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12/30/1999 Fuel for the Future
by Michael Parrish - ENN
Fuel cells can use various sources of hydrogen, including
a simple tank of compressed gas. But methanol, a liquid usually produced from natural gas,
is a much more efficient way to store hydrogen. This is why the first wave of fuel cells
in cars will likely use an indirect methanol fuel cell, in which the methanol passes
through a mechanism called a "reformer," which extracts the hydrogen. The direct
method, which could be available commercially in five or six years, would use different,
lighter stacks of plates that eliminate the need for a reformer. ..."We're very
bullish about fuel cells in general," says Bernard Bulkin, vice president for
environmental affairs at oil giant BP Amoco. And though the JPL fuel cell still faces
technological hurdles before it moves to the marketplace, Bulkin agrees that "the
direct methanol fuel cell is potentially a very good way of powering a car or anything
else." Cars with methanol fuel cells would do little to change the regular routine of
consumers at the filling station. A driver would simply stop at a pump and fill up with
methanol rather than gasoline.
12/23/1999 Climate
Chiefs Issue Severe Weather Warning by
Michael McCarthy - Independent News (UK)
Global warming is now changing
the world's climate rapidly, and humanity faces a "critical" situation because
of it, the chief meteorologists of Britain and the United States warn today in a
remarkable joint statement. Peter Ewins, head of the UK Meteorological Office, and James
Baker, his US counterpart, confront climate-change sceptics head on with their assertion
in a letter to newspapers, including The Independent, that the world is warming
rapidly and human actions are responsible. The statement from such senior figures breaks a
tradition of caution by scientists involved in climate research, who have been providing
evidence for a decade of global warming, but have left the conclusions to politicians.
Their statement will be seen in the context of recent climate-related catastrophes, from
the devastation of Hurricane Mitch last year to the recent disastrous mudslides in
Venezuela brought about by extreme weather conditions consistent with predictions of what
global warming may cause. The two meteorologists attack the sceptical view, still
prevalent in the American business community, that fears of global warming are
exaggerated. They say in their letter that data on global temperatures over the last year
"confirms that our climate is now changing rapidly". And they add: "These
new observations, when combined with our improving understanding of the climate system,
increasingly point to human influences as the cause of these climate changes." As
revealed in The Independent a week ago, 1999 is likely to prove the warmest year in
England since records began in 1659 – despite the recent icy conditions – and
the fourth warmest year the world has known. It is likely to be the second-warmest year
recorded for the US. "The rapid rate of warming since 1976, approximately 0.2 degrees
per decade, is consistent with the projected rate of warming based on humaninduced
effects," the meteorologists say. "Scientists now say that they cannot explain
this unusual warmth without including the effects of human-generated greenhouse gases and
aerosols. Our new data and understanding now point to the critical situation we face: to
slow future change, we must start taking action soon." Global warming is believed to
be caused by the increased emissions of industrial gases such as carbon dioxide from motor
vehicles and power stations, which retain more of the sun's heat in the atmosphere. As
well as higher temperatures, its predicted consequences include increased climate
instability and more extreme weather events, such as hurricanes.
12/22/1999 Delphi And Global Successfully Test Fuel Cell - Reuters
The system incorporates a new gasoline
reformer designed and built by Michigan-based Delphi together with solid oxide fuel cell
stack components from Calgary-based Global. ...The auto industry has stated that it wants
to get fuel cell-powered cars on the market sooner than originally planned.
12/22/1999 Aided by Russia, US
to `Ignite' Hydrogen - Times of India
The world's biggest and most powerful laser will have
three purposes -- to give US weapons scientists, who will no longer be permitted to
conduct nuclear tests under the CTBT, a way to simulate hydrogen bomb blasts; to provide a
new window for studying the thermonuclear fires that light the sun and stars; and to aid
research on harnessing such reactions to to generate a safer, cleaner form of nuclear
power. The project has been made possible by Russian technology for a key part, the Wall
Street Journal revealed. The project threatened to grind to a halt because it seemed
impossible to produce mineral crystals large enough to meet the needs of the giant laser's
optics system. However, that key problem was solved when the labortory found Natalia
Zaitseva, a scientist from Moscow State University, who taught the American scientists at
the facility her technique for growing suitcase-sized crystals. Mass-producing 150 tons of
near-flawless glass for the laser's amplifiers had been thought by some to be an
insurmountable hurdle, but, according to energy department officials, two giant glass
companies are now close to achieving that goal.
12/22/1999 New
Hydrogen Fuel Station to Open in U.S. - Shell - Reuters
Energy and motor companies are to set up a dedicated
hydrogen filling station and fuel-cell vehicle test centre in California next year,
marking a major step in progress to fuel-cell based transport, Shell International said. A
company statement said the facilities would be sited in Sacramento by the middle of the
year at the headquarters of the California Fuel Cell Partnership - a group including the
state government, energy firms and vehicle manufacturers. "Refuelling is one of the
key issues for enabling fuel-cell vehicles to reach the mass market," said Don
Huberts, chief executive of Shell Hydrogen, which will jointly fund the fuelling facility,
along with Arco (Atlantic Richfield Co) and Texaco Inc. The statement did not say how much
the project would cost but added that the station will dispense liquid and compressed
hydrogen fuel for 16 fuel-cell powered passenger vehicles. Autmobile companies involved in
the venture include DaimlerChrysler AG , Ford Motor Co , Honda Motor Co Ltd and Volkswagen
AG and each will have garage bays at the centre for servicing, repairs and diagnostics.
12/20/1999 No Longer a Lone Wolf,  DCHT May Lead the
Hydrogen Pack - Power Online
As the nascent fuel cell market—estimated to be
worth more than $10 billion by 2010—charges forward, the mantra of DCH Technology,
“Hydrogen is the Future: We Can Sense It,” seems ever more clever and right on
target. “These last few years have been tremendously encouraging,” said Dave
Haberman, DCH Technology chairman and co-founder. “We no longer feel like the lone
wolf. Today, it seems like fuel cell technology is on everyone’s radar screen.”
...A manufacturer of hydrogen fuel cells and gas detection systems and safety equipment,
DCH Technology, which now publicly trades under the symbol (DCHT), incorporated in 1995.
At the time, Haberman said the fledgling company focused solely on developing sensors and
safety equipment for industries using hydrogen. Its first product release, the Robust
Hydrogen Sensor, and its Thick Film Sensors, now monitor hydrogen at a variety of
companies, including Aerospace Corporation, AlliedSignal, Ballard Power Systems, Ford,
Northwest Power Systems, Lucent Technologies and NASA. With the current annual market for
hydrogen gas detection equipment estimated at $440 million and growing rapidly, Haberman
said DCHT still hopes to become the “de facto safety guy” for these and other
companies using hydrogen. Yet in 1998 after coaxing Dr. Mark Daugherty to leave the U.S.
Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory and join DCHT as its chief
scientist, Haberman said the company worked with Los Alamos and developed its first PEM
Hydrogen Fuel Cell. DCHT currently develops fuel cells from 1 watt (the size of a D-cell
battery) to 10,000 watts for electronic equipment, marine vessels, portable power, battery
charging, and for use in small businesses and homes.
12/20/1999 Long Term Appears Turbulent for Oil by Kenneth N. Gilpin -
New York Times
Even if oil prices do not rise, movement
toward the fuel cell cars is virtually inevitable, the experts said, although this
technology is still being developed and is not expected to take hold until sometime in the
second decade. "U.S. energy policy today is an environmental policy: cleaner fuels
and substitution away from conventional oil moving slowly, inevitably toward alternative
fuels," Mr. Goldstein said. Even as they roll out more and more gas-guzzling,
high-profit-margin sport utility vehicles, automobile manufacturers have apparently heard
the message. "I don't talk to anyone in the auto industry who doesn't think that fuel
cells are the likely fuel-propulsion mechanism in the future," said Paul R. Portney,
president of Resources of the Future in Washington. "Whether it is powered by
methanol, hydrogen or something else is up in the air, but 20 years from now fuel cells
will begin to propel more and more cars. In the interim, you will see hybrid cars."
