Chapter 6: Secrecy At Cedar Park

Better technologies for storing electricity could also significantly reduce humanity’s dependence on oil, not to mention coal and natural gas. That’s what Dick Weir is targeting. The co-founder of Texas start-up EEStor, explored in Chapter 6, is working on what he claims will be the ultimate energy storage device, capable of keeping an electric vehicle charged during a 500-kilometer drive or storing huge amounts of energy from the sun and wind so it can be dispatched as needed. Laptops, power tools and other gadgets would be able to run for weeks on a single charge. A game-changing development? Yes. But is it real? Many have their doubts. EEStor and its crusty founder are secretive, stay clear of the media, and don’t like being rushed. All this has shrouded the company in mystery, resulting in the creation of an Internet following that would make Paris Hilton envious. Energy storage is widely recognized as the nut that needs to be cracked if we are to see renewable energy become a serious threat to fossil fuels. EEStor intends to crack it, despite the army of skeptics who almost wish it to fail.