6/30/1999 [Ballard] Auto Manufacturers Focus on Environment - The Yomiuri Shimbun/Daily Yomiuri (Japan)

Ford set up Ford Forschungszentrum Aachen, a research center, in Germany on June 15. For Ford, which proposed the establishment of a global standard for exhaust emission regulation by 2001, the research center is a base to work on the European Union to integrate the regulations. At the opening ceremony of the center, Ford unveiled a fuel cell electric vehicle, the P2000, which was jointly developed with DaimlerChrysler AG, to display its stance on the environment. On the same day, DaimlerChrysler held a test-run exhibition of NECAR4 fuel cell electric model in Barcelona, highlighting the next-generation model's high fuel efficiency -- double that of gasoline-powered cars. ...Electric vehicles using fuel cells emit less exhaust gases than current cars because they generate their own electric power from a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen. ...Neil Ressler, vice president in charge of research and vehicle technology at Ford, said that it is the most promising technology for future-generation cars. However, DaimlerChrysler, which is the front-runner in the technology, must invest 1.4 billion dollars to begin mass production of the cars. Because of the huge costs involved the company joined hands with rival Ford to develop the P2000. Needless to say, it is difficult for makers that can not shoulder the cost burdens to develop the technology on their own. To catch up with the competition, a tie-up with other companies is the only choice. A factor that is expected to accelerate global reorganization of the industry is the Agreement on Global Technical Regulations -- an accord which aims to integrate environment and safety standards of Japan, the United States and Europe -- that will go into effect in September this year at the earliest. These trends have affected the strategies of Japanese makers. To counter the Ballard alliance, in which DaimlerChrysler and Ford joined hands in conjunction with Canadian fuel cell company  Ballard, Toyota Motor Corp. signed a comprehensive tie-up in April with General Motors Corp. to develop next-generation cars. If environmental standards are integrated worldwide in the near future, integration of the global market will be accelerated and it is sure that makers with large output and big alliances will take a dominant position.

6/27/1999  Paint, Not Gas, Doomed Hindenburg: Scientist - Chicago Sun-Times (Illinois)

At the time, several theories were put forward, ranging from a turkey farmer shooting at the Nazi-sponsored airship to sabotage. The official investigation ultimately blamed a leak of hydrogen ignited by static electricity from the nearby storms. But now Addison Bain, an expert in rocket fuels at NASA, says the standard explanation is contradicted by the newsreel images. These show huge flames traveling along the airship from stern to bow. Burning hydrogen produces flames that are invisible in daylight and that shoot upward, he said. "The Hindenburg just didn't look anything like a hydrogen fire," he said. Witnesses also reported seeing red and orange flames, and the newsreel showed the fabric of the airship being engulfed at the rate of 50 feet per second. This suggests that the fire was linked to chemicals used to give the cotton fabric a reflective coating, to prevent expansion of the hydrogen gas by the sun's heat. Bain carried out tests on a remnant of the fabric retrieved from the crash. The coating of aluminum powder and iron oxide is a combination now known to burn explosively when ignited by a spark and is actually used as rocket fuel for space shuttles. The mix is also an electricity conductor. "Electrostatic charge has an affinity to aluminum, and once the reaction starts, the aluminum gets very hot," Bain said. He said he believes that this deadly combination of properties was responsible for the Hindenburg disaster, beginning with a huge buildup of static electricity.

6/26/1999 [ Ballard] FORD FUEL CELL: Steering Towards a Cleaner  World - Financial Times

If field tests of this Ford and similar vehicles from DaimlerChrysler prove successful, the automotive industry and the global oil business could be in line for their greatest shake-up since Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz installed the first internal combustion engine in a carriage 112 years ago. ...By 1997 Ballard had contracts with six of the world's top seven carmakers. DaimlerChrysler and Ford are most closely involved, co-owning with  Ballard Power Systems three companies - dbb fuel cell engines inc, Ecostar Electric Drive Systems and Ballard Automotive - with the stated intent of having fuel cell cars in production by 2005.

6/24/1999  Detroit Counting on Cleaner Image for Diesel by Donald W. Nauss - Los Angeles Times (California)

DaimlerChrysler says the clean diesel could be ready for consumers within five years. It hopes to use it to power advanced diesel engines and eventually in fuel cells to produce hydrogen. Environmental groups are watching developments closely but remain skeptical. Jason Mark, transportation analyst for the Union of Concerned Scientists in Cambridge, Mass., said the emissions benefits are likely exaggerated since greenhouse gases are created in the synfuels refining process. "You have to look at it on a wells-to-wheels basis," he said.

6/23/1999  Fuel Cell Power Generation Advances into the New Millennium - Power Online

While Fuel Cell power plants, built in the 200-250 kW range, are just beginning to find their way into special commercial market applications such as hospitals, industrial buildings and other facilities that require dependable sources of power, manufacturers of the plants (and suppliers to these OEMs) have been building and testing units, and gathering data that illustrates the technology is extremely dependable. ABB, for example, provided its first converter, a 300 kW unit, to MC-Power’s 1995 demo project in Berea, CA. Simultaneously, the company supplied a 2.6 MVA unit to ERC’s 1.8 MW prototype demonstration in Santa Clara, California, which ran for 4,000 hours.