12/19/1999 An Era When Cars Drive
You by Keith Naughton- Newsweek/MSNBC
Every carmaker in the world is rushing to
replace the internal-combustion engine with fuel cells.
12/17/1999 Avista to Enter Residential Fuel Cell Market - Power Online
Avista, Avista Labs—its technology
subsidiary—and UOP signed a joint development agreement that the companies hope will
put them in the residential fuel cell market by early 2001. The agreement forges an
alliance that combines Avista Labs' fuel cell expertise in the development of small-scale,
modular fuel cells with the engineering, process design, and catalyst skills of UOP. The
two companies are jointly developing a distributed, fuel-cell power plant designed to
deliver electricity to residences or businesses.
12/19/1999 What Moves
Spaceships May Power Your House by Tom Henry - Toledo Blade (Ohio)
[A]re fuel cells the wave of the future for the average homeowner? DTE
Energy, Detroit Edison's parent company, thinks so. In less than two years, the utility
will try to sell residents of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois on the idea of using
them to generate electricity for their homes. This may sound like a strange idea for a
company that is in the business of selling power it generates itself. Detroit Edison owns
the Fermi II nuclear plant in northern Monroe County and eight coal-fired power plants.
...But DTE has formed a company in Latham, N.Y., called Plug Power to develop fuel cells
powerful enough to supply all the electricity a home needs - maybe more. Investors in the
project include General Electric. ...The technology is relatively simple and has been
around for a long time: NASA employed fuel cells in Gemini rockets during the 1960s to
provide on-board electricity for astronauts. They have been used on every spacecraft
since, according to Mark Hoberecht, fuel cell team leader for NASA's Glenn Research Center
in Cleveland. ...Plug Power is developing a device that would be about the size of a
full-size refrigerator and tap into natural gas lines in basements or other parts of a
home, distributing power throughout each structure. A similar model that runs off propane
is likely to be developed for people who live out in the country, away from natural gas
service. Natural gas and propane will be used to make the first generation of units
affordable, but the price tag is still going to be hefty: $7,500 to $10,000 for the
initial units, due out in 2001. By 2003, the company hopes to have sold its first 100,000
devices and have the price down to about $4,000 a unit, John Mousaw, Plug Power spokesman,
said. Its initial target market will be people served by rural electrical co-ops, as well
as residents of remote areas that either have no electricity or have a history of losing
it following thunderstorms, he said. ...Larry Garberding, DTE Energy executive vice
president and chief financial officer, said the market is ripe for fuel cells, given the
costs and environmental problems associated with aging coal plants. ...Mr. Hoberecht said
he believes Plug Power's style of gas-powered fuel cells will be phased out 20 to 30 years
after they reach the market. Competition and more efficient production will someday make
the cleanest type - those that run off pure hydrogen tanks - affordable for the general
public, he said. Nathanael Greene, energy policy analyst for the Natural Resources Defense
Council, called Plug Power's units a "transitional technology" that will help
wean the nation off its reliance on coal. "They have this ability to dovetail into a
clean future," Mr. Greene said. "In their current state, they're not the
solution in themselves. But we're very gung ho about them as a whole," he said.
12/19/1999 Fuel Cell Bus
Test Puts Chicago in Driver's Seat - Chicago Sun Times (Illinois)/Bloomberg
Although Ballard isn't the only company trying to develop
fuel cells to power cars and trucks, investors say the Canadian company has the best
chance of making an acceptable alternative to the internal combustion engine. Winning this
competition will be "the equivalent of finding a cure for cancer," said Simon
Baker, who manages $85 million in British-based Jupiter Asset Management's Ecology Fund.
The fund owns 243,300 Ballard shares, which represent almost 7 percent of its holdings.
..."We don't usually invest in companies that aren't making money," said
Jupiter's Baker. "Ballard is an exception" because investments by companies such
as DaimlerChrysler and Ford have given the company's technology a "stamp of
approval." DaimlerChrysler owns 20 percent of Ballard, and Ford has a 5 percent
stake. Ford spokesman Glenn Ray calls the fuel cell "the most promising technology
right now to displace gas power," adding that Ford is committed to deliver
commercially viable fuel cell vehicles by 2004.
12/16/1999 Plug Power Cell Now Hooked on Natural Gas by Jo-Ann
Johnston - Times Union (New York)
Plug Power's fuel cells for homes are dishwasher-sized
devices intended to provide enough electricity for an average house. ...The fuel cell
previously operated from June 1998 to July 1999 using hydrogen gas as fuel. But that was
an early stage model that doesn't mimic the way an average homeowner would use a fuel
cell. Plug Power always intended that homeowners would probably use natural gas or propane
with its cells. ...With fuel cells, homeowners would pay $3,000 to $5,000 for the cell,
plus the price of the natural gas or propane. Plug Power expects its fuel cells to go on
the market in 2001. A joint venture between Plug Power and GE Power Systems, called GE
MicroGen, will handle sales.
12/16/1999 [ Ballard]
Energy for the 21st Century Automobile - The Hindu (India)
Daimler's fuel cell vehicle development project started
in 1991 under the guidance of Dr. Hartmut Weule, then R & D boss of Daimler Benz. In
1993, the Vancouver-based Ballard Power Systems, an experienced player in the fuel cell
arena, joined the research effort. The first prototype fuel cell vehicle hit the road in
1994. It was a 3.5 tonne Mercedes Benz -180 van powered by a fuel cell system of 50 kW
output. It was christened as New Electric Car (NECAR-1). The fuel cell system occupied so
much space that the vehicle could accommodate only the driver and one passenger as it
cruised along at 90 km/h. ...The NECAR-4 represents a new milestone in fuel cell
technology. Special bipolar plates ensure that both air and gaseous hydrogen flow as
freely as possible through the stacks. The platinum catalyst coating is now applied
uniformly over the entire surface of the membrane. As a result, the area throughout which
the catalyst can react with the hydrogen atoms to produce electrons and protons is spread
homogenously across the whole membrane surface. This greatly enhances the fuel cell's
capacity to produce power. It also provides a very high energy conversion efficiency. On
average, the new stacks function with an efficiency of between 50 and 80 percent.
12/13/1999 Ballard
Taps Hyundai as Cell Buyer - Seven Carmakers Aboard by Drew Hasselback
- Financial Post (Canada)
The Korean automaker joins DaimlerChrysler
AG, Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp., Honda Motor Co. Ltd., Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.
(which recently combined with Renault SA) and Volkswagen AG as companies that have
committed to Ballard's technology. ...Hyundai, the world's 10th-largest automaker, has
placed a [CN]$575,000 order for Ballard's fuel cells, related equipment and support
services. ...The three top 10 producers Ballard has not signed deals with are Toyota Motor
Co., Fiat SpA and PSA Peugeot Citroen. ...Reports have estimated it costs Ballard about
$35,000 to make a fuel cell engine but it would have to cost a tenth of that to make it
competitive with existing engines. ...One of Ballard's major announcements next year will
be the unveiling of the Necar 5, a new fuel cell-powered prototype built by
DaimlerChrysler. For the first time, this prototype will run on methanol instead of
hydrogen and still leave enough space in the car for four passengers. The change is
significant because it is easier for existing gas stations to sell methanol than hydrogen,
said Peter Hoffman, editor of the Hydrogen
and Fuel Cell Letter, a publication that tracks develops in the alternative energy
sector. ...Ballard says its Mark 900, the model name given to the fuel cell stack powering
the Necar 5, now lays down the minimum space required for fuel cells in vehicles.
