4/30/2001  Move to Build a Stronger Base On Alternative Cleaner Power by Matthew Jones  -  Financial Times (UK)

Fuel cells, which convert hydrogen to electricity, heat and water vapour through an electro-chemical reaction, are still at a relatively embryonic stage but are developing rapidly. Manufacturers, such as Ballard Power Systems of Canada and Fuel Cell Energy (FCE) of the US, have, in recent months, begun to make the transition from pilot projects to first commercial sales. Ballard, which specialises in fuel cells for the transportation market, has signed an agreement to supply cells for 30 public buses in 10 European cities. FCE produces larger fuel cells for the stationary power market. It is expected this summer to win a contract to supply 12 fuel cells to Connecticut under an agreement with Enron, the US energy group. The pace of deployment of fuel cells into the transport market is currently uncertain and will depend on the motor and oil industries agreeing what fuel to use as a source of hydrogen. The ideal solution is to use pure hydrogen gas, but oil companies argue that this requires a lot of storage capacity and would mean building a new fuel infrastructure around the world at vast expense. Other solutions are being developed, including the use of methanol or ordinary petrol, from which hydrogen can be produced onboard the vehicle via a reformer. Industry observers are more confident about the market for stationary fuel cells. According to a study published in March by Allied Business Intelligence, an independent US researcher, global electricity generating capacity from fuel cells will grow from just 75MW in 2001 to 15,000MW by 2010. The countries expected to take the lead are the US, Germany and Japan.

4/28/2001  Nuclear Reactor Stopped Over Hydrogen Leak - UNIAN/BBC

The No 3 generating set of the South Ukrainian nuclear power plant was disconnected from the national energy grid at 1053 [0753 gmt] today due to faults in operation, according to the Nuclear Control Administration. The halt was caused by excessive leakage of hydrogen from the cooling system, which is potentially dangerous because it may cause a fire or explosion of the gas mixture.

4/27/2001  Fuel Cells Hold Promise as Power Source for Portables by Charles J. Murray - EE Times

"Fuel cells are definitely a reality today," said Kristopher Gardner, a chemical engineer with the U.S. Army's Communications Electronics Command (Fort Belvoir, Va.). "This is not a technology that's 20 years away." Engineers at symposium sessions said that hydrogen- and methanol-based fuel cells could fill a looming need for a new power source, particularly as cell phones combine the features of personal digital assistants. Very soon, they said, some cell phones are expected to climb from power draws of between 1 and 3 W to more than 5 W in some cases. "The power consumption of these devices is ramping up, and batteries can't meet the needs," said Mark Daugherty, chief scientist of DCH Technology Inc. (Valencia, Calif.). "So the manufacturers are looking to fuel cells to grow into those higher-power applications."

4/26/2001  Perth to Trial Hydrogen Fuel Cell Bus  - Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Federal Environment Minister Robert Hill has announced the Commonwealth Government will provide $2.5 million for Perth to run trials of three hydrogen fuel cell buses as part of a massive international trial. ...Senator Hill says the initiative could see the growth of other industries in Australia, with BP building a small purification unit at its Kwinana refinery to produce the high quality hydrogen required.

4/25/2001  MTI Bets on Fuel Cells for Cell Phones - EE Times

Staff additions announced last week will bring a critical mass to MTI's development process, said president William Acker. Jay Neutzler and Xiaoming Ren, celebrated inventors of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell technology, will join MTI in systems engineering capacities, Acker said. Ren comes to MTI from the Los Alamos National Laboratory, which had licensed DMFC technology to MTI earlier this year. Like an ordinary battery, the micro fuel cell is electrochemical in nature, except that it uses a continuous fuel source for the electrochemical reaction, Acker said. Unlike battery technology, the amount of energy available from a fuel cell is dependent not on the storage capacity of the energy source, but on the amount of fuel you can bring in, he said. By loading a liquid electrolyte from cylinders the size of a fountain pen cartridge, MTI believes it can power a fuel cell with 10 times the amount of "juice" or "talk time" as that produced by a conventional lithium-ion cell phone battery, Acker said. ...In addition to its own micro fuel cell operation, MTI has set up a number of public companies devoted to developing and promoting a different aspect of energy management and transmission. Plug Power Inc., for example, is developing fuel cells for large scale power transmission systems. MTI also holds an interest in Satcon Technology Corp., an alternative energy company, and in Beacon Power Corp., which develops flywheel-based energy storage systems.

