This West Harlem-Built Battery Could Overthrow Lithium Ion

[jpak]

http://gizmodo.com/this-west-harlem-built-battery-could-overthrow-lithium-1110122095

West Harlem in NYC isn't exactly known for its robust industrial capabilities. Nor is zinc particularly—well, ever—used as a secondary, rechargeable battery. But that's not going to stop the Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) from developing both into an energetic powerhouse.

As part of ARPA's Manhattanville Factory District redevelopment initiative, the agency has constructed a $6.1 million, 5,000-square-foot battery R&D and production facility, dubbed the Urban Electric Power Facility. It will be using technology licensed from and developed by the nearby City University of New York (CUNY) Energy Institute in its research.

The technology could help overcome a major impediment to rechargeable battery development. Li-ion batteries use expensive and toxic materials in their construction. If we could figure out a way to use a cheaper, safer alternative—say, zinc or manganese, which are already used in disposable batteries—we could eliminate two birds with one D-cell.

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This technology could revolutionize energy storage, providing safe, cheap, environmentally responsible alternatives to nickel-cadmium or lithium-ion chemistries. Hybrid vehicles could benefit with 10-percent greater range. Households could buy and store energy for on-demand usage, or generate and store their own from renewable resources. And for the electric company, it could mean the end of large scale power plants and substations with the rise of a more distributed power-distribution network.

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