12/12/1999 Bill Ford
Lifts the Veil on Campaign of Denial Over Global Warming by Kevin J. Sweeney
- Salt Lake Tribune (Utah)
When 2,500 scientists agreed on a statement
that global warming is a real and urgent phenomenon caused by humans, the GCC drummed up a
small handful of dissenters. Spending millions on advertising, lobbying and other efforts
to discredit the best science, the group's small clique has had a huge presence. They have
allowed political leaders to hide behind the false notion that there is disagreement about
global warming in the scientific community. They have provided ready sources for
journalists who, under the guise of objectivity, lazily assume that "another
side" to the science should be presented in each story on the topic. The Ford Motor
Co.'s withdrawal exposes this deception. Ford is tacitly admitting that it is folly to
continue clouding the debate and that discussions instead should focus on policies and
products that can stop or slow the warming trend. In walking away from the GCC, the auto
giant has pulled back the curtain to show that science has never clouded this debate. It
was the sophisticated advocacy and self-interest of panicked industrialists that did so.
...Next year, its entire SUV fleet -- the one currently on assembly lines -- will meet the
low emissions vehicle standards for selling cars in California. And it has invested
heavily in fuel cells -- nonpolluting components that produce energy from hydrogen, a
renewable substance.
12/11/1999 Automotive Designs Ease Ravages of Age by Donald W.
Knauss - Spokesman-Review (Washington)
While DaimlerChrysler rushes to bring a fuel-cell-powered
Mercedes-Benz to mass production by 2004, German rival BMW has largely pooh-poohed the
fuel-cell hoopla. "We are not optimistic about fuel cells," Christopher Huss,
BMW's director of environmental research, said last year. So observers were rather
surprised when BMW recently announced that it will soon bring a fuel-cell vehicle to
market, beating DaimlerChrysler and others by several years. But there's a catch. BMW's
vehicle will only use the fuel cell -- which uses hydrogen and oxygen to generate
electricity -- to run the vehicle's electrical accessories, much as a battery on a
conventional car does. BMW will put the small fuel cell in a 7-Series sedan that uses a
traditional internal-combustion engine fueled by liquid hydrogen. BMW has been researching
hydrogen-powered vehicles for 20 years.
12/7/1999 University of Texas Reactor Closes as Result of Gas Buildup by
Alexi Baker - Daily Texan (Austin)
UT researchers first noticed something was wrong with the
reactor when excess gases were created in its reflector, shifting part of an experiment
they were conducting. The reflector keeps radioactive particles from escaping by
reflecting them inward. O'Kelly said many researchers believe a tiny flaw let water into
the reactor's reflector but not the space inside the reflector where the containers of
uranium were located. The uranium radiation then converted the water into gases inside the
reflector. "Apparently a lot of water leaked in over the years at a very slow
rate," O'Kelly said, adding that the investigators will later estimate how long the
leak has existed. Breck Henderson, the spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in
Arlington, said the gases formed from the water are currently the main concern. Hydrogen
and oxygen gases can explode if combined and ignited by a spark. But Henderson said it is
very unlikely the gases will encounter any sparks, though, since the reactor's radioactive
core is kept under 27 feet of water.
12/7/1999 Toshiba Discovers How to
Make Voids in Silicon - EE Times/EDTN
Toshiba has discovered how to make what it
calls "empty space in silicon" or ESS. The ability to form bubbles, pipes and
flat plates as voids in silicon could be a useful addition to the range of techniques
available for manipulating silicon and could be used to create novel silicon-on-insulator
(SOI) structures. ...[Toshiba engineer Tsutomu Sato] admitted that the ability to make
such voids was found by accident as he and his colleagues were working on experiments in
hydrogen diffusion through single crystal silicon. The technique involves thermal
annealing at of a silicon wafer at 1100 degrees centigrade after a silicon wafer has been
etched with deep trenches with aspect ratios of greater than about five. Although the
temperature is below the melting point of silicon, the annealing, performed under hydrogen
at a low pressure of about 10 torr, causes the monoceystaline silicon to re-organize its
lattice and the trench forms into a series of "bubbles" to minimize the surface
energy of the silicon crystal structure.
12/6/1999 Ford Commits
To Clean Air Future: Dumps Anti-Global-Warming Lobbying Group
"Global Climate Coalition"- CHBC
Facing growing anger from environmentalist
groups and mounting scientific evidence of the highest caliber indicating global climate
change, the Ford Motor Company announced today that it was renouncing its membership in
the industry lobbying group "Global
Climate Coalition." At the 1997 Climate Change Convention in
Kyoto, Japan, the outspoken environmentalist organization Earth First branded
the GCC as "the top of 'Dirty Dozen' climate-wrecking firms and industry
organizations" and condemned it for "destroying prospects for an effective
greenhouse gas reduction target by campaigning in the USA against binding emission
controls." "The Kyoto Protocol does not need to be a job killer and a drain on
the U.S. economy, as the Global Climate Coalition and other critics of the Kyoto Protocol
have claimed," criticized Howard Geller, Executive Director of the American Council for an
Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) in 1998. "The Global Climate Coalition and
the coal and oil industries use worst case, implausible assumptions that lead directly to
job loss and lower economic growth," Geller stated. "These assumptions include
imposition of a carbon tax without offsetting reductions in other taxes, no consideration
of technological innovation, no cost savings from energy efficiency improvements, no
benefits from reducing smog, soot, and acid rain with the same technologies that reduce
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and no international trading or joint implementation.
"In effect, the Global Climate Coalition assumes the Kyoto Protocol
would be met in a costly, inflexible, dumb manner. New technologies, such as more
efficient appliances, lighting, vehicles, and industrial processes, as well as renewable
energy sources, are the key to cutting greenhouse gas emissions without harming the
economy. By taking a technology-oriented approach, the United States and other nations can
create new industries and jobs, save consumers money, and greatly reduce GHG
emissions." According to the Associated Press, Ford spokesman Terry Bresnihann
admitted "being in GCC has become something of an impediment to pursuing our
environmental initiatives in a credible way.'' John Passacantando, Executive Director of
atmospheric protection activist group Ozone
Action, praised Ford's decision. "In the same way that the GCC's power over the
years has represented industry's unwillingness to acknowledge global warming, its current
disintegration is a signal that corporate America is finally recognizing the reality of
the threat," he said. "We have all suffered from a decade of lies on global
warming from corporate America. Now we finally have Bill Ford Jr., Chairman of one of our
country's largest manufacturers, standing up saying that he wants to tell the truth about
our most pressing environmental crisis. It makes for a promising end to the
century." Global Climate Coalition Executive Director Glenn Kelly responded to
Ford's resignation by saying, "What is most disappointing about Ford’s decision
is that it seems to be driven by a campaign of misinformation by fringe environmental
groups such as Ozone Action who disregard the serious nature of this debate with scare
tactics, half-truths and outright distortions." By turning its back on the GCC, Ford
joins ex-members Royal Dutch Shell, British Petroleum/Amoco and Dow Chemical in a united
front of Fortune 500 companies recognizing the threat of global warming and working
to develop technological solutions. "We do believe there is something to
climate change. There is enough evidence that something is happening that we ought to
start looking at this seriously,'' the Associated Press quoted Ford spokesman Terry
Bresnihan on Monday.
