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Hydrogen News - January and February  2000
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2/29/2000  Tiny Technology, Big Future by Robert S. Boyd - Miami Herald

''Nanotechnology will lead to the next industrial revolution,'' the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy proclaims in a report, Shaping the World Atom by Atom. ...''Nanotubes are incredible,'' said Richard Smalley, a Nobel Prize-winning chemist. ''They are expected to produce fibers 100 times stronger than steel at only one-sixth the weight -- almost certainly the strongest fibers that will ever be made.'' One intriguing use of nanotubes is to store hydrogen -- an inexhaustible, nonpolluting fuel -- in cars and trucks. Theoretically, a tankful could last 2,000 miles. ''It's your future fuel tank,'' said Richard Truly, director of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo. ...Reflecting the mounting excitement, the White House report proposes a ''grand alliance'' of government, research universities and private industry to make the United States the world leader in nanoscience and technology. ''The potential for nanotechnology to transform so many aspects of human existence is almost without precedent,'' the report declares.

2/29/2000  GM Introduces New Fuel Cell Concept Vehicle - Reuters

The Opel Zafira fuel cell concept vehicle is the "most advanced operational fuel cell today," G. Richard Wagoner Jr., president of world's largest automaker, said at the Geneva Motor Show.  ...The five-seat vehicle, based on GM's popular European passenger van, has a driving range of 400 kilometers and can drive as fast as 140 kilometers per hour, he said. It is powered by liquid hydrogen. Previous fuel-cell stacks took six minutes to reach full acceleration at freezing temperatures, Wagoner said. The concept model developed takes 30 seconds. Such research is conducted to show fuel cells can operate in regions of the world where the temperatures reach far below zero. The size of the new fuel-cell stack is also 15 percent smaller than the nearest competitor and half the size of GM's previous effort, he said. GM also removed half the platinum used in previous fuel- cell stack last year, cutting expenses significantly because of platinum's high costs, Wagoner said.  ...The Zafira fuel cell concept vehicle will pace the marathon at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, this summer, Wagoner said.

2/29/2000  GM Designs New Fuel Cell to Power Up Faster in Cold Weather by Greg Gardner - Bloomberg/Deseret News (Utah)

General Motors Corp., the world's largest automaker, introduced a fuel cell-powered van at the Geneva Motor Show that reaches full power at cold temperatures in 30 seconds, much faster than a previous fuel-cell vehicle performed last fall. ..."At this point, more of our effort is going into developing a commercially feasible product," said Rick Wagoner, GM president. ...GM and Toyota plan to decide this year which fuel-cell technologies they'll support, trying to get a jump on rivals and set standards for systems that could power millions of cars. The alliance between the world's No. 1 and No. 3 automakers faces competition from Ford Motor Co., DaimlerChrysler AG, Volkswagen AG and Honda, which also are cooperating on various alternative-fuel technologies.     

2/27/2000  Fuel Cells May Power Next Car by John Yaukey - Gannett News Service/Arizona Republic

Most experimental fuel cell-powered cars can now reach 90 mph and travel as far on a tank of hydrogen as they can on gasoline. ..."Fuel cell technology has a lot of advantages in terms of efficiency and emissions - advantages that are compelling enough to drive the serious development of the technology," said Jim Ohi, senior engineer at the Energy Department's Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo. ...Meanwhile, some of the world's largest energy companies, including Royal Dutch/Shell Group, Texaco, and Atlantic Richfield, are positioning themselves to supply the world's hydrogen fuel. ..."You could run a laptop all day off a fuel cell," said Yehuda Harats, chief executive officer of New York City-based Electronic Fuel, Inc., which produces small fuel cells for consumer electronic use. "It's an amazing advantage for people on the go." Fuel cells are far simpler than combustion engines because they contain few moving parts. The energy comes not from burning, but from chemically combining hydrogen and oxygen.

2/25/2000  Volkswagen Snubs Methanol For Fuel Cells, Taps Gasoline by Fred Kapner - Dow Jones

Volkswagen AG has opted not to pursue the use of methanol for fuel cell powered cars, a company spokesman said Friday, and will develop the use of gasoline for the cells until hydrogen one day becomes the source of choice.  ..."Methanol was important in our research but now we think modified gasoline is the next step," said VW environmental affairs spokesman Harald Fletcher, who declined to give specific reasons for the decision. The relatively high toxicity of methanol is often voiced by environmentalists and industry, particularly in Germany. VW is part of a group of seven companies, including DaimlerChrysler AG, BMW AG and truckmaker MAN AG, which are working with the German government to come up with a plan this June that would select the development of one of three fuels - liquified natural gas, methanol and hydrogen - for the fuel cells. VW notified the group last month that it wasn't interested in methanol technology. "I almost fell out of my chair when I found out," said Michael Koss, DaimlerChrysler's manager for energy projects and the coordinator of the German industry fuel cell group. Koss said he didn't know what had motivated the VW decision.

2/25/2000  Automakers Drive Into Green Future Without A Roadmap by Christine Tierney - Reuters

"There is almost unanimity that hydrogen will be the fuel of the future. It's no more polluting than an electric kettle," Roger Cracknell of Shell Global Solutions told the IIR Fuel Cell Vehicles conference. "But there's a great multiplicity of stepping stones to get there," Cracknell said. Auto manufacturers and oil companies are advocating a range of interim technologies, fuels and hybrids -- alternately powered by a petrol engines and electric motors -- to meet ever stricter emission standards in Europe and North America. ...Hydrogen-powered fuel cell engines are the cleanest option available, and a technology using abundant hydrogen would reduce the world's dependence on oil from the Middle East. But hydrogen is difficult to store and dangerous to handle, being more explosive than other fuels, leading carmakers to explore interim technologies using methanol or gasoline. ...DaimlerChrysler is hedging its bets, working on a pure hydrogen vehicle and on one running on methanol, from which hydrogen can be extracted using a reformer, said Michael Koss, manager of DaimlerChrysler's energy projects. Volkswagen AG is said to have previously favoured (toxic) methanol, but has now switched to hydrogen. And BMW, taking an altogether different route, is working on a hydrogen-burning internal combustion engine. Oil companies would be happiest with gasoline-powered fuel cell engines -- an evolution which would require less up-front investment from them. But industry experts say extracting hydrogen from gasoline is a much harder than extracting it from methanol. "It seems like the methanol reformer will be first to market because methanol is easier to reform," Cracknell said. ..."There are huge market forces unleashing huge amounts of capital to address these issues," said William Smith, vice president of business development at Connecticut-based Proton Energy Systems.

2/25/2000  Sooty Diesel Buses to Be Eliminated by New State Rules by Marla Cone - Los Angeles Times

The regulation--which includes complex requirements to be phased in over the next 10 years--is designed to reduce diesel soot from new transit buses by 80% in 2004. It requires old buses to be equipped with new pollution devices beginning in three years. ....Two years ago, the state air board declared diesel soot a cancer-causing air pollutant that could cause 14,000 Californians alive today to contract cancer over their lifetimes. The bus regulation is the board's first major action since then to lower the health threat. ...State air board officials said forcing all transit agencies to buy alternative-fuel buses would be too inflexible. Instead, effective immediately, transit districts must choose between two paths in buying new buses: The "diesel path" allows a district to keep purchasing diesel buses as long as numerous conditions are met, including use of low-sulfur diesel fuel and the addition of soot traps and other pollution-control devices, between 2003 and 2007. Under the other option, 85% of a transit agency's new purchases must be powered by natural gas or other alternative fuels while 15% can be diesel buses. Those diesels, also, must be gradually equipped with the new pollution controls. ...Under the new regulation, some pollution-free buses--powered by fuel cells or batteries--will be on California streets within three years. By 2010, 15% of new buses at transit districts with more than 200 buses must have zero emissions. The air board's vote had been expected last month, after a daylong public hearing in Diamond Bar. But at the last minute, board Chairman Alan Lloyd requested a one-month delay to explore changes suggested by environmentalists to more quickly eliminate diesel buses.      

