Combining the time-tested reliability and power of the internal combustion engine with the low-rev efficiency and emissions-free locomotion of an electric motor, hybrid vehicles have proven extremely popular with the American public. New hybrids are almost immediately in high demand, and with gas prices continuing to climb upward, the interest seems unlikely to flag anytime soon.
However, there are many downsides to hybrid technology that negatively affect both vehicle performance and the pocketbook of the American consumer. The weight of the combined battery and engine makes hybrids heavier than comparable vehicles. Existing battery chemistry can be very expensive to create, as it can contain a variety of rare metals. Disposal may increase the cost of ownership, too, due to the presence of highly toxic materials. Plus, popular lithium-ion batteries have a nasty tendency to explode.
But now, PowerGenix, a battery company based in San Diego, has developed an impressive, relatively environmentally friendly solution to the unique problems presented by hybrid-electric vehicles: nickel-zinc batteries. NiZn, with its 30% increases in capacity and power over existing batteries of similar size, is ideally suited for high-power, low-drain applications, such as HEVs. The use of a zinc, which is quite cost effective at less than a dollar per pound, offers excellent price savings compared to lithium-ion and metal hydride batteries. Reduced toxicity increases the ease of disposal, and the more stable battery chemistry eliminates the chances of an unexpected explosion.
NiZn power is not a new technology. Thomas Edison worked with NiZn during his career, and the technology has been used in transportation before, powering a few streetcars in Ireland during the 1930s and ’40s. Until recently, however, the Achilles’ heel of NiZn batteries had been their cycle life limitations.
But recent developments in the use of electrolyte additives have created NiZn batteries good through hundreds of cycles, making them a viable alternative to existing technology. Additionally, PowerGenix’ NiZn cells operate at 1.5v, the same voltage of existing disposable batteries, making them an ideal and longer-lasting replacement for the billions of alkaline batteries in use worldwide.
Realizing the potential of the technology, PowerGenix planned ahead, designing its NiZn batteries to be readily produced using existing infrastructure. “Technology design from the get go was for production on existing nickel metal-hydride and nickel-cadmium lines”, says PowerGenix CEO Dan Squiller. And the move has paid off—through an overseas supplier, PowerGenix will be able to produce some 1.2 million cells each day.
Like any other technology, NiZn batteries are not a magic fix. Existing zinc mining operations do have significant environmental downsides, and nickel, though used in most existing rechargeable batteries, remains a expensive. Still, these issues not withstanding, nickel-zinc batteries represent an exciting new frontier for hybrid vehicle development.
DepotEco Introduces PowerGenix AA Nickel-Zinc High Yield Technology Batteries, (IN STOCK NOW!)
Move over Li-ion , Zinc is about to get all up in your area. Energizer has already announced the Zinc Air Prismatic , and now DepotEco will carry the new PowerGenix Nickel-Zinc (NiZn) AA cells. (IN STOCK NOW!)
San Diego-based PowerGenix, developer and manufacturer of nontoxic, high performance NiZn rechargeable technology.
NiZn batteries provide greater power for today’s high drain consumer electronics, enabling superior camera performance compared to existing rechargeable batteries.
Despite rapid innovation in the capabilities of portable electronics, until recently, progress has been slow to develop batteries able to meet the demand of these power-hungry devices. With advanced NiZn performance, the NiZn has been introduced by PowerGenix to fulfill the growing needs of high drain digital cameras and accessories. By delivering a higher voltage than existing rechargeable cells, cameras equipped with NiZn cells benefit from brighter flash, shorter flash recovery time, and more shots per charge.
Earlier this year, PowerGenix’s NiZn technology was certified by the RBRC for collection and recycling, becoming only the fifth rechargeable chemistry recognized by the program. PowerGenix’s NiZn batteries contain no toxic heavy metals such as lead, cadmium or mercury and are the most recyclable rechargeable chemistry on the market.
