The word “battery” often conjures images of the Energizer Bunny or the Duracell “copper top” battery in the minds of many consumers. In many ways, batteries are commodity products that many consumers take for granted.
That’s a mistake, according to Microsoft Director of Search Stefan Weitz, who reports there’s a wave of innovation occurring where batteries are concerned, a wave that could help solve some of the world’s most intractable energy consumption and management quandaries.
“When you turn on a light, the power company must immediately generate and transmit enough electricity so the filament glows brightly. When you shut it off, the power company must scale back its production (a non-trivial task when you’re talking about water-powered turbines!) or figure out what to do with the excess power that’s no longer needed,” Weitz writes in a guest post over on Next at Microsoft. “It’s a vexing problem that could be partially solved if only we had better technology in one key area: batteries.”
Some of the players involved in a new wave of battery technology include Ambri, SiNode Systems, Northwestern University and the University of Washington.
To learn more about some of the projects they’re working on, head on over to Next at Microsoft and check out Weitz’s post.
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Jeff Meisner
Microsoft News Center Staff