2/24/2000  Analyst Corner: Fuel Cell Stocks Get Charged Up - Rising Fuel Costs Put Focus On Alternative Energy Plays by Kathleen Gerencher - CBS Market Watch

The recent rise in fuel prices has powered increases at the gas pump, in airfare tickets and residential heating bills. It's also created intense interest in stocks of companies that specialize in so-called fuel cell technologies, batteries that can provide energy for houses and factories for long periods of time without needing recharging. The recent run-up in fuel cell stocks reflects a change in how the industry divides its businesses in the wake of deregulation, according to Joe Arsenio, managing director of research in charge of applied technologies at Chase Hambrecht & Quist. ..."I think that the underlying drivers behind new energy technologies are genuine and sustainable, and it's captured the public's imagination because of that underlying sustainability. It's being driven by the deregulation of the electricity industry, which has been an ongoing and is an ongoing process. It's created the ability to look at your electric bill and distinguish between what the commodity of electricity costs you and what it costs to get that commodity to you through the distribution network. In many cases, the cost of distribution is 75 percent of the bill or more, and (that goes) along with some other political penalties for decommissioning nuclear power plants and things like that in California, for example. ...And in much of the country, natural gas prices if you converted that natural gas into electricity using an efficient fuel cell, you would be producing electricity for less money at home than you could take it off the grid. That's probably true in about half the United States because the BTU equivalent of natural gas in terms of electricity is such and the price difference is such that that is simply the economic reality. I think fuel cells will have their part of distributed generation, but if it wasn't for deregulation, you couldn't even generate this electricity on site to begin with. Under the direction of this, there'll be net metering in the future where electricity generated that's not used on site can be sold back into the grid. We're in the midst of a major revolution in energy management and I think these technologies are beneficiaries of a change in a giant market that's essentially on the same scale if not somewhat larger than the telecommunications market."

2/24/2000  Hot Trend in Day Trading: Fuel Cells - Wall Street Journal/Desert News

Internet day traders are getting charged up over a new plaything: battery stocks. Not the kind of batteries you plug into your Palm Pilot, though. The latest sensation among day traders is to snap up shares of companies that make "fuel cells," which essentially are huge batteries capable of providing all the power for a house, or even a factory, for long periods of time without requiring recharging. ...The move is evidence that the online momentum crowd, frustrated over the shrinking returns on some Internet stocks, are searching for new, greener pastures. They have seized on biotechnology stocks, among others. Fuel-cell stocks began moving in January as a result of a few developments. But the sector got kicked into high gear when an article on Microsoft's MSN Money Central site predicted a 10,000 percent, 10-year return on Plug, which had been brought public only in October.

2/24/2000  Algae Hydrogen Harnessed - Christian Science Monitor

Microscopic green algae may soon be pumping out clean and efficient hydrogen gas to fuel the world's cars and power plants. Scientists at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee are turning to nature, which long ago figured out how to make energy from water and sunlight. In this case, algae, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, have a special trick that allows them to make hydrogen - an enzyme called hydrogenase that splits water into its component parts of hydrogen and oxygen. The algae need sulfur to grow and photosynthesize. But scientists found that when they starved the algae of sulfur, they switched into hydrogenase mode. In this cycle, they release hydrogen, not oxygen.

2/24/2000  Biosphere 2 Tests Future Ford Fuel Savers by Sara Hammond - Arizona Daily Star

Ford Motor Co. is on a "dead run'' to produce affordable, energy-efficient, alternative-fuel passenger vehicles, the automaker's technology chief said yesterday. ...Ford is also working on producing electric vehicles that are powered by fuel cells. The most desirable energy source is hydrogen, Ressler said. It has the least environmental impact - the only byproduct is water coming out of the exhaust system. But it also has the least infrastructure. Methanol is the second-best fuel-cell energy source and gasoline is the least desirable, but the most readily available. "We will be working over the next decade to get the costs of fuel cells down,'' he said.

2/23/2000  Fuel-Cell Mania Is Powering Impco, But Feasibility Questions Remain by Brenda L. Moore - Wall Street Journal

Shares of Cerritos-based Impco have surged more than 200% this year as Wall Street has discovered fuel cells, battery-like devices that convert hydrogen into electricity. ...But their widespread commercial applications always seem to be just around the corner -- and that's what gives pause to Brett Hendrickson, an analyst at Los Angeles brokerage firm B. Riley. Mr. Hendrickson says Impco's components may indeed help put fuel cells in vehicles eventually. ...Despite the nagging questions, the marketplace has sent a surge through the alternative-fuel sector's stocks. Impco, at about $44, is basking in the enthusiasm directed at the best-known names, including Plug Power of Latham, N.Y.; Ballard Power Systems, Vancouver, British Columbia; and FuelCell Energy of Danbury, Conn. Day traders looking for the next big thing have pounced on some of the stocks. They're encouraged by mandates like one in California that requires 10% of new cars sold by 2003 to be "zero-emission" vehicles. And they're buoyed by a spate of recent developments in the field. ... Jay Keller, manager of the hydrogen program at Sandia, says the lab probably will also look at storage of hydrogen as a solid on board vehicles. He says he considers storage in a solid state the safest method, but adds, "I don't want to undermine the other technologies. I personally feel that the hydrogen in a pressurized tank...is safer than gasoline." Energy Conversion Devices, Troy, Mich., appears to be the most prominent promoter of using hydrogen in a solid state. "We're in the process of prototype production, and we've been approached by more than several petroleum companies who are interested," says Robert Stempel, Energy Conversion's chairman and the former chairman and chief executive of General Motors. The company pioneered the technology for nickel-metal-hydride batteries, including those used to propel electric cars.

2/22/2000 [ Ballard] Alternative Energy Technology Stocks Soaring by Dan Rogers - Reuters

Ballard said recently it expects to be producing a new generation of no-emission automotive fuel cells as early as 2004 at a cost comparable to today's gasoline engine. ...One of the many remaining hurdles to mainstream use of the new technology involves developing an infrastructure to get the hydrogen, which has to be extracted from hydrocarbon, into a fuel cell. One scenario involves extracting hydrogen from natural gas at central processing centers and then shipping it to service stations where it can be pumped into a car's tank. Another plan under consideration is to pump natural gas directly into a car's tank and have the hydrogen extracted by an onboard reformer, or miniature refinery. Another one of the few publicly traded AE companies, Israel's Electric Fuel Corp. , rose 6-1/2 to 16-3/4 on Nasdaq after Israel and the United States said Tuesday they would cooperate on a project to develop municipal buses that would run on electricity. ...Calgary's Global Thermoelectric Inc. , is also developing fuel cells for use in automobiles, but its main niche market is seen in residential and remote location commercial power generation using natural gas, say analysts...."Global's fuel cells are high-temperature technology suited to the stationary power market," said Peter Tertzakian, a former oil and gas analyst who now covers AE for brokerage Goepel McDermid.

2/22/2000  Stagnant Ponds Become Fuel Pumps by Damian Carrington - BBC (UK)

Petrol stations could be replaced by stagnant ponds if a breakthrough in hydrogen fuel technology fulfils its potential. The new approach harnesses an emergency survival strategy that green algae use to survive during hard times. The microscopic plants switch from normal photosynthesis, producing carbon dioxide, to an alternative way of "breathing" which produces hydrogen gas. The theoretical yields are high enough for the process to be exciting experts in the energy field as a future source of fuel, perhaps in 20 years time. The fuel could be used to power fuel cells in cars. The big advantage of hydrogen as a fuel is that it does not produce carbon dioxide or other pollutants when it is burnt in pure oxygen. And if produced by using solar energy to split water, it is entirely sustainable. The new research was led by Tasios Melis, from the University of California-Berkeley. "I guess it's the equivalent of striking oil," he told the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He estimates that a small pond in which the growth of the algae is controlled could provide enough fuel for 12 cars for a week. ...It may even be possible to convert sewage into hydrogen fuel. Tadashi Matsunaga, at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, has found a photosynthesising bacterium which produces hydrogen from waste water.

