Hydrogen News: July & August 2000 2001
January/February March/April2000 January/February March/April May/June
July/ August September/October November/December1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 1989 1988 1987 1986 1985 1984 1983 1982 1981 1980 1979 1978 1977 1976 1975 1974 1973 1972 1971 1970 1969 1968 1967 1966 1965 1964 1963 1962 1961 1937
Red Herring Magazine's July Energy Special8/30/2000 Geoffrey Ballard Bounces Back with New Tech Dream: General Hydrogen: Plans to Turn Homes into Fuel Cell Generating Stations by Thomas Hirschmann - Financial Post (Canada)
Geoffrey Ballard, founder of Ballard Power Systems Inc., has emerged from retirement with a technology that aims to turn the average home into a generating station for fuel cell vehicles. General Hydrogen, a privately held company chaired by Mr. Ballard, is developing an onboard system that manufacturers its own hydrogen fuel by zapping water with electricity while the vehicle is parked in the garage or driveway. ...Mr. Ballard founded Ballard Power in 1979, but retired from the company in April, 1998. General Hydrogen is not affiliated with Ballard Power, which makes fuel cells for vehicles and stationary power stations. ...Goepel McDermid Inc. is organizing financing for General Hydrogen, sources said. The sources also said the privately held company, still in its start-up stages, is without revenue, and a long way away from an initial public offering. Michael Routtenberg, president and chief executive, met with officials from General Motors last Thursday in Detroit to discuss possible partnerships.
8/29/2000 Avista Labs Gets Second Patent by Bert Caldwell - Spokane.net
The latest patent covers 73 claims for the electronic control system. That system rehydrates the proton-exchange membranes that are the foundation of a process that generates electricity from fuels such as hydrogen without using combustion. ...Avista Labs is testing a design that features several cartridges, each with its own membrane, in subracks that allow users to replace one without shutting down the whole unit. In March, the company was awarded a patent for the modular architecture. ...Kim Zentz, president of the Avista Corp. subsidiary, said the technology covered by the new patent could be adopted by developers of nonmodular fuel cells, but not as effectively. ...Meanwhile, Zentz said, Avista Labs and Chicago-based UOP LLC are working on a converter that will allow the fuel cells to work off natural gas and other fuels.
8/29/2000 Climate Change Has World Skating on Thin Ice by Lester Brown - Worldwatch Institute
If any explorers had been hiking to the North Pole this summer, they would have had to swim the last few miles. The discovery of open water at the Pole by an ice-breaker cruise ship in mid August surprised many in the scientific community. This finding, combined with two recent studies, provides not only more evidence that the Earth's ice cover is melting, but that it is melting at an accelerating rate. A study by two Norwegian scientists projects that within 50 years, the Arctic Ocean could be ice-free during the summer. The other, a study by a team of four U.S. scientists, reports that the vast Greenland ice sheet is melting. more8/28/2000 Ford and BP Look to the Future by Tim Burt - Financial Times (UK)
Tough new controls on CO2 emissions in western Europe and North America is forcing carmakers and fuel providers to consider alternative power sources. Several leading carmakers have already formed limited joint ventures with oil companies. General Motors and Exxon Mobil are developing a fuel cell technology that could extract hydrogen from regular gasoline, and DaimlerChrysler and Royal Dutch/Shell are engaged in a similar project. ...Officials stressed the collaboration would not impact on Ford's separate partnership with DaimlerChrysler and Ballard Power Systems, the Canadian fuel cell company, to develop a fuel cell production car.
8/28/2000 Boeing Scores First Success for Delta 3 by Jim Banke - Space.com
Boeing already has 18 firm satellite launch contracts for the Delta 3, but today's successful launch means the company is likely to have better luck attracting new business, especially from those companies that might have been undecided about whether to trust the Delta 3. ...Launch was briefly delayed for five minutes while the launch team waited for a hydrogen pump in the upper stage to cool down to the correct temperature.
8/27/2000 Merrill to Launch £200m Green Energy Fund by Paul Farrow - Sunday Telegraph
Merrill Lynch Asset Management is launching the first investment trust to invest in alternative energy and energy technology companies. The global trust, called New Energy Technology, is looking to raise £200m and will be launched early next month. The new trust will invest in stocks embracing fuel cell technology - which is expected ultimately to replace the internal combustion engine - and companies focusing on renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power. MLAM, formerly Mercury Asset Management, believes that environmental pressure, industry deregulation and advances in technology will boost the energy sector which has been unpopular with investors recently. It says these factors have already led to a surge in investment in alternative energy by venture capitalists as well as the major oil, utility and automotive companies.
8/25/2000 New COO Puts Plug Power on a Faster Track by Kenneth Arron - Times Union (NY)
Greg Silvestri to shift fuel-cell maker's focus to the market. ...The push is important for a company whose founding president and chief executive officer, Gary Mittleman, resigned abruptly on Wednesday, leaving the 500-worker company in Silvestri's hands for the time being. And it is important for a company whose rosy future became clouded recently when key prototypes and rollout dates were pushed back. Silvestri was named chief operating officer Wednesday, and a search is on for Mittleman's replacement. ...Mittleman said he left Plug because he is happier on the R&D side. ...And Mittleman's sudden departure came on the heels of a shake-up just two months ago, in which Plug's research-and-development arm was split in two, its vice president of technology and product development left for Mechanical Technology Inc. (which has invested in Plug), and a new vice president and chief marketing officer arrived.8/24/2000 Micro Fuels Cells Promise 10 Times the Punch of Batteries by Stephanie Izarek - Fox News
These cells are a smaller variation of the much-touted low-pollution devices promised for the next generation of automobiles. With fuel cells, the chemicals are stored outside the device and fed in as needed, which means recharging is much faster and simpler. And fuel cells can pump out over 10 times the power of an equivalent-sized chemical battery. A prototype of the micro fuel cell is under development at Case Western Reserve University. Using high-tech micro-fabrication technology (similar to that used in creating silicon chips), researchers have shrunk the fuel cell down to five cubic centimeters, no bigger than a pencil eraser. Robert Savinell, associate dean at Case's engineering school, explains that lithium ion cells, the most efficient batteries common today, can put out about 40 watts for 2.5 hours. That's close to the limit for this technology. But the water/ethanol fuel cells now in development in Savinell's labs may last over 10 times longer.
8/24/2000 Hybrids of the Future Might Use Fuel Cell by Charles J. Murray - EE Times
...the number of hybrids on the road 20 years from now will pale in comparison to the number of vehicles powered exclusively by internal combustion engines, which will still claim more than 80 percent of the market, the study said. The statistics were presented here this week (Aug. 21-23) at the International Future Transportation Technology Conference, sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineers. ...Many engineers at the conference said they expect gasoline-burning hybrids to give way eventually to fuel cell hybrids. "If you're looking out at the end of the rainbow, you're going to see a hybrid that uses a fuel cell to produce its electricity," said conference chairman William Guentzler of San Diego State University. "Fuel cells are cleaner and quieter than internal combustion engines." Fuel cell hybrids would burn hydrogen or would use a reformer to extract hydrogen from conventional fuels, such as gasoline. During operation, the fuel cells would create electricity from the hydrogen, store it in a battery pack and use the current from the battery to turn an inverter motor, which would drive the wheels. The Energy Information Administration study, however, predicts that fuel cells will only garner a sliver of the market — far less than 1 percent — by 2020. The primary reasons cited were high costs and the lack of existing infrastructure for hydrogen fuels.
8/24/2000 Plug's CEO Resigns by Kenneth Arron - Times Union (NY)
Plug Power Inc.'s boss resigned abruptly Wednesday, leaving the high-flying startup after three years at the helm. Reached at his home, Gary Mittleman, the fuel-cell company's former president and chief executive officer, said Plug's transformation from a research-and-development company to one that needs to put products on the market led to his exit. "My real strengths have always been in starting and developing new ventures,'' he said. "That's what I love; that's what I want to do.'' Asked why the move was so sudden, though, Mittleman said, "I don't really know how to answer that.'' ...Mittleman leaves three weeks after releasing bruising quarterly results, in which Plug not only pushed back a release date for its home-powering fuel cells but also posted a higher-than-expected loss of $18 million.
8/23/2000 [
Stuart Energy] Li Ka-shing Buys Stake in Toronto Fuel Company by Thomas Watson - Financial Post/National Post (Canada)
TORONTO - Cheung Kong Infrastructure, the infrastructure arm of billionaire Li Ka-shing's Cheung Kong Holdings Ltd., has bought an 18% stake in Stuart Energy Systems Corp., a Toronto-based developer of hydrogen fuel technology and supply systems in the process of filing for an initial public offering expected to be underwritten by CIBC World Markets Inc. Already a 15.4% shareholder, CKI has paid a total of $16-million for its stake in the 50-year-old fuel company in recent months, a Stuart Energy spokesperson said yesterday. The two companies have also announced a new joint venture, Stuart CKI Corp., which will allow them to distribute Stuart Energy's products in the Australasian region and build the infrastructure to support "a next generation of vehicles powered by hydrogen." Stuart Energy will control 60% of the new venture.