Nickel and zinc are among the Earth’s most abundant elements, found virtually everywhere in our daily lives. These natural elements are found in the earth, in the food you eat and in a wide variety of products. Both elements are readily recyclable and many products on the market today come from these recycled supplies.
About Nickel
Nickel has many uses from construction materials to food preparation, but its many favorable characteristics make it an excellent choice in the use of high powered rechargeable batteries. For more information on nickel, its many uses and its metallurgical properties, visit the Nickel Institute.
Zinc Facts
Zinc’s unique properties allow it to be used in an array of products from cosmetics, to baby powder, to precision parts for automobiles, airplanes and appliances. The International Zinc Association notes that one of the most useful characteristics of zinc is its resistance to atmospheric corrosion. The ranking of zinc in the electromotive series of metals (an indication of a metal’s tendency to oxidize, or give up electrons) positioned below magnesium and aluminum but above cadmium, iron, nickel and hydrogen, make it an exceptional material to use in conjunction with nickel when designing a battery. The electronegative characteristics of zinc have made it a popular choice in a variety of primary (single use) battery technologies for many years.
Recyclability
More than 6.5 million metric tons of zinc slab, oxides, powders and dusts are consumed each year in the Western World, two million of which come from recycled zinc. In the United States, the Bureau of Mines estimates that with enhanced recovery, recycled zinc will ultimately account for more than 40% of the total amount of zinc used
Meanwhile, nickel’s resistance to corrosion means that when most nickel-containing products are eventually discarded, they are still intact and easily identifiable (e.g., a kitchen sink made of stainless steel). This aids in the collection and sorting of nickel-containing products for recycling.
Sustainability
While abundant, both nickel and zinc are finite resources. However, their innate characteristics and recyclability assure environmentally sensitive availability for long-term development. Unlike many other materials nickel and zinc can be recycled again and again while maintaining their physical and chemical properties. There remains the same amount of each element at the end of a particular product cycle as at the beginning.
The average American uses between 300 and 700 plastic bags per year. If everyone in the United States tied their annual consumption of plastic bags together in a giant chain, the chain would reach around the earth 760 times!
The rePETe Original Reusable Shopping Bag, now at depoteco.com
This bag is made from 7 plastic bottles 99% recycled content by weight rePETe Original
The rePETe Original Reusable Shopping Bag
ChicoBag rePETe Original Canyon Brown
Materials: Fabric 100% Recycled PET, Carabiner 97% Recycled Aluminium, Cord 100% Recycled PET, Cordlock 100% Recycled Polyurethane (Thread, Screen Print, Care Label Made from Virgin Material)
Dimensions:Bag 18 x 14.5- Pouch 3×4 (approximately)
Weight: 1.5 oz
Capacity: 25 lbs. (One gallon of milk is approximately 7 lbs.)
ChicoBag rePETe Original reusable shopping bag now at DepotEco.com!
The ChicoBag rePETe Original follows the Original reusable shopping bag design but is made from 99% recycled content by weight! Each rePETe has uniquely accented handles with the phrase, “This bag is made from 7 plastic bottles!” accompanied by a custom illustration. A list of the recycled materials used in manufacturing the rePETe is printed on the inside of each bag. All ChicoBags are reusable shopping bags designed to be unforgettable. They effortlessly fit in your pocket when they are stuffed into their integrated stuff pouch. Design encourages you to always have your ChicoBag on hand or pocket or purse.
What is PET?
Polyethylene terephthalate, abbreviated PET, is found in the polyester family and often used in the production of beverage containers like plastic bottles.
Learn the Facts
The average American uses between 300 and 700 plastic bags per year. If everyone in the United States tied their annual consumption of plastic bags together in a giant chain, the chain would reach around the earth 760 times! Learn more
Did You know…?
The average American uses between 300 and 700 plastic bags per year. If everyone in the United States tied their annual consumption of plastic bags together in a giant chain, the chain would reach around the Earth 760 times!
