered cars when I was in college (20+ years ago) and the biggest problem was the batteries. With electric/hybrid cars they seem to have upped the ante a bit, but not as much as I would have expected. With the advances in all other technical areas over the past 20 years, batteries certainly haven’t seemed to have kept up.
Let’s hope this consortium will help bring this field into the limelight. Good luck to all the companies involved in this.
As a small electronics firm based in torrance the prospect of this new technology to prolong the battery life of our electrical goods is very exciting indeed. The determination of both public and private sector companies working together on creating this new technology will directly contribute to giving the U.S. a head start in the modern electronics industry. The 258 patents filed in california show nothing other than the dedication taken by this state alone to provide clean energy resources for future battery technology. Once again leading the way in creating a sustainable, innovative, piece of hardware which exceeds the job it was designed to do!!
Good Job Guys, We hope to hear more on this in the future!