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A U G U S T / S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 8 www.resourceworld.com 67 GREEN TECHNOLOGIES fossil-fuel burning plants. The most com- mon and cost-effective such strategy is pumped hydroelectric storage: using excess power to send water uphill, then letting it flow back down to generate energy during peak demand. However, hydroelectric stor- age only works in regions with adequate water and space. So to make wind and solar more useful, the DOE has encouraged high- capacity batteries as an alternative. Cui said rechargeable lithium ion bat- teries, which store the small amounts of energy needed to run phones and laptops, are based on rare materials and are too pricey to store power for a neighborhood or city. Cui said grid-scale storage requires a low-cost, high-capacity, rechargeable battery. The manganese-hydrogen process seems promising. "Other rechargeable bat- tery technologies are easily more than five times of that cost over the life time," Cui added. Researchers say novel chemistry, low-cost materials, and relative simplicity made the manganese-hydrogen battery ideal for low-cost grid-scale deployment. The prototype uses platinum as a catalyst to spur the crucial chemical reactions at the electrode that make the recharge process efficient, and the cost of that component would be prohibitive for large-scale deploy- ment. But the team is already working on cheaper ways to coax the manganese sulfate and water to perform the reversible electron exchange. They have identified catalysts that could bring us below the $100-per- kilowatt-hour DOE target. The researchers reported completing 10,000 recharges of the prototypes, which is twice the DOE requirement, but they plan to test the manganese-hydrogen bat- tery under actual electric grid storage conditions to assess its lifetime perfor- mance and cost. Cui said he has sought to patent the process through the Stanford Office of Technology Licensing and plans to form a company to commercialize the system. A LOOK AT GREEN TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVES Kontrol Energy Corp. [KNR-CSE], head- quartered in Vaughan, Ontario, Canada delivers smarter energy solutions for buildings and utilities As described in the following paragraphs, the company operates in four defined verticals which include a growing portfolio of green tech- nology initiatives such energy retrofits, distributed generation, energy analyt- ics, and greenhouse gas measurement and reduction. For energy retrofits, the company per- forms a non-invasive transformation of a building's water, lighting or energy management systems. The retrofit makes the systems more energy efficient, reduc- ing costs and reducing environmental impacts.. Distributed generation means moving away from traditional energy suppliers like power stations, grids, and large-scale centralized power plants that often require electricity to travel across vast distances. Instead, with distributed generation, energy is procured from modular, flexible technologies located near the buildings they serve. Kontrol Energy provides distributed energy solutions such as solar panels, and combined heat and power and energy stor- age technologies. The Internet of Things (IoT) is the net- work of physical devices and other items which enables these things to connect and exchange data. By implementing its capa- bilities in data analytics and by using the data procured from the systems linked to IoT, Kontrol Energy provides tools that show an overview of a building's energy use and help clients make informed deci- sions about their energy consumption in real-time. Kontrol Energy monitors greenhouse gas carbon emissions and provides solutions for how to reduce these emissions and helps companies implement monetization initiatives tied to reduction such as carbon credits, holding a significant market share in Ontario for this service. Kontrol's customer base includes a grow- ing number of large, blue chip companies throughout Canada and the USA. Kontrol has had impressive revenue growth over he past few years with revenue now on an approximately $10 million run rate and up from $1.9 million in 2016. The com- pany combines a disciplined mergers and acquisitions approach to growing their four verticals along with robust organic growth. Kontrol is in the midst of expanding across Canada and further into the USA with a new acquisition and the upcoming release of their IoT Energy Management System technology. n Kontrol Energy's business operations. Photo courtesy Kontrol Energy Corp.