Windblown plastic bags are so prevalent in South Africa that a cottage industry has sprung up harvesting up to 30,000 plastic bags a month to weave into hats and handbags. – BBC
The world’s largest landfill can be found floating between Hawaii and San Francisco. Wind and sea currents carry marine debris from all over the world to what is now known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. This “landfill” is estimated to be twice the size of Texas and thousands of pounds of our discarded trash, mostly plastics. Each year hundreds of thousands of sea birds and marine life die from digested plastics mistaken for food. –LA Times
Background on Bag Consumption
Single-use Plastic Bags:
First introduced in 1977, single-use bags, now account for 4 out of every 5 bags handed out at grocery stores.
According to the Wall Street Journal, 100 billion plastic shopping bags are consumed in the United States annually.
Cutting single-use bag waste in half would reduce our oil consumption by more than 2,000 barrels a day and keep out 73,000 tons of rubbish out of landfills.
EPA research has shown that only 1% of plastic bags get recycled while about 20% of paper bags are recycled.
Single-use Paper Bags:
Paper bags generate 70% more air and 50 times more water pollutants than plastic bags.
Paper in landfills doesn’t break down faster than plastic.
Solution:
Reusable bags! A sturdy, reusable shopping bag needs only be used 11 times to have a lower environmental impact than using disposable plastic bags.
Sources:
Paper or Plastic?, Healthwell
Reusable Bags Tackle Plastic Bag Mess, Organic Trade Association
“Paper Cuts: Recovering the Paper Landscape”, Abromovitz & Mattoon, Worldwatch Institute, Washington DC, 1999
Keep the Sea Plastic Free—Bin It, Australian Government, Department of the Environment and HeritageSea Turtles Don’t Shop, Earth Resource Foundation
10 Things You Can Do to Create a Reusable Bag Habit in your Community
Wage a campaign in your town or city to end the use of single-use bags by encouraging legislators to implement a grocery bag fee. Contact advocacy@chicobag.com for more information.
Talk to local community and environmental groups about the bag issue and find out if they want to get involved.
Create a petition asking for your city to take on the single-use bag problem. Circulate it at schools, universities, the library, grocery stores, farmer’s markets, and anywhere else where you can connect with your neighbors.
Encourage local retailers to start a smart bagging policy with these tips:
- Offer a bag refund to customers who bring their own bags.
- Place signs reminding people to bring their own bags
- Create a reusable bag drop-off for others to use.
- Create an in-store bag recycling program.
- Sell reusable bags in their store.
Bring an extra reusable bag to the grocery story the next time you shop and give it away to a stranger who doesn’t have them. Ask them to “Pay it Forward” and give a bag away the next time they shop.
Write a letter to the newspaper explaining the environmental problems with paper and plastic bags. Use our resources to help you come up with talking points.
Start a ChicoBag fundraiser to raise money for an environmental or litter prevention group. Contact fundraisers@chicobag.com for more information!
Stage a Bag Monster sighting in your community. Contact bagmonster@chicobag.com to set it up!
Give your friends and family reusable bags as gifts for birthdays, graduation, housewarming parties, and special holidays.
Set a good example by just saying no to single-use bags when you’re at the store. Others in line will follow suit!
At 140 lumens/watt, these pill-sized plasma light bulbs by Luxim are a pretty awesome contender for “light of the future”. They are almost 10 times more efficient than traditional incandescent light bulbs, twice as efficient as current high-end LEDs, and they also beat CFLs, most of which are around 50-80 lumens/watt. Only the prototype 300 lumens/watt nanocrystal-coated LEDs can hold a candle to them.
And the light from Luxim’s LIFI bulb is not ugly either: color rendering index (CRI) is 91. Lifetime for a bulb is estimated at 20,000 hours, and a relatively large amount of power can be pumped through them, allowing a tiny bulb to produce 30,000+ lumens (not something LEDs can do).