6/22/1999  Tech Students Win with a Watery Output by Ian Zak- Roanoke Times (Virginia)

The Tech team was among 13 American universities competing in the FutureCar Challenge in Detroit. The competition, in its fourth and final year, was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and the United States Council for Automotive Research, which represents the country's largest automobile makers, DaimlerChrysler AG, Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. Each team was given a standard-model mid-sized family sedan and $10,000 in start-up funds. The goal was to modify the vehicle to make it more fuel efficient and less polluting, while ensuring that it was still safe, reliable and convenient to use. The Tech team, which comprised about 30 senior mechanical and electrical engineering majors, one graduate student and 20 volunteers from various disciplines, decided to use fuel cells as the car's electric power source. A series of skinny carbon and platinum cells covered with cocoon-like membranes convert hydrogen and oxygen gas into electricity that powers the wheels and charges a group of auxiliary batteries, which provide added power. The reaction of the two gasses produces a single byproduct -- pure water.

6/20/1999  The Coming Campaign for the Environmental Vote by Mark Hertsgaard - Los Angeles Times (California)

In his new book, "Cool Companies," former Asst. Secretary of Energy Joseph J. Romm documents how such firms as DuPont, 3M, Xerox and Compaq are fattening their bottom lines while dramatically reducing the amount of greenhouse gases their facilities release into the atmosphere. The key is efficiency: not doing without but doing more with less. Some of the best examples are found in California. ...Many "cool" companies enjoy "a return on investment that can exceed ...50% and even 100%," reports Romm, and there is no reason others cannot do the same. The government could also get products like solar power and "green" cars off the ground by using federal purchasing power. Americans have personal computers on their desks largely because Washington got the computer industry up and running with a steady stream of purchases by the Pentagon in the 1960s. Those purchases helped companies climb the learning curve and bring down costs to where average consumers could afford to buy their own computers. Washington could do the same today with cars, the ultimate symbol of the environmental crisis. Every year, the government buys 50,000 vehicles for official use. If Washington told Detroit it would only buy cars powered by hybrid-electric motors or hydrogen fuel cells, Detroit would surely comply, if only to keep the federal money flowing. Given Detroit's engineering talent, who can doubt that the industry would soon be producing green cars at competitive prices?

6/19/1999  Tanker Overturns, Blocks Riverside Freeway - Los Angeles Times (California)

The driver of a small station wagon, swerving to avoid a car, lost control and spun into the path of the truck, said CHP Sgt. Lorin Orchard. Only one minor injury was reported, but authorities late Friday expected crews to spend several hours righting and removing the tanker, loaded with 6,500 pounds of highly flammable liquefied hydrogen.  As a safety precaution, all eastbound lanes of the freeway were being closed as well, Fred Lynch, spokesman for the Corona Fire Department, said late Friday. The tanker did not rupture in the crash, Lynch said.

6/18/1999  [ SCAQMD] 21st Century or Bust: WHAT'S IN THE AIR? - Los Angeles Times (California)

"We're looking toward a hydrogen-powered economy. According to experts, we're already on a trend. We may see fuel-cell powered homes, trucks and cars [in which oxygen and hydrogen combine to make electricity]. We already have fuel-cell powered buses and about 12 fuel-cell powered buildings in Southern California. ...Best-case scenario: "Everyone will be driving around in fuel-cell powered vehicles." Worst-case scenario: "A study -- showing that 60% of cancer risk probably comes from vehicular pollution -- will be proved, while Westsiders increase their risk for cancer during their daily commutes." --Sam Atwood, Spokesman, South Coast Air Quality Management District

6/17/1999  Technology Lifts Off at Rocket Lab - Antelope Valley Press (California)

With a string of rocket failures and the growing need for the United States to hold a competitive edge in space launch, the rocket lab at Edwards Air Force Base has developed new upper stage rocket technologies. The effort is part of a $24 million project, jointly funded by the Air Force and Pratt and Whitney, to research and test the new technologies. At the Paris Air Show this week, Pratt and Whitney announced plans to use the new technologies to develop the first new, liquid, upper-stage rocket engine in the United States since the 1960s. The rocket engine, which uses research developed at Edwards, will be called the RL-50. ...The fuel pumps of the older rocket engines previously used ball bearings. The bearings supported the rotating shaft that pumped the fuel. The hydrostatic bearing uses liquid hydrogen under pressure in place of the ball bearings. This allows for unlimited speed which results in more thrust...

6/17/1999  Truck Crash Prompts Evacuations - AP/Duluth News

MILTON, Wis. -- About 50 households were evacuated near here Wednesday after a tanker truck carrying 12,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen collided with a pickup truck and rolled onto its side, authorities said. ...The tank was not ruptured and was not leaking... But the evacuation was conducted due to the possibility that the liquid hydrogen might seep out and ``something like this could potentially cause an explosion or a fire,'' Milton Fire Chief David Brown said. ...Officials said the liquid hydrogen was to be transferred from the tanker.

6/15/1999  Ford Declares a Clean Revolution - Ford/PRNewswire

After inviting German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to drive the zero emission Ford P2000 HFC fuel cell car, Ford Motor Company Chairman William Clay Ford Jr. today declared Ford would be a leader in the "Clean Revolution." "While my great-grandfather was a leader in the first industrial revolution, I want Ford Motor Company to be a leader in the second industrial revolution -- the Clean Revolution," said Mr. Ford at the opening of Ford's new $35 million European advanced research centre, the Ford Forschungszentrum Aachen (FFA). "To achieve his vision, Henry Ford had declared customers could have whatever color they wanted, as long as it was black. To achieve my vision, I am declaring customers can have any vehicle they want, as long as it is green."

6/15/1999  Ford Steps Up Environmentally Friendly Cars in Europe - Reuters

...the automaker will have a vehicle that runs on a fuel cell-based engine and emits no pollutants for sale in 2004, Ford said. Fuel cells turn hydrogen gas into electricity and emit only water vapour as exhaust. William Ford has made turning Ford into an environmentally friendly automaker since becoming chairman January 1. He appealed to European governments on Tuesday to standardise incentives and government requirements to ease the introduction of alternative fuel vehicles.

