exide

Exide has continued to exceed lead emissions limits at its Vernon secondary lead smelter in California despite having already been forced to cut production last month.

A monitor on the north side of the Vernon plant near the Los Angeles River registered emissions in violation of the South Coast Air Quality Management District's (AQMD) requirements for airborne lead on 18 September.

The latest violation came days after AQMD ordered Exide to cut production by 15%, which it did September 14 

The problems with lead come as elected officials and community members across southeast Los Angeles County have been calling for the plant's closure amid an outcry over high emissions of potentially dangerous neurotoxins. Exide has run the plant since 2000.

Exide is investigating the cause of the latest elevated lead emissions September 18 and whether they were the result of excavation work to repair a water pipe break on a neighbouring site not owned by the battery recycler, said Sallie Hofmeister, a company spokeswoman told the LA Times.

"Exide immediately reported the water pipe repair cleanup and the monitor reading to regulators and continues to curtail production by 15% as required by air district rules," she said. "Exide is now in compliance with the regulatory emissions standard."

Air district officials said they do not believe the excavation work on the nearby property caused the elevated emissions. But officials did say repair work on a degraded wastewater pipe on Exide's property could be a factor because the digging might have stirred up lead dust.

Samsung SDI and Xtreme Power are installing a 1MW/1MWh lithium-manganese oxide energy storage system for a demonstrative smart grid project in Texas. The system, to be installed at the Reese Technology Centre in Lubbock, is partly funded by the Department of Energy.

The project aims to promote utility scale energy storage with wind energy. The battery system will be utilised to regulate power generated from local wind turbines that suffer from intermittent loss of generation.

Samsung’s lithium-ion battery technology together with Xtreme Power’s Xtreme Active Control Technology (XACT), which gives millisecond response time, will enable the wind generated power to be fed into the national grid.

This is the first project Samsung SDI and Xtreme Power have worked on together to provide energy storage solutions for renewable integration and grid support. The companies have formed the alliance to reach renewable energy goals and promote a cleaner electric grid.

The European Commission is taking the UK to court over its reduced VAT rate on energy-saving products.

The UK charges 5% instead of the standard 20%. Under EU VAT rules, discounts are only allowed for social policy reasons, not environmental reasons.

In a statement, the European Commission said: "Member States themselves unanimously decided on the list of goods and services that could benefit from a reduced VAT rate, and they also insisted that this list be strictly applied, with no room for manoeuvre or interpretation. This is important to prevent competitive distortions in the Single Market and to ensure a fair and level playing field between all Member States."

The Commissions added economic studies showed reduced VAT rates "are often not the best way to achieve policy objectives" and direct subsidies could be more efficient.

Australia’s biggest energy retailer, Origin, is offering AUS$10 000 in grants to encourage customers to install energy saving devices. The programme is intended to raise awareness of where energy savings can be made at household and business level.

The programme, called Origin Local Savers, is open to households, businesses and community groups in Ballarat, Victoria, with five grants being given out in total.

"We hope that Origin Local Savers will help Ballarat residents become more aware of the simple things that can be done around the office, home or in the community," said Amy Stockfield, Origin Consumer Media and Partnerships Manager.

The grant money can be used to upgrade electrical appliances, install eco-friendly lamps or set up timer switches to reduce the use of standby power.

Global revenue for commercial building energy systems will grow from $3.9bn in 2013 to more than $7.5bn in 2022, according to a new report by Pike Research.

The commercial buildings market is currently the largest source of revenue for stationary energy storage companies, primarily due to a robust UPS industry, which requires an energy storage component. Pike Research says that segment alone is estimated to generate $3.7bn in global sales in 2013.

In addition, there is a relatively healthy market for thermal energy systems, which use thermal mass - either ice or ceramic brick - to store energy for later use in climate control in a building. That market is estimated to be worth $89.6m in 2013.

Finally, an emerging segment of electrical energy storage systems is beginning to be established in some parts of the world.