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2/28/2001 Shell and Siemens Tie Solar Energy Businesses by
Matthew Jones - Financial Times (UK)
The agreement follows negotiations started at the
beginning of December. Subject to regulatory approval the groups will launch a
joint-venture company at the beginning of April that will be owned 34 per cent by Siemens,
33 per cent by Shell and 33 per cent by Eon Energie of Germany. ...The bulk of Shell's
profits will continue to come from traditional oil and gas activities for many years, but
the group is putting increasing focus on its alternative energy businesses. Last year it
formed a joint venture with International Fuel Cells, a subsidiary of United Technologies
Corporation of the US to develop, manufacture, and sell hydrogen fuel processors. It also
became a lead partner in developing the UK's first offshore wind project together with
Powergen, the British electricity generator.
2/27/2001 Cheap Power From Your
Basement by Jay Bryan - Montreal Gazette (Canada)
Unlike  Ballard's
PEM fuel cell, so called because it uses a proton-exchange membrane to accomplish the
production of electricity, Global makes a solid-oxide fuel cell that operates at much
higher temperatures (700 to 800 degrees Celsius vs. less than 100 degrees for PEM fuel
cells). Global's fuel cell takes much longer to warm up and, therefore, isn't suitable for
powering car motors, but it can offer very high efficiency when used in a home. The excess
heat can be used to produce hot water, allowing up to 85 per cent of the energy to be
captured. Theoretically, this means that a Global fuel-cell device could produce big
savings for consumers in most of North America. The biggest savings would be in places,
like New York and California, where electricity prices are high and gas prices (with the
exception of the recent gas-price spike) relatively low. Global estimates that consumers
in these two states could save up to 70 per cent on their combined power and hot-water
costs by using a device that it expects to start marketing within three years.
2/27/2001 Hydrogenics Corp. Gets
C$1.2M Of Fuel Cell Sys Pacts - Dow Jones
Hydrogenics Corp. (HYGS) has received three orders for
its FCATS control and test systems, totaling about C$1.2 million. In a news release,
Hydrogenics said one order was from an Asia-Pacific automotive manufacturer.
2/21/2001 Ballard Misses Bus: Fuel-Cell
Maker Waits for Daimler's Order - Montreal Gazette
(Canada)
Unlike many technology companies that are finding
themselves short of capital and unable to raise more on depressed stock markets, Ballard
reported it has $770 million in cash and short-term investments, much of it raised in an
equity offering last March, before markets collapsed. Chairman and CEO Firoz Rasul said
Ballard had made "significant progress towards the commercialization of our fuel
products." Among a dozen major goals for 2000, Ballard said it achieved 11, missing
the mark only on fuel-cell orders for buses. "Ballard is preparing to meet
DaimlerChrysler's program requirements when the orders are in place," the company
said. The recent California power crisis and new fears about the effects of global warming
are putting Ballard and its partners in a good position to market their smog-free hydrogen
fuel-cell products, Rasul said.
2/21/2001 Fuel Cell
Technology May at Long Last be Ready to Roll Commercially by Elizabeth Rigby - Financial Times (UK)
The technology, which converts hydrogen and oxygen into
electricity and water, has seen more than a few false dawns. However, wide scale use of
the mechanism is at long last on the horizon, spurred on by demands for greener power, the
Californian electricity crisis and increased commitments by governments to reduce gas
emissions. And a band of UK companies has been at forefront of bringing the product to
market. Nick Walker, analyst at Beeson Gregory, says there are eight companies with
potentially valuable exposure to the fuel cell component market: Johnson Matthey, Lonmin,
Morgan Crucible, Porvair, High-Point Rendel, UCM, James Cropper and Victrex.
...Johnson Matthey has spent over Pounds 12m in capital investment in the two years to the
end of 2000 to develop the technology. The potential of the market has changed the group
from a chemicals stock to a concept stock based on fuel cell technology, according to
Geoff Haire, analyst at UBS Warburg. The share price has more than doubled in the last two
years partly because of the factor. Shares in all of the other companies, except for
Morgan Crucible, also finished the year higher and many have been in the news, flagging up
their fuel cell exposure. Earlier this month Victrex, the speciality plastics
manufacturer, struck a breakthrough in its bid to expand into Ballard, a Canadian company that is world leader in this sector, to develop
manufacturing processes for ionomers - the polymer that conducts protons in fuel cells -
over a four-year period. Then Porvair, the materials group, announced that it would spend
Pounds 4m on fuel cell development in 2001. It is focusing on fuel reformation technology
- where elements such as methane are converted into hydrogen - rather than the fuel cell
stack itself. Meanwhile, Morgan Cruci ble is a leading supplier of graphite bi-polar
plates, which are a crucial element within a fuel cell. High-Point Rendel also entered a
five-year agreement with Sure Power, which specialises in providing reliable energy
sources based on fuel cell technology, to manage the installation of the US company's
systems. Meanwhile, Rolls Royce - which makes its own cells - and James Cropper have been
developing specialist component materials for fuel cells for the past eight
years. more
2/20/2001 Alternative
Power Companies Rising by Rachel Layne - Bloomberg
United Technologies Corp., which makes fuel cells and
formed an industrial turbine unit, estimates the market for power sources of three
megawatts or less will double to $11 billion by 2010. A megawatt is enough power to light
about 1,000 U.S. homes. The company, which makes fuel cells for NASA's space shuttle, has
the only commercially available fuel cell so far. ...``The one thing this has created at
the end of the day is that people now realize the grid isn't always going to be there for
them,'' said Brian McDonald, who heads commercial power systems for International Fuel
Cells, a unit of United Technologies. ``It's not only created an awareness of the grid's
limitations, but presented to companies that generating their own power is an option.''
2/20/2001 Fuel Cell May
Provide Power Without Lines by Tim Landis - State
Journal Register (Springfield, IL)
An east-central Illinois energy cooperative has
successfully tested a gas-fired fuel cell that might one day allow homeowners to generate
their own electricity without the traditional power lines and poles. EnerStar Power Corp.,
based in Paris, began testing the electrochemical fuel cell nearly a year ago. The unit,
which converts natural gas or propane to electricity, is one of eight installed at
rural-electric cooperative offices nationwide. "Fuel cells are a concept that have
been around for years, including in the space program," Thomas Hentz, president and
CEO of EnerStar Power, said last week. A demonstration at the company headquarters in
Paris was planned for Monday. The community is on the Indiana border approximately 100
miles east of Springfield. Hentz said the new technology converts natural gas and propane
to hydrogen, which in turn powers the fuel cell to generate electricity. Unlike
traditional fuel cells, however, there is no need for hydrogen storage. "It produces
hydrogen as the fuel-cell needs it," said Hentz, who added that the safety of
hydrogen storage has made commercial applications difficult up to now. The Illinois test,
begun last April, was partially funded through a $40,000 grant from the Illinois
Department of Commerce and Community Affairs. EnerStar was formed in 1999 from the old
Edgar Electric Cooperative Association as part of the company's plans to target newly
deregulated energy markets. EnerStar has more than 5,100 co-op members in Clark, Douglas,
Coles, Edgar and Vermilion counties. Testing of the fuel cells nationwide was launched by
Energy Co-Opportunity, a cooperative created to help rural co-ops explore alternative
energy sources. The next phase includes installation of a second-generation of fuel cells
at 39 electric co-ops across the country, including on the EnerStar system. The new units,
about the size of an air conditioner, will produce approximately 4.5 kilowatts of power
each, or about 50 percent more electricity than the test units. Eventually, the units are
expected to produce 10 kilowatts of power, enough electricity to power a typical home.