6/14/1999  Opinion :Lessons Forgotten From Days of Long Gas Lines by Martin E. Nelson - Christian Science Monitor

Oil accounts for 40 percent of US energy use. Falling oil prices have cut domestic oil production by 2.8 million barrels per day since the Arab embargo in 1973, while stimulating greater use. In the same period, dependence on foreign oil doubled - from 4.2 million barrels a day to 8 million. The huge rise in oil imports is itself greater than the total oil consumption of any other country except Japan. At this pace, within a few years, oil imports will supply 60 percent of US daily needs. Pundits who believe we should stop fretting about rising oil imports ignore the fact that while OPEC accounts for only 40 percent of world production, it possesses 75 percent of known reserves. The growing dependence on imported oil in general and the Persian Gulf in particular has several potentially serious implications for the US economy and national security. To the extent that OPEC's recapture of the dominant share of the global oil market will make price increases more likely, the US economy is at risk. ...Is any political leader ready to tell Americans that immediate national steps to use less foreign oil are the only paths to safety?

6/14/1999  Energy Partners' PEM Fuel Cell Stack Powers Virginia Tech's Chevrolet Lumina to an Electric Finish at the 1999 FutureCar Challenge - Energy Partners/Business Wire

Finishing second in the overall competition and first in emissions testing, the vehicle successfully showed the environmental and performance benefits of the vehicle while maintaining all of the conveniences of the original vehicle. ...The specific goal of the FutureCar Challenge is to re-engineer a mid-size American car to get double or even triple current fuel economy. Each team starts with similar late model vehicles, a Chevy Lumina, Dodge Intrepid, Ford Taurus, or Mercury Sable. The teams are evaluated on their fuel economy and performance measures that include handling, braking and acceleration. They are also judged on consumer acceptability criteria such as design, interior climate control, passenger comfort and luggage space. In the emissions test that was done by Ford Motor Company testing facility during the competition, the fuel cell stack produced no carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, or hydrocarbon emissions winning the Award for EPA Lowest Emissions.

6/12/1999  Hydrogen Fuel-Cell Refuelling Pilot Program Announced by Steve Mertl - Canadian Press

Petro-Canada signed on partly out of good corporate citizenship, said Jim Stanford, the Calgary-based company's chief executive. "Canadians want action to address climate change," he said. But it also represents a potential business advantage for Petro-Canada's 1,700 gas stations. "Methanol, many believe, will be the fuel of choice for many vehicles," said Stanford. Analyst Kevin Binnie of Pacific International Securities called the announcement significant. The potential payoff for Methanex could be big, he said. "If you believe that 25 per cent of the fuel carried by six billion cars is a big number then, yes, it is a big opportunity," he said.

6/12/1999  Canada Companies Join In Fuel-Cell Vehicle Venture - Reuters

Petro-Canada, Ballard Power Systems Inc. and Methanex Corp. joined forces Friday to promote the use of low-polluting vehicles powered by fuel cell engines. At a Petro-Canada service station in North Vancouver, British Columbia, representatives from the companies, along with federal and provincial politicians, demonstrated the similarities between fueling traditional vehicles and those powered by fuel cells. The companies also signed a memorandum of understanding that commits them to work together to establish a commercially viable fuel distribution network to meet the expected market demand for fuel cell vehicles.

6/12/1999  Canada to Hold Hydrogen Fuel Test - Washington Post

The five-year agreement involves oil company Petro-Canada, fuel-cell developer Ballard Power Systems and Methanex Corp., the world's biggest supplier of methanol -- a prime candidate to become the fuel source for hydrogen-powered vehicles. ...Ballard chairman Firoz Rasul said the automakers hope that by 2010, as much as 25 percent of their production will be fuel-cell cars. ...Rasul said the first stage of the program will be to study possible locations for methanol pumps. The most likely initial spots are gas stations in the Vancouver area, where both Ballard and Methanex are based. Rasul said it's hoped automakers will decide within 12 months to join the project and supply vehicles for the testing phase, similar to a fuel-cell demonstration program announced in California.

6/11/1999  Petro-Canada, Ballard and Methanex Announce New Association: "Fuelling a Cleaner Canada"

Ballard chairman Firoz Rasul said the automakers hope that by 2010, as much as 25 percent of their production will be fuel-cell cars. ...Rasul said the first stage of the program will be to study possible locations for methanol pumps. The most likely initial spots are gas stations in the Vancouver area, where both Ballard and Methanex are based. Rasul said it's hoped automakers will decide within 12 months to join the project and supply vehicles for the testing phase, similar to a fuel-cell demonstration program announced in California. - The Washington Post

6/9/1999  DCX and Syntroleum Have Solution to Clean Fuel Debate - San Jose Mercury (California)

The process extracts natural gas from the earth and breaks the gas into hydrogen and carbon monoxide, which is then put through a cobalt catalyst and changed into liquid. The results provide a sulfur-free fuel for cleaner tail pipe emissions while presumably providing an adequate supply of fuel for future generations. The problem is convincing fuel producers to invest in the technology to convert the natural gas into liquid fuels and convincing regulators and consumers that diesel fuels can be cleaner-burning. ...DaimlerChrysler wants to be on the forefront of these new fuel technologies and has the exclusive rights to develop powertrain systems that use these fuels. DaimlerChrysler developed its first concept vehicle to use the Syntroleum fuel. The concept vehicle is a modern interpretation of the Dodge Power Wagon utility truck, and features a 7.2-liter Caterpillar turbocharged diesel engine. ...DaimlerChrysler's contract with Syntroleum prevents the fuels from being tested by other manufacturers until next year, and gives DaimlerChrysler a jump on the competition.

