Is Chicago a new cleantech hub?

Chicago is quickly becoming one of the leading cities in cleantech technology research.  Argonne National Laboratory, just ouside the city, was recently selected to host the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR).  The goal of this center is to improve battery technologies, making them higher performance while at the same time reducing their cost. The new center will join four other national laboraties that fall under the JCESR program. Partners at Argonne include several research universities in the area and private cororations will serve in advisory role. In addition to this project, the city of Chicago is also already a leader in responding to climate change.