Water and heat are the only byproducts of the conversion process. EnerStar's initial plans
are to target the units to remote rural areas where the cost of building new power lines
would be prohibitive. Early units should sell for about $8,000 each, though the price is
expected to drop to $3,000 to $4,000 as use grows.
2/20/2001 Fiat Aut, Vendite a 2.7mln
nel 2001 - Il Sole 24 Ore (Italy)
[Fiat has presented a prototype of a new model, Fiat 600
powered by hydrogen, which required an investment of more than L20bn, L6bn of which was
contributed by the environment ministry.]
2/19/2001 New
Refrigeration System Using Hydrogen Developed - Korea Herald
Korean researchers have developed a new way to
refrigerate using hydrogen gas instead of environmentally damaging chemical coolants. Lee
Jae-yong, professor of material engineering at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and
Technology (KAIST), has recently unveiled the world's first hydrogen-based cooling system,
which marks a major advance in global efforts to find alternative energy sources. At the
heart of the development is a compound metal capable of storing huge amounts of hydrogen.
The alloy is contained within two heat exchangers which take in hot air and cool it. The
researchers used a compressor to move hydrogen gas between the two heat exchangers, and in
the process generated both cooling and heating systems. ...The KAIST researchers were able
to increase output dramatically by using the alloy, which can store five times more
hydrogen than other high-pressure tanks. The development comes at a time when foreign
importers are stepping up regulations on electronic goods with harmful emissions.
2/18/2001 Ballard
Exec Mum on Fuel Choice by Michael Baron - CBS MarketWatch
Ballard Power Systems is keeping
quiet on what kind of fuel it expects will be used in the portable proton-exchange
membrane fuel cell systems Ballard plans to unveil with Coleman later this year. Lancaster also said Ballard is comfortable with the finances of Coleman
parent Sunbeam, adding that executives of the company have assured Ballard of their
commitment to the portable product. Sunbeam recently filed for bankruptcy protection.
2/18/2001 GE, DTE Energy
Team Up to Bring Fuel Cells Forward - Monroe Evening News (Monroe, MI)
DTE Energy Technologies has the distribution rights for
Plug Power fuel cells in four Midwest states, according to Lewis K. Layton, a DTE
spokesman. Two prototypes were used on employee homes for about a year and the experiments
were successful. The Plug Power product, a bit larger than a refrigerator, will use
natural gas as a fuel source and should supply all or most of a home’s electric
needs, augmenting or replacing power from the regular electric transmission grid. DTE
Energy Technologies will have the right to market the devices in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois
and Indiana. It’s another sign that fuel cells have moved far from the theoretical of
past years and more toward the practical. “It’s no longer science fiction,”
said Steve Millett, one of the leading researchers in the field. “It’s
real.” Millett works at Battelle, the institute founded by a steel industry family in
Columbus, Ohio, which now develops all kinds of technology for industry and the
government, including NASA. Millett says fuel cell technology was transformed during the
last decade from a cottage industry into one of the most rapidly expanding high-tech
businesses in the world, partly due to the automotive industry’s suddenly keen
interest in hybrid electric motors. “More and more auto companies have awakened to
the fact that their sales are dependent on fuel prices,” Millett said, “so the
auto companies are investing more in fuel cells and pushing harder than any other
industry.”
2/18/2001 Fire Damages AmerenUE Power Plant by Joe Scalzo
- St. Louis Post-Despatch (MO)
A hydrogen leak on a high-temperature pipe sparked a fire
Saturday at AmerenUE's large energy plant near Labadie in Franklin County, burning a
30-foot hole in the plant's roof. The fire shut down one of the plant's four turbines.
...The 2,300-megawatt plant at Labadie is AmerenUE's largest. It sits on an 1,100-acre
site near the Missouri River about 35 miles west of downtown St. Louis. AmerenUE services
about 1.2 million people in the St. Louis region. The fire began about 11:30 a.m., and the
15 employees at the plant helped to contain the blaze until firefighters arrived. Fire
crews had contained it by 1 p.m., authorities said. No injuries were reported.
2/13/2001 DaimlerChrysler,
Mazda to Test Fuel Cells in Japan; Honda in California - AP
Mazda Motor Corp. and the Japanese unit of
DaimlerChrysler AG will start testing on public roads here super-clean experimental cars
that run on fuel cells, the automakers said Tuesday. Mazda, which is 33.4 percent owned by
Ford Motor Co., and DaimlerChrysler Japan Holding will use the latest fuel cells from
Ballard Power Systems of
Canada, which run on methanol. The road tests, which begin Thursday, are the first for
fuel cells on public roads backed by the Japanese government. Mazda's Premacy FC-EV -- a
new vehicle Mazda developed together with Ford -- and DaimlerChrysler's Necar5 will be
tested in Yokohama, near Tokyo. The tests will cover driving performance, fuel economy and
emission levels, officials said. Necar5 was first shown in Berlin in November.
2/12/2001 Ballard Paves
Way in Fuel-Cell Technology by Susan Elston - ENN
The Sunline Transit Agency is currently
testing the newest generation of the Ballard bus, the ZEbus, in the Palm Desert area of
Southern California. By 2002, DaimlerChrysler will have 33 commercial buses powered by
Ballard's fuel cell in 11 cities in Europe and Australia. ...Ballard is also conducting
research on stationary applications for fuel cells. A 250-kilowatt unit that generates
enough electricity to power 50 homes is currently being tested in the field. PEM fuel
cells are most appropriate for use under 1 MW capacity. DaimlerChrysler and Ford Motor
Company are major shareholders in Ballard Power Systems.
The company's principal customers include Honda, Nissan, Volkswagen and
General Motors.
2/12/2001 Metals Vie for Electric Car
Battery Dominance by Karen Norton - Reuters
Some industry sources saw HEVs as little more than a
stop-gap in the move to fuel cell vehicles -- an onboard charger which can also directly
drive the system. Hydrogen and electricity are burnt to create electricity, while
emissions are hot, distilled water. "Hybrids are at best an interim technology to
some form of pure electric vehicle," said Marcus Nurdin, Managing Director of the
World Fuel Cell Council. A combination of platinum and ruthenium is used in the fuel
cell's reformer -- stripping out hydrogen -- and in the membranes of the fuel cell stack.
...HEVs and fuel cells might exist side-by-side, said Andrew Keen of the London-based
metal consultancy CRU. But for fuel cells infrastructure questions, such as the safe
storage of hydrogen, still needed to be overcome, he added. Ultimately fuel cell cars
might be better for metals demand, CRU's Keen said. Performance and emissions pressures
had led to light-weighting of cars, and hence less metal consumption. But potential
efficiencies would negate that need.