2/22/2000  Pentagon Excited by Fuel Cell Potential by John Yaukey - USA Today/Gannett News Service

"The military has put so much electronic power in the hands of the soldier, but that has created a lot of additional weight," said Robert Savinell, a Case Western Reserve University engineering professor doing defense-funded research on small, lightweight fuel cells. "One way we can lighten the load is to squeeze more efficiency out of the power supplies." Some of the small, experimental fuel cells now under development can operate 10 times longer than the conventional batteries used to power handheld battlefield computers, eliminating the need to haul heavy spares. Larger fuel cells could be used to run the mobile generators that now require a constant supply of gas, further enhancing mobility and freedom from supply lines.

2/17/2000  DaimlerChrysler Fuel Discovery by Tim Burt - Financial Times (UK)

The company said a year-long research project with Shell Hydrogen, part of the Anglo-Dutch energy group, had proved that fuel cell cars could be produced without needing hydrogen or methanol as the main fuel source. "We have shown that the gasoline powered fuel cell vehicles is viable," said Don Huberts, chief executive of Shell Hydrogen. "We will continue to develop this exciting technology, which holds great promise for enabling fuel cell vehicles to rapidly enter the market." ...In the DaimlerChrysler-Shell system, gasoline would be converted to hydrogen by a reformer installed in the car.

2/17/2000  Using the Net to Get Closer to the Customer by Peter Marsh - Financial Times (UK)

...Vaillant, a family-owned company that is one of Germany's biggest makers of gas-fired boilers, has a team of designers working on new generations of heating products. Among them is a system based on technology developed by PlugPower, a US fuel cell maker. Fuel cells provide a way to create energy through combining oxygen from the air with hydrogen, which can be chemically separated from the natural gas supplied to homes. Vaillant's designers use the telecommunications network to send computer files containing three-dimensional drawings and other data about the new product to PlugPower's headquarters in New York state. Engineers at the US company can then add their own ideas, speeding up the overall development. "Using this technology you can simulate everything about the product - you can do everything in your dreams," says Manfred Ahle, Vaillant's joint chief executive.

2/17/2000  Hydrogen Leaks Hit Two Russian Nuclear Plants - Agence France Presse

Two Russian nuclear plants have experienced hydrogen leaks but there was no risk of increased radioactivity, the Russian news agency AVN reported on Thursday. Maintenance work on a reactor triggered the hydrogen leak at the Smolensk plant, 300 kilometers (180 miles) west of Moscow, around 1330 GMT on Wednesday, AVN said. Another hydrogen leak occured around 0001 GMT Thursday at a plant in Koursk, 500 kilometers south of Moscow, forcing the closure of one reactor.

2/17/2000  First High School In The Nation To Be Equipped With Fuel Cell - International Fuel Cells/PRNewswire

The model PC25(TM) fuel cell power system at the Liverpool school was developed by International Fuel Cells (IFC) and manufactured by its sister company, ONSI Corp., South Windsor, Connecticut. The two are subsidiaries of United Technologies Corp. It was installed by Niagara Mohawk Energy, Inc., as part of a $15 million project to improve energy service to the school system. ...Each IFC PC25 fuel cell generates 200 kilowatts of electricity, enough to supply electricity for nearly 150 homes, and more than 700,000 Btu per hour of usable heat. Because the fuel cell does not burn gas, it operates virtually pollution free, eliminating air emissions normally associated with acid rain, smog and global warming. The thermal energy generated by the fuel cell will be used to help heat the high school. "This fuel cell will be used to help serve the basic electricity needs of the building," said Phil Frazier, President of Niagara Mohawk Energy. "Because the unit operates independent of the electric grid, the school now can be used as an emergency shelter if there is a weather-related power emergency." ...Garry Kosteck, Systems Engineer for the U.S. Department of Defense said, "The operation of this fuel cell shall serve as a real life demonstration of how technology is helping to improve our lives and serve to stimulate the Liverpool students' interest in science, mathematics and engineering." Kosteck is the project coordinator for the federal Climate Change Fuel Cell Program that provided partial funding for the Liverpool fuel cell. "This project is another example of how our fuel cells provide reliable, clean electricity throughout the world. Fuel cells have moved beyond the experimental stage. They make sense in today's marketplace, particularly where environmental concerns are paramount," said William Miller, IFC President.

2/17/2000  IDACORP Subsidiary Receives Fuel Cell Order from Tokyo Boeki - IDACORP/PRNewswire

IDACORP Inc. subsidiary Northwest Power Systems today announced it has received an order from Tokyo Boeki, Ltd., for two fully integrated, prototype residential fuel cell systems to be field-tested in Japan this year. The purchase order is the first step in a cooperative exploration of the fuel cell system market in Japan by Bend, Ore.-based NPS, Tokyo Boeki, a privately-held trading company, and Corona Ltd., Japan's leading maker of home heating and air conditioning appliances. The collaborative effort will include testing of the fuel cells in Corona's fully functional, 1,500-square-foot residential test home in Japan. ...The systems to be delivered to Tokyo Boeki will integrate NPS's patented proprietary fuel processor and balance of plant design with a proton exchange membrane fuel cell, manufactured by De Nora Fuel Cells, S.p.A., Milan, Italy. The test units will generate approximately 2.5 kilowatts of electricity. Through the units' heat exchangers, each unit will produce the heating equivalent of another 2.5 kilowatts, energy suitable for water and space heating purposes. ...The announcement of field-testing in Japan comes just prior to Northwest Power's scheduled delivery next month of the first of 110 fuel cell systems to the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA). The $3.5 million purchase order from BPA calls for the delivery of the 10 alpha and 100 beta units for field-testing in the Pacific Northwest through 2002 with commercialization to follow.

2/16/2000  dbb and Shell Have Developed Prototype Multi-Fuel Processor by Matthias Altmann - HyWeb (Germany)

During an 18 month research co-operation, dbb Fuel Cell Engines GmbH, a subsidiary of DaimlerChrysler AG, and Shell Hydrogen, have successfully developed and tested a prototype gasoline reformer that might in the future be part of fuel cell propulsion systems for cars according to a press release by both companies. The result of the research co-operation was a 50 kW multi-fuel system with compact design for mobile and stationary use of fuel cells. ..."We were very pleased with the speed with which we achieved results in this research project," said Prof. Dr. Ferdinand Panik, head of DaimlerChrysler’s fuel cell project. "This is a good example of the versatility of the new fuel cell technology. But, because of the expected high costs we will continue to work on a methanol reactor as our first priority, as this is the most advanced technology today. We will also keep an eye on the progress the CPO reactor is making." ...Close co-operation in different projects preparing the market-entry of fuel cell vehicles, like the California Fuel Cell Partnership, and the "Iceland Project" will be actively continued, as both companies underlined.

2/16/2000  Day Traders Help Power Moves in Fuel-Cell Stocks by Susan Pulliam - Dow Jones

The move is evidence that the online momentum crowd, frustrated over the shrinking returns on some Internet stocks, are searching for new, greener pastures.  ...Fuel-cell stocks began moving in January as a result of a few developments. But the sector got kicked into high gear when an article on Microsoft's MSN Money Central site predicted a 10,000%, 10-year return on Plug, which had been brought public only in October. ...Fuel cells, for their part, remain untested as a commercially viable idea. Though Plug said this week it had run one of its "proton exchange membrane" fuel cells for 10,000 hours, analysts say the test was an early-stage experiment and the model used wasn't one that will be used commercially. "It's the lab version," says Sam Brothwell, an analyst with Merrill Lynch. "But it's not a case of putting the technology in a package in the form it will be sold to the consumer," he says.