8/23/2000 CKI Takes 18 Pct Stake in
CKI also formed a 40:60 joint venture with Stuart Energy which has exclusive rights to use Stuart's technology and products in the Asia Pacific region. "The growth prospects for hydrogen-based fuel in Asia Pacific are very exciting. As the governments in the region become more and more concerned about environmental protection issues, and citizens become increasingly aware of environmental problems, a thriving market for environmentally friendly products is bound to emerge," said Barrie Cook, CKI executive director. Stuart Energy will start an IPO roadshow at the end of this month and will be introduced in Hong Kong early next month, CKI said.
8/23/2000 Technology Council to Battle Pollution - Austin American-Statesman/AP
HOUSTON -- The state's top environmental official said Tuesday that it "doesn't take a rocket scientist" to see that Houston has a smog problem, but he and others suggested it might take a few scientists to reduce it. Led by Lt. Gov. Rick Perry, state officials announced the formation of a council that will help regulators and lawmakers pursue technologies that might reduce smog-causing ozone in Houston and other Texas cities. ...Perry cited advances in hydrogen fuel cells, such as those that propel spacecraft, as one way transportation could someday become pollution-free.
8/23/2000 Mechanical Failure, Design Problems Blamed in Explosion by Mark Fagan - Lawrence Journal-World (KS)
Dick Lind, plant manager, said Tuesday that a combination of mechanical failure and design problems — "not operator error" — led to the July 14 blast, which rattled homes for miles. The plant was expected to resume production this week, after replacement parts are installed and testing is completed. Methane and hydrogen gas was flowing through pipes in the ammonia plant , Lind said, when the blast occurred at Farmland's complex on 500 acres just southeast of Lawrence. "Gas in the system was going through a line faster than the speed of sound," Lind said. "It caused like a sonic boom, which caused a vibration, and it found the weakest link in the system and it (the pipe) broke. "It couldn't handle the flow of gas in the situation that occurred." A few seconds after the 2-inch pipe burst, Lind said, the escaping hydrogen gas exploded into flame. No one was injured in the accident.
8/22/2000 Stan and Iris Ovshinsky Honored With the American Chemical Society's Heroes of Chemistry 2000 Award - Energy Conversion Devices/PRNewswire
Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. (ECD) (Nasdaq: ENER) is pleased to announce that Stanford R. Ovshinsky, President and CEO of ECD, and Dr. Iris M. Ovshinsky, Vice President of ECD, were honored by the world's largest scientific society, the American Chemical Society, for having made "significant and lasting contributions to global human welfare" with their "invention of environmentally sustainable energy generation and energy storage applications." More specifically, the Ovshinskys are being recognized for 40 years of energy innovations, including development of better batteries for electric cars, roof shingles that convert sunlight to electricity and hydrogen-fuel technology. As a team, Stan and Iris Ovshinsky were among other "heroes" representing 10 international corporations who were honored on August 20 at the 220th American Chemical Society National Meeting in Washington, D.C.
8/21/2000 Safety Down Under by Admiral J.G. Nadkarni (retd) - Rediff (India)
Submarines suffer from a number of disadvantages when at sea. To start with, their visibility and detection capability is vastly reduced once they dive, especially below periscope level. On diving, the conventional submarines are propelled by electric motors which have to be charged periodically. For this, the submarine has to run its diesel engines either on the surface or just below surface, where it can use the snort mast. Apart from the vulnerability of the submarine in war during this period, charging of batteries gives rise to another problem. A large amount of hydrogen gas is released during this process and unless strict safety precautions are taken, this volatile gas can be the cause of internal explosions. In fact a large number of accidents to submarines have taken place due to negligence when dealing with hydrogen.
8/20/2000 Innogy Plans Chemical Power Plant by Mary Fagan - Sunday Telegraph (UK)
Analysts at Credit Suisse First Boston, which is handling the demerger of Innogy from International Power, say that the Regenesys fuel cell technology developed by National Power, will be the "key value story" for Innogy. ...Innogy refused to comment on the project but the company is known to have applied to the National Grid to have the new plant connected to the nation's electricity transmission system. Analysts say that Innogy plans to build a similar plant in North America.
[see also 12/1/1999 National Power and Dupont Collaborate on Fuel Cell Technology - National Power
and 11/2/1999 Revolutionary Energy Storage System Plant Set for Construction - AGRA Birwelco/CNW]8/20/2000 Fuel Cell Technology - Letter by Jason Mark, Union of Concerned Scientists - Los Angeles Times (California)
Exxon Mobil and General Motors' attempt to portray gasoline fuel cells as a win for the environment and consumers is a case of corporate spin. While oil company executives may win, the environment and public health will lose. There is no reason to cram yesterday's fuel into tomorrow's technology. The excitement about fuel cells lies in their ability to provide a zero-emission future; burdening them with gasoline's pollution undermines this promise. And hydrogen and methanol fuel cells are closer to commercial production than gasoline ones. Fuel cells that run on clean fuels put us in the fast lane to ending smoggy skies and oil dependence. Why take a detour through gasoline?
8/18/2000 GM and Opel Boast World's Most Advanced 'Road-Going' Fuel-Cell Vehicle by Bob Krantz - Ward's Automotive World
The technology is stowed away in a single Opel Zafira MPV — the 200-cell "stack" measures a mere 23.2x11x19.7 ins. (59x27x50 cm). The Zafira application builds on previous generations of GM fuel-cell vehicles and carries the moniker HydroGen1. It is a full 5-seat, A-class-sized compact van, propelled by a 75-hp (55kW) three-phase electric motor that is powered by a fuel cell that consumes hydrogen. ...repeated tests of the 200-cell, proton exchange membrane (PEM) series have the vehicle turning over and operating at an incredible -40° F (-40° C). Ambient cold is the enemy of fuel cells, because their process for converting hydrogen to electricity is not efficient until reaching an operating temperature something akin to room temperature.Aside from the new ability to start relatively quickly in chilly temperatures, the fuel-cell stack of Hydro-Gen1 is improved as well. It develops 80 kW at constant load or 130 kW for brief peaks when aided by supplementary battery power. ...The glass-fiber cryogenic tank on HydroGen1 stores hydrogen in liquid form at -423.4°F (-253°C) and has an 11 lb. (5 kg) liquid hydrogen capacity and a volume of approximately 19.8 gallons (75 L). GM says the specially made tank has the same insulating effect as a 29.5-ft. (9-m) thick layer of polystyrene. Storage also requires a vast assortment of valves and mounting hardware — as well as a heat exchanger — and weighs in at 209 lbs. (95 kg). The size and capacity of the complete storage system give HydroGen1 an operating range of 248.5 miles (400 km).
8/16/2000 Fuel Cells: Small-Cap Picks from Ken Ozbek of ABI by Brian Robinson - Stockhouse Financial News (Canada)
A number of smaller-cap fuel cell companies stand to make significant gains in the niche markets they operate in, including Manhattan Scientifics [MHTX] of New York and Valencia, California-based DCH Technology [DCH]. In an interview with StockHouse, Ken Ozbek, senior analyst with Allied Business Intelligence of Oyster Bay, NY highlighted the importance of the emerging portable fuel cell market: "By 2002 we're going to have portable fuel cells coming into the marketplace with tens of thousands of units. Wireless handsets, laptops and personal digital assistants's (PDA) are where we see the real growth in portable fuel cells."
8/16/2000 Early Portable Fuel Cell Opportunities in Fast Growing Wireless Applications, Predicts Allied Business Intelligence - ABI/PRNewswire
Portable fuel cells will enter the market with 50,000 units shipped in 2002. That number will surge to 200 million units annually only five years later in 2007. ...According to a recently released report from Allied Business Intelligence (ABI), "Portable Fuel Cell Markets -- Global Portable Fuel Cell Opportunities In Portable Applications With An Intense Focus On Wireless Applications," wireless handsets are the initial market for the first wave of portable fuel cells, which are miniaturized, replenishable energy devices. ..."Portable fuel cells will initially enter the market in large quantities to serve the high-growth wireless handset sector in the US. Japan and Europe will catch up and should take the lead by the second half of this decade," asserts Ozbek. Portable fuel cells are being built to improve on the poor performance of rechargeable batteries by quadrupling the run time before refueling is necessary.