2/12/2001 Energy Alternatives Spark
Investor Interest by Omar Sacirbey - Christian Science Monitor
Fueling interest is the growing belief that alternative
energy will play a key role in powering US homes and businesses in the future - one
accented by California's energy crisis. But, analysts warn, alternative-energy stocks can
be as volatile as those of any other young, growth-oriented companies. "This is a
buy-and-hold area, and the ride will be bumpy going out," says Walter Nasdeo, a vice
president at Bluestone Capital Securities. "But if you have the stomach to weather
the bumps … over the course of the life of the investment, the returns could be
substantial." ...The difference between alternative-energy companies and dotcoms,
analysts say, is what they have to offer. "Having your light switched off
involuntarily is a lot more compelling fundamental than buying groceries on the
Internet," says Sam Brothwell, senior energy-technology analyst at Merrill Lynch.
2/9/2002 Boil-off System Perfects
Hydrogen Tanks in Cars - Gastec (Netherlands)
The German car manufacturer BMW and Gastec started the
joint development of a system to improve the fuel system of hydrogen cars. Hydrogen is the
ideal clean fuel and a suitable environment-friendly alternative for use in vehicles. The
only residue after combustion is harmless water vapour. The boil-off system ensures that
in case of overpressure in the liquid hydrogen tank the excess hydrogen is converted to
water vapour in a safe manner. The system ignites the evaporated hydrogen without the use
of any external energy and burns it catalytically. Catalytic combustion leaves no harmful
residues. BMW is currently running 15 cars of type 750hL with a V12 internal combustion
engine on hydrogen. Gastec is experienced in the development of natural gas driven
vehicles, the use of hydrogen and the required regulatory framework. Gastec and BMW are
now seeking a partner to develop a production-ready prototype and subsequently market the
system. Development of the laboratory prototype will be completed by the end of this year.
2/9/2001 Californian Governor Hits Back at Power Crisis Critics
by Matthew Jones - Financial Times (UK)
Governor Davis' plan involves boosting output at existing
facilities, streamlining the siting of new plants, accelerating power plant construction
and providing incentives for distributed and renewable generation. ...The governor has
signed an executive order allowing emissions limits to be extended if generators pay
"mitigation fees" to maintain air quality standards by cleaning up older power
plants. He has also directed the California Energy Commission to quicken the approval
process for new plants to 21 days for facilities that contract directly with the
state-owned Department of Water Resources and can be on-line by the 2001 peak demand
period. The third strand to the plan is to provide an "acceleration bonus" fund
for developers who can complete new power projects by July 2001 - the amount of the bonus
will depend on the size of the facility. The final measure provides commercial incentives
and tax rebates for the development of environmentally-friendly energy sources such as
solar, wind and hydrogen fuel cells. "California must continue to build an
infrastructure that maximises renewable energy sources and promotes reliability for
businesses and homeowners," said Governor Davis.
2/9/2001 Hydrogen-Gas
Leak Causes Fire at Edison Power Plant - Toledo Blade (OH)
Hydrogen gas leaked into an electrical panel causing a
fire yesterday at Toledo Edison's Bayshore power plant in Oregon, Richard Wilkins, an
Edison spokesman, said. Plant workers said they heard a loud noise about 5 p.m. They found
that hydrogen used to cool turbines at the plant had ignited inside a circuit panel. That
caused a fire that Mr. Wilkins described as "a little smaller than a bushel
basket." It was extinguished by the plant's fire brigade about 5:20 p.m. There were
no injuries, and Edison and Oregon fire officials had no damage estimate last night. One
of the plant's four turbines was shut down because of the fire, but Mr. Wilkins said the
closing had no affect on Edison's power generation.
2/9/2001 Tank Burped, and Hanford Feels
Relieved by Linda Ashton - Seattle Post Intelligencer/AP (WA)
In the late 1980s, the mix of deadly waste in the 1.2
million gallon SY-101 tank began building up and releasing hydrogen gas in huge
"burps" every 100 days or so. On two or three occasions, the quantities were so
large -- as much as 10,000 cubic feet in 5 minutes -- they exceeded safety limits for
flammability for eight hours at a time. "If there had been an ignition source, we
might not be talking today," said Craig Groendyke, flammable gas project manager for
DOE's Office of River Protection.
2/8/2001 DuPont Forms Fuel Cell
Division - AP
DuPont said Thursday that it has formed a fuel-cell unit
to capture a piece of the growing market for the clean-energy technology the chemical
giant said it expects to be worth $10 billion by the end of the decade. ...DuPont said it
will at first supply materials, including its Nafion membranes, which have been used in
fuel cells for space travel for more than 35 years, and engineering polymers. DuPont said
it later plans to supply fuel-cell system developers with other products, including PEM
fuel cell stack components such as membrane electrode assemblies and conductive plates.
DuPont said it also is involved in the development of direct methanol fuel cell
technology. ...DuPont said it also plans partnerships with other companies to improve the
capabilities, availability and economic feasibility of fuel cell technology.
2/6/2001 Sunways IPO Set for Hot Debut
Amid Sector Appeal by Marijn van der Pas and Emily Kaiser - Reuters
"The big thing that happened last year was some
generous legislation in Germany for solar energy for the next few years," said Bruce
Jenkyn-Jones who manages the Environmental Technology Fund at Impax Capital Corp. He was
referring to a German law that set minimum prices for generated renewable energy and
obliged network operators to use it. "That provides a huge demand for cells. Everyone
is rushing to invest to expand capacity to meet this growing demand." ..."This
is part of a megatrend," Impax's Jenkyn-Jones said. "I firmly believe this is
the way power is going. These are the first tentative steps towards a hydrogen-based
energy economy and away from fossil fuels, but that's going to take a long time," he
said.
2/6/2001 Heat's On for Fuel Cell Stocks
by Hal Plotkin - CNBC
Analysts are looking at the entire fuel-cell sector again
as the California energy crisis drags on and it becomes clear that other parts of the
nation are running up against capacity limits.
2/6/2001 Replacing Oil With Hydrogen: Ford Exec Says
Hydrogen-Fueled Cars Are in Future - MSNBC/Reuters
Most car makers are developing fuel cell technology,
which uses a chemical process to convert hydrogen and atmospheric oxygen into electricity.
...Car makers say it will be many years before fuel cell cars are widely available
because of the high cost to make them and the difficulties of distributing and storing
hydrogen.
2/6/2001 Hydrogen
Storage Joint Venture Unveiled - Process Engineering
Shell Hydrogen, Hydro-Quebec (HQ) and Gesellschaft fur
Elektrometallurgie (GfE) are to establish a joint venture to develop, manufacture and
market hydrogen storage products. ...Shell Hydrogen, HQ and GfE are pursuing commercial
discussions regarding the proposed venture, which would involve the development of the
storage media through to the sale of hydride-based storage materials and devices. The
companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding late last year. The partners are convinced
that metal hydrides will provide the best means of safely and reliably storing hydrogen.