6/8/1999  Fusion Research, Nearly Dead, Revives by Malcolm W. Browne - New York Times

"Right now," said Dr. Robert J. Goldston, director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory in New Jersey, "a bottle of table water costs more than a bottle of gasoline. But cheap oil won't last forever, and in any case, the burning of fossil fuels may be contributing to global warming. Fusion, which could produce enormous amounts of energy at reasonable cost with only negligible amounts of radioactive waste and no pollution of the atmosphere, may be our only practical alternative to fossil fuels." No one doubts that hydrogen fusion can be achieved. Huge pulses of fusion power have already been generated by experimental fusion reactors in the United States and Europe. The trouble is that until now, conventional generating plants have had to supply more energy to kindle a thermonuclear pulse than the pulse itself produces. No one has yet been able to squeeze thermonuclear fuel tightly enough and long enough to ignite a self-sustaining fusion reaction. In the sun, energy is produced when hydrogen nuclei fuse to produce helium, a heavier element.

6/7/1999 Hydrogen A Go-Go - Discover Magazine

The world's smallest oil refinery sits in a first-floor lab at MIT. Called a plasmatron, it looks a bit like a spark plug that ate too much. And what an appetite it has! MIT researcher Daniel Cohn has fed the plasmatron gasoline, diesel, even canola oil. Eagerly swallowing anything that burns, the device lets go with a belch of electricity that turns the fuel and surrounding air into plasma, a hot collection of charged atoms and electrons. What comes out is a hydrogen-rich gas that burns far more cleanly than garden-variety gasoline. ...The prototype plasmatron at MIT could convert about one-quarter of a typical automobile's fuel into hydrogen. Enough, Cohn says, to cut emission of smog-causing nitrogen oxides by 90 percent.

6/4/1999  Explosion Rocks Water Treatment Plant by Staci Haight - Antelope Valley Press (California)

According to authorities, the worker had completed about 90% of his work on the installation of a chlorine generation system and was in the process of doing a test run on the generation unit when the explosion rocked the treatment plant. Dennis LaMoreaux, Palmdale Water District general manager, said a small amount of hydrogen produced as a by-product of the chlorination test run caused the explosion. "The system that was being installed created a little bit of gas and somehow that gas was ignited," LeMoreaux said. LeMoreaux added it is too early to estimate the loss, but said there was heavy damage to the building, the generation unit and equipment.

6/4/1999 Fuel-Cell Power System Gets Real-World Test by Ron Wilson - EE Times

First National Bank of Omaha, one of the nation's primary Visa and MasterCard processing centers, fired up a new alternative in uninterruptible power last month when it switched on the first commercial installation of a power system from Sure Power Corp. (Danbury, Conn.). The system, based on a novel use of fuel cells, is calculated to give 99.9999 percent availability — "six nines," in industry jargon — of usable power to the bank's massive, disaster-hardened computer center. It's an approach that may spur a major rethinking of power-systems design for mainframes and server clusters.... To provide the stiffness for such transients, Sure Power uses the current from the fuel cells to drive a high-efficiency inverter, which in turn drives a motor-generator set that provides power to the load. For additional stability, the company uses a 16.5-Mjoule flywheel. The First National of Omaha system is designed for 800-kW output, or about twice the bank's average load. Since the fuel cells operate best at full capacity, the bank sells power back to the local utility when it is not drawing the full 800 kW. In addition, the installation generates sufficient heat to keep the sidewalks clear in the winter around First National's headquarters building.

6/3/1999  Honda Joins Race to Produce Pollution-Free Car - Straits Times (Singapore)

Honda Motor Co said it will spend between 50 and 60 billion yen (between S$720 million and $864 million) to introduce a fuel-cell powered vehicle by 2003, joining DaimlerChrysler and other car makers in the race to make a viable pollution-free car. Japan's third-largest car maker plans to build 300 fuel-cell powered vehicles a year starting in 2003 for sale in Japan and the United States, said Mr Takeo Fukui, managing director in charge of research and development. The car -- to be based on the EV Plus compact electric sedan -- will run on fuel cells that will be lighter and more compact than those offered by Ballard Power Systems Inc, a leader in the field, he added.

6/1/1999  SRT Group Gets Contract for Hydrogen Fuel - Miami Herald

SRT Group, a Miami developer of hydrogen production and energy storage systems, has been awarded two cooperative agreements by the Department of Energy to produce hydrogen as an alternative vehicle fuel. The cooperative agreements are valued at more than $7 million. One agreement will assist SRT's ongoing research into using its reversible fuel cell system to co-produce hydrogen. The other is a joint effort between SRT and the Department of Energy to demonstrate SRT's reversible fuel cell system for storing wind-generated power energy in Alaska.

5/31/1999  Government Energizes Firm With $7.7 Million Contracts - South Flordia Business Journal

Founded by Robin Z. Parker and his father, Miami architect Alfred Browning Parker, SRT has pursued the development of inexpensive and clean energy systems since the oil embargo of the 1970s. ...In the early 1990s, SRT worked for the Department of Defense in the SSDI initiative, better known as "Star Wars." But when funding for the force-field missile-defense system tanked, SRT went to back to work on water power. In the past few years, it has developed more than 30 patents for hydrogen energy storage and fuel-cell technology. "DOE analysis believes that the market for energy storage alone is worth $57 billion," Parker said.

5/28/1999  Shell Joins 'California Fuel Cell Partnership' - Alexander's Gas & Oil Connections

Shell believes it can make a major contribution through the use of its proprietary Catalytic Partial Oxidisation (CPO) technology which has already been shown to be able to convert liquid fuels into a hydrogen rich gas. Shell has previously signalled its intent to become a leader in hydrogen and renewable energy. It has created a new business, Shell Hydrogen, to take advantage of the exciting opportunities that are developing in the technology, infrastructure and applications surrounding the commercialisation of fuel cells. Shell International Oil Products BV concluded an agreement last August with DBB Fuel Cell Engines GmbH, a subsidiary of DaimlerBenz which involves research co-operation on fuel cell cars. DBB's other main shareholders are Ballard Power Systems in Canada and Ford Motor Company in the USA.