12/4/1999 [ Ballard] Honda: Stack of Trouble - The Economost (UK)
It looks like a chunky stereo amplifier,
except that it is made of plastic composite and has ribbed fin surfaces. This is Honda's
version of a fuel-cell stack, the soul of the machine that within 20 years may replace the
internal-combustion engine with hydrogen-powered electric motors. But this revolutionary
stack looks bigger and bulkier than those made by Ballard Power Systems, a Canadian
company now working with DaimlerChrysler and Ford to develop fuel-cell engines. Another
partnership between General Motors (GM) and Toyota is also working on fuel-cell cars ready
to go to market in four years. Honda has had to curtail its re-entry into Formula One -
the ultimate tribute to the internal-combustion engine - because it needs to save money
for investment in the machine that threatens to kill off that technology. Honda has
installed a Ballard fuel cell in one of its prototype electric cars. But Ballard's
contract does not allow the Japanese firm to take apart the cell to learn its internal
secrets. Honda's boss, Hiroyuki Yoshino, is hoping that Honda's famously talented and
creative engineers can close the gap with the Ballard cell and develop an entire fuel-cell
engine themselves. That will be costly. ...This week, in America, Honda is launching a
hybrid petrol-electric car. It has tied a battery and an electric motor to a small,
one-litre engine. That gives the performance of a 1.5-litre engine, but with consumption
of only about 3 litres per 100 kilometres, half as much as a conventional engine. This is
the first hybrid car to be launched - ahead even of the hyped Toyota Prius. However,
although Honda is ideally placed to supply the petrol engines that everybody reckons the
market will want in the next 20 years, that will not guarantee the company's future. The
problem is that developing a decent fuel-cell engine is proving so expensive.
12/3/1999 Expect
Rapid, Pervasive Innovation in 21st Century - Purdue University
Fuel-stingy cars will likely get about 80 miles to the
gallon and use a "hybrid" drive system: an electric motor powered by batteries
or fuel cells, supplemented with a gasoline or diesel engine only when needed for
acceleration and high performance. ...The automotive leap also will depend on the
refinement of fuel cells, which generate electricity through electrochemical reactions
between hydrogen and oxygen. Developed for use in spacecraft, fuel cells emit only water
vapor and would ideally use pure hydrogen as a fuel. Because of technological challenges
and potential hazards posed by pure hydrogen, early fuel-cell cars probably will draw
their hydrogen from gasoline or some other hydrocarbon fuel. An on-board chemical plant
will break down the fuel into its fundamental components, which include hydrogen. In
coming decades, fuel cells will likely evolve. Some visionaries predict that, before the
middle of the next century, automobile fuel cells will generate enough electricity to run
a house.
12/3/1999 The NeCar 4:
A Work in Progress - Financial Post (Canada)
The Necar 4 is powered by Ballard's proton exchange
membrane (PEM) fuel cell. ...The car operates like an ordinary automatic. You simply slide
the gear shift to D for drive, take your right foot off the brake, then stomp on the gas
pedal to go. But flooring the gas pedal does not reward the driver with the squealing of
tires and a jolt of acceleration. Instead, the car's response is rather sluggish. It feels
much the same as driving an electric golf cart. Once under way, the Necar can eventually
accelerate to a pretty good clip. The car's top speed is 145 kilometres an hour.
Considering that this is a small car, one that might be described as a subcompact minivan,
the Necar can rip along at a pretty good clip. But it does take 14 seconds for the car to
reach 100 km/h. This is certainly not the car for people who crave power.
...DaimlerChrysler and Ballard, which is 20% owned by Daimler, still have a long way to
go. They don't expect fuel cell vehicles to enter commercial production until 2004. This
is more than a business deadline. A state law in car-crazy California requires that 10% of
automakers' sales come from zero-emission vehicles. Until then, Ballard's engineers are
still working to beef up the fuel cell's power and to shrink the cost of producing fuel
cell engine. ...Meanwhile Ford Motor Co., which owns 15% of Ballard, has already
produced a zippy fuel cell vehicle, the P2000. ...With a 67-kilowatt fuel stack, the P2000
has a lot more pep than the Necar 4. It is also a lot roomier and handles turns more
sharply. Ford says the vehicle can hit 100 km/h in 12 seconds, a little faster than the
Necar.
12/3/1999 Taking
Up the 'Zero Emissions' Challenge: FUEL CELLS by Tim Burt - The
Financial Times (UK)
Leading
carmakers have realised - some too late - that existing engine technology could become
redundant if future products are determined more by emissions standards than customer
satisfaction. It has forced them to reassess their whole attitude to the combustion
engine. And their common response is the fuel cell. ..."We need to move away from
internal combustion engines as the sole prime mover towards new technologies," says
Peter Histon, manager for fuels technology at BP Amoco. "In particular, it
demonstrates the attraction of moving towards hydrogen or battery electric vehicles."
...Manufacturers, led by DaimlerChrysler and Ford, claim the cheapest and most-widely
available solution is to use methanol. ...Fuel providers, which would have to install the
necessary infrastructure, disagree. "We have a lot of concerns about methanol,"
says one oil industry executive. "It would require a completely new infrastructure
and requires a number of health and safety issues to be resolved." Their reluctance
to embrace methanol poses a problem for the carmakers. Attempts by DaimlerChrysler, Honda
and others to launch fuel cell cars as early as 2003-04 would be compromised if methanol
is rejected as the first fuel source. Millions of research dollars are being spent on
direct injection hydrogen or reforming hydrogen from gasoline. But such developments are
unlikely to be on the market much before 2010. That leaves a large gap between the
ambition and reality of fuel cell development. ...Autopolis, the UK automotive
consultancy, claims fuel cells lend themselves towards urban buses better than cars. It
says tests under way in Sao Paulo, Vancouver and Washington demonstrate that roof-mounted
hydrogen cylinders refuelled in the controlled environment of municipal bus depots can
power fuel cells for a range of up to 300km. "Fuel cells engines have ideal
characteristics for urban buses and performance targets can be achieved," says John
Wormald, senior partner at Autopolis.
12/1999 Fueling the Cells by Paul Sharke - Mechanical
Engineering
Clean-running vehicles can convert hydrogen into
electricity. The question is, "How are we going to get the hydrogen?" ...For a
fuel cell vehicle to be truly emissions-free, the hydrogen for the fuel cell must itself
come by way of a source that produces no emissions. Among the fossil fuels, petroleum and
natural gas are considered primary contenders to provide a source of mobile hydrogen. They
have higher ratios of hydrogen to carbon dioxide when compared to coal. Coal, with 50
percent hydrogen, may simply be too rich in carbon dioxide to provide an attractive source
of fuel-cell energy. Oil does better than coal, at 67 percent hydrogen. Natural gas, at 80
percent hydrogen, does better still. Renewable sources of primary energy—solar and
geo-thermal—can provide hydrogen without producing carbon dioxide. Photovoltaic
cells, for example, make electricity directly from sunlight, which can then be used to
strip hydrogen from water. Wind power, another form of solar energy, can make hydrogen as
well without producing carbon dioxide. ...A prototype personal fuel appliance under
development at Stuart Energy of Toronto could make hydrogen for as many as five cars parked
at home. ...John Turner, a researcher at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in
Golden, Colo., suggested that in the short term the most appropriate step in transitioning
to a hydrogen economy would be to build stationary reformers at existing natural gas
filling stations. ...Shell Hydrogen has teamed up with DaimlerChrysler, Ballard, and Norsk
Hydro to experiment with a closed hydrogen economy in Iceland. Although the exact pattern
of the experiment is awaiting definition, and is expected to be announced early in the
coming year, talk has centered around converting Iceland's large fishing boat fleet to
hydrogen, and then powering its automotive and transit vehicles in the same manner.
Iceland has vast geothermal energy sources, so using them to generate hydrogen makes good
economic sense. Phillip Baxley, a manager at Shell Hydrogen in Houston, speaking about the
Iceland project during a recent fuel cell conference, said, "The purpose there is to
understand on the ground how you would use renewable resources to build a hydrogen
economy—an entire hydrogen economy rather than just a fueling station."