4/23/2001  Fuel Cells Face Acid Test - E4: Engineering

Solid acids can conduct electricity at similar values to polymers, don't need to be hydrated, and can function at temperatures up to 250 degrees Centigrade. Solid acids are also typically inexpensive compounds that are easy to manufacture. But until now such solid acids have not been examined as fuel-cell electrolytes because they dissolve in water and can lose their shape at slightly elevated temperatures. To solve these problems, Haile and her colleagues operated the fuel cell at a temperature above the boiling point of water, and used a solid acid, CsHSO4, that is not very prone to shape changes. The next challenge, said Haile, is to reduce the electrolyte thickness, improve the catalyst performance, and prevent the reactions that can occur upon prolonged exposure to hydrogen.

4/20/2001  DARPA Donates New Fuel Cells to Marine Corps Communications and Electronics School by Cpl. Brent Walker - U.S. Marine Corps

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency recently donated two hydrogen-powered fuel cells for use by students at the Marine Corps Communications and Electronics School. The fuel cells work much like batteries, but the hydrogen that now powers them is cheap and replaceable. That means the cells can be used over and over again. "During tests at a recent Combined Arms Exercise, we were able to replace $8,000 in traditional batteries with $250 in hydrogen," said Dr. Bob Nowak, DARPA program manager. Nowak explained that each 12-volt fuel cell, known as a "personal power system," can power a communications re-transmit site or two PRC-119 field radios. In the future, he explained, the fuel cells will be powered by methanol rather than hydrogen. Ultimately, he said, fuel cell developers would like to see a JP8-powered fuel cell.

4/20/2001  Solid Acid Fuel Cells Showing Some Potential - AP/Atlanta Constitution (GA)

Sossina Haile and her colleagues at Caltech report in Thursday's journal Nature that they created a possible alternative that runs at mid-range temperatures of 320 degrees by making a ''sandwich'' of cesium hydrogen sulfate --- a solid acid --- and a platinum catalyst. They were able to generate a modest amount of current for several days when they pumped hydrogen gas into the acid sandwich, called an electrolyte. ...Drawbacks to the Caltech design includes the possibility of accidental overheating, which could melt the acid sandwich, and the chance it could get wet and dissolve when it is turned off and cools down. Michael Krumpelt, fuel cell program manager at Argonne National Laboratory, said these drawbacks mean the materials are unlikely to find any useful application.

4/19/2001  Free From Oil: Scientist Dreams of World Fueled by Hydrogen by Lee Dye - ABC

In recent years, Wescott has returned to the idea of building geothermal power plants in the Aleutians, and using that electricity to produce hydrogen. The hydrogen could be liquified, he says, and shipped to Asia or the west coast of the United States. One of the largest geothermal resources he found in his earlier research is near the major port deepwater port of Dutch Harbor, making it almost seem as though providence planned the whole thing. Wescott approached several government agencies with his idea, but so far, nothing has come of it. "They said there's no market" for the hydrogen, he says.

4/19/2001  Power Cells Get Warm by Phillip Ball - Nature (UK)

The electric car may be on the way, but it's taking a long time to get here. Now a new type of fuel cell could prove cheap, reliable and robust enough to speed things up. Developed at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, the prototype cell converts hydrogen to electricity more efficiently than existing devices, and at temperatures many engineers consider ideal. ...Fuel-cell engineers currently work on 'hot' or 'cool' devices that run above 600^o C or below 100^o C, respectively. Sossina Haile and colleagues have combined elements of both to come up with a warm cell that works somewhere in between.

