U.S. Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, left, and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg at the National Clean Energy Summit. August 19, 2008 (Photo courtesy Office of the Mayor)

Where do I start??? I just returned from the National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas Nevada. It was an exciting time for our company, and an interesting time for our industry. I met many interesting people at the summit including Harry Reid (D-Nevada) for the first time. He looked larger on television. However, he was much nicer than the press sometimes depicts him. He was gracious, cordial, and you could tell he used a strong hand on some of his more partisan participants.

Now, I have to admit, I am have been spending a great deal of time in the Native American and Business Worlds. And, this was a stronger political gathering than I am used to participating in. I am also in the battery business (I know a good deal about it now) and view it through that lens as well. So, let me give a few caveats before we start. Caveat #1 – There are smart people and unusual people in both parties. Caveat #2 – There are good and bad ideas in both parties. Caveat #3 – Clean Green Energy Issues are above party politics. And Caveat #4 – My personal perspective on these issues is perfect – not. That should do it . . . let’s get started.

Let’s talk a bit about the format and the agenda. Well . . . it was supposed to be a summit. But not much Summiting occurred unless you were in the “in” crowd of speakers. I guess standard for politics. The summit seems to have occurred behind the black curtain and very little input was needed from the visiting attendees. I’m sure the behind the scenes discussions were fascinating, but we never heard them. We only had ideas given to us from the lectern without the ability to modify or question the summit’s conclusions. I for one did not agree with all I heard, and do not wish to be included in the number as if I was agreeing to their ideas. Perhaps round table discussions could be included in the agenda before a summit “proposition is formed.” This could have been a time constraint issue, but it seemed that the summit’s ideas were fully formed before the speakers arrived and that all they required of us was an audience.

The agenda was better than the format. The main speakers were; former President Bill Clinton, T. Boone Pickens, Robert E. Rubin, Governor Jon Huntsman, and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Each brought his own individual insight concerning energy and each brought a vision which was both national and local in scope. Many brought the same conclusions and were unanimous in their desire to see substantial overhaul of the nations’ energy policy. I think I would have rather been mailed the speeches early, then met with them for discussions while I was in the same room with them. I did enjoy the speakers, and some of the ideas. In fact, let’s talk about the ideas, okay?

Beginning with the good, broad ideas first . . . All the leaders were in agreement that we need Federal Infrastructure Investment in the Energy Grid. T. Boone led the charge and he was followed up by many voices. I agree. A national energy grid, which has consistent implementation and energy manufacturing standards, is a must. We have a 1950′s grid and we need a 21st Century smart grid. We need a grid which is 2-way (can store and send back out), nationally connected and cross-state-line compatible. It needs to be federally implemented because INTERIOR has most of the lands and CONGRESS has most of the money. But more than placing responsibility on who should do it, we should “just do it” in order to prepare for the electric future.

Secondly, many of the leaders recognized the need for battery storage within the grid inter connectivity. Some ideas ranged from using PV’s as the battery storage (the car becomes the battery storage device), to using the homes as storage (placing a home based battery storage unit, say in the garage). I agree. Wind and Solar were getting much promotion, but you have to have storage in order to make them function well. So regardless, energy storage was going to be a key technology in the future.

Electricity over Oil. Most all the speakers were repeating the mantra “oil is bad” and “oil won’t last forever” and “oil is creating our warming problem.” Only partial agreement from me. First off, oil is not “bad.” Oil is an inanimate object and as such has no intrinsic moral quality. Oil is not bad, cannot do bad things, and is not making the world or anything else bad by association. If you think oil is bad, well then you fail beginning logic class at college. Oil does have some positive and negative consequences. On the positive, it has increased the standard of living for every individual regardless of their use of it. It’s use is responsible for the development of over half of the world. It has been an effective energy source for many years and will likely be for many years to come. There is much more of it available than you have been led to believe, and we will run out of it later than many people at this conference believe. So let’s leave the peak oil discussion for another time.

However, and it is a big however, Electricity is a simpler and more effective means of transferring energy than oil is in a liquid, combustible form. Given the proper wires and the proper batteries, we can effectively deliver it cheaply and without all the environmental complications associated with oil. We would still need oil for our underwear, barbecues, asphalts, and many other products we enjoy but electricity as a means of transportation energy is quite promising.

Now let’s talk about the poor, big ideas, shall we? Carbon valuation and taxation? Wow, it was the first time I heard serious people actually talk of this as if they thought it would work and be a good idea. Man, what a massively insane idea. Carbon valuation ??? Okay what would I be worth then? Since I am a carbon based life form. Will they valuate each human being on the basis of his carbon consumption and emissions? Amazingly dumb. I am a big man 6’2″ and 240lbs. It means I use more carbon (and for that matter release more greenhouse gasses and carbon solids – which of course makes my wife crazy). If you tax carbon, here are the consequences: Food and sewage become more expensive; if you succeed and your house is large you pay more tax, and if you eat too much, you will face a tax. It is like taxing air, H2O, or electrons. Somebody smother this idea in its grave. Really, truly, bad.

Bad idea number 2: The race to become the electricity oligarchy. Everyone was keen on the idea that we switch to electricity and renewables from oil. Agreed. But most do not think through the consequences to doing so. Imagine . . . . .