12/1999 [
Ballard] DaimlerChrysler
to Roll Out Next-Generation Necar 5, Shows Miniaturized Stack, Reformer -
Peter Hoffmann's Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Letter
Development of the new stack emphasized the
use of lower-cost technology and components, such as stamped, instead of machined, carbon
bipolar plates of the type that Ballard Power Systems and DaimlerChrysler eventually
expect to be getting from suppliers such as UCAR ...Also shown to the visitors was the
new, ultra-compact, intricately machined methanol/water mixture reformer, a rectangular
box judged to be roughly the same as the fuel cell stack itself. Sitting right next to two
previous, much bigger reformer generations from Necar 3 and 4, the new one impressively
demonstrated progress in bringing down the size of fuel cells and associated equipment for
the eventual production version that the company reaffirmed will begin to be sold five
years from now.
12/1999 Establishing
Renewable Energy Markets by Carola Hanisch - Environmental Science
& Technology, American Chemical Society
Deutsche Shell AG, the Hamburg-based German
subsidiary of the international Shell group, is actively developing and marketing
renewables and hydrogen-based technologies. ...As a member of the board of Deutsche Shell
AG, [Professor Fritz Vahrenholt] is in charge of renewable energies, chemistry, the
environment, and public relations. "[Shell Hydrogen] has a $120 million budget....
One focus is on storage of hydrogen, of course, a very important problem. Then we will try
to develop a catalytic partial oxidation (CPO) reactor for fuel cell cars and stationary
electricity production. ...We believe that it represents an important bridge to a hydrogen
economy because there is no infrastructure for hydrogen yet. The CPO reformer allows you
to fuel your car with gasoline as you are now accustomed to doing. The reactor converts
the gasoline on board the car to hydrogen, which feeds the fuel cell. In the end, of
course, you will use regeneratively produced hydrogen or methanol. But you cannot do this
all at once. ... Hydrogen is the best secondary energy carrier for
storing renewable energy. ... I am absolutely convinced that fuel cell technology will
replace the internal combustion engine. Consider the efficiencies of modern gasoline or
diesel engines or conventional power plants: You can still increase those efficiencies,
but only very modestly. That is nothing compared with the almost 80% efficient chemical
energy conversion achievable in fuel cells. With combustion engines we will always have
high heat losses, and there, fuel cell technology offers a big advantage. ...Hydrogen is
going to revolutionize energy production. In a couple of years, we will have the first
fuel cells in basements—small power plants that provide houses with electricity and
heat and that feed the extra power into the grid. So in the end, we will have a completely
changed energy supply structure. The customers will be consumers and producers at the same
time—that is a revolutionary change."
11/30/1999 Dr. T. Nejat Veziroglu: Hydrogen Powers His Dreams of the Future
- Miami Herald
Back in 1974, when the international hydrogen fuel
movement was born in Miami during a meeting of 700 scientists from around the world, only
a handful of people believed in the concept. Others called them the Hydrogen Romantics.
He's still a romantic. ``Ninety percent of the universe is hydrogen,'' he says, with an
excitement he cannot hide. ``The sun is hydrogen. The stars burn hydrogen. And hydrogen in
the form of water covers most of the earth.'' Dr. V proposes producing hydrogen from water
and using that gas instead of fossil fuels. The theory may sound simple but it has vast
economic implications. Converting to hydrogen -- a process that is already inching along
-- would mean an enormous change in the infrastructure of how we supply and obtain energy.
His work in the field had been instrumental in developing the technology to convert the
sun's rays into electricity, which in turn strips hydrogen from water. In his lab he has
found pioneering ways to make hydrogen fuel feasible, developing several hydrogen-run
machines, such as air-conditioning units. ``It's such a wonderful concept. It doesn't have
pollution, ozone layer depletion, acid rain and all the other problems of fossil fuels,''
he adds. ...``Hydrogen is our future,'' he says. ``And as long as we have sun, we will
have hydrogen.''
11/30/1999 Battelle Forecasts Strategic Technologies for 2020 - Battelle/PRNewswire
A team of top scientists and engineers at
Battelle, a world renowned technology organization based in Columbus, Ohio, has compiled a
list of the 10 most strategic technological trends that will shape business and our world
over the next 20 years. ...Developments such as highly advanced batteries, inexpensive
fuel cells, and micro-generators of electricity will make many of our electronic products
and appliances highly mobile. Decentralized power sources will be extensive, affordable,
and environmentally clean. These new, high-power, distributed energy systems will provide
backup if not primary energy sources for appliances, homes, and vehicles. In the
transition to fuel cells, we will see further improvements in batteries -- perhaps linked
with solar power-and small generators fueled by natural gas.
11/30/1999 Ballard
Reduces Fuel Cell Costs - Detroit News (Michigan)
Mass
production, trimming platinum are keys... Ballard hopes to reduce the cost of fuel cells
to $3,500, which would be competitive with existing engines, currently on the market.
11/30/1999 High School Student Suffers Second and Third Degree Burns in Chem Lab
Experiment Gone Bad - CIRC (Lansing MI)
Twelve students from the district west of
Lansing were treated and released for minor burns. Nine of 11 uninjured students in the
class went home early with their parents, while two others remained in school. Methanol
fumes apparently ignited during a routine chemistry demonstration by teacher Ernest
Luttig, said Delta Township Assistant Fire Chief Scott Pellerito. ``It was just a normal
chemistry type of experiment,'' Pellerito told the State Journal. ``He had done it many
times.'' The experiment uses methanol vapors to blow a cork from a plastic bottle. The
bottle being used was a white quart-size plastic jug, which fell from Luttig's hand when
the unexpected flash occurred, Pellerito said. Waverly Community Schools Superintendent
Jim Ryan said Luttig was ``devastated.'' There was virtually no damage to the school
building. The rest of the 1,100 Waverly students were in no danger and continued their
normal schedule of classes, Ryan said. Pellerito said Ms. Jurus was sitting closest to the
failed experiment, and her hooded sweatshirt and hair caught fire. Luttig and Ms. Jurus'
classmates threw a coat over her to smother the flames, Pellerito said.
11/27/1999 Ballard Power
Investors Run on Optimism by Karina Lahni - Seattle
Post-Intelligencer/Bloomberg (Washington)
Fuel cells are currently too expensive to make sense for
the average Taurus or Mercedes. Ballard declined to say how much it costs to make a fuel
cell engine, though analysts estimate the price tag at about $35,000. Ballard hopes to
reduce that figure to $3,500, which would be competitive with existing engines. ...The
Chicago Transit Authority has been testing three buses powered by Ballard fuel cells since
March 1998. Chicago paid about $1.4 million for each of the buses, compared to $300,000
for a diesel bus. ...Made from materials such as Teflon, fuel cell engines should
eventually be lighter and smaller than internal combustion engines made of steel and
aluminum, and should become cheaper to produce at similar volumes. "Manufacturing a
car is going to be more akin to putting together something like a TV," said
Christopher Taylor, who manages $920 million at London-based Fuji-Lord Abbett
International Ltd. ...Methanol is considered the front-runner for private and individual
use since existing gas stations could be used to dispense the fuel with minor adjustments.
Ballard has declared itself fuel-neutral, as has the U.S. Department of Energy. "We'd
like to get away from petroleum," but there is little incentive to do so as long as
gasoline remains relatively inexpensive, said Steven Chalk, energy conversion team leader
in the Energy Department's transportation division.
11/21/1999 New Power Source or Sci-Fi Delusions? by Kevin Coughlin
-The Star-Ledger (Newark, N.J.)/Austin American-Statesman (Texas)
Randell Mills calls his secret weapon the
BlackLight Process. ..."His theory is totally groundless," says Paul Grant, a
former IBM scientist now with the Electric Power Research Institute in Palo Alto, Calif.
...Mills claims 150 investors have bought into his chemical process, which purports to
convert hydrogen into a previously unknown "lower-energy state" of hydrogen that
he's dubbed a "hydrino." Hydrinos, he says, emit energy in the form of heat
suitable for generating electricity and a hydrogen plasma that can be used for lighting.
