<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rousi4wtBmQ&feature=player_embedded#/

<http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/21/nissan-plans-more-electric-cars-including-an-infiniti/

A lot of plans, all well before 2015!

<http://www.greentechmedia.com/green-light/post/nissans-leaf-to-tour-u.s.-next-month/

Take a look at one of the cars that will be available next year.

<http://americajr.com/news/electricvehicles1023.html/

<http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,569197,00.html?test=faces/

<http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2009-10/20/wired-drives-the-nissan-leaf.aspx/

<http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2009/10/26/482487.html/

<http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssElectricalComponentsEquipment/idUST28731520091028/

<http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=afUrbMQoWNqk/

In Exxon-Mobiles investor's report last year, there was a blip at the bottom that said they believed they had made a major break through in electrical storage.

If anyone is going to make that big jump, it's going to be on of the big energy companies. They have the resources to invest in the development of things like that. All the 'green' start ups don't have the finances to do that kind of R&D. Even the most highly endowed universities don't have that kind of dough.

-chef

Big Oil might do what you indicate, but recent investments are not going this way.

<http://green.autoblog.com/2009/10/29/toshiba-to-build-second-plant-for-automotive-lithium-batteries/

<http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/business/66507092.html/

<http://www.forbes.com/feeds/afx/2009/10/28/afx7053345.html/

I was actually more impressed with a link and article at the bottom of one of your links that described a small windmill that compressed air and condensed water. As we breed ourselves into extinction that might be a more important low tech invention.

I am working with an architech for the plans for a house (retirement home) that will have both active and passive solar, as well as wind power generation. My calculations suggest that I will have excess energy.

Off grid has the same problems as the EVs...storage technology. On grid energy neutral is pretty easy to design and is getting cheaper. Lots of old technology from Europe, like double wall construction and underground heatpump condensors, are still valid even though they are new to America.

Sadly, the thirst for bigger and bigger homes will outstrip conservation efforts and technological advances here.

Well, you hit the nail on the head. The size of houses is a huge issue. The house I am describing will be as small as I can get it, and live in comfort. Probably well less than 2000 SF.

<http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/big-idea/04/electric-cars

excerpts:

Between 2010 and 2012, car manufacturers are planning to introduce dozens of models that are either partially or completely powered by rechargeable batteries. Plug-in hybrid vehicles like the Chevy Volt, which will have a gasoline engine to fall back on after about 40 miles, will take up to eight hours to charge on ordinary 120-volt household current; some all-electric vehicles, with larger batteries designed to provide a range of 100 to 200 miles, will need 10 to 12 hours. Many homes have 240-volt outlets (used to run clothes dryers) that could in principle cut the time in half, and much charging can be done overnight, when electricity is relatively cheap.

Still, in order for lots of people to adopt electric cars, there will have to be a network of charging stations—places where apartment dwellers, commuters who want to top off at work, and highway travelers can plug in. “You don’t want to put out too much infrastructure if you don’t have the vehicles,” says Art James of the Oregon Department of Transportation. “But you won’t get the vehicles until you have the infrastructure.”

That infrastructure is starting to emerge in scattered places around the world, especially where governments are encouraging it. In Israel, a country with expensive gasoline and short driving distances, a California-based company called Better Place has constructed more than a thousand charging stations; next year it hopes to begin building a similar network in the San Francisco area.

Under the Better Place plan, the company owns and tracks the use of the expensive lithium-ion batteries in its subscribers’ cars; they pay a fee to recharge, even when they’re recharging at home. That lowers the cars’ initial cost by a third or more, but customers must buy from manufacturers that have agreed to use Better Place’s standard batteries; so far only Renault-Nissan has signed on. To allow extended highway travel, Better Place will also build switching stations where robots swap out drained batteries for charged ones in a few minutes.

Alternatively, the future may look more like the present, with drivers of any brand of car able to pull into any brand of service station. Coulomb Technologies, another California start-up, claims it could build high-speed, 480-volt charging stations that would allow highway travelers to fill up in 20 minutes—about the time it takes for a rest stop.
With 117,000 gas stations in the United States today and fewer than 500 charging stations, many not even open to the public, the scale of the transition to an electric-car world is daunting. But so are high gasoline prices and a warming climate. Says James, “It’s going to happen quicker than you think.” —Karen E. Lange

People historically embrace technology changes only when it is on the verge of being competitive. There are not a lot of consumers who will pay 100% more than a competitive product to make a statement, sort of like when I stood in line to purchase the iPhone.

Yes.
I read an interesting quote inside an article about solar power.
The quote was from a German man who was talking about why solar has done so well in Germany-- ( in terms of being adopted and put to use by so many homeowners).
He said:
(heavily paraphrased)
"In the United States, companies are relying on the Birkenstock (sandal) wearing crowd to embrace solar.
in Germany, we give 11 percent return on your money, and that gets everyone interested."

Even though he was being dead serious, I thought that was a very funny way of putting it, and also a very obvious solution.
Make solar profitable to homeowners by mandating that they will be paid for selling off the excess and there you have it. Not only will people embrace it, they will be frugal in order to have some to sell.
(Which is important and that begets an entirely new family mindset about conservation in ALL ways.)
In that same article one family totaled it up that they produce 120 bucks a month worth of salable (and sold) energy. Now that may not sound like much to some of us, but when you consider that it is 1440 dollars a year of basically FREE money for doing nothing, other than making sure you turn off lights when not in use-- then it sounds pretty darn good.
After all, I am certain that almost everyone I know could find an important use for nearly 1500 extra bucks.
At the very least, it can cover property taxes, (in many cases).
And that right there is worth it. One less bill to pay.
And needless to say, that goes above and beyond-- or can be added to the effort at "payback" of the initial cost of installing solar-- which of course using solar already "pays for itself"--eventually.

I also found the fact that they are developing solar panel paint to be very interesting.
Now the trick is to make it as cheap as a regular gallon of paint.
That will be pretty cool. Paint it on an exterior sun facing wall, or roof area, etc--then hook up to it and away you go.

---

Edited 10/30/2009 2:53 pm by NineBuck

"I also found the fact that they are developing solar panel paint to be very interesting.
Now the trick is to make it as cheap as a regular gallon of paint.
That will be pretty cool. Paint it on an exterior sun facing wall, or roof area, etc--then hook up to it and away you go."

There's a company in Texas that it building a bunch of factories to mass-produce low-cost solar technology. They are also developing solar panel windows and roofing materials with cells built in.

Pretty cool stuff. It still amazes me that it took so long for the technology to be in demand. I know there have been some pretty good breakthroughs recently, but the whole process really seemed to stall out in the 90s.

-chef