An RF (radio-frequency) signal is generated by the solid-state power amplifier and is guided into an electric field about the bulb. The high concentration of energy in the electric field vaporizes the contents of the bulb to a plasma state at the bulb’s center; this controlled plasma generates an intense source of light.
Luxim seems to want to use them in projectors, but since even a tiny light bulb can produce as much light as a street lamp, sky seems to be the limit if cost can be brought down.
Korg to Show eneloop Rechargeable Batteries at Musikmesse in Germany
03/26/2009 13:22 (06:03 minutes ago)
The FINANCIAL — SANYO Electric Co., Ltd. (SANYO) will exhibit eneloop rechargeable batteries at the booth of musical instrument manufacturer, Korg Inc. (Korg), during Musikmesse 2009 in Frankfurt, Germany.
The eneloop battery uses the world’s leading recharging technologies and promotes a lifestyle that values reusing and recycling.
Korg, a leader in the electronic musical instrument industry, will use the Musikmesse to further promote its best selling pocket-sized synthesizer, KAOSSILATOR, which operates using four AA batteries. Started over 25 years ago, Musikmesse is the world’s largest music trade show, and showcases instruments, sheet music, as well as music software and hardware from around the world, all under one roof.
Korg is also committed to addressing global environmental issues. At the Musical Instruments Fair held in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, in October 2008, the two companies held a joint event, where Korg equipped its KAOSSILATOR with eneloop batteries. Since then, Korg has in partnership with SANYO to investigate the technical performance of the eneloop battery as part of its desire to promote replacement of dry-cell batteries with rechargeable batteries in musical instruments. The investigation revealed that the stable voltage and resistance to cold temperatures provided by eneloop help to maintain sound quality. Eneloop combines outstanding environmental performance and superior compatibility with electronic instruments.
SANYO is working with Korg to offer musicians lifestyles with greater performance and environmental value, comfort, and enjoyment.
Commercial free TV. This is very cool stuff. Click on the link above to check it out. We really enjoy this type of TV watching because we are in complete control. Watch what and when you want with NO Commercials!.. Very cool , Check out Amazon Video on Demand here.
On March 3 Amazon announced the availability of Amazon Video On Demand and its library of more than 40,000 movies and TV shows on the Roku Digital Video Player.
Now, for the first time the $99 Roku Player can be purchased through Amazon.com. The Roku player is one of the most compelling new ways for customers to instantly watch their favorite movies and TV shows, and at $99 is also one of the most affordable. The Roku player works with virtually any TV, takes just minutes to set up and is also compatible with the Netflix “Watch Instantly” service.
With the Roku player and Amazon Video On Demand, Amazon customers can:
Watch new release movies, most on the same day they are available on DVD
Catch up on the latest episodes of popular TV shows such as “House” and “The Office”
Shop from Amazon’s deep catalog of more than 40,000 videos without leaving the couch or paying a monthly subscription fee
While Michael Jackson is living in Dubai and creating drama by entering ladies bathrooms, his Neverland Ranch was quietly sold to his neighbor Thomas J. Barrack, CEO of Colony Capital. Barrack, has owned ranches in Santa Ynez for decades.
Michael Jackson deeded over ownership of Neverland to Sycamore Valley Ranch Company, LLC. Moving vans have been seen up and down Figueroa Mountain road by neighbors. The 2,675 oak studded acres will be a wonderful addition to the real estate collection of the man Donald Trump called the Greatest Real Estate Investor in the world.
By John Reed and Patti Waldmeir
Published: November 3 2008 02:00
Everyone agrees the world needs greener cars and Wang Chuanfu believes he is the man to deliver them – by combining Chinese brains and hard work with Warren Buffett’s money.
Just over a month ago – when the Dow Jones index fell nearly 7 per cent, one of Wall Street’s worst days – Mr Buffett’s Mid-American Energy Holdings bought a 10 per cent stake in BYD, the company that Mr Wang founded.
