Big changes are under way in the energy market, whether we fully understand it yet or not. Electricity – specifically, the storage of electricity – is the big story, and I have to confess I wish I had learned more in my school physics lessons. I never enjoyed the subject, mainly I think because instead of teaching that this was the way to begin to understand the whole universe and how it fits together, they made me endlessly measure stuff with a micrometer screw gauge, or do countless V=I/R calculations, and woe betide me if my answer was marginally out. Badly taught, and wasted opportunities.
Anyway, the result of that is that I stand outside the inner circle of cognoscenti, trying my best to makes sense of what is happening. The hot technology, the place where research is concentrated, is in battery development. The rechargeable lithium-ion battery has revolutionised the...