2/15/2000  Car of the Future -- Fill 'er Up With Algae? by Carrie Peyton - Sacramento Bee (CA)

Slimy ponds. Green-coated swimming pools. Clean energy. What's out of place here? Maybe nothing, if researchers can perfect a newly discovered way to turn microscopic algae into tiny hydrogen factories, producing a gas widely seen as a non-polluting fuel of the future. The process, discovered by University of California, Berkeley, and Colorado researchers and described in the January issue of the journal Plant Physiology, has piqued the interest of scientists and alternative energy enthusiasts and sent its discoverers scurrying to seek patents. ..."It is a breakthrough in a lot of ways," said Arthur Grossman, a Carnegie Institution scientist who specializes in algae and photosynthesis research. "It opens up the doors for production of energy in possibly an inexpensive way, harnessing the sun." Tasios Melis, a professor of plant and microbial biology at UC Berkeley, and Michael Seibert, a scientist at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo., did two things no one else had accomplished, said Grossman. They found a way to make an alga churn out far more hydrogen than trace amounts previously measured, and to sustain that production for days. "Many people have done this type of research for a long time and no one has been able to get it to this level," Grossman said. ...With tests devised in Seibert's lab, the pair developed a method of first fattening a bright green algae culture and then cutting off its sulfur. They found it could produce hydrogen from its stored energy for about four days. Then it needed to return to its normal state, which could be done by giving it a new sulfur supply. Their method yielded more than 100,000 times more hydrogen than had been previously produced by an algae culture, Seibert said. The pair want to boost yields at least tenfold, and they want to know more, on the cellular and molecular level, about exactly what happens when the process works.

2/11/2000  Lorenzo Lamadrid: Ideas Man with a Nose for Yoghurt - Financial Times (UK)

Mr Lamadrid points to another potentially lucrative ADL product - a fuel processing technology which turns petrol into hydrogen. This could be used to run an electric car, which would cause only 10 per cent of the pollution of a conventional vehicle. "It was going to be sold for $8m to $10m. Those were the numbers that were being talked about. Instead, we looked at ways of creating value out of this." ADL examined two other companies with comparable technologies. "With under $10m in revenues, they had a market value of multiple billions. Something we could have sold for $10m a few weeks ago could be worth multi-billions," Mr Lamadrid says. ADL is now talking to oil companies about exploiting the technology jointly. ADL has identified 65 other products or technologies with which it could do the same.

2/11/2000  Bill Ford: Jim Mateja Column - Chicago Tribune (IL)/Financial Times (UK)

If a label could be applied to Ford, it would be environmentalist. Ford champions alternative-fuel vehicles as a way to reduce emissions and conserve petroleum. The automaker is the industry's leading seller of alternative-fuel vehicles. A few weeks ago, Ford formed the TH!NK Group to develop a line of alternative-fuel vehicles powered by batteries and methanol--and, eventually, hydrogen fuel cells--for the U.S. market and abroad in the next two years. Ford also said it will sell a six-passenger hybrid diesel/electric car based on a concept sedan it calls Prodigy by 2003. But Ford is a realist in noting that while clean air talk is cheap, building vehicles that burn fuels other than gasoline isn't. "There's enormous infrastructure problems," he said of the fact that gas stations dot each corner, but methanol or hydrogen dispensers--or sockets to recharge battery-powered vehicles--don't. "President Clinton recently talked with me about alternative fuels. He asked, `How many tear-ups of the infrastructure can this country stand?' and I answered, `One.' "

2/11/2000  Texaco CEO: To Grow Earns 10%-13%/Yr At Flat Oil Prices by Christina Cheddar - Dow Jones

During 2000, Texaco hopes to partner with a fuel cell company. Fuel cells are generators that can be used to create power for cars and buses or to generate electricity for homes. Fuel cells also may be grouped together to build a utility. Texaco currently has a staff working on fuel cell projects in all three areas where fuel cells can be used.

2/10/2000 [ FuelCell Energy] Benz Plant To Get Fuel Cell - Birmingham News (AL)

Mercedes-Benz will erect a small fuel cell at its Vance plant. Mercedes has teamed with the Southern Co., the Alabama Municipal Electric Authority and FuelCell Energy to build a 250 kilowatt power plant to test the technology and to supplement electricity provided by Alabama Power Co. The $2 million fuel-cell plant will convert natural gas to electricity using a chemical reaction, rather than combustion. It's billed as environmentally friendly. The fuel cell is expected to be operating within a year.

2/10/2000  Idemitsu's Hokkaido Refinery Secondary Unit Catches Fire by Mike Watanabe - Dow Jones

TOKYO -- Japan's Idemitsu Kosan Co. (J.IKC) said Thursday afternoon that a 35,000-barrel-a-day heavy fuel desulfurization unit at its Hokkaido refinery has caught fire. ...The hydro-desulfurization unit is a secondary facility which removes noxious sulfur content from heavy fuel oils by using hydrogen.

2/9/2000 [ DCH Technology] Research at Penn State Aids Hydrogen Industry by Lily Henning - Penn State News

University Park, Pa. -- A hydrogen research project agreement among Penn State, the U.S. Department of Energy, and two private sector research and development companies will look at more practical uses of hydrogen for industry and manufacturing. Dr. Robert McGrath, Penn State associate vice president for research, led the research team that developed the proposal. He says "Molecular hydrogen is a combustible gas that is both produced and used by the chemical, petroleum and glass industries. Monitoring hydrogen levels at various points in the manufacturing process is essential for both product quality control and safety." The goal of the three-year, $1.3 million project is to develop an alternative, reliable, low-cost easily fielded sensing technology for on-line, real time measurements that are applicable to multiple manufacturing processors. In addition to Penn State, the project partners are Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M. and Livermore, Calif.;  DCH Technology, Valencia, Calif., and Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. of Allentown, Pa. Penn State's role will be to produce prototype sensors as the University’s Nanofabrication Clean-Room Facility located in Penn State's Research Park. The facility is supported by the National Science Foundation and by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge's newly established Pennsylvania Technology Investment Authority (PTIA). U.S. Rep. John Peterson provided facilitation throughout the review process. "I see enormous potential for hydrogen as future source of clean, affordable energy for nearly every aspect of our lives. But we must boost our efforts toward research and development to make it a reality," said Peterson. Additional applications of hydrogen include its use as a fuel in combustion engines and rockets, and emerging fuel cell technologies. Funding comes from the Department of Energy's Office of Industrial Technologies as one of only four research projects selected during the most recent competition. Continued funding for the second and third year of the project depends on successful completion of year one milestones and DOE approval.

2/9/2000  Reactor Disconnected from Grid Due to Accident at Rivne Nuclear Plant, Ukraine - DINAU News Agency, Kiev (Ukraine)/BBC

Kiev, 8th February, Andriy Shulha: Early this morning, the No 3 generating set of the Rivne nuclear power plant was disconnected from the external energy grid to eliminate a hydrogen leak in the thermal generator, the DINAU correspondent learned at the Ukrainian Ministry of the Emergency Siutations [and Defence of Population from Consequences of Chernobyl Disaster]. The accident, which was rated at zero level, did not result in an increase of the radiation level at the power plant.

2/9/2000  Generating Set Restarted After Repairs at Rivne Nuclear Power Plant - UNIAN News Agency, Kiev (Ukraine)/BBC

The emergency stoppage of the set on the night of 8th February was caused by hydrogen leaking from the refrigerating system of its electric generator, which posed a threat of fire or an explosion.

2/9/2000  Council Pushing for Electric Cars by Mike Crean - The Press (Christchurch, New Zealand)

Hybrid electric cars could be on Christchurch roads in two or three years. The city council's city services committee yesterday decided that the council should lobby vehicle distributors to supply the vehicles as soon as possible and seek to become involved as a partner in trials of the vehicle. ...Safety concerns over hydrogen and the lack of supporting infrastructure would probably delay introduction of fuel-cell electric cars to New Zealand longer.