8/16/2000 Oil Price Hits 10-Year High on Fears of Looming US Shortage by Phillip Thornton - The Independent (UK)
The price of crude oil surged to its highest level for 10 years yesterday on mounting fears of a severe shortage of fuel in the US, the world's largest consumer. The price of Brent crude hit $32.22, the highest level since November 1990 when the Gulf War sent prices spiralling. ...The buying frenzy was further fuelled by Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, who said Opec, the producers' cartel, would stick to tight rules on supply quotas. Opec has managed to drive prices up from below $10 a barrel in December 1998 to more than $30 by sticking to an agreement to cut back on production. ...Charles Dumas, director of Lombard Street Research International, said this was the season when the US replenished its stocks ahead of the winter. "It is open to question whether they can be restored adequately in the next 12 months," he said. A continuing rise in oil prices will ring alarms bells in the central banks of the US, Europe and the UK.
8/15/2000 Reactor-Based Energy System to Manufacture Hydrogen Fuel - E4Engineering
“The basic concept is to use 'clean' nuclear energy as the heat source for manufacturing hydrogen, a clean chemical fuel that burns without releasing carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming,” said Dave Wade, director of Argonne's Reactor Analysis Division. 'In contrast to current greenhouse-gas-intensive hydrogen-production technologies,” he said, “no greenhouse gases will be released at any point in the system's entire energy cycle, since it is based on a nuclear reactor.' ...The reactor will be “passively safe,” which means it will shut down automatically if it starts to overheat. “The reactor core will be made of materials that expand enough when overheated that the fuel elements in the core move apart, allowing neutrons to escape and stopping the chain reaction,” Wade said. This safety capability was demonstrated in 1986 at the Experimental Breeder Reactor II (EBR-II), a research reactor that Argonne operated in southeastern Idaho until it was shut down in 1994. The reactor core, he said, will sit in a pool of molten lead or tin with an enormous capacity to absorb heat before boiling. Natural convection currents in the pool cause the liquid to flow through the core, cooling it. This simplifies the reactor design and makes it less expensive by eliminating the need for pumps.
8/15/2000 Stalled Fuel Cell IPOs Leave Upside by Hal Plotkin - CNBC
"H Power is selling systems and taking orders," says Michael Kujawa, director of energy research at Allied Business Intelligence in Oyster Bay, N.Y. "I’m really surprised H Power didn’t do better. They have a deal with a major [energy] co-op serving one-third of the consumers in the U.S. ...In 10 years, fuel cells are going to be everywhere you use power," Kujawa says. "They’re going to be in your car, in your cell phones, in your computers, in your house, in your walkman, absolutely everywhere you plug something in. It’s a huge, important trend." ..."We have the general impression that fuel cells are going to be cost competitive and environmentally competitive," says Maurice Schoenwald, founder and co-manager of the $45 million New York-based New Alternatives fund, which focuses on socially responsible investment opportunities. ...The fund bought
8/15/2000 Toyota May Not Have Access to GM-Exxon Mobil Fuel Cell by Desmond Hutton - Detroit Free Press
Toyota Motor Corp. said a processor developed by General Motors Corp. and Exxon Mobil Corp. that extracts hydrogen from gasoline for use in fuel cells may not be covered by a technology alliance between the carmakers. ..."What's key for car companies is to establish a de facto standard" for fuel cells, said Enda Clarke, an auto analyst at ABN Amro Securities (Japan) Ltd. "GM will have to get together with another big car company if not Toyota to achieve those economies of scale." The GM-Toyota alliance faces competition from the California Fuel Cell Partnership, which includes Ford Motor Co., DaimlerChrysler, Honda Motor Co., Volkswagen, Nissan Motor Co. and Hyundai Motor Co., as well as oil companies Atlantic Richfield Co., Shell Oil Co. and Texaco Inc., and fuel-cell maker
8/15/2000 Russian Nuclear Sub Expert Fears "Kursk" Overheating - ITAR/TASS/BBC (Russia, UK)
"A hot reactor poses the major threat to the crew. The temperature can rise up to 80 degrees centigrade in the stern and bar the crew from reaching an escape hatch there", Kudrin said. He explained that the submarine has the necessary deep water diving suits and individual air tanks which allow the crew to surface from a depth of 120 m. "The Kursk lies at a depth of 108 m. If the crew have not done that yet, then something serious impedes them," Kudrin said. "Chances to rescue the crew are small," he added. Kudrin believes a gas explosion could have occurred in the first and second sections of the submarine where a reserve electricity-generating source excretes hydrogen. The version is supported by the hydraulic shock registered by acoustic stations. "The character of the shock allows to conclude that such an explosion took place," Kudrin said.
8/14/2000 Bankers Bracing for Fuel Cell Boom by Vanessa VanderZanden - Corporate Financing Week
Bankers are bracing for a wave of fuel cell companies, which are currently in the final stages of researching and developing more efficient ways of producing energy, to hit the capital markets. Many such companies will commercialize in the next year, and then will need large capital injections to fuel growth. “It’s a hot area,” said one banker. “It’s brand new in the last year. So far there’s no leader in terms of an investment bank in the industry. A lot of banks are chasing the business,” the banker said. Fuel cells are expected to be used in everything from automobiles to household electricity. ...The banker said most companies issuing IPOs in the coming months will raise amounts within that range. Bankers decline to name potential companies planning deals. “Everybody that wants to sell these products will have to mass produce them which will be a capital intensive project,” said Paul Freemont, electricity analyst at Jefferies & Co. Most companies will have products out and running strong by 2004 and 2005, Freemont said.
8/12/2000 GM, ExxonMobil Develop Fuel Cells by David Kelly - USA Today
''This technology is a bridge between today's conventional gasoline-powered vehicles and where we believe we are eventually headed, which is hydrogen-powered vehicles that will be fueled by hydrogen refilling stations,'' says Larry Burns, vice president of research and development at GM.
8/12/2000 Volkswagen Intent on Trapping Soot Particles Generated by Diesel Engines by Michael Harvey - Financial Times (UK)
King of the three-litre cars by virtue of being the first is the Volkswagen Lupo 3L TDI. It is described by Volkswagen as "officially the most fuel-efficient and least polluting of all the world's petrol and diesel-engined cars", a claim it can make without leaving too much space for small print. A Lupo 3L TDI has just circumnavigated the planet in 80 days. ...In fact, the record-breaking Lupo used just 792 litres of diesel for its journey of 33,333km which ended last weekend. ...And that works out at 118mpg. ...Talk to any Volkswagen senior engineer about the comparative potential for petrol versus diesel engines and he will equivocate. ...Ask the same engineers hypothetically which fuel will power the last ever internal combustion engine they design before switching to hydrogen-powered fuel cells or whatever else the future holds for the motoring public and the unofficial answer is unequivocal - diesel. ...But what really sells diesels, in Germany especially, are the environmental benefits. In every area - and especially when it comes to the production of carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas which is certain to become the subject of ever more anguished political debate over the next decade - modern diesel engines outperform modern petrol engines. In every area that is, except one. Diesel engines produce particulates, tiny particles of soot. Old and badly serviced ones produce more than modern ones, but they still all produce soot.
8/11/2000 Fuel Cell Cars Likely by 2010 by Justin Hyde - ABC
By the end of the decade consumers may be able to buy vehicles powered by electricity from hydrogen fuel cells that would be twice as efficient as today’s cars and trucks, and with far less pollutants. This forecast is viable according to Larry Burns, GM’s vice president for research and development, because fuel cell technology is moving closer to providing the power and flexibility of gasoline engines. ...Burns said GM and ExxonMobil had developed a gas-to-hydrogen converter that put 80 percent of the hydrogen it generated into the fuel cell. With such a converter, Burns said GM could build a fuel cell vehicle that used 40 percent of the energy in gasoline, almost double what a typical car does today in average driving. ...DaimlerChrysler has said it would build fuel-cell powered transit buses by 2002; Burns said GM might have a similar product, but he declined to be more specific.8/11/2000 GM and Exxon Mobil Forge Ahead on Fuel Cells by Mark Yost - Bloomberg/Detroit News
GM and Exxon Mobil want to develop fuel-cell systems that extract hydrogen from gasoline because the U.S. has 180,000 gas stations for refueling. No such network exists for pure hydrogen. A fuel-cell system that uses gasoline means "cleaner, more efficient vehicles can be in consumers' hands within the next 10 years," said Larry Burns, vice-president of GM's research and development unit, at the University of Michigan's annual automotive conference. "That would be fantastic if they can make it work, because then we won't have to replace gas stations with hydrogen stations," said Scott Merlis, an analyst at Wasserstein Perella Securities who has a "buy" rating on GM shares. "There's no more significant issue for fuel cells than infrastructure."