5/27/1999  Class 8 Truck Demonstrates Viability of Clean Fuel Technologies - Business Wire

Manufactured by San Diego-based ISE Research Corp. in cooperation with PACCAR, parent company of Kenworth and Peterbilt trucks, the Hybrid Electric Prototype Truck (HEPT) is a public-private partnership led by ISE Research, WestStart-CALSTART, CARB and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), among others. ...After the roll out, the truck will undergo additional testing at the PACCAR Technical Center in Seattle. Once testing is completed, the truck will be placed in operational service with Crown Disposal, a City of Burbank waste disposal firm. A second prototype will be built in collaboration with Peterbilt Motors Co., sister company to Kenworth within PACCAR. ...The HEPT was initially funded by DARPA through WestStart-CALSTART as part of DARPA's Electric and Hybrid-Electric Vehicle (E/HEV) Program. The truck was designed to test a hybrid system's ability to provide comparable performance to a diesel-powered Class 8 tractor, while also doubling fuel economy and cutting harmful exhaust emissions by 90-95 percent.  Initial testing shows the HEPT has met this criteria, while also delivering these additional improvements: better acceleration than diesel; greater smoothness of operation and lower vibration; no gear shifting, since there is no transmission; and noise reduction to the point where normal conversations are possible in the cab.

5/27/1999  Heavy-Duty Truck Turns to Electricity for Power by John Howard - AP/San Jose Mercury News (California)

On the surface, the Kenworth truck looks like any other big rig. But there no diesel tanks. Instead, there are steel compartments containing 6,000 pounds of lead-acid batteries in twin steel compartments. The huge diesel engine has been removed, replaced by a conventional 3.8-liter passenger car engine converted to operate on natural gas. There is no conventional transmission. The natural gas-powered engine is linked to a generator that feeds the batteries, which in turn power the electrical engine that drives the rear wheels through gears. The core of the truck, the electric engine, is 3 feet long, 18 inches wide and weighs about 600 pounds, said Jurgen Schulte, chief mechanical engineer ISE Research of San Diego, which developed the vehicle.

5/26/1999 Shell Launches Sustainable Energy Initiative - Environment News Service

Shell is to invest a total of US$20 million (euros 18.8 million) over the next three years in programmes to cut the environmental impact of fossil fuel use and increase access to sustainable energy sources, the company announced today. ...According to Shell, the initiative will complement existing programmes to develop individual renewable energy sources like solar and hydrogen cars.

5/21/1999  Ballard Power Seeking Retail Customers - National Post (Canada)

The company, which is developing low-pollution fuel cells, has concentrated on making its name known among original-equipment manufacturers. The company has already signed development deals with major car makers, including Ford, DaimlerChrysler, and General Motors. But Mr. Rasul said yesterday the company is now seeking partners to help develop applications for consumer 'mini generators' that could run home appliances or camping gear. That has Ballard looking at ways of boosting its image with ordinary consumers.

5/21/1999  Ballard Fuel-Cell Buses Unhindered By Hindenberg by Allan Dowd - Reuters

The "Hindenberg Syndrome'' is not as bad as Ballard Power Systems Inc and DaimlerChrysler AG had feared, so fuel cell-powered buses could on the market sooner than expected, officials said Thursday. ..."We were so surprised, really. Not the mechanical people, not the drivers, not the passengers are caring about this,'' said Ferdinand Panik, DaimlerChrysler's senior vice president for fuel cell technology. ...Panik, a member of Ballard's board of directors, told Ballard's shareholders meeting that commercial marketing of fuel-cell engines for busses could begin as early as 2002, up to two years sooner than some previous predictions.

5/21/1999  Ballard Production Hopes Charge Up Stockholders by Steve Mertl - Canadian Press

Smith said the buses in Chicago ran into teething problems in "real world" experience, but the drivers liked them. The Vancouver buses, he said, benefited from the Chicago experience and have a better on-road breakdown record than older diesel and electric buses. Rasul said Ballard did not acquire a strategic partner for its portable power initiative as planned. Applications for small fuel-cell units - about the size of conventional portable gas generators - are so diverse that Ballard plans to seek more than one partner, he said.

5/20/1999  New Power Technologies - Environmental News Network

The Desert Research Institute is joining a new high-technology consortium to develop the first-ever use of hydrogen power to provide electrical power and propulsion for marine vehicles. The Maritime Hydrogen Technology Development Group will promote the use of nonpolluting hydrogen fuel cells to replace internal combustion engines on watercraft of varying sizes. Other organizations in the group include DCH Technology, Allied Signal Aerospace, Los Alamos National Laboratory, the National Hydrogen Association, the Renewable Energy Group and Sandia National Laboratories. DRI's role will involve initial testing of the fuel cell systems on very small craft prior to applying it to large marine vehicles. Contact John Dohery, Desert Research Institute, (702)673-7313.

5/20/1999 'Artificial Muscles' Made from Nanotubes - BBC

Not all nanotube applications are decades away. Significant research funds have been invested in finding out whether the tubes could store hydrogen for use in car fuel cells. The results of feasibility studies are expected within a year and a product could be built by 2004.