2/9/2000  China Develops Hydrogen Processing from Sewage - BBC/Xinhua news agency (Beijing, China)

Researchers with the Harbin Architecture Institute in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province said they can now produce 280 cu.m. of hydrogen gas that is 99 per cent pure from a 50-cu.m. container of sewage each day. This means China can now produce hydrogen on an industrial scale, said Prof Ren Nanqi, who heads the research group. According to Ren and other experts, researchers in other countries have taken a different road for hydrogen production with biological technology, and no major breakthrough has been reported in their experiments. Compared to the traditional electrolytic process or production of hydrogen from petroleum and other minerals, the new method saves energy and uses no minerals, which cannot be reproduced, Ren said. What's more, he said, their method can purify sewage into clear water in the process of producing hydrogen.

2/9/2000  New Hydrocarbon Policy Soon - The Hindu (India)

A comprehensive policy for meeting India's petroleum requirements by the year 2025 is under finalisation by a high-level Ministerial Group, according to the Union Minister of State for Petroleum & Natural Gas, Mr. Santosh K. Gangwar. The Hydrocarbon Vision - 2025 will recommend a strategy to reduce dependence on oil imports and the technology to achieve this goal after assessing the country's present and future needs of petroleum and natural gas. ...Mr. Gangwar pointed out that the annual demand for petroleum and gas was rising by 7 per cent and 10 per cent respectively. The demand for gas may rise further once Government puts in place a policy allowing use of LPG as fuel for transport. ...The new millennium could see the emergence of a new source - hydrogen - which would be a consequence not of running out of oil but the development of the fuel cell.

2/8/2000  Methanol Fuel Cells Seen As Mobile Phone Power Source by Nadya Anscombe - EE Times

Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratories and Motorola Inc. have designed a liquid methanol fuel cell with an energy density 10 times greater than conventional rechargeable batteries and which could potentially be applied to mobile phones. Such phones could be powered by a small methanol reservoir about the size of an ink-pen cartridge that would last about a week, its developers said. ...Most other fuel cell research has concentrated on hydrogen, but although methanol has the advantage of being a liquid and has a higher energy density than hydrogen, it needs a more complicated catalyst to function.

2/8/2000  OPEC Hasn't Considered Boosting Oil Production This Year, President Says by Sean Evers - Bloomberg

Last week, the American Petroleum Institute reported crude oil inventories in the U.S., the world's largest energy user, stood at their lowest level in 23 1/2 years.

2/8/2000  Suddenly Hot Utility Stocks Receive a Charge From Net by Rebecca Smith - Wall Street Journal

There could be hiccups as companies move their fuel-cell prototypes to the production line from the research lab. Resistance from regulators or distribution utilities, which could feel threatened by the alternative product, also may be a problem. ...If nothing else, at least the sector finally has gained some buzz. Merrill's Mr. Fleishman says: "What more can you ask for than Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and KKR investing in utilities? It's gotten pretty interesting."

2/7/2000  Local Carmakers Set to Invest Heavily in Fuel Cell Technology by Yoo Cheong-mo - Korea Herald

Hyundai Motor and affiliated Kia Motors plan to spend over 10 billion won ($8.92 million) this year on fuel cell-related research, while Daewoo Motor is set to launch a joint R&D program with a state-run lab. Faced with the need to develop alternative energy sources, domestic oil-refining companies, such as SK Corp. and LG-Caltex Oil, are also pushing ahead with their own fuel cell research. Fuel cells, called "dream energy" or "pollution-free energy," are at the center of technological competition in the global auto industry for its enormous commercial potentials. ...SK plans to manufacture a new fuel cell transformer by September, which combines hydrogen and oxygen, for test-installation in Hyundai and Daewoo cars in November. LG-Caltex, which started its fuel-cell R&D in 1989, plans to spend 3.5 billion won over the next three years to develop various cells for the purpose of power generation and household use. Despite the moves by local firms, analysts are unimpressed by the relatively low value of R&D expenditure. "Foreign giants are investing about 100 billion won annually in fuel cell development, compared with 10 billion won by local firms," said an auto industry analyst. "It will be very difficult to narrow the technological gap. Local car makers should consider expanding investments drastically or forming strategic alliances with foreign firms." Indeed, Toyota and GM declared a partnership in the development of next-generation fuel cells Wednesday.    

2/7/2000  Running on Empty by Benjamin Fulford - Forbes

Sony's top battery scientist, Akio Igarashi, predicts that in two years some company will announce safe lithium-metal batteries. At that point chemical-based battery technology will have reached its theoretical limit. Fluorine, the only element with a higher storage limit than lithium, is so explosive and toxic that researchers say it is decades away from any practical application. That leaves scientists looking further afield than simple chemistry. One promising candidate is the fuel cell, which combines hydrogen and oxygen to make electricity, leaving water as a by-product. The problem is finding compact ways to store compressed hydrogen. "Right now [fuel cells] are so big they are having trouble fitting them into cars, let alone mobile phones," says Kazuyoshi Tanaka, a battery pioneer and a professor at Japan's Kyoto University.

2/7/2000  US Clinton Budget Proposes Electric-Related Tax Changes by Bryan Lee - Dow Jones

The White House's budget proposal also calls for establishing a 15-year depreciation schedule for investment in distributed power technologies. Distributed power is small-scale generation, such as gas-fired "micro" turbines and combined heat and power projects, but it also could include fuel cells or rooftop solar installations.

2/4/2000  Accident at Naptha Cracking Complex Kills Three Workers Employed By Subcontractor - Chemical Incident Reports Center

Mailiao, Republic of China -- The accident occurred at Formosa Plastics Group's Mailiao naphtha cracking complex. Three Indonesian workers employed by a South Korean subcontractor asphyxiated on argon and hydrogen gas, which leaked from pipes they were installing at an aromatics plant being built at the complex. No other details were available.

2/4/2000  Author Tells Fascinating Story of Fuel-Cell Inventor by Teresa McUsic - Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Geoffrey Ballard, a citizen of Canada and the United States through his parents, did not set out to find an environmentally friendly energy source, Koppel writes. Ballard became interested in the idea when he was director of research for the newly formed conservation office of the Army during the energy crisis of 1973. Ballard quickly realized that conservation was not a practical means to solve air pollution problems or U.S. dependence on foreign oil. Instead, a cleaner energy source had to be discovered, he decided. So Ballard quit his well-paying job to start a company to create such an energy source. Tight money forced him and his wife and children to start a restaurant to finance his dream, Koppel writes as he deftly chronicles the ups and downs of such an entrepreneurial effort. "In short, taking the Ballard fuel cell to where it is today took inspiration, perspiration and a heavy dose of serendipity," he writes. Interestingly, as the company began to succeed, so did its stock. Now 35 percent owned by DaimlerChrysler and Ford, Ballard Power Systems stock is up tenfold in the past three years. DaimlerChrysler and Ballard also agreed to create a separate company called Ballard Automotive that would be owned jointly and would market fuel cells and fuel cell engines. Further review and ordering info for Powering the Future by Tom Kopel

2/3/2000  Fuel-Cell Tech Fueling New Alternatives' Rise by Beth M. Mantz - Dow Jones