Imagine that the transition has happened . . . Exxon is out of business, there is no more BP, or Shell or Valero. All of us are sporting around in a Farrari-esque electric vehicles which can go cross-country on a single charge while simultaneously cooking our lunch in the glove-box microwave. Our society is evolving and standards of living are rising. Do you want to know what we will be complaining about?

We will complain because we somehow missed the transfer of wealth to the electricity generation companies which had created the world’s first Electric Oligarchy. And we somehow missed the enormous taxation of electrons as the US Federal government took 40% of the market by imminent domain (a kinder, two word translation of “taxation”). In this future, we complain about the evil electric industry and its stranglehold on the world’s electron supply. Soon, the future equivalent of the Hunt Brothers try to corner the electron market, while the Op Ed of the 22nd Century Wall Street journal rails on the infinite supply of Electric Lobbying which is making our government worse. Did I miss something? Are we prepared for the change of one group for the other? I don’t know if I am ready.

Good ideas and poor ideas aside . . . Hats off to Senator Reid, his staff, and all who participated as speakers at the summit. And to everyone who participated in leadership there, we say great job! We will eventually run out of liquid fossil fuels and we must find a clean alternative! It would be nice to find that clean alternative and to make it available in the marketplace of ideas and the marketplace of commerce so we can get going. I know electricity can make for a greener economy, we must move that way, and with a new power grid. Couple that with a clean, green energy storage solution and we’ve got it licked. We’re working on it. And to all the leaders at the summit, thanks for working on it too!

Location: Cox Pavilion, University of Nevada Las Vegas - Las Vegas, NV

New Addition: Special Remarks by President William Jefferson Clinton, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and T. Boone Pickens

I plan on attending. See you there . . .

3TIER Wind Map

Was listening to T. Boone Pickens’ Plan on CSPAN today and hmmmmmmmm . . . .

I am glad that wind is getting some airplay. In fact, his wind diagram on his website is quite informative and his goals are straightforward. I agree with much of what he has to offer in his plan because of its strategic nature. In fact, I think his wind initiative is quite bold and I think framing it as a Midwestern Economic Development platform is a stroke of genius. You can check out the wind map website from Kenneth Westrick at 3TIER. Log in and you can get data for your area. It is an awesome site: http://firstlook.3tiergroup.com

The challenge with wind, however, is when it blows, not that it blows. Sure we have a great deal of wind energy, but it blows at off peak hours when our demand is lowest. We (like others in our industry) are developing storage solutions for this very problem. Our nano-lithium chemistry battery, for example, delivers a long life, green, lithium battery which is capable of 15+ years charging and discharging. This means our battery can be used as a distributed storage solution for the wind and solar industries. This will enable energy storage to be filled at night and used during peak hours in the day time when demand is at its highest. Many are trying to address this in the energy storage community and it is this very challenge we took up two years ago in our company. 

Regardless, hats off to you Mr. Pickens!   

I don’t think a “one plank” solution is what Pickens is arguing for. I think he understands the need for solar, wind and alternative fuels to meet the energy challenges facing America. He wants people to work together to accomplish the goal of energy independence.

http://www.pickensplan.com/theplan

Markets: Markets have been established. The planned number of vehicles created as HEV, EVs, and or PHEVs are estimated to be – Toyota (60%) and GM (20%) by 2016. Loads of cars – loads of batteries. Enough said.

Manufacturing: 97% of all manufacturing for lithium is in China, Korea and Japan. Costs are low in China as many battery plants are not automated. Challenges with IP protection also still exist. If your IP is taken then the cost of manufacturing in China becomes very high. You can get lower costs, but is it worth it? A123 thinks so. Manufacturing costs are proportional to volumes of cell production – Costs go down – volumes go up. Normal. However, the chemistry will actually drive your final cost per watt hour. Hmmmmm . . . . must be a metric for this . . . .

Lithium Volume: Here is the question of the day. How much Lithium supply is there in the world, and as a result of this data, what kinds of volumes can you deliver. And how much supply is available in world markets for the raw material? See the article debating this subject from EV World below. More coming on the metric for this one . . .

Overall, we need to move to electric vehicles. Because the well-to wheel efficiency of oil (13%) is poor in comparison to NG (31%), we have a need to make electric drives the primary mode for transportation. Let’s just hope we can accomplish this during this next decade of work! Everybody push!!

Article: Revisiting Peak Lithium or Lithium in Abundance?

http://www.evworld.com/article.cfm?storyid=1480

Many of my friends have emailed me link after link concerning this challenge. “Hey this is right in your sweet spot!” Sure, I say. Sure hope it is more than election cycle rhetoric for presidential supporters in California. I think it is. I know he is leading by challenging us to go farther and create more. And I think he is probably sincere in his desire to motivate the green battery community to action. But I still think, hmmmmm . . . . .

In our world, the potential battery market for HEVs and PHEVs is estimated to be $12-20BB annual by 2016 and many are the companies vying for the market! $300MM is a tiny investment compared to what the private sector is already doing to meet this need and drive the technology forward. Many promising variants are on the horizon and many prominent leaders in the lithium battery industry are emerging to solve this problem. Incentives like the one John McCain endorses are needed in the start-up realm, but sadly, I think they will go to larger battery manufacturers who, suffice it to say, rarely need the money.

But I do say . . . . Thanks John – we do need encouragement like this in our industry. We appreciate the hands-on approach to meeting our nation’s need for a greener alternative to America’s energy needs.

http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2008/06/23/daily22.html