"Postal Service as Giant Battery? A Plan for Cashing In"

"By trading oil for batteries, the struggling U.S. Postal Service could transform its fleet vehicles into overnight moneymakers that deliver much more than the daily mail.

The cash-strapped agency has the potential to earn millions by storing and stabilizing some of the nation’s grid energy in mail trucks during off-peak hours. The idea comes from PJM Interconnection, a regional electricity transmission organization (RTO) that transmits electricity to 13 states and the District of Columbia over 268,5000 squares miles east of the Mississippi River. PJM envisions “borrowing” the batteries of electrified fleets of postal trucks, school buses and trash trucks as cyclical energy sinks for its network."

Elizabeth McGowan reports for SolveClimate April 5, 2010.