Alternative & Renewable Energy Blog

There were a few language variants I spotted just now for the ecologically-friendly, "Nordic Ecolabel" (abstract swan) product mark, but I decided to present the one shown at right, in honor of Swedish-born Boston Power's 2005 founder and Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Christina Lampe-Önnerud.

Factors in earning this regional, "green" product mark, for laptop batteries being sold in a newly-earned contract with Hewlett-Packard, include:

• Exclusion of PVC plastics and toxic flame retardants.
• An 80% original charge capacity after 3-years of use. Traditional lithium-ion batteries can hold only 50% of original capacity.
• A lengthy 3-year warranty is being offered by HP.
• End-Of-Life considerations (waste materials, ease of recycling).

<-- Boston Power's Sonata(TM) product-line laptop battery technology.

The advantage of taking her laptop battery to the next level and integrating an evolved battery in an automobile might be seen in the design of Boston Power's laptop battery. According to the IEEE, the Sonata is uniquely designed to prevent fires from taking place. It appears Boston Power may have solved the problem of high-energy density Li-Ion batteries catching fire, an even bigger concern in a highway pile-up of electric cars. Boston Power opened a new lab to explore electric car and other "large format" batteries in October, according to the NYTimes.com.

Like with Part 3's "Build Your Dreams" (BYD) IT and Automotive manufacturing company I profiled, manufacturing will also take place in China, both on the mainland and in Taiwan. At this point, it's unclear to this author whether any collaboration will take place between BYD and Boston Power, so I look forward to any of the CR4'ers in-the-know, especially those working in China, filling us in.

According to EcoLabelling.org, countries that participated in development of the Nordic Swan product mark certification process are Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. The mark requires independent laboratory and control visit actions.

- Larry

http://www.boston-power.com/

http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/15/battery-maker-takes-lithium-ion-up-a-notch/

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/26/electric-car-battery-makers-seek-federal-funds/ (finance discussion and how decisions are being made on where to make li-ion batteries)

http://spectrum.ieee.org/mar08/6008

http://ecolabelling.org/ecolabel/nordic-ecolabel/