8/11/2000 Exxon, GM Report Major Fuel-Cell Technology Gain by Terril Jones - Los Angeles Times (CA-US)
The companies--respectively the world's largest auto maker and largest investor-owned oil company--say their technology is twice as efficient as conventional gasoline-powered engines and a clear advance over the announced systems of key rivals. The GM-Exxon Mobil system, which the firms expect to put in a test car within 18 months, extracts hydrogen from gasoline to run a fuel cell, which in turn produces electricity to propel the vehicle. "Clean, efficient fuel-cell electric vehicles could be in consumers' garages by the end of the decade," said Larry Burns, GM's vice president for research and development. ...The system is then able to utilize 80% of the extracted hydrogen, said William Innes, president of Exxon Mobil Research and Engineering Co., who presented the research with Burns at a University of Michigan automotive conference in this northern Michigan city. Although the current generation of the system is not emissions-free, it nonetheless emits just half the carbon dioxide and significantly less carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides than current gasoline engines, he said. Ideally, future versions of the system would produce electricity with heat and water as the only byproducts.
8/11/2000 Fuel-cell Vehicles Move Closer by Hillary Durgin - Financial Times (UK)
General Motors and Exxon Mobil said on Thursday that they had developed a highly efficient gasoline fuel processor for fuel-cell vehicles that would lead to greatly reduced emissions and improved fuel economy. ..."It's part of an industry-wide effort to find the best way to power automobiles," said Steven Taub, associate director with Cambridge Energy Research Associates of Massachusetts. "If it works and does what they say it will do, it would be a pretty significant development." The new processor uses gasoline to create a high-quality stream of hydrogen that powers a fuel cell. That means that consumers can fuel the new vehicles the same way they fuel their current cars. GM said it planned a vehicle demonstration using this technology in 18 months. The gasoline processor could be the bridge between today's conventional vehicles and tomorrow's hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles," said Harry Pearce, vice-chairman of GM. "While we view hydrogen as the future fuel for automotive applications, we have significant commercial challenges, such as designing and building a large number of hydrogen refuelling stations, developing feasible on-board fuel tanks and agreeing to industry-wide specifications."
8/11/2000 Looking For Fuel Cell Heat by Craig Tolliver - CBS Marketwatch (US)
While Schoenwald believes that a quarter of the [New Alternatives] portfolio lies in fuel cells, the actual percentage is a little difficult to quantify. ...He also makes a circular case for his investments in Plug Power, a fuel cell company whose shares surged after receiving backing from General Electric. "The company that started Plug Power is Mechanical Technology. They spun it off with the aid of General Electric and Detroit Edison. Mechanical Technology, which is not a very successful company, has a lot of shares of Plug Power and you can buy Plug shares at less cost through Mechanical Technology. So we have more shares of Mechanical Technology than we do of Plug Power. There's a brokerage company called First Albany and that company helped develop the spinoff of Plug Power and in the course of it, it acquired a great many shares. For our small size, we have formidable positions in Plug, First Albany and Mechanical Technology - that's all about one company."
8/10/2000 GM Says Fuel Cell Vehicles Feasible Within Decade by Justin Hyde - Detroit News/AP
GM vice president for research and development Larry Burns said that fuel cells were moving closer to the power and flexibility of gasoline engines. He said GM and ExxonMobil had developed a better reformer for converting gasoline to hydrogen, and that the system was twice as efficient as a modern gas engine. ...Burns said GM had developed fuel cells that power up in 20 seconds at -4 degrees, and reach full power in 60 seconds at -22 degrees.
8/9/2000 HPower Rockets Almost 50 Percent in Debut - Los Angeles Times (CA/US)
Shares of fuel-cell development company HPower Corp. (HPOW.O) were up roughly 35 percent above their offering price, making the stock one of the highest percentage gainers on the Nasdaq in the company's debut Wednesday morning.
8/9/2000 Scientists Build Atoms of Antimatter by Naomi Koppel - Fox/AP
Physicists believe that antimatter is the mirror image of conventional matter in the universe. For every subatomic particle in the universe, there appears to be another identical in appearance and structure, but with its electric or magnetic properties reversed. Scientists have been puzzling for years over the disappearance of antimatter. The Big Bang should have created the same amount of matter and antimatter, and in principle the two should have wiped each other out. But somehow there was enough matter left over to create the universe, and antimatter only exists now in cosmic rays and particle accelerators. ...The CERN scientists plan to test the antihydrogen atoms to see if they behave in the same way as ordinary hydrogen. "We are looking at how the universe would look if it was made out of antimatter. Would there be the slightest difference between our universe and the universe of antiatoms?" said Rolf Landua, spokesman for one of three projects at CERN looking at the issue. If antimatter differs from matter, even by one part in a hundred billion, that could explain why the world is made up of matter and why antimatter has disappeared, he added. ..."We hope to have the first antihydrogen atoms by the end of this year, and we will then have to construct a new type of apparatus in order to trap them. We aim to give a first analysis by the end of 2002," Landua said of the project, called ATHENA.
8/9/2000 Doron Levin: Honda Leads in Developing Clean Engine - Detroit Free Press (MI)
Honda, meanwhile, already is closing in on the next bold technological step for cutting engine pollutants to zero: fuel cells. Watanabe confirmed that Honda's first fuel-cell vehicle will go on sale in 2003. Honda hasn't decided whether the fuel cell will be powered by hydrogen or methanol, he said.
8/7/2000 US Firm
H2OR has signed an exclusive technology implementing agreement for the territories of Israel, Turkey, the Middle East, the Eastern Mediterranean and Africa. The terms of the agreement grant the Israeli company access to all activities associated with the US company's field. This includes advanced technologies used in fuel cells and leak detection equipment developed with major investment from the US government.
8/7/2000 Soaring Gas Makes Fertilizer Biz Not So Fertile - Financial Times (UK)
Gas is used to make anhydrous ammonia, the key ingredient in nearly all nitrogen fertilizers made in the United States and Canada. Gas is essentially methane. When hydrogen is split off from methane and added to nitrogen and oxygen, it becomes anhydrous ammonia, which in turn is used to make the other basic components of fertilizer -- ammonium nitrate, urea, nitrogen solutions, ammonium sulfate and ammoniated phosphates. And gas costs are the primary expense in the production process. ..."Obviously the rising gas prices are hurting the North American fertilizer business because gas makes up 70% to 80% of the cost of producing nitrogen fertilizer," said Betty-Ann Heggie with Potash Corp. "Because the cost of production is going up so rapidly, we have a situation where 15% to 20% of the North American industry is shut down right now. Some producers have taken a downturn and haven't come back up. They have simply closed their plants for awhile to wait it out."
8/7/2000 Sticker Shock at the Pumps Symbolizes Fossil Fuel Malaise by Jim Motavalli - E-Magazine
The Holland-based Shell Group launched a division called Shell International Renewables in 1997, exploring such areas as solar power and biomass. Shell Hydrogen, another division, is working with DaimlerChrysler on a gasoline processor for the fuel-cell cars the German company plans to introduce in 2004. Fuel cells, of course, are a very promising technology for ending fossil-fuel dependence. They're a kind of externally fueled chemical battery that produces electricity without combustion. Fuel cells run on hydrogen, but that fuel can be extracted from a tank of gasoline or methanol using an on-board chemical factory called a "reformer." It's the technology that's favored by the oil companies -- for obvious reasons -- but running fossil fuels through a reformer creates more emissions and global warming gas than does powering the cell on direct hydrogen gas. DaimlerChrysler's NECAR (New Car) III, for instance, a fuel-cell car with a reformer, produces levels of the global warming gas carbon dioxide in levels roughly equivalent to that of an efficient diesel engine. If oil companies do become "energy companies," hydrogen will probably be one of the technologies in their portfolios. "The efficiency of fuel cells -- a technology we're supporting -- is very promising," says ExxonMobil, adding that "hydrocarbons will still be the most efficient and practical sources for powering [them]."
8/7/2000 The Fuel-Cell Solution: [U.S. Post Office] Facility Taps New Energy Source by Ben Spiess - Knoxville News Sentinel (TN)
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Placid amid the noise and haste of Alaska's largest airport is the quiet future of electric generation. Behind the U.S. Postal Service's airport facility, five solemn fuel cells hum a tune of clean, efficient, reliable energy. For many in the crowd that will gather there Wednesday at a ribbon cutting to open the facility, it is the gospel of the electrical future. The Anchorage post office effort may be the largest commercial fuel cell project in the world, according to the fuel-cell manufacturer. Last year, the Postal Service partnered with Anchorage electric utility Chugach Electric Association and a handful of government agencies and electric research groups to install the fuel cells. ...The fuel cells are made by International Fuel Cells of South Windsor, Conn.