5/19/1999  Clearing the Air in the Land of Smog by Bruce Newman - New York Times

Last year, smog in Los Angeles crept back up to levels unseen in more than a decade, and the cause was easy to identify... Sport utility vehicles were permitted to pollute at two and a half times the rate of passenger cars, just as Detroit was recognizing their potential to deliver wide profit margins. The American passion for these vehicles became the Frankenstein of the California emissions laboratory. "When the Clean Air Act was adopted in 1970, it required huge cuts in emissions and set very tough deadlines," said Gail Ruderman Feuer, a senior lawyer for the Natural Resources Defense Council, which is based in New York. "Everyone said it was impossible. Then lo and behold, they found catalytic converters. That was a technology-forcing act. That's how we have clean cars today."

5/19/1999  Can the Motor City Come Up With a Clean Machine? by Keith Bradsher - New York Times

Despite lavish Federal subsidies and numerous promises by auto makers to put high-mileage cars on sale by 2004, there is little sign of continuing public interest in fuel economy. This is probably linked to the fact that gasoline is still cheaper than bottled water in most of the country, even though gas prices recently rebounded. The 10 most fuel-efficient cars on the market now account together for less than 1 percent of sales in the United States, while auto makers no longer even bother putting fuel-economy statistics in their advertisements. They have found that such information does not draw customers.

5/19/1999  Environmentally-Friendly Building Being Designed - AP/Billings Gazette (Montana)

The $12 million, 20,000-square foot building tests technology to be used in a proposed $65 million, 250,000-square foot facility called the EPICenter.... ...At the building's wastewater treatment plant, an electrolizer will split the water to produce hydrogen for fuel cells and oxygen for reintroduction into the wastewater plant.

5/15/1999  Hatch Seeks Tax Breaks for Using Alternative Fuels - Deseret News (Utah)

Sen. Orrin Hatch has introduced a bill [S.1003 -The Alternative Fuels Promotion Act] seeking to improve air quality by providing tax breaks for use of cleaner, alternative fuels to power cars such as propane, natural gas, methanol, hydrogen and electricity.  "In Utah, automobiles account for a whopping 87 percent of carbon monoxide emissions and a majority of the pollutants that lead to ozone," the Utah Republican said. "Yet, it is impractical for Utahns to give up their cars. That's why I believe that a movement toward alternative fuels is the answer."   His bill introduced Wednesday would create a 50-cent-per-gallon credit for the purchase of most alternative fuels. Also, it would provide a tax credit of 10 percent of the purchase price for vehicles powered by alternative fuels, up to $4,000. It would provide an additional credit of $5,000 for purchase of any electric vehicle with a range over 100 miles. It would also extend a $100,000 credit for construction and installation costs of filling stations for alternative fuel vehicles.

5/15/1999 New Air Pollution Limits Blocked by Joby Warrick and Bill McAllister - Washington Post/AP

The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals panel in Washington appeared to some to raise questions about the future of federal regulation by suggesting that Congress, not the executive branch, is predominantly responsible for writing the nation's environmental laws. "If it is saying that EPA can't do it that way, then other agencies can't do it that way, either," said Robin Conrad, senior vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's National Chamber Litigation Center. In adopting the guidelines two years ago, the Environmental Protection Agency had failed to show that additional health protections were justified, the judges wrote in their decision, ruling that the agency had acted on legal assumptions that amounted to "unconstitutional delegations of legislative power."

5/14/1999  Ford's Fuel-Cell Car to Sell in 2004 by Charlotte W. Craig - Detroit News

Ford earlier announced it will work with DaimlerChrysler AG and several oil and research companies to put a test fleet of fuel-cell vehicles on California roads in 2001. The consortium said then it hoped to make the cars available by 2004, but Bill Ford's statement Wednesday was the first definitive commitment.

5/13/1999 [ DCH Technology] H-powered ships? by Leon Worden - The Signal (Santa Clarita, California)

Marine vessels could one day be powered by hydrogen taken straight out of the water, depending on the outcome of a study that a Santa Clarita company will conduct for the U.S. Department of Energy. U.S. Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon announced Wednesday that DCH Technology Inc., a maker of hydrogen sensor equipment in the Valencia Industrial Center, has been selected to lead a team to study the potential for using of hydrogen power on ships. "This project has immense industrial potential," said McKeon, R-Santa Clarita. "The American shipping industry stands to gain a worldwide competitive advantage using inexpensive, clean-burning, highly efficient hydrogen fuel that can be produced anywhere in the world." DCH will manage a team of 22 organizations that will study the feasibility of retrofitting large vessels with hydrogen fuel cells or other hydrogen-based power sources. The group, which includes AlliedSignal, Hydrogen Burner, CryoFuel Systems and the American Bureau of Shipping, will experiment with a prototype vessel built by Lockheed and Pacific Marine in Honolulu, DCH president David Walker said.

5/13/1999  Oil Executive Outlines New Vision by Rowan Callick - Financial Times

The puzzling 21st century prospects for one of the great industries of the 20th century were frankly outlined by BP-Amoco managing director, Dr Chris Gibson-Smith, in a speech to the American chamber of commerce in Hong Kong. ...Dr Gibson-Smith spoke of hydrogen, in almost "limitless" supply, as potentially the best source of energy. His own company is already, he said, the largest manufacturer of solar energy equipment in the world. It recently announced that all new service stations in Australia and most of Europe would be solar powered. "But we can't get growth up as fast as conventional energy economics. The cost of a unit of solar is higher, so we can't compete where there's an established grid system." But it remained potentially the "ultimate solution".

5/13/1999  Nissan Unveils Fuel Cell Vehicle - Kyodo News Service (Japan)

TOKYO -- Nissan Motor Co. said Thursday it has begun test-driving a fuel cell vehicle developed on a trial basis under its program to devise environment-friendly cars. The new vehicle is equipped with a methanol reformer that produces hydrogen through the use of a catalyst to induce chemical reactions between methanol and water, Nissan said. Nissan said it plans to develop a second trial model next year to pave the way for introduction of a commercial model in 2003.