..."It's hard to tell if it's self-deception or a scam," said Robert Park of the
American Physical Society. "He's been at it so long that one worries that
self-deception should have cured itself by now." "From start to finish, it's
quackery," said Professor Michio Kaku of the City University of New York. "I was
astounded reading this stuff. If he was a student, I would flunk him. He wouldn't pass
freshman physics."
11/19/1999 [ Ballard] Auto Stocks Insider: Fuel Cells Fuel Excitement about This Company by
William Deim - Worldly Investor
Ballard's not alone in the industry, but the number of
players is small and getting smaller. European carmakers PSA and Renault just combined
their operations. Forget them. Honda is developing its own version, as usual, but it's
also buying Ballard technology. General Motors and Toyota have formed a team of formidable
power. And Ford and DaimlerChrysler have a team, with Ballard. They are shareholders in
Ballard, and in several associated companies. A top Ford executive who has been working
with electric cars for 15 years told me in September that in the end, all the automakers
will use either the Toyota-GM system or the Ballard-Ford-DaimlerChrysler system. He wasn't
exaggerating. In October, Akira Kijima, the deputy corporate general manager for research
at Mitsubishi Motors, called for Ballard to open its technology to everyone for the good
of the planet. He said a third party, such as a government or association, should have
control of Ballard's patented ideas.
11/17/1999 Pipe Cracks Suspected
in H-2 Launch Failure - Yomiuri
Shimbun (Japan)
The National Space Development Agency of Japan on Tuesday
reported to the government's Space Activities Commission that Monday's failed rocket
launch was likely caused by liquid hydrogen fuel leaking from cracked pipes in the booster
stage of H-2 Launch Vehicle No. 8, government sources said Tuesday. NASDA reached its
conclusion after studying tape of the launch that showed abnormal jets of gas shooting
from the booster and flight data transmitted to the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima
Prefecture, from which the H-2 rocket was launched. ...Investigators noted that the
pressure levels in pipes containing both the liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen suddenly
dropped, so it is highly likely under the high pressure the pipes cracked, allowing the
liquid fuel to rush out, added the sources. Furthermore, a thermometer mounted on the
outside of the booster showed a sudden temperature rise, followed by a fall to the
temperature of liquid hydrogen, leading NASDA officials to suspect that it was liquid
hydrogen that leaked.
11/15/1999 Water for Space Fuel
Considered - Defence Systems Daily (UK)
DARPA is considering supporting research and development
of space propulsion concepts employing new, novel or unconventional fuels with properties
enabling satellite-to-satellite fuel transfers. They are particularly interested in
concepts for the on-orbit use of water for the generation and storage of spacecraft
electrical energy and/or generation of propulsive power due to water's seemingly unique
advantages as a prospective space power/propulsion feedstock. Water is: Readily available
in virtually limitless quantity, at an extremely low cost. Non-flammable; non-volatile;
non-toxic; non-corrosive; non-polluting. Easily convertible in-orbit (using solar-powered
electrolytic decomposition into hydrogen and oxygen) into regenerative fuel cell
consumables and high-energy propellant.
11/15/1999 MIT's
Plasmatron for Cutting Car Pollutants is Significant Step Closer to Road Tests
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The recent engine tests were conducted using gasoline.
However, laboratory tests with the plasmatron alone have shown that the device can also
process diesel and biocrude fuels. Although in principle the device could process all of
the fuel for a vehicle, the researchers say that it's most cost-effective to convert only
a fraction of the fuel into hydrogen-rich gas. That's because even though such gas
increases the efficiency of an engine, the plasmatron itself consumes energy. The best
results in the recent tests were achieved by converting 25 percent of the gasoline into
hydrogen-rich gas.
11/15/1999 'Plasmatron' May Clear
the Air by Tom Paulson - Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The experimental plasmatron is small enough
to fit on your car's carburetor, will likely cost only a few hundred dollars and converts
gasoline or even corn oil into hydrogen gas with such high efficiency it may become one of
our best weapons against air pollution. ...Cohn first got the idea for using plasma
technology from a former Soviet scientist he met in the early 1990s. ...In 1993,
Alex Rabinovich, the former Soviet scientist, came to MIT to continue his work in plasma
physics. Rabinovich mentioned to Cohn how he had set up a low-temperature plasma reactor
using common fuels to give his lab more than the government-allotted power supply. ...What
they have arrived at after considerable tinkering is a plasmatron that converts some of
the fuel to hydrogen gas that is fed back into the regular fuel supply. This hydrogen-rich
fuel is sent to the engine where the hydrogen allows the engine to burn the fuel much more
efficiently at a lower temperature. ..."We think it's the best option for reducing
pollution in cars," Cohn said. Tests in a car engine at the Oak Ridge Lab, he said,
produced a huge reduction in the emission of nitrogen oxides -- the main contributors to
smog. He said the plasmatron, when mass-produced, should cost only a few hundred dollars.
11/12/1999 Ballard Has $4.5-Million in Fuel Cell Orders by Steve
Mertyl - Money Journal/Canadian Press
Ballard has supplied fuel sells to other automakers,
including General Motors, Honda, Nissan and Volkswagen. But chairman Firoz Rasul would not
say whom the latest orders were destined for. "They've indicated that at this stage
for competitive reasons they would rather not disclose to their competition that they're
working on these things," he said. Rasul also would not reveal the number of
fuel-cell stacks ordered because it could provide pricing information to competitors. The
pace of fuel-cell vehicle development is picking up as manufacturers commit to introducing
commercially viable production models within the next four to six years, said Rasul. A
total of 10 automakers showed fuel-cell vehicles at the recent Frankfurt and Tokyo auto
shows, seven of which used Ballard fuel-cell stacks, he said. ...The fuel-cell stacks, the
heart of the system that process the produces electricity from hydrogen and air without
pollution, will be delivered in early 2000, said Rasul. The units will be manufactured on
Ballard's pilot production line in its Burnaby complex. Ballard's adjacent main production
facility will be running by the second half of next year, Rasul said.
11/12/1999 21st Century Inventions
by Amanda Griscom - Feed Magazine/MSNBC
Cars as we’ve know them for the last century are a
happily endangered species. In the foreseeable future you may be gliding down the highway
in a sleek plastic shell — half the weight of a steel car, a fraction of the
emissions, but all the traction and torque. You’ll sip fresh water from your exhaust
pipe and lounge back with an online movie on the dash while the sensors in the road guide
you home. ...Fuel cells could offer the auto industry near-zero emission vehicles with
long range, good performance, and rapid refueling. Fuel cell technology has been around as
a concept for 150 years (it was initially invented by Sir William Grove in 1839 during
experiments on the electrolysis of water) but only now are the materials available to make
it a commercial reality. Essentially, a fuel cell combines hydrogen and oxygen over a
thin, plastic membrane to produce electricity, heat, and a pure, drinkable byproduct:
water. The fuel cell operates somewhat like a battery, but it doesn’t run down or
require recharging as long as fuel (hydrogen) is supplied. The required hydrogen can be
either carried on the vehicle as a compressed gas, or extracted from a fuel, such as
gasoline, methanol, ethanol, or propane.