Metal hydrides work by 'trapping' the hydrogen inside a metal alloy; the storage is
particularly safe because the hydrogen atoms are bonded to the metal.
2/5/2001 World: Economic Growth
Unsustainable, Says Environmentalist by Ahto Lobjakas - Radio Free
Europe
Our correspondent first asked co-author Christopher
Flavin what constitutes economic unsustainability. Flavin says: "The current economy
is unsustainable in the sense that it's based on the use of non-renewable resources and on
patterns that can't continue indefinitely. For example, the energy system is based on
fossil fuels which are limited in nature and which are adding to greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere. A sustainable economy would be based on reuse and recycling of materials and
the through-put of the renewable energy that arrives on the Earth each day so that it
could go on -- in principle -- indefinitely. ...The challenge now is to move from the
carbon-dominated energy system of the 20th century to a hydrogen economy during the course
of the 21st century. A hydrogen economy would be based on the most abundant element in the
universe, which is broadly available in seawater and which can be turned into a useful
fuel using solar energy and other renewable forms of energy."
2/3/2001 Purring With
Power by Frank Green
- Union Tribune (San Diego, CA)
"The cars should be available in limited quantities
in 2004," said Rick Cooper, chief executive officer of Xcellsis Corp. Yesterday, the
Poway-based manufacturer of the prototype, hydrogen-powered engines cut the ribbon on its
50,000-square-foot factory off Scripps-Poway Parkway. It's a sign, observers say, that
automakers think fuel-cell technology could be the next king of the road. Xcellsis is the
result of a partnership between DaimlerChrysler, Ford and Ballard Power Systems.
DaimlerChrysler alone has committed $1 billion to bring fuel-cell cars to market. Other
companies like General Motors and Toyota also are investing in their own development of
fuel-cell cars. "We'll probably add another 30 employees this year," said
Xcellsis' Rick Cooper, noting that the company plans to produce 50 fuel-cell engines a
month at the factory. Cooper said he expects Poway and other areas of North County to
ultimately become a magnet for small companies looking to support the region's burgeoning
fuel-cell industry. (Ford's Think Group electric-vehicle enterprise, which is working with
Xcellsis, is based in Carlsbad.) "We should see some of our suppliers moving closer
to home," Cooper said.
2/2/2001 Ford Exerting a Lot of
Energy on Reducing its Energy Usage by James V. Higgins - The
Detroit News
Perhaps in about 100 years everything will run on
hydrogen -- cars, electric generation plants, the whole energy industry. Water will be the
basic fuel. Automobiles will have a device that splits H2O into hydrogen for combustion
and oxygen as a byproduct. Earth's biggest threat at that time will be oxygen pollution.
Environmentalists will demand that forests, sources of the noxious gas, be eradicated.
1/30/2001 Environmental Concerns Fuels Bus
- Canoe (CA)
Concerns about the environment have fueled efforts to
test a new kind of bus in this university city. The city's student-run transit
system will be among the first systems in the country to experiment with a bus that runs
on a mixture of natural gas and hydrogen, officials said Monday. A bus will be
converted to run on the fuel mixture and will probably be in operation by summer, said
Marshall Miller, an associate researcher at the University of California at Davis.
He said using natural gas instead of diesel in a bus can cut emissions of oxides of
nitrogen, a key pollutant in smog, by 50 percent. Adding hydrogen to the mix will
reduce pollution "a further 90 to 95 percent, a very significant reduction,"
Miller said.
1/29/2001 Fuel Cells Turn Sewage Into
Electricity by William McCall - MSNBC
“It’s no longer
science fiction,” said Steve Millett, one of the leading researchers in the field.
“It’s real.” Millett works at Battelle, the institute founded by a
steel industry family in Columbus, Ohio, which now develops all kinds of technology for
industry and the government, including NASA. Millett says fuel cell technology was
transformed during the last decade from a cottage industry into one of the most rapidly
expanding high-tech businesses in the world, partly due to the automotive industry’s
suddenly keen interest. “More and more auto companies have awakened to the fact
that their sales are dependent on fuel prices,” Millett said, “so the auto
companies are investing more in fuel cells and pushing harder than any other
industry.” ...At the Portland sewage treatment plant on
the peninsula formed by the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, the city is
generating electricity from only the third commercial fuel cell of its kind in the nation
to use waste “biogas.” The fuel cell began operating in July 1999.
It’s such a success that the Environmental Protection Agency gave the city a
“clean air excellence” award for converting waste gas from sewage into 200
kilowatts of electricity.
1/29/2001 Renewable
Energy's Renaissance by Peter Marsh - Financial Times (UK)
Last autumn, Robin Batchelor, a fund
manager at Merrill Lynch, toured London, Switzerland and the Channel Islands to try to
entice investors to a new fund for high-technology companies. The timing seemed poor,
given widespread disillusionment with internet and telecommunications businesses. Yet the
fund - which will invest in companies promoting novel energy technologies such as wind and
solar power - was heavily oversubscribed, closing at £200m. "People are realising
the fantastically exciting potential of these companies," says an animated Mr
Batchelor. Even a decade ago, alternative energy conjured up visions of idealists who
wanted to change the world and few investors were interested. But the mood has now swung
dramatically. Not only has the Californian energy crisis shown the pitfalls of
over-reliance on traditional fuels, but environmental concerns are growing over carbon
dioxide emissions from fossil fuel-burning power stations. Solar power too is becoming
more economically viable. The cost of generating a single watt of electricity from a solar
cell (a piece of silicon manufactured in a similar way to microchips) has fallen from $200
in 1980 to $3.50 today, according to Peter Aschenbrenner, vice-president for sales at
Denver-based Astropower, the world's fifth biggest maker of solar cells. The four biggest
companies in this field are all large enterprises - Germany's Siemens, Kyocera and Sharp
of Japan and the UK's BP. However, many analysts expect "pure play" solar
companies such as Astropower, Energy Conversion Devices of
the US and Atlantis of Switzerland to do most to encourage the development of solar
energy. Another form of energy production attracting interest is fuel cells -
devices that create electricity efficiently by mixing hydrogen (possibly from natural gas)
and oxygen from the air. While General Electric, Siemens and Alstom, the world's three
biggest makers of conventional power stations, are all keen on either developing or
selling fuel cells, the pace in this sector is again being set by smaller companies,
including
Ballard of Canada and Plug
Power and H-Power of the US.
1/29/2001 Fuel
Cells Will Set Us Free by William McCall - Seattle Times/AP
It's called the hydrogen economy, and we're on the brink
of it. Automakers are in a race to replace the internal-combustion engine with fuel cells.
And someday soon, a washing-machine-sized fuel cell might be quietly at work powering your
home - and perhaps even feeding some electricity back to the grid.