As of Jan. 31, New Alternatives' top holdings include Plug Power Inc. (PLUG), Calpine Corp. (CPN), Mechanical Technology Inc. (MKTY), FuelCell Energy Inc. (FCL), and Whole Foods Market Inc. (WFMI). ...Although investors consider fuel cells the latest rage next to "dot-com companies,' Schoenwald has been bullish on this cost-efficient and pollution-free energy for some time. Fuel cells are battery-like devices that take hydrogen from another fuel source, like alcohol or hydrogen gas, and convert the fuel into electricity. Because the process yields heat and drinkable water, it befriends the environment more than traditional fuel sources. This technology has recently been endorsed by some major industrial companies like DaimlerChrysler AG (DCX), Ford Motor Co. (F), DTE Energy Co. (DTE), and General Electric Co. (GE). Estimated to be as big as $30 billion, the fuel cell market's actual value is unknown because companies have yet to market a product, and industry experts don't expect commercialization until 2001 at the earliest. ...Schoenwald prefers the less-touted FuelCell Energy because the company's process yields two forms of electricity. FuelCell's technology heats molten carbonate to more than 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit to generate electricity, and produces steam, a more conventional way of making electricity. Additionally, its relationship with DaimlerChrysler affords the energy company credibility; DaimlerChrysler owns an 11% stake. In the past three months, FuelCell's share-price has jumped 75.98%. ...Another fuel-cell play Schoenwald likes is Ballard Power Systems Inc. (BLDP), which develops fuel cells for cars. Ballard has entered into strategic alliances with DaimlerChrysler, Ford, and Japan's Honda (HMC) for research and use of its technology in these auto makers' vehicles. Ballard has grown 151.43% over the last three months.

2/3/2000  White House Fact Sheet: $4 Billion in Climate Change Technology Tax Incentives - U.S. Newswire

The president is proposing a new $4.0 billion package in tax incentives over five years to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions by spurring the purchase of energy efficient products and the use of renewable energy.   ...Extend tax credit for electric and fuel cell vehicles and provide tax credits for qualified hybrid vehicles [FY2001 $0M; Total FY01-05 $2Bn] ...Tax credit for energy efficient equipment in new and existing homes or buildings. This credit will encourage the purchase of electric heat pump water heaters, natural gas heat pumps and fuel cells. The credit would apply to both residential and commercial equipment. The credit would be 20 percent of the cost of the investment, subject to a cap, for equipment purchased from 2001-2004. ...Extend the current tax credit for electric vehicles and fuel cell vehicles. Under current law, a 10 percent credit, up to $4,000, is provided for the cost of qualified electric vehicles and fuel cell vehicles. The credit begins to phase down in 2002 and phases out in 2005. The President's proposal would extend the tax credit at its $4,000 maximum level through 2006. ...INDUSTRY: 15-year recovery period for distributed power property. The development of distributed power technologies has made it possible to generate electricity locally at dispersed industrial, commercial, and residential locations. Such technologies can be  more energy efficient and generate fewer greenhouse gases than conventional generation methods. This proposal would simplify and rationalize the current depreciation system by assigning a single 15-year recovery period to distributed power property.

2/3/2000  Technology Plant Testing Fuel Cells - Associated Press/The Morning Call (Allentown PA)

A technology plant is testing fuel cells to determine if they can provide affordable, reliable energy without much pollution. ''It's going to change the way we live,'' said Dave Holmes, a researcher at Avista Laboratories in Spokane, Wash., the company that has developed the cell. He said it operates as an electrochemical power generator. It is being tested at Concurrent Technologies Corp. in Richland Township, Cambria County. The U.S. Department of Defense hired CTC to test the fuel-cell technology in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Energy. The Avista cell is fueled by natural or propane gas, and is intended for commercial and residential use. ''We're still at the tip of the iceberg in understanding fuel-cell technology,'' said George Blasiole, CTC marketing technologies director. ''We certainly view fuel cells as a viable source of energy.'' CTC officially opened Wednesday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

2/2/2000  Toyota Denies Planning to Share Computer Systems with GM, VW - Agence France Presse/BBC

Japan's Toyota Motor Corp. denied a report Wednesday it had agreed with General Motors Corp. and Volkswagen AG to standardise computer systems for design and development of vehicles and auto parts. ...The Yomiuri Shimbun had reported the top carmakers from Japan, the United States and Germany had agreed to link their computer systems for design and development from 2001 to "accelerate joint development." The daily said the accord would help the makers not only take the lead in automotive technological development but also cut design and development costs, in a move which could lead to a "tripolar alliance" in the future. ...Toyota was going ahead with joint projects with GM and Volkswagen in such areas as environmentally friendly technology. Toyota and GM, the world's top carmaker, have been engaged since last April in development of technologies for electric and hybrid cars, as well as hydrogen fuel cells.

2/1/2000  Lack of PGMs Substitute Could Push Up Prices - Reuters

FUEL CELL GROWTH COULD FURTHER INCREASE DEMAND: Platinum and palladium prices are also likely to draw more support from increasing use of fuel cells, which convert chemical energy directly into electricity using platinum group metals in the future. "Fuel cells are meant, eventually, to be able to power everything from cellular phones to automobiles and homes," Naqvi said. Shares in fuel cell related companies, including Johnson Matthey, jumped last week after Motorola Inc and Ford made positive comments on the technology and Microsoft chairman Bill Gates seemed to endorse it by buying five percent of a utility holding company with a fuel cell unit.

2/2000  Gas Companies Beginning To See Gold in Fuel Cells by Michael Kajawa - Allied Business Intelligence

Although overall gas consumption would increase per residence, the total energy costs per residence should decline by 15% - 30% when fuel cells provide the heat, hot water, and electricity for the residence. ...The successful introduction of mass-produced fuel cells starting in 2002-2003 will in turn encourage the expansion of the distribution grid. These prospective increases in gas consumption have not been lost on gas companies. GE MicroGen, the marketer and distributor of Plug Power fuel cells, has signed on NJR Energy Holdings Corp. (NJ) and Flint Energies (GA) to distribute fuel cells. DTE Energy and SoCalGas, major investors in Plug Power, will serve their own territories. NiSource has formed a subsidiary, EnergyUSA, to distribute residential fuel cells from the Institute of Gas Technology (IGT). Northwest Power Systems, with a majority ownership by IdaCorp, is building a hundred protoproduction fuel cells paid for by the Bonneville Power Administration. Black and Veatch, who has signed a partnership with Avista Labs, is investigating the building of planned communities that have fuel cells as an option for the power plant in homes. The first project discussed was in Texas, where 500 homes a year would be constructed. Northwest Power would be the company to supply the reformers for the fuel cells. The expanding relationship of Northwest Power with DeNora, which has recently firmed plans to build a manufacturing facility in New Jersey, suggests that the final contestants are yet to be decided in the mass produced residential fuel cell market. H-Power also has a New Jersey production facility.

1/31/2000  Fuel-Cell Stocks Catch Fire  - Again by Allan Dowd- Reuters

Shares of companies connected with the development of fuel cells took off Monday after another round of positive press reports and plans for a new stock offering by a major player in this new technology sector.   ...Although few fuel cells have actually jumped from the laboratory to the market, the biggest hurdles for the industry appear to involve "commercialization" rather than technology, said analyst Peter Terzakian of Goepel McDermid. "If you ask yourself what's going to accelerate the commercialization of fuel cells it's basically now more money and manpower," Terzakian said.

1/31/2000  [ Ballard ] Goodbye Battery, Hello Fuel Cell by Spencer Reiss - Salon.com

Today you can visit a little demo area at Ballard's suburban Vancouver research lab and flick on a slick little hydrogen generator the size of a shoebox, connected to a high-intensity light; all you hear is the cooling fan. There's also a portable TV/VCR combo and a nifty home backup generator that, as ideas at least, are pretty high on the coolness scale. And this month Ballard and Coleman Powermate, the Sunbeam subsidiary that makes generators and air compressors, announced that they're teaming up on 50 different prototypes of portable power products. But the real thing is 20 minutes away, at the Port Coquitlam municipal bus yard; coolness level: zero. Charlie the driver fires up -- if that's the right phrase -- one of the resident Ballard prototypes. It goes. It stops. It runs sleepy commuters into downtown Vancouver every morning. In other words, it's a bus, albeit one that sounds vaguely like a large refrigerator and has big blue letters reading ZERO EMISSIONS VEHICLE painted along the roof. It's electric, but there isn't a nasty, leaden, quick-draining-and-slow-recharging battery in sight.