11/11/1999 Safety
of Electric-Car Batteries Ignites Concern by Ralph Vartabedian - Los
Angeles Times (California)
The explosive energy in 20 gallons of
gasoline is much greater than what you'll find in an electric vehicle, but nonetheless
there is a tremendous amount of energy being stored in the battery arrays of electric
vehicles. Without question, the power output of an electric vehicle--running at 200 to 300
volts--is enough to electrocute an individual or cause a fire in the case of a short
circuit. And the batteries could in theory produce enough hydrogen gas for a fairly large
explosion that could cause injury or destroy the vehicle. ...Battery explosions are a
serious safety hazard. A NHTSA study found that in 1993 alone, 2,280 people were injured
badly enough by battery explosions to require hospitalization. Passenger vehicles
generally use 12-volt batteries, which have six 2-volt cells that contain a grid of lead
plates surrounded by acid. Electricity is generated when the lead reacts with the acid and
water. The process is reversed during charging. One byproduct is gaseous hydrogen, which
is highly explosive. ...Two types of batteries now dominate the electric vehicle
field--absorbed glass mat and jell cell--said Jim Powell, a technical expert at Interstate
Batteries, a major producer based in Dallas. In an AGM, the acid is held within a fibrous
material, leaving just 1% in liquid form. In a jell cell, the acid is in the form of a
thick paste. In both types of batteries, hydrogen gas production is minimized during the
charging cycle. But hydrogen can be produced in dangerous quantities even with AGMs and
jell cells if the batteries are overcharged. With EVs, the charging occurs while the
vehicles are parked, typically in a garage. So safety is all the more important in terms
of preventing fire.
11/11/1999 Tomorrow's
Cars - Clean and Clever - Reuters
``The fuel cell is the most promising option for the
future. We are determined to be the first to bring it to market,'' said Juergen Hubbert,
the DaimlerChrysler director in charge of Mercedes and Smart cars. The company has pledged
to roll out an economically viable car powered by a fuel cell engine, which works by
converting hydrogen into electricity, by 2004. Hubbert said it was a question of reducing
the bulk -- hydrogen takes up a lot of space -- and the cost, currently more than 10 times
that of a conventional engine. Taking another route, rival BMW is working on a virtually
emission-free, hydrogen-burning internal combustion engine. Hydrogen-powered cars will not
challenge the existing order for at least 20-25 years, auto executives say, because even
if the technological hurdles are cleared, it will take time to set up the infrastructure
-- fuelling stations selling hydrogen. But with laws insisting on cleaner cars, companies
are studying interim solutions whereby hydrogen might be extracted from methanol or
gasoline to power cleaner, though by no means emission-free, cars. ``If the best engineers
in the world are working on this, they'll find a way,'' Hubbert said at the Tokyo car
show.
11/9/1999 Agreement
Lights the Way for Fuel Cell Use by Coast Guard - U.S. National Energy
Technology Lab
The MOA is the first step in a process that
allows the Coast Guard to investigate using 21st century technology to provide power at
its remote installations, and radionavigation sites in the U.S. The center will provide
collaborative research with the Coast Guard to determine the best type and most
appropriate use of fuel cell power systems at those installations. ..."These remote
locations provide services that are necessary for safe marine navigation and, therefore,
need to be available for use at all times," says Captain George Gunther, Commanding
Officer, U.S. Coast Guard Research and Development, Groton, Connecticut. Gunther remarked
the Coast Guard will investigate the potential use of fuel cells at LORAN and Differential
GPS Stations (electronic-navigation systems). This effort is in addition to an ongoing
partnership with the Navy and other federal agencies in examining the potential for use of
fuel cells on ships.
11/8/1999 Carbon
Tubes Could Store Hydrogen Fuel - BBC (Great Britain)
A hydrogen gas fuel tank that contained a store of energy
equivalent to a petrol tank would be more than 3,000 times bigger than its conventional
cousin. Compressing or liquefying the gas is expensive. Current thinking points to the
absorption of hydrogen in another medium. ...Now a team from the Chinese Academy of
Sciences in Shenyang, China, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, US,
has demonstrated an effective way to absorb hydrogen into carbon nanotubes - minute
cylinders made of carbon atoms. Their research, published in the journal Science,
substantially increases the amount of hydrogen that can be absorbed using this method. It
involves soaking the nanotubes in hydrochloric acid then heating them to 500 degC for two
hours. This wash-and-dry procedure removes most of the impurities that have inhibited
previous attempts to get carbon nanofibres to absorb hydrogen. The team found that its
tubes would absorb one hydrogen atom for every two carbon atoms. What is more, almost 80%
of the stored hydrogen could be released from the tubes at room temperature and pressure,
with the rest released after the tube was heated.
11/8/1999 X-43
Hypersonic Flight Research Vehicle Delivered - Science Daily, NASA
The first of three experimental vehicles,
designated X-43A, recently arrived at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, CA,
to prepare for flight in May 2000. ...Built by Micro Craft, Inc., Tullahoma, TN, for
NASA's Hyper-X program, the 12-foot-long, unpiloted X-43 vehicles will significantly
expand the boundaries of air-breathing aircraft. Three flights are planned -- two at Mach
7 and one at Mach 10. The flight tests will be conducted within the Western Test Range off
the coast of southern California. The Hyper-X program will build a technology bridge to
reusable and recoverable vehicles with larger engines. Program managers hope to
demonstrate hydrogen-powered, air-breathing propulsion systems that could ultimately be
applied in vehicles from hypersonic aircraft to reusable space launchers.
11/8/1999 UCLA Scientist
Awarded Seaborg Medal by Jaime Wilson-Chiru - UCLA
Daily Bruin
UCLA's Department of Chemistry and
Biochemistry conducted the annual Glenn T. Seaborg Symposium and award dinner Saturday
honoring John P. McTague, a prominent scientist and former UCLA professor. "For the
new millennium we must give birth to a new mode of transport," said Jesse Ausubel
during his presentation on the future of transportation. "It seems to me there is no
alternative." Ausubel, the director for the Program for Human Environment at
Rockefeller University, spoke about future modes of travel, including non-polluting
fuel-cell cars, hydrogen-powered planes and magnetically levitated trains. After UCLA,
McTague served as deputy director and acting director of the White House Office of Science
and Technology, served as vice president of research and of technical affairs the Ford
Motor Company. At Ford, he worked for more than 12 years to develop technology such as
fuel cell cars, and vehicles powered by natural gas as well as creating USCAR, a research
partnership between Ford, Chrysler and General Motors. "I feel best about the work I
did at Ford to get the automobile industry ready for the 21st century," McTague said.
"When I left Ford, 90 percent of alternative fuel vehicles sold in the U.S. came from
Ford. I feel very good about that."
11/5/1999 Fill Up My
Nanotubes, Please by Mark Sincel- Academic Press Daily InScight/SCIENCE
Storing hydrogen gas in high-pressure tanks
is one possibility, but it takes too much energy to compress the gas, says National
Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) physicist Michael Heben. The other alternative,
liquefying hydrogen, takes just as much energy. A number of researchers proposed storing
hydrogen gas in nanotubes--tubes of carbon atoms only 2 nanometers across--but they had
only succeeded in pushing the gas into tubes at cryogenic temperatures. So Heben and NREL
colleague Anne Dillon were understandably excited when they forced a sample of carbon
nanotubes to soak up hydrogen gas at room temperature. But their nanotubes only held about
one hydrogen atom per 50 carbon atoms, nowhere near enough to serve as a useful gas tank.
Now, a team led by Mildred Dresselhaus, a materials scientist at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, has boosted the hydrogen storage capacity to one hydrogen atom
for every two carbon atoms. They did it by soaking nanotubes in hydrochloric acid then
heating them to 773 degrees Kelvin for 2 hours. The wash-and-dry procedure removed most of
the impurities that inhibit hydrogen adsorption. And just as important, they found that
the nanotubes released almost 80% of the stored hydrogen when the sealed container holding
the nanotube sample was opened.
11/5/1999 Titanium Fire
Causes Minor Disruption by Cheryl Martinis - The Oregonian
The fire, which was under control within
about 90 minutes and produced no hazardous smoke, came just two months after a blast
inside a building at the same plant injured five workers. ...The earlier blast was caused
when workers failed to heed a computer sensor that detected low water flows in a furnace.