BYD is a global leader in rechargeable battery technology and a rising star of the Chinese auto industry. Mr Buffett’s investment is a clear vote of confidence that Mr Wang – an engineer-turned-entrepreneur – can combine batteries and cars to lead a green revolution in electric vehicles. The move electrified the Hong Kong stock market: shares in BYD, which is 25 per cent owned by Mr Wang, rose by 42 per cent.
On a Saturday morning recently at the company’s headquarters in Shenzhen, in the industrial hinterland just across the border from Hong Kong, Mr Wang made clear he sees his company as a symbol of the passing of the baton of industrial leadership from mature western economies to China.
Sitting at the end of a long boardroom table stocked with Diet Coke for visitors, his short-sleeved shirt complete with ballpoint pen in the pocket, the bespectacled 42-year-old Mr Wang looks more like a Chinese Bill Gates than a polished car-industry executive such as Carlos Ghosn. Mr Buffett is clearly betting that he will be the geek who launches the next revolution in automotive technology.
The quietly spoken Mr Wang says his goal is to make BYD the world’s largest car company by 2025. “For new-energy cars, we believe we can become the global leader,” he says. “From the technology standpoint, 10 years should be enough.” He is positioning himself at the centre of the automotive industry’s impending shift into plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles powered by lithium-ion batteries, a move due to bring some of the fastest technological changes in a century of automotive history.
Asked to sum up how BYD built its business, he offers a modest response. “We are a typical Chinese company,” he says. “We are smart and we work hard. We took advantage of the situation.”
But his unassuming words mask a cultural pride: Mr Wang says Chinese companies are smarter and work harder than their western competitors. He says China’s main advantages are the size of its market and the quality of its people; 5m graduates leave Chinese universities every year, “more than the population of some European countries”, he says. And they will work for much lower salaries than their western or Japanese competitors.
BYD employs 10,000 engineers, half of them working on cars, and Mr Wang says he will have 30,000 automotive engineers within a decade. His US and Japanese competitors cannot afford to hire so many, he says. “The cost is too high.”
BYD recruits most managers straight out of university, trains them on the job and lodges new graduates in a high-rise dormitory-style building adjacent to the factory.
Thirteen years ago, when he founded the company, Mr Wang lacked even the capital to import an automated battery production line from Japan. Today his company is the world’s largest producer of mobile phone batteries – with 30 per cent of the market – and the second-largest producer of rechargeable batteries to power electronic goods such as laptop computers. And perhaps even more surprisingly, BYD – which produced its first branded car in 2005 – sold more cars than any other Chinese carmaker in September. That monthly milestone, achieved largely through the launch of BYD’s new F0 subcompact, is unlikely to be sustained in the near term; but JD Power, the leading auto consultancy, still expects BYD sales to grow by more than 50 per cent this year.
Trained as a researcher in Beijing, Mr Wang founded BYD in 1995, when China’s government was opening its economy to the world. “At that time Shenzhen was a hot place,” he says. “There was a gold rush here.”
Frustrated by the lack of funding available to government researchers, Mr Wang borrowed money from a relative and set up on his own making nickel batteries. He used semi-automated equipment that he pieced together after reading technical publications. BYD put Japan’s incumbent battery producers on the defensive. It faced down lawsuits by Sony in Japan and by Sanyo in the US, the latter put to rest in an out-of-court settlement.
With the market for smaller lithium–ion batteries now cornered, Mr Wang is focusing much of BYD’s energy on alternative-fuel cars. With world attention focused on greener options than the internal combustion engine, Mr Wang feels his expertise in battery production will give him an unstoppable advantage in the arena of electric cars. BYD will launch a plug-in hybrid car later this year, with sales in the US and European Union to follow in 2011. An all-electric model, the E6, will be launched in China in 2009.