1/26/2001 Air Quality
Board Eases Mandate For Electric Cars by Robert Salladay - San
Francisco Chronicle (CA)
With powerful lobbyists from Detroit and
environmentalists from around the world watching, state air-quality officials voted last
night to revolutionize the car market by requiring 3 million electric and low-polluting
vehicles to be sold in California over the next decade. ...The California Air Resources Board
met yesterday in a basement board room, with about 200 automotive lobbyists and
environmentalists looking on, to consider the new regulations. For all of them, it was one
of their most high- stakes meetings in years. The new rules essentially require the
world's largest auto makers to sell only 4,650 pollution-free cars in 2003, increasing to
14,000 by the year 2012. That's fewer than the 22,000 that the board had earlier
recommended but is still the first such mandate in the nation. ...The final result,
environmentalists say, should be a greater number of cars that produce no pollution. That
may mean more electric cars, or more so-called "fuel-cell" vehicles that run on
hydrogen and air. AC Transit in Alameda County is testing some fuel-cell buses over the
next few years.
1/24/2001 Investors Plug into Alternative
Energy by Christina Fabiani - News Unlimited (Australia)
Since last week, when leading California power companies
Pacific Gas and Electric and Southern California Edison defaulted on payments to
creditors, two little-known companies, Plug Power and H Power, saw their share prices
surge 46 per cent and 32 per cent respectively.
1/23/2001 Coming Soon, a Broad Challenge to Polluting Automakers
by Thilo Bode - International Herald Tribune
A major confrontation is looming between car companies
and environmentalists. The public will have to take sides. Automakers are gearing up to
greatly expand the manufacture of cars. The industry is looking to possibly double the
number of cars and trucks on the road within a generation. There are already more than 670
million vehicles on the world's roads. Research done by the United Nations indicates that
by 2030 there could be from 1 to 1.5 billion vehicles in use. The greenhouse effect is
already causing the melting of polar ice caps and playing havoc with weather systems
around the world. Scientists tell us that if we continue using anywhere near the current
level of fossil fuels, things will get a lot worse. ...On present trends, in the coming
decades the car industry will be more dependent than ever on oil. ...Fuel cells, which
create electricity by "burning" hydrogen in a chemical process, can be a major
step forward. But if the hydrogen used is created (as automakers are now planning) by
burning fossil fuels, there is little or no reduction in polluting emissions.
1/22/2001 Fuel Cells Gain
Attention Amid Power Shortages -- Technology Converts Hydrogen Into Electricity and Water
by William McCall - AP/ABC News
1/21/2001 Toyobo Plans to Boost Fuel
Cell Efficiency - Asia Intelligence Wire/Daily Yomiuri (Japan)
Companies, such as Du Pont in the United States, Asahi
Chemical Industry and Asahi Glass Co., are in fierce competition to develop ion exchange
film, which greatly affect fuel cells' capacity. Toyobo's decision to embark on the new
project is expected to further heat up the competition. The ion exchange film developed by
Toyobo is used as an electrolyte to separate the ions from hydrogen inside a fuel cell,
which continuously changes the chemical energy of a fuel and an oxidant directly into
electrical energy. Existing ion exchange films function in temperatures between 70 and
90C. Toyobo, however, was successful in developing a highly heat-resistant film made of
zylon, a material with a dense molecular structure. The newly developed film can function
at temperatures between 120 and 130C--higher than the boiling point of water. The film
will enable the development of a highly energy-efficient fuel cell, capable not only of
generating electricity, but also of converting water produced in the process of
electricity generation into steam that can be used for heating.
1/20/2001 Fuel Cells May Redistribute
Power Nationally by William McCall - AP/KGW Northwest Newschannel 8
(Portland, OR)
Utilities, investors and government planners are now
starting to pay close attention to some down-to-Earth uses for a technology that converts
the most abundant element in the universe -- hydrogen -- into electricity and water.
"It's no longer science fiction," said Steve Millett, one of the leading
researchers in the field. "It's real." Millett works at Battelle, the institute
founded by a steel industry family in Columbus, Ohio, which now develops all kinds of
technology for industry and the government, including NASA. Millett says fuel cell
technology was transformed during the last decade from a cottage industry into one of the
most rapidly expanding high-tech businesses in the world, partly due to the automotive
industry's suddenly keen interest in hybrid electric motors. "More and more auto
companies have awakened to the fact that their sales are dependent on fuel prices,"
Millett said, "so the auto companies are investing more in fuel cells and pushing
harder than any other industry." ...Now dozens of manufacturers and many large
companies are considering fuel cell development in an industry that has one of the
fastest-growing trade associations in the country -- the U.S. Fuel Cell Council in
Washington, D.C.
1/19/2001 Hydrogen to Illuminate Araguaia
by Regina Scharf - Gazeta Mercantil (Sao Paulo, Brazil)
A lighting project on Bananal Island (in the new state of
Tocantins) promises to revolutionize the Amazon energy situation. The Companhia de
Geração de Energia Eletrica generating company, concessionnaire of the old CESP-Tiete,
is establishing a small plant that will generate the 40 kilowatts needed to light a
research center. The novelty is that the generating plant will be fueled by the waters of
the Javaes river, a tributary of the Araguaia, which has no slopes or waterfalls, that is
it is completely lacking in hydraulic potential. With the inauguration expected in March,
the project will be the first in Brazil - and probably in all of Latin America, to use
fuel cells to generate electricity from hydrogen. This technology is especially promising
because it is clean - polluting emissions are either low or null - and more efficient to
burn than other fuels, like ethanol or natural gas.
1/19/2000 Power Crisis Is Weapon in
Electric Car Debate by John O'Dell - Los Angeles Times (CA)
General Motors Corp., the company that once championed
electric cars, plans to use California's energy crisis as ammunition in a renewed attack
next week on the state's already watered-down zero-emissions vehicle rules. GM's top
energy executive said in an interview this week that the company will argue to the
California Air Resources Board on Thursday that it would be folly in the midst of an
electricity shortage to require auto makers to produce vehicles that must draw from the
state's maxed-out power grid. How the argument will play with the politically appointed
air board members is unclear, but staff spokesmen for both the board and the California
Energy Commission dismissed it out of hand. ...With technologies available today, the only
pure zero-emissions vehicles are battery-powered electrics that must be plugged in to the
grid to be recharged. But powering them would take less than 0.06% of the state's energy
output, said air board spokesman Rich Varenchik. That makes an electric car's daily drain
on the system equivalent to the electricity consumed by a single typical household--a
number on which the air board and GM appear to agree. But where GM insists this is too
much, clean-car proponents maintain that such usage has little effect because most car
battery recharging is done overnight, when demand is lowest.
1/18/2001 Ballard Power
Fuels Dreams of Green by Jason Margolis - CBS MarketWatch
"This (Ballard) is a difficult thing put into the
realm of conventional stock analysis because it is what I would call a late R& D
company," says Bob Morris, director of equity investments for Lord Abbett
International Funds. He holds a heavy stake in Ballard for the mutual funds he oversees,
which are sub advised by Fuji Investment Management of Japan. "In terms of cash flow
and earnings, this is not the kind of thing you can value on that basis. It's really the
idea of the concept, theme, and the type of sponsorship," says Morris. "The odds
do seem to favor a Ballard-type power system for the vehicle."