8/5/2000 Trucks Set for Ttest of Hydrogen Fuel Hybrid - Las Vegas Sun (Nevada)
The trucks are owned by the Nevada Operations Office of the U.S. Department of Energy.
8/5/2000 Global Stock Shows a Lot of Energy by Deborah Yedlin - Calgary Herald (Canada)
Home-grown Global Thermoelectric Inc. gained $4.50 this week on news about its $25-million strategic alliance with Enbridge Inc. to develop and distribute natural gas-fuelled cell products. But the stock, now at $35, really started its move at the beginning of June when it was $20. ...Other energy technology companies came along for the ride, with Ballard Power Systems gaining $7.50 on the week. The market's enthusiastic reaction begs a review of the so-called alternative energy companies and how they are valued in the market. Companies like Global and Ballard are playing in the game of distributed power, which means on-site heating and electricity generation that may supplement or bypass the public power grid.
8/5-11/2000 [
The most dramatic breakthroughs are taking place in the field of fuel cells. ...The leading fuel-cell technology at the moment is generally reckoned to be the proton-exchange membrane (PEM) cell. ...Ballard Power Systems, a Canadian firm, is the leading proponent of PEM technology. Firoz Rasul, its boss, says he expects his firm’s first commercial product to reach the market next year. This will be a 1kW generator, to be marketed by Coleman, an American outdoor-goods firm, for household use. Ballard is also developing a power unit with Tokyo Gas, a utility that supplies Japanese homes with natural gas. That version would “reform” the natural gas first, by reacting it with steam to release the hydrogen in it. ...Siemens Westinghouse, a big power-equipment firm, expects to bring SOFCs to market in 2004, at a price of $1,500 per kW, dropping quickly to the $1,000 threshold that is currently achieved by coal-fired power stations. And, unlike Ballard with its 1kW units, Siemens is building generators capable of producing between 0.3MW and 10MW. These are aimed at industrial customers. ... International agencies such as the World Bank, as well as private-sector operators and non-governmental groups, are devising “microfinance” schemes to help bring electricity to the poor in such countries as Mongolia and India.8/4/2000
TORONTO - Stuart Energy Systems Corp. has filed in Canada for an initial public offering of common shares. Net proceeds will be used for research and development, marketing, manufacturing, general working capital, acquisitions and liquidity. The Toronto-based company didn't disclose how much money it intends to raise. The underwriting syndicate for the offering is being led by CIBC World Markets Inc. Stuart develops and supplies hydrogen generation and supply systems. It aims to supply the emerging market for hydrogen as a transportation fuel.
8/4/2000 New Names Muscle in on Fuel Cell Game by Thomas Hirshmann - Financial Post (Canada)
Despite being rocked this week by a setback at a large U.S. fuel cell company, the emerging sector is showing encouraging signs of life with several new players coming to market. The sector is building a growing following among U.S. investors, but a Canadian firm is in the class of newcomers and other domestic players, such as Burnaby, B.C.'s Ballard Power Systems Inc., are still generating excitement among analysts. Among the newcomers, Woodbridge, Ont.-based Hydrogenics Corp. filed a preliminary prospectus this week with Canadian and U.S. regulators to raise US$100-million. It is developing fuel cell testing systems. Yesterday two U.S. firms -- H Power Corp. and Millennium Cell Inc. -- filed for initial public offerings expected to raise a combined US$135-million. ...On Tuesday, Calgary-based Global Thermoelectric Inc. (GLE/TSE) entered into a strategic alliance with Enbridge Inc., a move that analyst called positive. Enbridge will invest $25-million to further the commercial development of its residential solid oxide fuel cell. Andrew Bradford, an analyst at Goepel McDermid Inc., wrote that the cash infusion will potentially accelerate the time to commercial production.
8/4/2000 Hydro-Electric Car Avoids Recharging Problem - Yomiuri Shimbun/ Daily Yomiuri (Japan)
Researchers at two universities have nearly completed the development of a hydroelectric car using self-generated hydrogen, which would free drivers from the process of recharging. The vehicle is designed to burn hydrogen produced inside the car and use the energy to charge the car's battery, thereby cutting out the need for recharging--one of the main drawbacks of conventional electric cars. It is also environmentally friendly since it does not run on fossil fuel. the model designed by the university researchers creates hydrogen by dipping layered metal in a solution of acid and water. The hydrogen produced is then diluted and burned to generate electricity. The car will also have additional equipment to generate electricity. The vapor created in the process of producing hydrogen will be used to run a different motor. Solar cells and wind turbines on the car roof will also help the car run without recharging. The team, led by Mie University Prof. Seizo Kato and Prof. Norio Arai of the Research Center for Advanced Energy Conversion at Nagoya University, says the electric minicar will be able to generate a maximum of 30 kilowatts, falling to five kilowatts when in normal driving mode, which is equivalent to existing electric cars.
8/3/2000 Fuel Cells May Soon Power Almost Everything by Jane Sanders - UniSci
The energy source that powered the Space Shuttle, Apollo, Skylab and Gemini spacecraft might one day operate your portable phone, your car and your neighborhood's electric power plant. This source -- the fuel cell -- is a primary focus of a new research center at the Georgia Institute of Technology. The Center for Innovative Fuel Cell and Battery Technologies will take a multidisciplinary approach to fuel cell and battery-related research, said center director Dr. David Parekh. ...Georgia Tech's center will focus on fuel cell and battery technology for wireless telecommunications, ultra-low emission vehicles and distributed stationary power supplies. The new center is developing new integrated facilities for development and testing -- such as a power cell testing laboratory unveiled in March -- and also will hold workshops on fuel cell technology. ...Georgia Tech researchers hold numerous patents in fuel cell and battery technology areas.8/1/2000 Enbridge in Fuel-Cell Deal by Carol Howes - Financial Post (Canada)
Global Thermoelectric Inc. and energy giant Enbridge Inc. have signed a ground-breaking deal to bring electricity and heating supply powered by fuel cells to individual homes. Enbridge said yesterday it will invest $25-million in the Calgary-based fuel cell maker in return for Canadian distribution rights. It will also help design and develop the technology to launch it commercially for the residential market. Jim Perry, Global's president and chief executive, said its fuel-cell products, fuelled by natural gas, could be in homes within three to four years. ...Through its subsidiary Enbridge Consumers Gas, the energy firm owns and operates the country's largest natural gas distribution system. It also distributes electricity. "Fuel-cell technology is rapidly evolving to the point where it can provide a clean, economical alternative to large power plants in meeting homeowners' needs for reliable electric power," said Brian MacNeill, Enbridge's president and chief executive. Global, which has successfully tested a prototype of its solid oxide fuel technology, is one of a number of firms led by Vancouver-based
7/31/2000 [
Bob Walker most decidedly did not invent the Internet. In fact, the former congressman, who's now the George W. Bush presidential campaign's senior technology adviser, led the charge against Vice President Al Gore's successful attempt to win government funding for the network that laid the groundwork for the spread of the Internet. Walker stands by his decision today, saying that, back in 1990 and 1991, the Democrat presidential candidate was proposing a plan for a network that the government would control. "The Gore solution was a 180-degree difference from what was adopted," Walker said during an interview in the lobby of a downtown Philadelphia hotel. "I thought at the time the last thing we needed was government in the middle of this." Today, Walker metes out tech policy advice to the Bush campaign and touts his own views to engineering and aerospace groups. Energetic and enthusiastic, Walker sees a sci-fi future, complete with hydrogen-based fuel and an expanded space program -- a future where government would play a "minimalist" role. As for pet projects, when Walker, a Corvette fan, isn't racing Formula 2000 cars, he's busy promoting hydrogen as the answer to America's energy crisis. He's on the board of hydrogen company DCH Technology. Walker said he was laughed out of rooms when he first supported the concept back when he was in Congress, but now major auto companies are considering hydrogen-powered cars. Walker said he hasn't brought it up officially with the campaign, but he plans to. "Really, Republicans ought to be more willing to look at this because it's our environmental answer," he said.
7/31/2000 Toronto Transit Corporation Staff Sours on Natural Gas Buses by Joseph Hall - Toronto Star (Canada)
Compressed natural gas buses - or CNGs in transit vernacular - were the apparent wave of the future. The TTC has already sent 125 of the low-emission vehicles out on the road over the past decade and built a garage and fuelling station to accommodate them. ``But the thing is there are other technologies out there now and we really have to talk about them,'' says Bill Brown, the TTC's manager of vehicle engineering. ...Natural gas buses, Brown says, are high maintenance, high cost and offer no environmental advantage over some of the clean-emission technologies that are rapidly emerging. ...In a presentation to the commission last week, Brown listed six advantages to acquiring more natural gas vehicles compared with 12 disadvantages. He also urged the commission to look at two clean-emission options that should be well into development by the time the TTC must upgrade its fleet: hydrogen fuel systems and hybrid diesel-electric engines.