BYD will be competing with plug-in models produced by Renault, Nissan, Mercedes-Benz, and General Motors, which plans to make its Volt model in China. Mr Wang says he is ready. “I believe Chinese companies can become leaders in the alternative car business because we make good batteries,” he says. More experienced carmakers are struggling with such issues as the speed of charging and durability of automotive batteries – which need to last far longer than in laptops – in their prototype plug-in cars.
Mr Wang’s competitors may disagree, pointing out that the fit and finish of BYD’s models falls far below the standard of vehicles produced by established carmakers. “They’ve got a long way to go on rattles, squeaks, comfort, fuel economy, acceleration, and smoothness of ride – all the things that take a long time to get right,” says the China head of one leading foreign carmaker who has ridden in BYD’s cars, but requests anonymity.
A test drive of a prototype E6 by the Financial Times around BYD’s parking lot confirms this view. The car is quiet and efficient, but its handling and quality of finish fall short of most foreign carmakers’ models. BYD vehicles could face substantial hurdles to widespread acceptance in the US and Europe, especially after recent scandals over Chinese products, such as milk.
And, given cases of exploding lithium-ion batteries in laptops, the potential product liability risk of electric cars faced by carmakers – Chinese or not – is huge.
Mr Wang deflects the point firmly. “We’re the only battery maker that has never had a recall,” he says, leaving unspoken the names of Sanyo and Sony, which have both had expensive recalls. “We’re very confident of the quality of the batteries.”
He acknowledges BYD has a long way to go in building its brand to compete with foreign ones with decades of consumer awareness and marketing experience. On the other hand, he says, plug-in cars present a blank canvas of sorts.
“We’re talking new cars and ever-yone is starting from the same point,” he says.
Additional reporting by Justine Lau
Life of leisure just wouldn’t play well for boss of the batteries
Wang Chuanfu is all work and no play – and proud of it.
He says his punishing seven-days-a-week schedule is par for the course in China. “Maybe in the Western world, life is number one and work is number two,” he says one bright Saturday morning at the bustling headquarters of BYD, his battery-cum-car company in Shenzhen. “But in China, work is number one and life is number two,” he adds. “Especially in my generation. I don’t know if the next generation will be the same. I enjoy working very much, if you ask me to go sightseeing for a day I probably wouldn’t enjoy it.”
In the rare moments when not at the office, Mr Wang lives in a modest penthouse flat in the “workers’ village” with his wife and daughter.
Mr Wang spurns the trappings enjoyed by many of his western peers, such as corporate jets and expensive clothes.
He does, however, own three Mercedes-Benz cars and a Lexus, which he says he owns because he likes to take them apart to figure out how they work. He also wears an Adidas watch, which displays the time of different cities so that he knows whether it is day or night in BYD’s overseas offices.
Mr Wang’s success in becoming one of China’s leading entrepreneurs has surpassed his ambitions. “I had dreams,” he says, “but nothing this big.”
SAN JOSE, Calif.–The West Coast Green 2008 building show
SAN JOSE, Calif.–The West Coast Green 2008 building show kicked off on Thursday, for the first time in this city with one of the nation’s most ambitious “greening” plans.
During our sneak peek at some of the 400 exhibits, products that caught our attention included a device that seemed to make water out of thin air, a solar-powered table, home energy automation systems, and better concrete blocks. Check out the video below for more.
Element Four
Element Four claims to extract water from the air. Its Watermill appliance is supposed to supply enough water daily to quench the needs of a six-person family. It costs around 35 cents to produce more than 3 gallons of drinking water each day, according to the British Columbia-based company. The Watermill is set to become available next February for around $1,300.
CEO Rick Howard said he’d like to create different versions of the 300-watt Watermill, perhaps powered by the sun or wind. He sees the technology as ideal for household use during emergencies, as well as for people in the developing world. It could even customize flavored water, Howard added.
As air enters the Watermill, humidity condenses on a patented coil, and passes into a reservoir. Water passes through a carbon filter and past a germ-killing UV light. The product could be hooked up to a kitchen faucet.