4/19/2001  Researchers Develop New, Warm Fuel Cell - Scientific American

The new, warm fuel cell marries a solid electrolyte, such as those found in solid-oxide cells, with the hydrogen-ion conduction used in polymer-electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells. Its developers hope that with some further optimization, the warm fuel cell will create higher voltages at greater efficiencies than its predecessors.

4/19/2001  Oil and Motor Groups All Look Beyond Petroleum by Terry Macalister and David Gow - The Guardian     (UK)

If experiments under way in the US and Europe are successful, petrol will no longer be at the centre of debate because it will have been replaced by a completely different fuel. ...Exxon Mobil (which trades as Esso in Britain) and BP are blazing a trail in the development of hydrogen and fuel cells technology. Exxon claims to be spending $100m a year on research with General Motors and Toyota. BP, whose chief executive, Sir John Browne, controversially claimed last year that the company's name should come to mean "beyond petroleum", is working with General Motors on a fuel cell programme and last month announced plans to introduce hydrogen fuel cell buses in five European cities in collaboration with DaimlerChrysler.

4/18/2001  An End to Recharging for Mobile Phones - ZDNet

Casio, Siemens and other manufacturers of phones and PDAs are already building prototype devices that use the new power cells, developed at the Department for Energy Technology at the Fraunhofer-Institute -- Germany's answer to MIT. The plan is to replace rechargeable batteries in mobile devices with a miniature version of the hydrogen fuel cell used to power electric cars, and recharge it with a super-efficient solar cell built into the devices. ...Four Germans at the Fraunhofer Department based in Plymouth, Michigan, have developed what what they call a series-ripe gas cell system. Like solar cells, this system offers attractive advantages compared to rechargeable batteries: significantly higher storage capacity, long lifetime, flat and variable designs, and extremely low self-discharge. Visitors to the fair will see the fuel cell powering a camcorder. The cell has an output of ten watts with a voltage of eight volts, is hardly larger than a matchbox and combines a polymer membrane fuel cell with a hydrogen storage unit. Longer operating times can be achieved by fitting a larger storage unit. Fraunhofer first demonstrated this with a laptop at the Hanover Trade Fair in 1998. Among the development-partners for this prototype were Siemens PC Systems (now Fujitsu Siemens) and Aventis.

4/17/2001  Quiet DG Storm Building by Tim Sharp - Power Online

If the recent low-key announcement that Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries (IHI) bought 7% of U.S.-based Mosaic Energy didn’t exactly blow your mind, fellas, you’re forgiven. I mean, who would have? But pay attention now, this is heavy stuff! Mosaic’s been running field tests of its residential proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell at a Chesterton, IN housing development for close to nine months now. Its parents are NiSource and the Gas Technology Institute (GTI). Guess you’re beginning to sit up. And IHI’s not just a name to conjure with over in Japan, but its itty-bitty shareholding gives it Pacific Rim distribution rights for Mosaic’s product. That’s right. IHI’s going to combine Mosaic’s fuel cell stacks with its own fuel processing and balance-of-plant technology to offer distributed power generation to Japanese gas stations, convenience stores, supermarkets, apartment blocks–pretty much the cream of the country’s commercial and residential power markets! More than that, the deal means Mosaic is on track to begin prototype production any time now to ramp up to full scale operations by the second half of 2002.

4/14/2001  Supercar Project May Run Out of Gas by Nedra Pickler - AP/Detroit News

The president wants to cut funding for the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles by $39 million, or 28 percent. ..."We're redesigning that program," Abraham said. "I think it will be more productive spending to focus on where the industry is headed." The industry is focusing on fuel cells, which produce energy from a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen. The byproduct is water. However, the technology is expensive. The industry is pushing for a $4,000 tax credit to help consumers offset the cost of fuel-cell vehicles.