1/16/2001 MITZI PERDUE:
Hydrogen on Hold - Scripps Howard
Hydrogen has a number of advantages. For one thing, the
supply is almost limitless. To get a feel for how much hydrogen there is on our planet,
remember that water is made up of two atoms of hydrogen for every one atom of oxygen. Then
remember that the world's total water supply is estimated to be 326 million cubic miles.
In addition to being extraordinarily abundant, hydrogen is a powerful fuel. It's forceful
enough to power rockets into space. It's also a remarkably clean fuel. The by-product of
its combustion is water, and that water is so pure that the astronauts drink it. A
drawback is that it takes energy to separate the hydrogen atoms from the oxygen atoms in
water. Fortunately, however, the energy to do this is itself available in abundance. Solar
energy can do the job. As [John] Turner [NREL] puts it, "Our nuclear reactor is 93
million miles away. And the wastes are nicely sequestered." The sun's energy can be
captured using current technology. Turner calculates that 10,000 square miles of
photovoltaic cells would be enough to supply all this country's electrical needs. Wind
energy could also be used to get hydrogen from water. Turner believes that if we used wind
energy and solar energy to make hydrogen fuel, then our whole transportation system could
be pollution-free. "We'd have an energy infrastructure that will last as long as the
sun shines," he says. What about the performance of cars powered by hydrogen? "A
car based on fuel cell technology," he says, "will give you 80 to 90 miles a
gallon and the range will be comparable to current gasoline powered cars."
1/15/2001 Ballard,
DaimlerChrysler Dismiss Incorrect News Article, Reaffirm Fuel Cell Alliance Status - Ballard/Business Wire
A news article in the January 15 edition of Japan's
Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun is factually incorrect in stating that DaimlerChrysler AG will buy
automotive fuel cells from the Mitsubishi Group, ending an exclusive relationship with
Ballard Power Systems. Ballard and DaimlerChrysler remain
committed to their exclusive proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell alliance, which also
includes Ford Motor Company.
1/12/2001 High Natgas Prices Cut
Low Sulphur Diesel Output - Reuters/Yahoo
High natural gas prices increase the cost of
producing hydrogen that refineries use in the desulphurization process to make low sulphur
diesel. The soaring natural gas prices have also impacted production of reformulated
gasoline and liquified petroleum gasses (LPG). High natural gas prices are linked to
low inventories heading into winter. Record cold in November and December drove gas prices
to new all-time highs. In broader context, sagging production early this year coupled with
rising demand, primarily linked to new gas-fired power generators, set the stage for the
price spike.
1/11/2001 Fuel-Cell Battle Likely to
Polarize Automobile Iindustry by Norio Mochizuki - Yomiuri Shimbun
Increasing public awareness of environmental
issues such as global warming and air pollution has cast doubt on the future of the
internal-combustion engine, which generates power by burning hydrocarbon fuel. ...The
three companies aim to develop "clean" hydrocarbon fuel with similar
characteristics to gasoline but with a lower sulfur content, using technology including
that of Exxon Mobile. ...The companies that can establish a de facto global standard for
fuel-cell technology will be the future leaders in the automobile industry. ...Seven of
the 11 Japanese automakers, including Nissan, have accepted foreign capital. This is a new
development. It is not known what alliances domestic automakers will form to survive in
the age of cross-border tie-ups and capital partnerships. It may be more difficult to
predict the future map of the automobile industry than to predict which energy
source--gasoline or methanol--will be put to practical use for fuel-cell cars in the
future.
1/11/2001 Kajima Plans to Market
Garbage-Recycling Plant - Yumiuri Shibun
Kajima Corp. has announced plans to market a recycling
plant that will convert hydrogen generated from kitchen garbage into electricity. The
major construction company plans to sell the plant to food factories, hotels, commercial
facilities and local governments that currently produce large amounts of such garbage,
company officials said. ...During the conversion process, the kitchen garbage first will
be decomposed by high-temperature methane bacteria. Hydrogen generated from the methane
gas will then react with oxygen to provide electricity for fuel cells, according to the
officials. ...According to the company, 580 kilowatts per hour--enough to supply an
ordinary household with electricity for two months--will be generated from one ton of
kitchen garbage. ...The company intends to experiment with small plants for apartments and
office buildings capable of processing several hundred kilograms of garbage a day next
fiscal year, according to the officials. The officials said the technology could also be
used to generate energy to power electric vehicles. The company expects the plants to
generate sales of about 1 billion yen in fiscal 2001 and about 5 billion yen three years
later.
1/12/2001 High Natgas Prices Cut
Low Sulphur Diesel Output - Reuters/Yahoo
High natural gas prices increase the cost of
producing hydrogen that refineries use in the desulphurization process to make low sulphur
diesel. The soaring natural gas prices have also impacted production of reformulated
gasoline and liquified petroleum gasses (LPG). High natural gas prices are linked to
low inventories heading into winter. Record cold in November and December drove gas prices
to new all-time highs. In broader context, sagging production early this year coupled with
rising demand, primarily linked to new gas-fired power generators, set the stage for the
price spike.
1/12/2001 High Natgas Prices Cut
Low Sulphur Diesel Output - Reuters/Yahoo
High natural gas prices increase the cost of
producing hydrogen that refineries use in the desulphurization process to make low sulphur
diesel. The soaring natural gas prices have also impacted production of reformulated
gasoline and liquified petroleum gasses (LPG). High natural gas prices are linked to
low inventories heading into winter. Record cold in November and December drove gas prices
to new all-time highs. In broader context, sagging production early this year coupled with
rising demand, primarily linked to new gas-fired power generators, set the stage for the
price spike.
1/10/2001 Can Biomass be Transformed into
New Energy Source for New Century? by Masaharu Asaba
- Daily Yomiuri (Japan)
Human beings have been using branches and dry grass since
they first started to use fire. Using biomass was the starting point for early human
existence. It was only when we entered the 20th century that we gradually began to move
away from biomass, as the use of electricity, gas and petroleum as energy sources
prevailed. But biomass has again started to draw attention, because it does not increase
the amount of carbon dioxide--one of the causes of global warming--in the air. ...Is there
any way for biomass to regain its former appeal? One way may be to implement policies to
give use of biomass certain advantages, such as imposing an environment tax on oil and
gasoline, which produce carbon dioxide. Another would be to add value to biomass by not
burning it, but instead transforming it into new energy resources, such as ethanol or
hydrogen. This is technically feasible. Ethanol is a raw material used in various sectors
of the chemical industry, and there are high expectations of hydrogen, as it will be used
as a fuel for fuel-cell cars, which will be available for commercial use in three years.
1/10/2001 Firm to Mass-Produce Cheap
Ethanol - Yomiuri Shimbun (Japan)
Nihon Shokuryo's new business is seen as a
pioneer in the nation's all-out efforts to develop new energy sources. ...The plant will
have the capacity to process 10 tons of waste and produce 2.5 tons of ethanol a day, the
sources said. The expected price of the produced ethanol will be only half of the 100,000
yen that the government pays to purchase a kiloliter of industrial ethanol, the sources
said. ...Furthermore, as hydrogen can be generated from biomass, the firm will also
attempt to generate electricity using fuel cells, according to the sources. If such
fuel-cell power generation technology is put into practice, observers said,
nonmanufacturing companies may be able to generate enough electricity by processing their
waste paper to avoid depending on an outside electricity supply.