5/13/1999  Korean Refinery Fire Boosts Asian Gas Oil Prices - Reuters

A fire in a key unit of South Korea's Ulsan oil refinery, the world's biggest, sent Asian gas oil prices soaring on Thursday. SK Corp (03600.KS), which operates the Ulsan refinery which has official capacity of 810,000 barrels per day, said on Thursday a fire broke out at a 30,000-bpd unit making kerosene and gas oil. ...A spokesman for SK Corp said the fire broke out at 0510 GMT in a 30,000-bpd hydrocracker, which uses fuel oil to make middle distillates and an associated 30,000-bpd desulphuriser unit which makes low sulphur fuel oil. ...Hydrocrackers can be volatile because highly flammable hydrogen is at the centre of the process to break down the feedstock into premium oil products.

5/12/1999  Freedonia: Demand for Industrial Gases Poised for Healthy Increase - Chemical Online

Hydrogen will post the industry's fastest gains, with shipments benefiting from stronger demand in refineries due to its use in the production of cleaner burning fuels and in the processing of imported heavier crude oil from countries such as Mexico and Venezuela. In particular, hydrogen is finding much greater use in petroleum refineries due to mandates of the Clean Air Act that require the hydrosulfurization of petroleum products in order to produce cleaner burning fuels. Demand for hydrogen may benefit from new uses, such as powering fuel cells, due to intensive research and development efforts resulting from the Hydrogen Future Act of 1996.

5/12/1999  Inventor Says Electricity to Play Key Role in Cars by James Hannah - Associated Press

Last month, Honda announced it will stop building electric cars. General Motors, Toyota, Ford, DaimlerChysler and Nissan all say they will continue to produce battery-powered cars, but will pursue the development of other technologies as a possible alternative. Many automakers have focused on developing hybrid engines that run on fuel cells, which produce electricity through the low-emission chemical reaction of hydrogen and oxygen. "I personally think hybrid cars are most likely to win in the long run,'' MacCready said.

5/11/1999  Detroit Unplugged - Detroit News

The General Accounting Office has concluded that while the cars themselves are emission-free, generating the electric power needed to run them is most certainly not.     To comply with emission-reduction mandates, automakers instead are turning to “hybrids,” vehicles powered by diesel engines in combination with electric motors. But while they are cleaner-running than today’s gasoline-powered models, environmentalists complain the hybrids are not an acceptable substitute for an all-electric automobile. To appease regulators, the automakers are researching alternative power sources. The current favorite is fuel-cell technology, which generates electricity through a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen. Last month, for example, General Motors Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp. announced they will jointly develop fuel cells, while Ford Motor Co. in concert with DaimlerChrysler will do the same. But if automakers foresaw a real breakthrough by which to profit, it is rather unlikely they would be doubling up to achieve it.

5/11/1999 Shell, Exxon Rated ‘Greenest’ Oil Firms - Reuters/MSNBC

Conducted by Innovest Strategic Value Advisors, the study is meant to help convince a skeptical Wall Street that there’s a direct link between a company’s environmental performance and its profitability. “What we have found to be financially relevant is something that Wall Street and Main Street have overlooked,” said Matthew Kiernan, who founded Innovest in 1995 and is now its executive managing director. “The financial community simply doesn’t see the connection.”Innovest, an investment advisory firm based in New York, studies environmental practices of S&P 500 companies, rating them only against firms in the same industry. In each of 10 major industry categories studied by Innovest, companies which rate the highest in care of the environment have also provided the best returns for investors. Indeed, companies with the highest “eco-efficiency” ratings out-performed their industry competitors by 17 percent in the stock market last year, Kiernan said.

5/10/1999  Ballard's Firoz Rasul - Engineering Alchemist - Financial Times

As befits a man who started his industrial career in the downbeat surroundings of a northern England glassworks, Mr Rasul is keen not to add to the large amounts of hype that fuel cells have attracted. He says cautiously that it is "not inconceivable" that in the next few years the cost of fuel cells can be further reduced by a factor of about 10 on today's devices. DaimlerChrysler certainly seems confident: it recently demonstrated an electric vehicle powered by Ballard's cells that it says could be in mass production by 2004.

5/7/1999  Brief Blaze at Indian Oil Refinery Kills Five - Reuters

Five people were killed in a flash fire at the hydrocracker unit of Indian Oil Corp's new Panipat refinery early on Friday, the company said. "A flash fire occurred early on Friday in the hydrogen gas compressor of the hydrocracker unit of Panipat refinery,'' the state-run refiner said in a statement. ...A hydrocracker uses processed gas oil as feedstock to produce high quality gasoline, middle distillates and lubricants. It can be a volatile unit because hydrogen is at the centre of the process.

5/6/1999  Will the Automotive Engine of Future be the One from its Past? by John Schnapp - Detroit News (Ohio)

The hydrogen-powered fuel cell is now the official automotive engine of the future. General Motors Corp. and Toyota cemented its status in their joint research and development agreement on April 19. Ford Motor Co., DaimlerChrysler, three oil companies and Ballard Power Systems, a research and development firm in Burnaby, British Columbia, confirmed this in their own link-up a day later. But the “engine of the future” has always been a transitory designation — like Miss America. ...Nonetheless, the safest bet is that the engine of the future will turn out to be the engine of the past and the present, the reliable, low-cost and still improvable Otto-cycle internal combustion model.