7/25/2000 U.S. Navy Launches Plans for Electric Armada - ENN
The fuel cells under consideration would not use hydrogen, a hazard to carry in large quantities. Instead, processed fuels that will not harm fuel cells will be used. The scientists in the electric ship project believe the technology developed for the Navy will have applications in aerospace, commerce and electric utilities. "Power system problems that you see in a ship are similar to ones you see with electric utilities," said Ferner.
7/20/2000 Edison Spa to Build Hydrogen Plant - Corriere della Sera (Italy)/Dow Jones
Italian energy group Edison SpA has signed an agreement with German technology group Siemens AG to build hydrogen plants to produce "clean" electricity. In mid-2002 Edison will build a new 320KW plant, the largest in Italy and the third-largest worldwide.
7/20/2000 Johnson Matthey Turns Up Heat by Carl Mortished - The Times (UK)
The project, supported by the Department of Trade and Industry and including Energy Partners, aims to have a three kilowatt fuel cell heat and power unit in its testing phase within 18 months. ...Jack Frost, director of JM's fuel cell business, said a unit might ideally cost £3,000, a capital cost that most homeowners would not contemplate. "That is why we are teaming up with TXU. An energy service company would lease it or install it in your home and enter into a five-year service contract. It means a gas company could sell you power without bothering with the electricity infrastructure."
7/19/2000 Alstom,
French engineers Alstom and fuel cell specialist Canada's Ballard will install eight fuel cell demonstration units in Europe over the next two years, the companies' joint venture said on Wednesday. The first of the eight 250 kW Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) units - at Berlin-based utility Bewag's Treptow heating plant site - started its five years of operation in June. The second unit will be installed later in the year for Basel-based Swiss utility EBM. ..."Fuel cells operate at high efficiencies and ...combined with renewable energy forms, lay the foundation for a future hydrogen -based energy industry," the head of the Berlin project, Bewag's Martin Pokojski, told Reuters. ...The company said it will also install systems for the Belgian consortium Promocell and the Dutch utility Nuon.
7/19/2000 Johnson Matthey to Develop Fuel Cell, Boost Investment by Vladimir Todres - Bloomberg
Johnson Matthey Plc said it agreed with TXU Corp. and Energy Partners LC to develop fuel cells to provide power and heating to homes, making the technology, developed for fueling cars, more widely applicable. Johnson Matthey plans to produce fuel cells with a capacity of 3 kilowatts of electrical power in addition to heat, targeting homes and small offices. It plans to demonstrate the devices in about 18 months' time. ...Johnson Matthey makes catalysts for car-emission controls, using platinum and palladium.
7/18/2000 [Mitsubishi Habimo Fuel-Cell Electric Vehicle] - Yomiuri Shimbun (Japan)
Mitsubishi Motors Corp. (www.mitsubishi-motors.co.jp) will display futuristic products at the Exhibition of Dream Technologies for the 21st Century, to be held from July 21 through Aug. 6 at Tokyo Big Sight's International Exhibition Center. ...MMC will make a computer-graphic, animated cartoon presentation on the firm's advanced environmental technology, including the Mitsubishi Habimo fuel-cell electric vehicle.
7/16/2000 Micropower: Wave of the Future by Lucy Chubb - Environmental News Network
The decision to turn to an independent, off-the-grid power system is a trend that Seth Dunn hopes will catch on. In "Micropower: The Next Electrical Era," a report released today by the Worldwatch Institute, author Dunn asserts that the world's prevailing power generation systems are incompatible with demands of the coming century and that alternatives must be put in place. "We're beginning the 21st century with a power system that cannot take our economy where it needs to go," said Dunn. "The kind of highly reliable power needed for today's economy can only be based on a new generation of micropower devices now coming on the market. These allow homes and businesses to produce their own electricity, with far less pollution." ...As the economy becomes increasingly computerized and businesses become more dependent on high technology to get the job done, a rock-steady flow of electricity is crucial. "There is a huge need for very reliable, high quality power," Dunn said. ..."The current way the market is set up is very short term," he said. "The large-scale electricity model appears to be collapsing under its own economic and ecological weight."
7/15/2000 Fertilizer Plant Withstands Second Blast in One Week - AP/Topeka Capital-Journal (Kansas)
The building's safety systems contained the fire, which was fed by hydrogen gas. A hazardous materials team from Lawrence-Douglas County Fire & Medical was called to monitor the scene, but plant manager Dick Lind said firefighters let the fire burn itself out. The flames died down within about four hours. Lind didn't know how much hydrogen gas was in the pipeline, but he estimated it was more than the 12,000 pounds of gas that officials had said was in the system July 7. ...The plant's problems began the afternoon of July 7 when a compressor malfunctioned. Officials were bringing the plant back online an hour later when an auxiliary boiler malfunctioned, releasing ammonia into the air. Less than three hours later, a third malfunction occurred when, as workers tried again to bring the plant online, a gasket blew and hydrogen ignited, causing a noise described as a "pop."
7/14/2000 Quest for Reliable Power Turns to Fuel Cells - Reuters/Canoe
The energy industry is packaging fuel cells and small turbine generators in new "hybrid" mini power plants to make electricity more efficiently and cleanly than conventional generating stations for factories, office buildings, rural homes, hospitals, and other facilities. The new systems, which generate power in hundreds of kilowatts rather than larger megawatts, also may give the growing Internet economy a more reliable and higher-quality source of power, energy analysts believe. ..."It will take two to three years to ramp up and reach production but we should see larger production volumes in four to five years," Sam Brothwell, energy technology analyst with the Merrill Lynch investment firm, told Reuters. Meanwhile, tests and demonstration projects of hybrid systems and stand alone fuel cells are proliferating in the U.S., Europe and Asia. ...The current annual global market for stationary generation is approximately $100 billion, and it may grow to more than $130 billion by 2010, estimates FAC/Equities, a division of First Albany Corp. ...."Utility-grade power doesn't have the reliability or quality that the Internet economy requires," said Merrill Lynch's Brothwell. More companies, he said, will install fuel cell systems as their main power source for critical areas like customer accounts and financial transactions and use to the local grid for backup.
7/14/2000 Japan's Tepco To Shut Down and Inspect 1,100-MW Reactor - Dow Jones
Tokyo Electric Power Co. said it will shut down one of its nuclear reactors at the Kashiwazaki Kaiwa nuclear power station in Niigata prefecture Friday after it discovered an abnormal level of hydrogen gas consumption at the plant. It planned to check if hydrogen gas leaked into a cooling system in the plant's power generator, it said.
7/13/2000 [PEM Fuel Cells Used to Charge] Battery Hybrid Electric Vehicle by Joseph Thomas, Director SPIC - The Hindu (India)
Centre for Energy Research at SPIC Science Foundation has been working on development of PEM fuel cell stacks since 1989. Several multi kilowatt stacks have been developed and demonstrated. Some of the stacks developed at this Centre are also undergoing trials. ...Scientists at the Centre have developed a hybrid power source integrating the fuel cell stacks and battery bank which have been installed in a four wheeler van. The electric motor's power requirement to run the vehicle is shared by the battery bank and the fuel cell stacks. A controller that has been developed enables sharing of the power between the two power sources and also has the facility to charge the battery from fuel cell power whenever the vehicle is stopped. Several safety features have also been incorporated. The fuel cell-battery hybrid van can seat 6 people. The hybrid vechile has recorded an increase of 40 per cent in the distance traveled on a single charge compared to the battery powered ev.
7/11/2000 Coming Clean by Andrew English - Electronic Telegraph (UK)
Oil is a finite resource and, as reserves become scarcer, the law of supply and demand kicks in. If you want proof of this, just look at the motor industry, where the race to get a hydrogen-powered fuel cell car on sale is one of the most important bare-knuckle fights since Etienne Lenoir developed the world's first internal combustion engine more than 140 years ago. Yet, in contrast to unleaded fuel or exhaust catalysts, no one has demanded that car companies invest skiploads of money in pollution-free fuel cells. They have simply seen the direction things are going and all of them want an advantage in this new technology.
7/11/2000 Global Thermoelectric Says in Deal Discussions - Reuters/New York Times
Canadian fuel cell developer Global Thermoelectric Inc. said on Tuesday it was in talks with a major utility about a potential transaction, but gave no details about the deal.