1/9/2001 Hypercar Piques the Auto
Industry, Pushed by Green Guru Amory Lovins by Jeffrey Ball - Wall
Street Journal
Hypercar’s strategy is to prove its
technology by selling to fleets such as utility companies and delivery services that could
install centralized hydrogen-refueling facilities. ...BP Amoco PLC has invested about
$500,000 in Hypercar. Its hope is that
Mr. Lovins’s project will spur the world’s established auto makers to move
boldly to produce cleaner vehicles. more
1/8/2001 New Fuel Cell Marries
Technologies to Create Energy Efficiently, Cleanly by Byron Spice -
Post Gazette (Pittsburgh, PA)
The future of electrical generation may
arrive in southern California this week when engineers from Siemens Westinghouse Power
Corp. switch on a revolutionary new power plant. It's not that this power plant is an
immediate solution to the Golden State's power woes. No bigger than a trailer-truck, it
generates 220 kilowatts of electricity. That's enough to power an office building, 100
homes or perhaps a small ship, but not to relieve power shortages in a state where demands
reach 32,000 megawatts. What is notable is the way it generates power. Rather than burning
fuel to turn a generator, it electrochemically converts natural gas directly into
electrical current. It then uses heat produced by this process to run a turbine,
generating even more electricity. The result is a system of unprecedented efficiency that
produces little in the way of pollution. Siemens Westinghouse calls it a solid oxide fuel
cell/gas turbine hybrid. Mark Williams of the National Energy Technology Laboratory calls
it "remarkable." "As far as I know, there's no device that can match
it," said Williams, who heads fuel cell development at the lab's Strategic Center for
Natural Gas. "It's got incredible efficiency," converting almost 60 percent of
the energy in natural gas into electricity, compared with the 35 percent typical of
conventional power plants. "It produces half the carbon dioxide [of a conventional
plant] and has no regulated emissions." The hybrid plant was trucked last month from
the Siemens Westinghouse Science and Technology Center in Churchill to the National Fuel Cell Research
Center in Irvine, Calif. An extended demonstration run for Southern California Edison
and the U.S. Department of Energy is to begin there this week.
1/5/2001 Nippon Mitsubishi Oil
Corporation Plans Home Fuel Cell Power System Sales - Daily Yumiuri (Japan)
The nation's largest oil distributor, Nippon Mitsubishi
Oil Corp., said Wednesday it would begin marketing a fuel cell power generation system for
home use as early as 2004. Product development is to begin at a new plant that will be
completed this month at the company's refinery in Yokohama. ...Nippon Mitsubishi's system
requires a generator about the size of a refrigerator to be installed at each home. The
generator produces electricity from petroleum products such as gasoline. The electricity
can be used to run household appliances, and for heating the floor and water by utilizing
the heat produced in the electricity-generation process. About 60 percent of the
electricity produced at power plants is discharged as heat and only about 35 percent is
actually used.
1/4/2001 About 45 Are Evacuated Near I-270 in Creve Coeur by
Donald Franklin and Phil Sutin - St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO)
Creve Coeur authorities ordered the
evacuation of about 45 people from their homes near Interstate 270 between Olive Boulevard
and Ladue Road after a tractor-trailer hauling tanks of potentially dangerous hydrogen gas
became disabled Wednesday afternoon. Chief William Brandes of the Creve Coeur Fire
Protection District said the tractor-trailer rig had exited Highway 40 (Interstate 64)
onto northbound Interstate 270 about 3:30 p.m. when the driver noticed that the rear of
the trailer had begun to collapse into the leaf springs and the tires, scorching the rear
fender. The driver, who was not identified, pulled the rig onto the shoulder and called
for help. Brandes said the load included 54 tubes, each containing 1,332 cubic feet of
hydrogen. Workers took several hours to load the tubes onto a flatbed trailer.
Firefighters from Maryland Heights, Chesterfield and Metro West fire protection districts
assisted Creve Coeur. Authorities closed the expressway while firefighters and other
workers accessed the situation and while workers transferred the tubes. Authorities
ordered the evacuation for the time of the transfer.
1/4/2001 Families
Return Home in Creve Coeur After Hydrogen Scare - KSDK-TV, St. Louis
(MO)
Dozens of families in Creve Coeur are
breathing a little easier after being forced to evacuate their homes. They faced a
potentially- explosive situation from a shipment of hydrogen. The families evacuated last
night live in homes between Ladue Road and Olive along Interstate 270. Shortly before 5
p.m. yesterday, a truck carrying 40-thousand pounds of liquid hydrogen broke down on
Interstate 270 just north of Ladue Road. Workers tried for nearly four hours to repair the
vehicle so it could be moved. When that failed, 75 nearby homes were evacuated and the
highway shutdown so the tanks could be transferred to another vehicle.
| CHBC Note: What at first appears to have been an
over-reaction on the part of the authorities to a smoking tire was actually the standard
response under federal transportation regulations to a possible fire on a hazardous cargo
shipment . The KSDK-TV report identifying the cargo as liquid hydrogen is in error.
Neither liquefied hydrogen nor compressed hydrogen gas can explode within the
vessel. A mixture of air and hydrogen must be present for ignition. However, a
fire engulfing a tank could result in overpressure and release of gas, creating a
hydrogen-fueled fire. Liquid hydrogen tanks are designed to vent, and compressed
tanks are built with plugs that, in the event of fire, melt to release the gas before
pressure would cause the tank to rupture. When the gas escapes, it begins to burn
only when air mixes with it. For example, the dirigible Hindenberg did not explode.
It burned. |
1/3/2001 Fuel Cell Storage System a Leader - Calgary Herald
(Canada)
Calgary's
Dynetek Industries Ltd. is in the global race to become the premier manufacturer of fuel
storage systems for compressed natural gas and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Founded in
1991, Dynetek boasts contracts with Vancouver fuel cell giant Ballard Power
Systems, has been selected by Ford to provide the fuel storage system for its
protype fuel cell vehicle and has Mitsubishi as a strategic partner and shareholder. The
company, tucked away in Foothills Industrial Park, is the brainchild of Swiss immigrant
Heinz Portmann, who came to Canada in 1957 at the age of 20 after finishing his mandatory
army service. ...In 1997, it was selected to supply the fuel storage systems for Ballard's
fuel cell buses in Vancouver and Chicago and is the preferred supplier of compressed
hydrogen storage tanks by partners of the California Fuel Cell Project. Last August, the
company signed the value participation agreement with Ford to supply hydrogen tanks during
the development phase of its hydrogen-fueled vehicle program, a deal that also gives
Dynetek an introduction to Jaguar, Mazda and Volvo. Portmann believes Dynetek's best
growth prospects are in the U.S. mass transit market, where there are five bus
manufacturers, but there is one minor problem: in order to qualify for a federal subsidy,
60 per cent of the bus' cost has to be incurred in the U.S. That means each supplier has
to have 60 per cent of its part made in the U.S. Dynetek is currently looking at
establishing an assembly facility in California where the carbon fibre would be applied to
the U.S. bound cylinders and effectively circumvent the 'buy America' rule.