4/13/2001  Small Fuel Processor Powers Light-Weight Soldiers’ System - PNNL

When 21^st century soldiers suit up for the battlefield in helmets featuring image displays and laser range finders, one of their most important accessories may be a new power generator so lightweight a soldier can carry it with him. The "man-portable generator" is being developed at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory for the U.S. Army's Communications-Electronics Command. ...In March, PNNL engineers reached the first major milestone in development when they demonstrated a full-size, advanced design fuel processor that converts methanol into hydrogen. Because hydrogen wouldn't need to be stored or carried, the fuel processor would reduce the weight and risk associated with portable power systems.  more

4/13/2001  U.S. Hoping May Flight Will Exceed 5,000 mph by Peter Pae - Los Angeles Times/Seattle Times (WA)

The science behind the scramjet has been one of the more difficult barriers to overcome. The common turbojet uses turbines inside the engine to compress air, which ignites with kerosene to create combustion and then thrust. Although the turbojet is efficient at subsonic speeds of conventional airliners, air flows too slowly and overheats the engine at high speeds. Ramjets are basically a hollow tube with no moving parts, resolving the temperature problem. They can propel an aircraft past Mach 2, or twice the speed of sound. Airflow into the front of the ramjet is compressed and mixed with fuel. The resulting combustion creates thrust. But the ramjet cannot power an aircraft past Mach 5. That requires a scramjet, in which gases can flow at supersonic speeds. Although it is mechanically simple, it is vastly more complex aerodynamically than a jet engine. For instance, the front end of the X-43A, such as the flat nose, helps compress the oxygen before it enters the copper alloy chamber, where it mixes with hydrogen and burns, creating pressure from the expanding gas to propel the plane forward.

4/12/2001  Japan Cosmo Oil Develops Butane-Based Fuel Cell - E4: Engineering

Japan's fourth-largest oil refinery by domestic sales said it had developed the environmentally friendly system with the help of electronics conglomerate Toshiba Corp. ...In February, Japan's largest oil refiner, Nippon Mitsubishi Oil Corp , launched trials of an experimental fuel cell using gasoline/naphtha.

4/10/2001  First Wave of Fuel Cells Are in Electronic Devices by David L. Chandler - Boston Globe (MA)

The first serious marketing of fuel cells to consumers is not as a new, clean and renewable way to power cars (although Ford has a $6 million prototype car). Nor does it provide power for a home or small business (though such devices may reach the market this year at prices of $10,000 and up). No, the first fuel cells most people will ever see provide juice for the ubiquitous cell phone. For the last few weeks, they have been hanging on a rack at the local Circuit City or Wal-Mart store, called Instant Power and priced at $19.95. ...The fuel cells that Electric Fuel has developed for cell phones and other electronic devices - and even for their prototype buses - run on powdered zinc, rather than the more common hydrogen.

4/10/2001  Canada's OPG Establishes Renewables Investment Fund - Renewable Energy Project/Financial Times (UK)

Ontario Power Generation (OPG), the generating company carved out of the former Ontario Hydro utility, has announced the formation of a subsidiary that will invest US$64m over the next three years in private energy technology companies. Through its OPG Ventures unit, the company plans to make 20-25 investments of US$1.3-1.9m in privately-owned firms that develop technologies for wind, solar, fuel cell and other non-fossil fuel technologies. "This will be north American focused with a smattering from Europe. All pre-public, and companies with technology that you can kick the tires but it's not commercialised yet," commented OPG Ventures ceo Peter Crombie.

4/9/2001  Nuvera and Mitsui Sign Agreement to Develop Fuel Cells in Japan - Boston Business Journal

Cambridge-based Nuvera Fuel Cells Inc., and Mitsui & Co. Ltd., one of Japan's largest trading companies, have signed an agreement to create a joint venture company for the study and distribution of fuel cell systems for the Japanese market. Upon completion of the feasibility study, the parties, with additional Japanese partners, expect to develop, and sell, integrated fuel cell power systems designed for premium power, residential, and commercial applications. ...Nuvera's role in the new venture will be to develop prototype fuel cell power modules and systems for field tests in Japan and to support the feasibility study. Mitsui will investigate Japanese market opportunities and create a marketing strategy.