Most drinking water technologies, by contrast, take dirty or salty water, or even sludge, then purify it.
Intelligent Forms
This Vancouver design firm’s $14,000 solar panel-topped table could become a fixture on the decks of cruise ships and on poolside patios of the well-heeled and eco-chic. The weather-sealed, stainless-steel shell encases a 110-volt outlet and USB ports meant for a laptop and various gadgets. Beneath the SOlo lounge table’s top are an inverter and 18 batteries of 12 volts each.
“Everything we did we tried to stick with local suppliers and as much recycled content as we could,” said co-founder and designer Keith Doyle.
Adura Technologies
Adura Technologies of San Francisco specializes in wireless lighting controls for commercial buildings, which make up nearly 20 percent of U.S. energy consumption and carbon emissions. The system can be installed within light fixtures, without running wires or tearing up walls, and controlled remotely with an iPod or other handheld device. The company, a 2005 winner of the California Clean Tech Open competition, is closing a $5 million Series A round of financing.
Agilewaves
Agilewaves of Menlo Park, Calif., makes energy monitoring systems to help homeowners see and control their use of gas, water, and electricity. At West Coast Green, Agilewaves demonstrated its product within a showcase home made from five shipping containers.
The company integrated its product this summer with home control systems from Crestron.
“We can now truly make a smart home,” said David Brock, chief technology officer. “You may set up your carbon budget, and this system will tell the home control system that it needs to reduce the carbon footprint. Maybe that means reducing your lights by 20 percent by turning off nonessential appliances.”
Integrity Block
Integrity Block of Los Altos, Calif., aims to build more sustainable buildings from the bottom up by reinventing the lowly concrete block. Cement manufacturing increasingly contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, and cement can’t be recycled easily. Integrity Block, by contrast, says it uses an engineered soil composite, including recycled materials, resulting in 40 percent fewer carbon emissions.
“We have a block that’s inherently sustainable,” said company co-founder Randy Schmitz.
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is on the advisory board of Integrity Block, which raised $2.7 million in capital in June.
Partnership to advance power technology for mobile and embedded electronic devices
Lockheed Martin and Infinite Power Solutions (IPS) announced the signing of a cooperative agreement to apply unique Micro Energy Cell products from IPS to systems and solutions that Lockheed Martin is developing for military and civil applications.
“We believe that this cooperation will result in a new class of networked, mobile electronic devices that can take advantage of energy harvesting to reduce the burden of battery weight and power management for our customers,” said John Mengucci, president of Lockheed Martin IS&GS’ Mission & Combat Support Solutions. “We are very excited about the opportunity to further develop this new technology to help solve one of the key challenges facing warfighters today.”
“This working agreement provides a unique opportunity for Lockheed Martin to combine its integration expertise, domain knowledge, and customer presence with IPS’ innovative solid-state, rechargeable, thin-film micro-battery technology,” said Raymond R. Johnson, president and CEO of Infinite Power Solutions, Inc.
Infinite Power Solutions, Inc. (IPS) is the global leader in developing and manufacturing solid-state, rechargeable thin-film energy storage devices (commonly known as thin-film batteries) for micro-electronic applications. Founded in 2001, IPS is a privately held company with corporate headquarters and the world’s first high-volume manufacturing facility for its thin-film micro-energy cell products (MEC(TM)) in the western suburbs of Denver, CO. Additional information about IPS is available at http://www.InfinitePowerSolutions.com.
Headquartered in Bethesda, MD, Lockheed Martin is a global security company that employs about 140,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The corporation reported 2007 sales of $41.9 billion.
Combining the time-tested reliability and power of the internal combustion engine with the low-rev efficiency and emissions-free locomotion of an electric motor, hybrid vehicles have proven extremely popular with the American public. New hybrids are almost immediately in high demand, and with gas prices continuing to climb upward, the interest seems unlikely to flag anytime soon.
 "The rePETe Original Reusable Shopping Bag")
