Electric Vehicle (EV) batteries are retired once they are incapable of reaching a threshold to provide a high torque within the vehicle. These second-use EV batteries are entering the market with roughly 50%-60% of initial capacity at one-fifth of the cost of new ones, creating a vast opportunity to use these batteries as storage in buildings. Electricity comes out of these batteries as native direct current (DC), so adopting these batteries into a DC microgrid building has the potential to create a more energy efficient system due to fewer conversions between AC (alternating current, used by the national energy grid) and DC, which creates unnecessary energy losses. As engineers, designers and builders look to batteries and DC to create more energy efficient buildings, this panel will explore the opportunities in harnessing second-use battery power to fixed DC in buildings.

We have a panel of experts that will speak about opportunities in the electricity and storage markets and benefits of direct current and second-use EV batteries. Attendees can expect to learn the potential in the emerging second-use EV battery storage and DC markets and why we need technological advancements to merge these two into a single building structure. We will discuss opportunities and barriers as well as the sustainability business case surrounding this idea to spur a shift in thinking around energy efficiency in commercial buildings.

Presenters:
Jon Brooks, Principal, AE Design (http://www.aedesign-inc.com/jon-brooks/)
John Waters, Principal, Waters & Associates (http://www.watersandassociates.com/whoweare)
Julia Gotwald, dc Project, Alliance for Sustainable Colorado & Presidio Graduate School MBA Program (https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliagotwald)
Meena Rezaei, dc Project, Alliance for Sustainable Colorado & CSU Engineering Program (https://www.linkedin.com/in/meenarezaei)