EEstor Update: People Are Losing Faith
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 11. 5.07
We got in at the beginning and used to write about Eestor supercapacitors a lot, and still get a zillion hits on it. They never gave out a lot of information, and we were reduced to using pictures of grilled cheese sandwiches as analogies. We first picked up the story from an excited Tyler Hamilton at Clean Break, who enthused 18 months ago: "This could change everything."
The Eestor google alert still pops every day, but there was never anything new. Now even Tyler is losing faith.
Personally, I've been hopeful over the past two years that EEStor is indeed for real. But I'm beginning to have my doubts now....The problem with silence is that it leaves people like myself speculating. Why do we speculate? I don't know about you but I can't help it. I want EEStor to work, and I crave more information. But still we have no Web site. No comments from Kleiners or the CEO. Nothing.::Clean Break
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I must agree. And I hope by responding to this post I will aid in encouraging some news from EEstor.
That's a mighty fine lookin' grilled cheese sammich!!!
That's a mighty fine lookin' grilled cheese sammich!!!
I also was so hopeful upon reading about the EEStor. I'm betting that if the compositors were real the company most likely has sold the rights to one of the oil or power producers that in turn will sit on the technology until it is no long of use.
I am also trying to keep the faith but am getting the same repetitious Google alerts. Plus the Zenn is fugly and not viable for California (save perhaps inside a gated retirement community) anyway.
sigh.
After considering all the evidence, I tend to agree that the sandwich looks fine.
Is there a recipe for it? How much energy does it take to cook it? What will happen to my carbon footprint were I to make one for my whole family? Would Al Gore approve of this sandwich or will it kill the polar bears?
So hard to decide, but it does look wonderful.
This was not necessarily an intelligent comment but it was posted in good fun and I hope it will be considered civil.
EEstor, MYT Engine, the fusion reactor in France, they're all just not going to happen. Sad but true. Well, maybe ITAR will pull through with the reactor, but it will be a long way off before we have fusion power that make more energy than it uses.
In the meantime, why don't automotive companies hire a few engineers that did well in school instead of state school "D is for diploma" losers (though I can't think of anyone else willing to relocate to Detroit). At least give the ones they got time to think about a problem to come up with the best solution and not just a solution. Maybe then they might come up with such mind numbing ideas as using a gas turbine engine in the hybrids instead of clinging to the inefficient piston engines they love so much. There is a reason My 1989 and a half mustang and my 2008 Civic SI get the same gas mileage. Old guys telling young guys how it is and no one having time, guts or brains to try something new.
This sandwiches looks so appetizing, that I almost forget the main idea of your post. Today, I passed my dinner time, and feel hungry at that moment.
The EEstor strategy is to create and patent technology to manufacture their ultracapacitor. They intend, apparently, to demonstrate the technology via Zenn. They've signed an exclusive relationship with Zenn because they do not intend to compete as a manufacturer - rather they intend to license/franchise their ultrcapacitor making equipment to any and all who want it.
By doing a licensing approach they can turn potential competitors into cooperative partners. It's what you'd do if you have a technology that you think can change the world, and you want it to work.
There is no question that Ultracapacitors work. See:
http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20070030206_2007030376.pdf
The question is whether effective ultracapacitors can be made cheaply. I hope EEstor has the magic.