1/31/2000  [ Ballard ] As Pure As Driven Snow? - Times of India/The Economist (UK)

Just over 100 years after the first motor car with a petrol engine was made by Karl Benz in Germany, the man who now runs the Mercedes car business, Jurgen Hubbert, says: "The fuel cell is the most promising option for the future, and we are determined to be the first to bring it to market." In practice, that means it will probably be possible to buy a fuel-cell car by 2004. DaimlerChrysler, the maker of Mercedes, and the Ford Motor Company were so impressed by the Ballard product that they bought roughly half the company and set up joint ventures to develop a whole engine and transmission system based around the Ballard core. Nearly every other car maker in the world subsequently scrambled to get on the bandwagon, using Ballard cells or, in some cases, furiously developing their own. Powering the Future: The Ballard Fuel Cell and the Race to Change the World by Tom Koppel tells the technical and human story of how the Ballard cell was born, thanks to the leadership of an idealistic former geologist Geoffrey Ballard. Bearer of both Canadian and American passports, he at one time ran a US government laboratory and also worked on alternative-energy projects before growing disillusioned with the bureaucratic world. He ended up in Vancouver leading a small team trying to develop lithium batteries to power electric cars while living off what his wife earned from running a pub. He and his associates eventually won a contract to develop proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEM) for the Canadian military. Using bits of plastic and sheets of graphite to make their fuel-cell stacks, they steadily increased the power output of the PEM cells. At the same time they cut costs by reducing the amount of expensive platinum needed in the electro-chemical process. The Ballard PEM cell made the electric motor car a real possibility.

1/31/2000  Pennsylvania DEP Awards Nearly $1.2 Million in Alternative-Fuel Grants - Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection/PRNewswire

Grants have been awarded to... Penn State University Gate Center for Advanced Energy Storage, $500,000, to design, build and demonstrate direct-methanol fuel-cell stacks as a range extender for battery-powered trucks and buses... The grant program was established to help improve Pennsylvania's air quality and reduce consumption of imported oil through the use of alternative fuels. These include compressed and liquefied natural gas, liquid petroleum gas (LPG), the alcohol fuels (methanol and ethanol), hydrogen, hythane, electricity, biomass, coal and soybean fuels.  

1/30/2000  Peterson Investigating High Oil Prices - Centre Daily Times (State College PA)

"I would hope that Secretary Richardson and the (Clinton) Administration would look at this recent and sudden increase in oil prices as a wake-up call for the U.S. to have a policy which encourages less dependence upon foreign oil," Peterson said in the release. "At this stage, we are completely at the mercy of OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries), and the prices they set for oil, which are sometimes rather arbitrary." Peterson said he is uncomfortable with the U.S. being dependent upon OPEC's member nations, which are often politically unstable. ...Peterson also questioned what he called a lack of support for the nation's Strategic Petroleum Re-serves. Peterson noted that the SPR has only enough oil to supply U.S. demand for about 58 days in the event of an energy crisis. ...Peterson also announced Sat-urday that he had helped facilitate a hydrogen research project among Penn State, the U.S. Department of Energy and a pair of private sector research and development companies.

1/29/2000 [ DCH Technology] Congressman Peterson Facilitates Hydrogen Research Project at Penn State - Congressman Peterson's Office

Washington—Congressman John Peterson today announced that he has facilitated a hydrogen research project agreement between Penn State, the Department of Energy and two private sector research and development companies.   Peterson believes the three-year, $1.3 million project could lead to a more practical usage of hydrogen in industry and manufacturing.  Peterson was recently honored by the National Hydrogen Association for his support of development of hydrogen as an alternative energy source. "I see enormous potential for hydrogen as future source of clean, affordable energy for nearly every aspect of our lives. But we must boost our efforts toward research and development to make it a reality. I am proud and pleased that Penn State has the facilities and expertise to carry out this project," said Peterson. More specifically, Peterson facilitated a partnership, led by Pennsylvania State University, Sandia National Laboratories (Albuquerque, NM and Livermore, CA), DCH Technology (based in Valencia, CA) and Air Products and Chemicals, Inc of Allentown PA. The project will be funded by the Department of Energy's Office of Industrial Technologies as one of only four research projects selected during the most recent competition.  Continued funding for the second and third year of the project depends on successful completion of year one milestones and DoE approval. The goal of the project is to develop an alternative, reliable, low-cost easily fielded   sensing technology for on-line, real-time measurements that are applicable to multiple manufacturing processes.  Molecular hydrogen is a combustible gas that is both produced and consumed in great quantities by the chemical, petroleum, and glass industries.  Additional applications of hydrogen include its use as a fuel in combustion engines and rockets, and emerging fuel cell technologies.  Monitoring hydrogen levels at various points in the manufacturing process is essential for both product quality control and safety. Penn State's involvement in the project will be to produce prototype sensors at PSU's Nanofabrication clean-room facility located in Penn State's Research Park.  The facility is supported by the National Science Foundation and by Governor Ridge's newly-established Pennsylvania Technology Investment Authority (PTIA). Peterson commended Penn State's Dr. Robert McGrath, Associate Vice President for Research, for leading the research team that developed the proposal submitted to the Department of Energy. "This project has exciting implications and I will continue to offer it my full support," said Peterson.

1/27/2000  Unique Mobility Gets Order For Added 50 Fuel Cell Motors by Saldene Lyte - Dow Jones

Unique Mobility Inc. (UQM) Thursday said it received an order from a tier-one automotive supplier for an additional fifty fuel cell compressor drive motors.

1/27/2000  KeySpan Embarks on Nation's Most Aggressive Residential Fuel Cell Testing Program - Keyspan Energy/PRNewswire

KeySpan Technologies Inc., a subsidiary of KeySpan Energy, has signed an agreement with GE MicroGen, a subsidiary of GE Power Systems, to purchase and test 30 residential natural-gas-powered fuel cells, manufactured by Plug Power, at selected locations in New York City and Long Island. ..."We in the environmental community believe that fuel cells can play a major role in power generation in the future," said Ashok Gupta, Senior Energy Economist with the Natural Resources Defense Council. "KeySpan's involvement with residential fuel cells is a big step toward the market viability of this clean technology." KeySpan Energy is the parent company of Brooklyn Union, which has been actively involved in fuel cell development for more than 30 years. In 1992 the Company installed a 200-kW ONSI PC25 fuel cell at St. Vincent's Medical Center that is providing the hospital with electricity and hot water. In 1996 the Company engineered and supervised the installation of two PC25s at Sun Chemical Corporation. Both installations are in the New York City borough of Staten Island.

1/27/2000  California Seeks Cleaner Buses - Austin American Statesman (Texas)

California is about to give its transit systems a choice: Replace pollution-producing diesel buses with cleaner natural gas ones now or lead the way nationally in introducing, by 2003, hydrogen-powered buses that emit no exhaust at all. The state Air Resources Board is likely to approve the plan today. Some transit operators back the plan, but critics say it won't do enough to discourage the use of diesel.

1/27/2000  [ Ballard] GPU To Make Final $4M Milestone Payment To Ballard Soon by In Kyung Kim - Dow Jones

GPU and Ballard Power Systems Inc. (BLDP) formed Ballard Generation Systems in December 1996 and have been working to develop and ultimately commercialize a range of products utilizing fuel cells for use in homes and businesses. ...Ballard Generation Systems will deliver and test products using fuel cells, which range from a 250-kilowatt unit for commercial buildings to a 1-10-kilowatt unit for homes, during the next few years. GPU said a 250-kilowatt Ballard Generation Systems fuel cell power plant is now operating at the Crane Naval Air Station in Indiana and others will be installed soon in Europe and Japan. The products use Ballard Power Systems' proton exchange membrane fuel cell technology, which it licensed exclusively to Ballard Generation Systems.

