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Here we are, Sunday afternoon. I swear this kid would spend his life on the pitch. Already the call to green is netting results, though not (yet) from Detroit: Japanese electronics companies Toshiba, GS Uasa and others have announced plans for new battery plants even as their industry cuts capital investment. When Sony announced factory closers last month the one area it promised growth was batteries. Research company Fuji Keizai expects the rechargeables market to double to $14 billion by 2012 and the overall battery market to grow by 37%. The growth comes from from mobile devices like laptops and iPhones and storage of renewable energy like wind or solar and of course cars. Hybrids and electrics at the cusp of mass production and Honda and Nissan are investing billions gearing up production lines and entering joint-ventures. Strange to think that automobiles to feed tech growth but this what Panasonic, Sony and Sanyo expect - Sanyo plumping Y80 billion into energy tech by 2012 while Toshiba begins battery mass-production costing $100s of millions - despite their pulling out of lithium-ions in 2004. It must feel good to take the bull by the horns - this is the future, after all. And the Americans? The Big Three playing catch-up with tax dollars - this their Big Chance to show something good. Where have you gone, Lee Iacocco? (Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you).

Madeleine is so excited about her gold-fish that I start to feel guilty. Is this kid somehow deprived otherwise, I wonder?