The furnace eventually overheated, allowing water to come into contact with molten
titanium. The result: a series of steam and hydrogen explosions.
11/3/1999 The
Car of the Future by N. N. Sachitanand - The Hindu (India)
...[C]ar makers are betting on two other alternatives.
One of them, on show at the BMW stand at Frankfurt, is an internal combustion engine in
which hydrogen is burnt with air to provide energy and the exhaust is plain water. The
hydrogen is stored in liquid form in special cryo-containers which have been crash and
flame tested for establishing their safety. Part of the hydrogen is sent through a fuel
cell stack to produce the electricity required for all the control functions. ...BMW has
developed such a car which has a cruising range of 400 km with a full tank of 150 litres
of liquid hydrogen, corresponding in energy value to 40 litres of petrol. The other
alternative, a joint research effort of Daimler, Ford and Ballard Power Systems, is an
electric drive in which the electricity is derived from a fuel cell stack, instead of a
battery. ...Daimler has already demonstrated a concept vehicle based on using hydrogen gas
fuel cell technology mounted in a Mercedes-Benz A-class compact car, which does up to 90
miles/hour and can cruise nearly 280 miles before refuelling.
11/2/1999 Climate
Pact Drives 'Green' Car Technology by Suvendrini Kakuchi -
Interpress/EcoNet (Japan)
The hydride battery for electric vehicles
alone costs some 14,420 U.S. dollars per car. The even higher cost of the fuel cell
battery, and other technical issues, means that everyday use of alternative cars is not a
probability for at least a decade. ...Toyota has announced a 50 billion yen (480.7 million
dollars) budget for developing alternative engines and improving conventional power plant
efficiency. ...Noriyuki Matsushima, at Nikko Salomon Smith Barney Limited, a specialist on
the global auto industry, points out that the desire to save costs in environmental
technology development is a major reason why auto firms are merging and or forging
alliances. He points to the recent alliance between France's Renault and Nissan, which he
says is based on, among other concerns for Renault, the company's desire to acquire
Nissan's strength in environmental technology. Another example is the collaboration
between Japan's Mitsubishi Motors, a world leader in the gasoline direct-injection engine
that is fuel efficient, and Peugeot of France, to which Mitsubishi will provide this
technology. At the Tokyo motor show, Toyota Motor Company and General Motors announced
joint research toward the development of the next- generation hybrid cars. ''Otherwise
(both companies) chances for survival would be low,'' Matshushima says in a report
published in June. ...Roger Sherifler, an expert on the Japanese motor industry, observes
that at this juncture, the auto industry tends to follow one of two lines of reasoning.
''One held by Toyota advocates an across-the-board move toward environmental vehicles and
clean fuels,'' he explains. ''The other, held by Honda, and to a lesser extent Mitsubishi
Motors, focuses on improving the efficiency of conventional internal-combustion engines.''
11/1/1999 It's
Official: Honda and Volkswagen Join California Fuel Cell Partnership - Peter
Hoffmann's Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Letter
11/1/1999 Automakers
Scout Yolo by Carol Hartman and Mike McCarthy - Sacramento
Business Journal
A partnership of car makers, energy companies and state
agencies is looking to build a 60,000-square-foot test facility that could employ up to
240 in West Sacramento. The site would be used as a hydrogen fueling station and for
testing vehicles powered with experimental fuel cells. A lease has not yet been signed. To
meet the goal of being on line by early summer 2000, ground has to be broken by
Thanksgiving, said Joe Irvin, spokesman for the Fuel Cell Partnership. The partnership,
which joined hands in April, includes Ford Motor Co., DaimlerChrysler, Honda, Volkswagen,
Atlantic Richfield Co., Shell Oil Co., Texaco Inc., the California Air Resources Board,
the California Energy Commission and Ballard Power Systems of Vancouver, Canada. Irvin
estimated the construction costs at more than $3 million, given the special needs of the
facility. The building would house passenger vehicles and buses, plus a fueling station
for the vehicles. The automakers would each have a bay to park and service their vehicles
and some research space. Hands across America: Each company is expected to staff their
operations individually, moving experts in from their research and development units. As
many as 60 staff members per company are expected to work at the site at any one time.
11/1/1999 R&D Spending Costs Ballard Heavy Third-Quarter Losses -
CBC
The company spent $20.4 million on R&D
in the 1999 third quarter, compared with $9.4 million in the same period a year earlier.
...Ballard's President and CEO Layle Smith said the company is continuing to look for
lower-cost materials and manufacturing processes for its fuel cells. That goal is
reflected in the higher expenditures on R&D. ...Tom Koppel, an author who has written
a book on Ballard Power says despite the losses, the company is positioned to zoom ahead
in the electric car market. "The Ballard fuel cell could end up being the central
portion of electric engine systems by many manufacturers," he says, adding that Ford
and DaimlerChrysler are already using Ballard in their test systems.
11/1/1999 Tom Gold, Oil Man - A Scientific Heretic Says We'll Never Have to Worry
About Running Out of Gas by Ken Ringle - Washington Post
Gold, who holds prestigious appointments to
the National Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society of London, turned his attention to
petroleum during the energy crisis of the late 1970s. ...As an astronomer and
geophysicist, he says, "it always seemed absurd to me to see petroleum hydrocarbons
on other planets, where there was obviously never any vegetation, even as we insist that
on Earth they must be biological in origin." ...Working from that hypothesis, Gold's
theory goes like this: Oil and gas were born out of the Big Bang and trapped in the Earth
4.5 billion years ago in randomly dispersed molecular form. But the intense heat of the
Earth's volcanic core "sweats them out" of the rocks that contain them, sending
them migrating outward through the porous deep Earth because they are more fluid and weigh
less. In a region between 10 and 300 kilometers deep, the hydrocarbons nourish vast
colonies of microbes where all of earthly life began, and where today there's a vastly
greater mass of living things than exists on the surface of the planet. The migrating oil
and gas "sweep up" the biological wreckage of this life as they percolate
upward, together with molecules of helium, all of which eventually get trapped and
concentrated for periods in near-surface reservoirs where oil is usually found. ...Chris
Flavin of World Watch Institute says he's found many elements of Gold's theory
"pretty persuasive" in the light of such discoveries, and says there's much to
cheer environmentalists. If Gold is right, he says, the greatest abundance of accessible
hydrocarbons will be found in the form of natural gas. Gas is not only the
cleanest-burning energy source right now, it promises "to be the bridge to the
hydrogen economy in the future" which will be cleaner still, he says.
11/2000 Iceland Goes Hydrogen - e-Petroleum
Magazine
Daimler-Benz conducted key
research in the 1980’s, which set up a special company with Mannesman to develop
metal hydride storage. Today this work is continued by GFE (gesellschaft fur
Electrometallurgy). BMBF has provided funding of DM210 million ($ 129m) since 1980
for a range of technologies including the CO2-free production of hydrogen from water and
(Solar) electricity, in particular the development of more efficient electrolyses, as well
as hydrogen based fuel cells, boilers, catalytic heating systems cooling systems. Hydrogen
technologies and their interaction with photovoltaic have been tested for the past 10
years at the Solar Wasserstoff Bayern (SWB) demonstration project in Neunburg vorm Wald
(Which ends this year), and as part of a cooperation projects the HYSOLAR projects in
Saudi Arabia (from 1986 to 1995). SWB, a subsidiary of Bavaria’s largest utility,
Bayernwerk, launched the demonstration facility with BMW, industrial gas producer Linde,
and electrical equipment manufacturer Siemens in November 1986. Deutsche Aerospace (DASA)
dropped out after a few years. Overall, the partners invested DM145 million ($ 89m) in
facility, which received the same amount from the Bavarian state government. While the
facility’s work confirmed the long-term value of hydrogen it also showed that solar
hydrogen technology is not yet economically viable.
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