1/27/2000 [ Ballard] How Long Will the Latest Boom Last? by Charles Frank - Calgary Herald (Canada)

While much has been made of Petro-Canada's extensive and expensive pursuit of East Coast offshore oil and gas, not nearly as much has been said about the company's joint venture with Vancouver's Ballard Power. Ballard is one of the front runners in the race to develop the hydrogen fuel cells that are widely expected to be a primary power source for cars and trucks in the not-too-distant future.

1/26/2000  California Seeks Emissions Reduction by Leon D. Keith - Associated Press

Under the plan, transit systems could choose to buy natural-gas buses as 85 percent of their purchases starting immediately. Systems that choose to keep buying diesel buses must purchase a demonstration fleet in 2003 of three buses that use hydrogen-powered fuel cells that produce no emissions. Fuel-cell buses are not yet commercially available, but some experimental models have been made.

1/25/2000 [ DCH Technology] Aerospace Technology Boosts Business by Roberta G. Wax - Los Angeles Times

DCH Technology and other fuel-cell companies got another boost last week after disclosures that Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates had taken a 5.01% stake in Avista Corp., which develops fuel cell technology. ...Why all the fuss about hydrogen? Many believe hydrogen fuel cells will be the energy source of the future, providing an environmentally friendly power supply for everything from cars and trucks to home appliances. ...Today, DCH has a larger office and a plant in Valencia and two facilities in Wisconsin. The company employs about 30 full-time workers, plus another 10 or so consultants, with most of the employees coming from aerospace.

1/24/2000  Global to Open Fuel Cell Plant: Will Build in Calgary: 'Baby Ballard' Hopes to be in Production Next Fall - Financial Post (Canada)/Financial Times (UK)

Global, known as the "baby Ballard," is closing a deal on a 24,000-square-foot facility in Calgary and expects to have commercial production of its fuel cells under way this fall. Like other fuel cell developers, the Calgary-based company has been thrown a vote of confidence by investors following a flurry of recent announcements by Ballard Power Systems Inc. ...Jim Perry, Global's president and chief executive, said initially his company will produce fuel cells for its partner, auto parts maker Delphi Automotive Systems Inc., as well as prototypes for power generation equipment used in remote locations -- the first market it wants to pursue. Global is already the largest supplier of remote thermoelectric power. Within a year, the company hopes to be manufacturing up to 10 megawatts of production a year, or about 5,000 systems. "Right now I've got (people with) PhDs making (the cells) by hand. We know that's not economic," Mr. Perry said of his plans to get the plant operating as quickly as possible. ...Because Global's technology is different, and the venture so much smaller, it will make it easier to launch production sooner, Mr. Perry said. Christine Farkas, an analyst at Merrill Lynch & Co. in New York, said Ballard's lead in the march towards clean power sources doesn't preclude others from making inroads in a number of markets. "The overall sentiment (toward the industry) is very positive and investors are not necessarily differentiating between companies and technologies right now," she said.

1/21/2000  Fuel Cell Fever Sends Normally Staid Utilities Soaring by Nigel Hunt - Reuters

News that Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates had taken a 5 percent stake in Spokane, Wash.-based utility holding company Avista Corp. helped to spark even more investor interest in an already hot sector. Many saw his investment as linked to Avistas fuel cell unit, Avista Labs. ``An endorsement from Bill Gates certainly doesn't hurt,'' said analyst Eric Prouty of FAC/Equities, a division of First Albany Corp. ``This (fuel cells) could be the next big potential sector along with the Internet and biotech. These companies are addressing a huge market,'' he said, noting the global power market was one of the world's largest. ...With stocks of ``pure plays'' such as Plug Power and Canada's Ballard Power Systems now highly priced, analysts said some investors were looking to invest in other companies which are developing products in the sector.

1/21/2000  Like MAN and BMW, Now Other Manufacturers Are Banking on Hydrogen And Filling Up at Munich Airport; Hydrogen Is Catching On - BMW Group/PRNewswire

The hydrogen filling station at Munich's airport is pretty busy these days. Following BMW and MAN to the pumps, Mercedes A-class electric car is filling up with the fuel which car developers believe has a great future. The magic fluid concerned is hydrogen: practically the only byproduct of combustion of this fuel is water. In future electric cars could be getting their power from a fuel-cell battery containing hydrogen. Since May 1999, CleanEnergy 7-series BMW vehicles have been refilling at the fuelling robot at the first ever liquid hydrogen filling station, sited at Munich airport. Since then these shuttle vehicles have covered more than 10,000 kilometres carrying 500 VIPs, including five presidents and numerous ministers, into and around the airport. Only just recently, the Minister of Transport of Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, had himself chauffeured in the CleanEnergy car, and showed intense interest in the vehicle. ...In the long term, the goal of the BMW energy strategy is that liquid hydrogen should take the place of today's fuels.

1/21/2000  Gates' Purchase Sparks Avista Rally by Bert Caldwell - Spokane.net

Sam Brothwell of Merrill Lynch ignited last week's rally in Avista. He said Thursday that Gates was likely attracted by two of the subsidiaries he focused on in his report: Avista Advantage and Avista Labs. ...And fuel cell technology like that under development at Avista Labs is looked on very favorably by investors, Brothwell added.

1/21/2000  World Bank Launches First Market-Based Carbon Fund by April C. Murelio- Power Online

To date, four governments and nine companies have approved participation in the PCF, bringing the total of committed contributions to US$85 million. The fund is capped at US$150 million, and plans to start operations in April 2000. As the manager of the PCF, the World Bank acts as a broker, negotiating a price for the emissions reductions that is reasonable for both buyers and sellers. “There are many opportunities to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases in developing countries at a cost of between $5 and $15 dollars for a ton of carbon,” said Ken Newcombe, the World Bank’s PCF manager. “This compares with a marginal abatement cost of upwards of $50 for a ton of carbon in advanced economies. It is the difference in cost to industrialized and developing countries of reducing greenhouse gas emissions that provides the opportunity for mutually beneficial trading relationships.” Newcombe said the PCF plans to strive for emissions reduction prices at about $20 for a ton of carbon ($5 for a ton of CO2), thus covering the regulatory and market risks to contributors while providing adequate incentives to project sponsors and their governments in developing countries. Governments set to participate in the PCF are Finland, The Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden. Private sector participants include the electric power companies of Tokyo, Chubu, Chugoku, Kyushu, Shikoku, and Tohoku, the trading houses Mitsubishi and Mitsui, Electrabel of Belgium. Companies currently discussing participation include Statoil and NorskHydro of Norway, Gaz de France of France, Environment Banc and Exchange LLC (EBX) of the United States, and SK Power of Denmark.

1/20/2000  Avista Shares Soar As Bill Gates Takes 5 Pct Stake - Reuters

Analysts also cited buying related to Avista's investment in fuel cell technology, which uses hydrogen-based fuels to generate power electrochemically without combustion, producing only heat and water as byproducts. "They have a fuel cell like Plug Power (PLUG) and that stock has risen from $15 to $87," analyst Ed Tirello of Deutsche Banc Alex Brown said.  ..."He (Gates) is in it for the other stuff (the fuel cell technology)," he said.

1/20/2000  Bill Gates Holds a Stake in Avista - Reuters

Gates, the world's richest man, disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that he holds 1,787,500 common shares in Avista. The filing was made by him and his investment vehicle, Cascade Investment LLC. It did not disclose the price at which the shares were bought.  ...Tom Matthews, Avista's chairman and chief executive, said his company had been in discussions for the last several months with Michael Larson, who manages Cascade, but that he was unaware that Larson was accumulating a position. "People are beginning to realize that in our three technology subsidiaries we have some fantastic growth opportunities ...," Matthews said.