5/6/1999  HINDENBERG BURNS IN LAKHURST CRASH - Reprint of  New York Times Article of May 6, 1937

The accident happened just as the great German dirigible was about to tie up to its mooring mast four hours after flying over New York City on the last leg of its first transatlantic voyage of the year. Until today the Hindenburg had never lost a passenger throughout the ten round trips it made across the Atlantic with 1,002 passengers in 1936. Two Theories of Cause: F.W. von Meister, vice president of the American Zeppelin Company, gave two possible theories to explain the crash. One was that a fire was caused by an electrical circuit "induced by static conditions" as the ship valved hydrogen gas preparatory to landing. Another was that sparks set off when the engines were throttled down while the gas was being valved caused a fire or explosion.

[The CHBC encourages you to read Senator Tom Harkin's THE TRUE STORY OF HYDROGEN AND THE `HINDENBURG' DISASTER from the U.S. Congressional Record, October 6, 1998 for the recent surprising discoveries about the cause of the airship disaster.]

5/6/1999 Graham Pulls for Tritium by Dale Hokrein - Augusta Chronicle (South Carolina)

U.S. Rep. Lindsey Graham hasn't surrendered the tritium fight. At a meeting with local business leaders Wednesday in Washington, Mr. Graham said he would again make Savannah River Site a candidate for tritium production if nuclear plants in Tennessee cannot be licensed for the job. ...Tritium is a radioactive, gaseous form of hydrogen used in nuclear weapons. Savannah River Site produced tritium from the early 1950s until its last reactor stopped production in 1988. ...Mr. Graham's legislation, an amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill now facing Congress, would make [a linear accelerator at SRS]  the top option if the Tennessee plants fail to receive a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by Dec. 31, 2002, he said.

5/5/1999  Gore's Visit Isn't the Only Issue for Local Ecology People by Tom Long - The Detroit News

This shindig might have gotten a bit more recognition if it had sported a sexier name. Something along the lines of Pollution Solution or EarthSave. But WCTHs (Wacky Crackpot Tree Huggers) aren't into sexy names. Thus the word Sustainable. ...There was Rosario Berretta, an engineer for Daimler-Chrysler working on an experimental car that runs on hydrogen. "You have no CO2, no emissions, nothing," he said proudly. "You have no pollution at all."

5/3/1999  Problem in X-33 Solved by Sean Kearns - Antelope Valley Press

The problem with an X-33 rocketplane hydrogen tank that caused a seven month delay in the program has been fixed, a NASA official said Friday. The problem was a poor bonding of composite skins of the tank. Gary Payton, deputy associate administrator for Aero-Space Technology, said that new skins have been made by Alliant Techsystems in Utah. He said those skins have been successfully bonded at Lockheed Martin's plant in Sunnyvale, Calif. The second tank is scheduled for delivery to NASA this summer. There are two hydrogen tanks on the X-33. The second tank was delivered by Alliant to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center this week. Once tested at Marshall, the tanks will be sent to Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Palmdale for assembly.

5/2/1999  Non-polluting, Fuel-Cell-Powered Buses to be Tested - Arizona Daily Star/Knight Ridder

A few fuel-cell-powered buses are being tested in Chicago and Vancouver, British Columbia. California will become the biggest test site with about 20 non-polluting buses, which could be introduced beginning in 2001 after participating agencies are selected, according to a new public-private partnership. ...Diesel-powered vehicles account for 4 percent of all California motor vehicles but produce 40 percent of emissions that contribute to smog plus 60 percent of soot from all California vehicles, according to the Air Resources Board.

5/2/1999  Motor City Advances Change the World by Bill Vlasic - The Detroit News

“All of the seeds for a global restructuring are in place,” said David Cole, executive director of the Office for the Study of Automotive Transportation. Cole predicts that mega-mergers, such as last year’s union of Chrysler and German automaker Daimler-Benz AG, will continue as companies attempt to spread their costs over higher volumes of production. In turn, the surviving giants will pursue alternatives to the internal combustion engines that have powered cars for more than 100 years. Cars running on fuel cells that produce electricity from hydrogen and batteries are in their embryonic stage, but the race is on to perfect them. Can the new, experimental technology extend the industry’s impact in the world of the 21st century?

5/1/1999  Electric Car Glow Fades, But California Mandate Looms by Deena Beasley - Reuters

Edison International said Thursday it would close the books on its three-year-old Edison EV unit, which was set up to install electric battery charging stations in California and Arizona. "We came to the realization that the EV market just isn't growing as fast as we initially expected. It doesn't make sense for Edison to continue,'' Gloria Quinn, a spokeswomen for Edison EV, said. ...The California Air Resources Board is ``so unhappy with what Honda is doing, our legal department is looking into our options,'' said spokesman Rich Varenchick. He maintained that the Japanese carmaker not only agreed to lease 300 vehicles, but also committed to keeping up with customer demand for the autos. "People are still calling Honda dealerships to lease EVs and are being told they are not available,'' Varenchick said.

5/1/1999  Bugs Beat the Bends by Nell Boyce - New Scientist

At such extreme depths, air becomes so dense that it can't be breathed--so divers breathe oxygen mixed with helium or hydrogen. Susan Kayar and her colleagues at the Naval Medical Research Center in Bethesda, Maryland, reasoned that deep dives would be made safer if more dissolved hydrogen could be removed from the divers' blood. They turned to a bacterium called Methanobrevibacter smithii, which lives in the gut and metabolises hydrogen to form methane. They injected cultures of the bacteria into the intestines of pigs, then shut the animals in a hyperbaric chamber to simulate the effects of ascending from a three-hour dive at around 240 metres below the surface. Pigs that were not given the bacterial cultures were nearly twice as likely to show symptoms of decompression sickness. The treated pigs were also more flatulent, releasing large quantities of methane--and the more bacteria that were added to their guts, the more methane they produced.

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