7/11/2000 Booming Computer Firms Are Running Out of Power by Simon Davis - electronic Telegraph (UK)
Fearing that the public utility companies will not act fast enough to generate more electricity, Oracle, one of the largest software manufacturers, has spent millions of pounds building its own power station. Many others, including Sun Microsystems and Microsoft, are submitting proposals to do the same. Mr Stahlkopf said: "If they can't get reliable power from the utility, then the only solution is to build a plant and provide it themselves." Justin Bradley, a spokesman for Oracle, said: "It's very critical to us to have reliable power." .... The power supply in Silicon Valley was recently drained to a point where dozens of companies lost millions of dollars. The event was the most serious indicator so far that America's electricity supply cannot cope with the power needed to run the digital economy.
7/10/2000 Batteries Lack Juice Now, but Will Power Up Someday by David LaGesse - U.S. News & World Report
The next great wave of portable power may owe less to the wired traveler and more to the needs of national security. Fuel cells, which make electricity by mixing oxygen and hydrogen, have been around since the mid-1800s, and are used to power the space shuttle. A big challenge will be constructing safe plumbing for the volatile mixture. It was, after all, an exploding fuel cell that crippled Apollo 13 in a near-fatal trip around the moon in 1970.Transportation officials and automakers have financed research into fuel cells for cars and buses in the name of creating cheap, clean fuels whose emissions are little more than water vapor. And battery-starved Army units are driving research that could make fuel cells available for portable devices but that's at least three years, and possibly a decade, away. After grunts reported their batteries ran low during the Persian Gulf War, Pentagon brass showed up with research money, says Illinois Institute of Technology researcher Eugene Smotkin. Consumer companies weren't far behind, with Motorola joining scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Their design envisions cheap and light fuel in the form of methanol, a type of alcohol that contains hydrogen, that can be carried in pocket vials. A Los Alamos scientist says a portable fuel cell could be ready in three to five years, one small enough to serve as a battery recharger on a civilian plane or covert military mission. "Special forces commanders say they have a tough choice now," says Shimson Gottesfeld, a Los Alamos fuel cells researcher. "They are forced to choose between taking food and water, or more batteries."
7/10/2000 Hanford Cleanup Delays Raise Risks - AP
Major delays in pumping and treating Hanford's most dangerous wastes could extend the nation's most expensive nuclear cleanup by as much as 19 years beyond the original 2028 deadline, says the yearlong audit by EPA Regional Inspector General Truman Beeler. The delays "significantly increase" the risk of leaks from old, compromised tanks into groundwater or air, the internal report said. The document, filed in March, was obtained by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility -- a whistle-blower group with offices in Washington, D.C., and Olympia -- through a public-records request. ...The Department of Energy has inadequately funded treatment of the tank problems and has repeatedly missed deadlines to address the hazards they represent, the audit said. ...The audit identified numerous delays and management failures: ...Ecology hasn't resolved flammable-gas hazards in the tanks and was slow to flag a serious hydrogen-gas buildup in million-gallon, double-shell tank SY-101, considered one of the most dangerous. Ecology could have moved faster on SY-101 but left a safety job empty for over a year. The job was filled in April. Ecology and a panel of national experts assembled by the DOE have made major progress recently with SY-101, said Tony Valero, Ecology's tank-waste-storage manager in Kennewick. At least 25 tanks are estimated to be generating enough hydrogen gas to cause a fire if ignited, the report said. If a fire occurred, "there is the potential for up to 22 latent cancer fatalities from direct radiation and inhalation of radioactive contaminants," the report said. And the longer the waste stays in the tanks, the higher the probability of fire.
7/7/2000 Ballard Closer to Fuel Cell Engine Production by Greg Joyce - The Globe and Mail
Ballard Power Systems Inc. and Xcellsis Fuel Cell Engines Inc., two Vancouver-based companies, have moved a step closer to the commercial production of fuel cell bus engines. The companies announced that the two major fuel cell bus demonstration programs -- in Chicago and Vancouver -- have been completed and the next field trials will begin this year in two California locales using a new, improved engine. The latest model, the Phase 4 engine that is also known as the precommercial prototype, is to be used soon in Oakland, Calif., and Palm Springs, Calif.
7/7/2000 Industry Engaged in the Production of Various Petroleum Oils and Fuels Declared Public Utility Service - M2 Presswire (UK)
Central Government has declared the industry engaged in the manufacture or production of Mineral oil (crude oil, Motor and Aviation Spirit, Diesel oil, Kerosene oil, Fuel oil, Diverse Hydrogen and their blends including Synthetic Fuels, Lubricating Oils and the like as a public utility service under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 for six months with immediate effect.
7/6/2000 Drive Against Diesel Buses Armed With Asthma Data by Lyndsey Layton - Washington Post (Washington, D.C.)
Health officials who believe diesel buses are linked to a District asthma rate that is more than twice the national average will ask Metro today to test expensive, cleaner-burning buses and move away from its all-diesel fleet. ...In addition to wanting tests of compressed natural gas buses, D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) wants all 1,300 diesel Metrobuses retrofitted with catalytic converters to cut emissions. He also wants Metro to analyze the costs of making a wholesale switch from diesel to the cleaner-burning compressed natural gas buses. The mayor's unusual jump into Metro's purchasing decisions is part of a campaign by two of the nation's largest environmental groups to persuade Metro to dump its diesel buses. Using a strategy that brought them victory in New York this year, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club are applying political pressure to make an end run around Metro managers, who are loyal to diesel buses and have resisted most opportunities to change direction. As they did in New York, the environmentalists are lining up key political figures to apply pressure. ...Diesel exhaust contains nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds that combine to create ground-level ozone, a major source of smog. Although the District has no heavy industry generating pollution, it exceeds federal limits for ground-level ozone. The black diesel smoke also contains toxic compounds and fine particles that lodge in human lungs and have been linked to several health problems including asthma, chronic bronchitis, pneumonia, heart disease and, recent studies show, cancer. ...Jack Requa, Metro's chief operating officer for buses, opposes compressed natural gas buses and says the best solution to the emissions problem is a fuel cell technology that won't be ready for a decade. A fuel cell generates electricity from the chemical reaction of combining hydrogen and oxygen into water. The only emissions fuel cells produce are heat and water.
7/5/2000
“I spoke at length with Dr. Zong Qiang MAO, the chairman of the country’s association for hydrogen energy, and he confirmed for me the environmental imperative is gaining strength in China,” Haberman said. “Top-level government interest was overtly expressed from the opening remarks onward and the presence of many technical people and grad students from the local universities was overwhelming.” ...Although DCHT appears focused on the American market for the time being, Haberman obviously sees opportunities in China’s growing energy needs. “I traveled a little in China during this meeting and witnessed extraordinary adaptability in how they address needs,” he said. “But one theme was apparent—the juggernaut of growth in electrical demand. The current system is not postured to meet the current and future needs.” Haberman said that those he spoke with seem eager to explore hydrogen-fueled alternatives and felt China could quickly embark on a hydrogen future. Although “awe inspiring,” Haberman continued to stress private development over the status quo in China. “I spent time emphasizing that international strength was growing to help developing markets with potential,” he said. “It should be emphasized that any H2 solution in China will happen entrepreneurially, not because of massive government subsidies.”
7/4/2000 New Bicycle Gets Big Push from Fuel Cells - ENN
The Hydrocycle is a prototype fuel cell-powered bicycle developed by Manhattan Scientifics Inc. of New York City. Riders have the option of using their own power to get around or switching to a small motor powered by Manhattan Scientifics' proprietary mid-range fuel-cell technology. ...with a top speed of 20 miles per hour and a range of up to 70 miles along a flat surface, the bicycle offers better performance level than electric bikes. Plug-in two-wheelers only go about 15 miles per hour with a maximum distance of 15 miles, according to Ebicycles.com. Manhattan Scientifics is not planning to develop a product line. "We are in the fuel-cell business, not the bike business," said Harrod. "What we are trying to do come up with is a way to show fuel performance — an application for fuels cells."
7/3/2000 [
The white Honda prototype shining in the sun at Bourns Inc. in Riverside appears typical enough. But the low emissions in the car's exhaust heralds a future with air that reaches the lower pollutant levels that researchers and lawmakers eventually hope to attain. Before the Honda can be marketed to the public, its tailpipe exhaust must be measured and its environmental impact assessed. But the emissions are so low, it can't be measured by existing testing equipment. "Industry now has a prototype vehicle that is ahead of regulations," said Joseph Norbeck, director of the University of California, Riverside College of Engineering-Center for Environmental Research and Technology, or CE-CERT, based at Bourns. Officials from the university, state and federal air quality agencies and Honda Research & Development Americas Inc. are embarking on a $2 million, three-year joint project to create the technology that will allow measurements of extremely low emissions. The program will be carried out through a collaboration of CE-CERT and Honda researchers. ...Ben Knight, vice president of Honda Research & Development Americas, said efforts to promote alternative fuels, including hydrogen , face challenges. "There are a lot more gas stations than hydrogen stations," he noted.