1/3/2001 Next-Generation
Car Project Likely to Fuel Vehicle Race - The Yomiuri Shimbun/Daily
Yomiuri (Japan)
A plan by Toyota Motor Corp., General Motors Corp. and
Exxon Mobil Corp. to jointly develop next-generation fuel-cell cars is believed to be
intended to lead the market for the vehicles, whose demand is expected to swell in the
21st century. The three partners have just entered the final phase of negotiations to
reach an agreement to jointly develop and apply technology, under which hydrogen would be
extracted from gasoline for use in fuel cells, as soon as possible, according to industry
sources. ...The joint project will focus on the third stage of the technology, which
involves the conversion of gasoline to hydrogen within vehicles, apparently with the aim
of establishing in advance the necessary infrastructure, including a system to supply the
energy source, in addition to ensuring the efficiency of fuel-cell vehicles. This is
because the three partners reportedly believe the establishment of such an infrastructure
is pivotal to public acceptance of the new technology. If implemented, the technology to
convert gasoline to hydrogen will enable existing networks of gas stations to be used as
an infrastructure to supply energy for the fuel-cell vehicles. Little additional
investment will be required to develop technology to prepare the energy-supply
infrastructure on a global scale, and users will be able to access existing energy-supply
networks. However, the direct hydrogen-injection technology continues to face some major
challenges, such as methods for storing and supplying hydrogen that are currently
hindering practical applications despite the fact that it is the most
environmentally-friendly of all fuel-cell technologies.
1/3/2001 One Dead, Two Injured
Critically in Explosion, Fire at Utility Substation - AP/Chemical
Incident Report Center
One of the severely burned workers in an
Everett electrical substation explosion and fire died at Massachusetts General Hospital in
Boston, while two co-workers remained in critical condition. Robert Lydon, believed to
have been in his early 40s, died at 1:40 a.m. Thursday, according to Victoria Brady, Mass.
General spokesperson. Lydon, Stefania Stoke and Mylene Larsen, believed to be in their
30s, were taken to the Boston hospital with second- and third-degree burns following the
explosion at Massachusetts Electric Co.'s Glendale substation in Everett shortly before
noon Wednesday, company officials said. A fourth worker was outside the substation at the
time of the 11:45 a.m. accident, and escaped injury. The accident happened during routine
service at the substation, according to a statement issued by the state's Office of Public
Safety, and an investigation into its cause was under way. The explosion also knocked out
electrical service near the downtown section of the Boston suburb, including to City Hall,
a fire station and a senior citizens' housing complex. Services operated on backup power,
Mass. Electric spokeswoman Deborah Drew said, until all power was restored by 11:52 p.m.
Wednesday. The victims came running out of the building in flames, according to witnesses,
and area residents doused the flames with buckets of water and their own coats. Ali went
to help Lydon. ``The guy was worried about the girls. He said 'Go help the girls ...'''
Ali said. The Red Cross set up an emergency evacuation center, and provided food, cots and
blankets to about a dozen people, a spokeswoman said.
1/2/2001 DaimlerChrysler to Deliver First Fuel-Cell Van by
John Griffiths - Financial Times, London (UK)
The first fuel cell-powered DaimlerChrysler vehicle to go
into commercial service will be delivered to a Hamburg courier company this year. Delivery
of the modified Mercedes-Benz Sprinter panel van is a significant step in
DaimlerChrysler's E1bn ($939,000), 10-year programme to put commercially viable fuel-cell
vans and cars on the world's roads from 2004. Unlike the fuel-cell-powered cars being
developed by the big manufacturers, including DaimlerChrysler, the van's fuel cell runs on
pure pressurised hydrogen, which requires specialised refuelling facilities. This limits
the two-year trial to a radius of about 50 miles around the Hamburg refuelling depot.
...Meanwhile, the main provider of fuel cells to the vehicle industry, Vancouver-based Ballard Power
Systems, said on Tuesday it was to supply Nissan with US$2.4m worth of its
latest power packs for Nissan's fuel cell car programme.
1/1/2001 Back to Basics
by Jan Matlis - Computerworld
Xybernaut Corp., one of the main makers of wearable computers, has introduced hydrogen
fuel cells manufactured by DCH Technology Inc. in
Valencia, Calif., to power its Mobile Assistant IV. "Fuel cells can potentially prove
[to be] an unlimited supply of portable power and may be the perfect solution to the
currently limited life for batteries used for portable electronics," says Edward G.
Newman, president and CEO of Fairfax, Va.-based Xybernaut. The company anticipates that a
hydrogen fuel cell could keep a Mobile Assistant IV running for 12 to 24 hours, he says.
This particular fuel cell was developed in cooperation with the Electronic and
Electrochemical Materials and Devices Group at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New
Mexico. Its design is cylindrical, about the size of a standard 9-volt battery, including
the hydrogen supply. The hydrogen canister is at the center of the cylinder and provides
the gas to stacked, disclike fuel cells. ...Conrad Electronic AG, a German electronics
retailer, sells a hydrogen fuel cell for notebook computers that's produced by another
German firm, the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems. Empty hydrogen fuel
reservoirs, which are removable parts of the cell's flat design, may be exchanged at
Conrad Electronic outlets for full reservoirs.
1/1/2001 'Hybrids' the Next Big Thing for
Clean Driving by Eijiro Ueno and Tetsuji Inoue - The Age (Australia)
Car makers are also racing to develop cars powered by
hydrogen fuel cells, another low-pollution technology. Fuel cells combine hydrogen and
oxygen to make electricity with little other than water vapor as a by-product.
"Reasonably priced fuel cell vehicles will be released in 2010 at the earliest,"
Mr Cho said. For that reason, hybrids are the best option to meet new environmental
regulations. Toyota, which last year said it would join a fuel cell research partnership
organised by California, planned to develop a fuel-cell test-car by 2003, Mr Cho said. He
said Toyota was hoping to work closely with affiliates such as Daihatsu and Hino Motors,
Japan's biggest truck maker, to offer cleaner vehicles "instead of forming equity
alliances with foreign companies". As part of efforts to bring those cleaner
products to market, Mr Cho said Toyota could establish a fuel cell technology planning
division and information technology management division, pooling resources across its
affiliates and group companies.
1/1/2001 Motor Companies Plan Production
of Fuel-Cell Cars - Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Japan's
Toyota Motor Corporation, the US General Motors Corporation, and the oil major Exxon
Mobil, plan to jointly develop environmentally friendly cars powered by fuel cells. The
three firms are in the final phase of talks on plans to start marketing their fuel-cell
cars in 2003. ...The new fuel-cell cars will be powered by gasoline-derived hydrogen which
is subsequently used to generate electricity.
1/1/2001 Growth in Store for Alternative
Fuels in 2001 - AltFuels Advisor
Beyond this year, the U.S. government and
the automotive industry are looking ahead to fuel cells and ultimately, a hydrogen fuel
economy.
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