The District Journal Team

Anecdote of the Week

On June 23, 2010, within an obscure San Francisco lab, a young engineer named Tom Rafferty conducted an experiment that would ripple through energy innovation. Tom was developing an experimental battery based on molten salts, aspiring to create a high-capacity, low-cost, environmentally friendly power storage solution.

On that June day, after months of trial and error, Tom produced a functioning prototype. Despite its small size, it could store twice the energy of conventional batteries of a similar scale. This breakthrough didn’t immediately steal the spotlight, yet it laid the groundwork for a new generation of high-capacity batteries now gradually emerging in the market. Tom’s story illustrates that profound innovations can spring from unknown labs, driven by the minds of passionate engineers.