7/3/2000 Sunoco Shuts Down Philadelphia Reformer Unit After Fire - Dow Jones
Sunoco Inc's Philadelphia refinery shut down a 30,000 b/d reformer unit after a fire ignited while crews repaired a leak in a supply line Friday night. ...The fire, sparked by the combustion of raw gasoline and hydrogen, began at 7:30 p.m. EDT Friday and was under control by 9:30 p.m., [spokesperson Jerry] Davis said.
7/2/2000 Daido Metal Shares Soar on Fuel Cell Venture With
Tokyo, June 2 (Bloomberg) -- Daido Metal Co. shares soared 23 percent after the maker of metal used in auto bearings said it will set up a joint venture in July with DCH Technology Inc. of the U.S. to develop and produce portable fuel cells. The company's shares rose 66 yen to close at 356 on trading of 173,000 shares, more than 11 times the full-day average for the past six months. Daido Metal will spend about 1.2 billion yen ($11 million) to build a new plant in Japan and plans to start mass production of the fuel cells from next April, said Joji Isobe, a spokesman for the company. He said the company will also use the plant to make bearing metal. The venture forecast 1 billion yen in annual revenue on sales of 20,000 portable fuel cells in the 12 months starting July. ''We plan to broaden the range of products from portable fuel cells to larger ones used, for example, by hospitals as emergency power sources,'' Isobe said, adding that, as a result, the company expects 10 billion yen in annual sales by 2005. He didn't say when the company expects to start making larger fuel cells.7/1/2000 Fire at Philadelphia Refinery Injures One - CNN
City firefighters and in-house crews on Friday battled a major blaze at the Sunoco, Inc. refinery on Philadelphia's South Side. ...The fire began around 7:36 p.m. when hydrogen began leaking from a ruptured pipeline, according to Sunoco spokesman Jerry Davis. ..."We have already begun an investigation to see what happened, to see if we can prevent it from happening again," Davis said.
July/August 2000 Nanotechnology: Tethered to Silicon by David Rotman - Technology Review
Electrical engineers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have now found a way to attach individual organic molecules to silicon with atomic precision, using the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope. First the researchers deposit a layer of hydrogen, one atom thick, on the silicon surface; then they use the microscope’s tip to pluck off individual hydrogen atoms in a desired pattern. The result, says Joe Lyding, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Illinois, is “a dangling silicon bond [where the hydrogen atom was] that is very reactive.” Various organic molecules can then be sprayed on the surface, where they will attach themselves only to the “dangling bonds.” So far, Lyding and his graduate student Mark Hersam have fabricated simple patterns—columns and a V-shape—by spraying on molecules such as buckyballs (a soccerball-shaped 60-carbon molecule that many researchers believe has promise in electronics). Lyding envisions that the technique could eventually lead to hybrid silicon chips with ultrafast molecular switching and storage arrays. But, he adds: “In a sense this is uncharted territory. Nobody has placed individual molecules into atomically precise arrays on silicon before.”
Red Herring Magazine Special
July 2000 [Wall Street seems to believe in the technology. Though Ballard hasn't turned a profit in its 21-year history, its recent dot com-like stock-price increase of 307 percent over the first quarter of this year indicates some promise. At its height, it had a market capitalization of $8.6 billion, as well as the lion's share of registered patents covering proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel-cell technology. Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) estimates that the fuel-cell market could grow to $95 billion per year in the next ten years. What's more, Detroit car manufacturers are hot on the technology and plan to market fuel-cell vehicles by 2004 (See "Can Iceland run on hydrogen?") ...If there's going to be a winner in the fuel-cell sector, it will probably be Ballard. Last year, Ford and DaimlerChrysler pumped a staggering $1.1 billion into Ballard to spin off a new subsidiary, Xcellsis Fuel Cell Engines, which will concentrate on powering the next generation of automobiles. In fact, Xcellsis is already providing prototypes for Ford's P2000 and DaimlerChrysler's NECAR 4 hydrogen-powered electric vehicle, and it boasts customers including Nissan (Nasdaq: NSANY), GM, Honda (NYSE: HMC), and Toyota.
July 2000 Can Iceland Run on Hydrogen? by Niall McKay - Red Herring
Mr. Árnason's plan to replace fossil fuels with hydrogen-powered fuel cells has received backing not only from the Icelandic government but from automotive and oil giants, including Shell and DaimlerChrysler (NYSE: DCX), who have ponied up millions to see if Professor Hydrogen just might be right. They want to use Iceland as a test bed for a new generation of cars and buses powered by hydrogen. If the project succeeds, what was once dismissed as a crazy fantasy may become the foundation for the world's transition from the dirty and inefficient process of burning fossil fuels, to the cleaner, more efficient power of hydrogen fuel cells.
July 2000 Fuel-injected Stocks by Peter Heniq - Red Herring Magazine
Since fuel-cell companies' roots are in technology hardware, as opposed to the softer Internet content or e-commerce business models, these new energy technology firms offer shareholders the opportunity to invest in real assets. And with nearly unlimited revenue potential being unleashed due to a historically regulated utility market opening its doors to innovation, next-generation emerging energy technologies, like fuel-cells, have found broader commercial opportunities for their products and an increasing number of buyers for their shares. Or as emerging energy analyst Namrita Kapur of the investment firm Adams Harkness and Hill puts it, "I believe that this will be the next page of the New Economy."
July 2000 Energy: Fuel Cells Explained by Alan Zeichick, principal technology analyst, Camden Associates - Red Herring Magazine
Fuel cell-based automobiles of the future would in some ways be similar to the battery-powered electric cars of today, with electric motors providing the propulsion, but with the addition of a fuel tank for the hydrogen, natural gas, or other fuel. The promise is great. A fuel cell's main waste products are water, heat, and -- depending on the fuel-cell design -- carbon dioxide. Even if the fuel cell is using gasoline as its source of hydrogen, remember that the fuel is not being burned, so dangerous pollutants are not being created. Just imagine -- who would have thought in grade school that this simple equation of hydrogen and oxygen would be so powerful?
| Hydrogen News: July & August 2000 | |||||||||
2001 January/February March/April |
|||||||||
| 2000
January/February
March/April
May/June July/ August September/October November/December |
|||||||||
| 1998 | 1997 | 1996 | 1995 | 1994 | 1993 | 1992 | 1991 | 1990 | |
| 1989 | 1988 | 1987 | 1986 | 1985 | 1984 | 1983 | 1982 | 1981 | 1980 |
| 1979 | 1978 | 1977 | 1976 | 1975 | 1974 | 1973 | 1972 | 1971 | 1970 |
| 1969 | 1968 | 1967 | 1966 | 1965 | 1964 | 1963 | 1962 | 1961 | 1937 |
|
THE ICHC SHORT LIST |
 1) The Riversimple Open Source Car Design
Are Our Designs Free? How does open source car design work? - There’s a technical challenge to share ideas on-line, where there is no satisfactory open source CAD (Computer-Aided Design) application. Our solution is to use a low tech approach at first, using a wiki-based website and freely available 3-D viewers to show the 3-D drawings. In time we may get involved in developing a OS CAD program. - Licensing. We cannot simply take the standard OS software license (the GPL is the most common), since we are dealing with hardware, which is not so well protected by copyright. See further down for some thoughts on the licensing issues. We'd like to hear from you! The stages Stage 1 Over the coming months, starting this month (July 2009), we will make available design schematics from the Riversimple technology demonstrator vehicle, together with a description of each component's function in the whole system, and a vehicle design brief for the production prototype. We will provide a mailing list or discussion forum to enable comments and discussions. At this stage we expect Riversimple, as the creator of the original designs, to be leading the discussions. Stage 2 As the detailed discussions develop, we expect a broad consensus to emerge amongst the participants as to which is the best solution to pursue for each design . By this stage, we expect the conversations to be more democratic, with a broad cross-section of collaborators participate, sharing their knowledge and insights. Stage 3 We start creating detailed designs collaboratively and publishing them on-line. Eventually an entire vehicle will be created, and tested, on-line. We are aiming to complete the design of the production prototype by the summer of 2010. Stage 4 Riversimple and other entrepreneurs, under license from 40 Fires, can start downloading the schematics and building and testing the vehicles. With the lessons from this, work can start on an improved production prototype. Are our designs free (as in beer)? |