4/6/2001  Tech Hurdles Slow Fuel Cell Development - UPI

The race to develop fuel cell technology, accelerated recently with concern over energy prices, will be slowed by several unresolved technical hurdles, experts say. Consequently, the projected date of feasible fuel cell technologies remains uncertain. "I attended one conference where they were saying 2004, then another where they said 2010, then finally we settled on 20X0, where X could be one, two, three or more," said Robert Savinell, dean of the engineering college at Case Western Reserve University and a noted fuel cell researcher. ..."Hydrogen is hard to store," Savinell explained from his Cleveland, Ohio, office. "It's a gas. And during the basic reaction that drives methanol fuel cells, carbon monoxide can build up on the catalysts in the electrodes and block the process. We call that 'carbon monoxide poisoning' of the catalytic reaction."

4/5/2001   Valencia Firm Sees Future in Hydrogen by Evan Pondel - Daily News (CA)

DCH Technology is utilizing hydrogen's properties to create products that detect the clandestine gas in different environments, and generating enormous revenues even as the tech sector slips further into bear territory. The Valencia-based company on Monday posted a 77 percent increase in revenues of $961,551 for 2000, compared with $543,199 for the same period a year ago. At Wednesday's close, DCH was down a penny to $1.89 on the American Stock Exchange. "They dominate in the sensors market and fuel cells," said Leonard Velis, vice president of investments for Torrey Pines Securities. "They've had a rapid ascent." ...Wearing a white jumpsuit, Peter Jardine, chief technologist of DCH, explained the transformation of an average computer chip to a hydrogen sensor. The chips are first placed in an environment with air pressure 10 times the surface pressure of the moon. The chip is then showered with argon, which forms layers of metal that are specific for hydrogen detecting. Once the chip is removed from the pressurized environment, the layers of metal are essentially sculpted into a hydrogen-sensing chip. Jardine said he can produce about 3,200 chips per day once the lab is completed in Valencia.

4/2/2001  Innogy to Proceed with Regenesys IPO by Matthew Jones - Financial Times (UK)

Brian Count, chief operating officer, said the group could launch the initial public offering in the fourth quarter of this year.  ...The group has appointed Credit Suisse First Boston as financial adviser and lead manager to oversee the process and said it would shortly announce the appointment of a management team for Regenesys. CSFB estimates the value of the business at a minimum of £1bn ($1.42bn) and Innogy previously indicated that about 20-25 per cent of the company would be floated. However, analysts said this valuation looked optimistic in the current bear market. ...Regenesys is a regenerative fuel cell technology which can store large amounts of power as electro-chemical potential, providing an "electricity warehouse". The cell can release energy in an intense burst for filling in short interruptions on the national grid, or gradually for safety-critical control systems. CSFB has described it as a disruptive technology that could revolutionise electricity trading and make it more cost effective to build small-scale renewable energy generators where the electricity supply is variable.

4/2/2001  The Fuel Cell's Bumpy Ride - The Economist (UK)/Just-Auto.com

The problem is that hydrogen has the smallest atomic structure of all elements. That causes two problems when trying to handle it. One is that, being so tiny, hydrogen atoms can wiggle through the crystal lattice of the material used to contain it. The leakage from a pressurised hydrogen tank could be significant. The second problem is a consequence of the fact that, being so small, hydrogen is also exceptionally light. In a typical gaseous storage system, it has only a tenth of the volumetric energy density of petrol. The obvious answer is to compress the hydrogen. Impco, the leader in this field, has devised an ingenious all-composite tank that can hold enough hydrogen at a pressure of 5,000 pounds per square inch (psi) to travel 300 miles. The tank meets stringent safety standards and is expected to cost only about $1,000. Holding more than 40 gallons of hydrogen, it is still far bulkier than the average petrol tank. But the firm is testing a tank capable of storing hydrogen at 10,000psi, which should be much more compact. The best way to store hydrogen, however, may well be in some solid form. That would offer advantages of safety as well as convenience. Some experts point to the promise of so-called carbon nanotubes-a form of carbon that experiments suggest could reversibly store astounding quantities of hydrogen. But that is fantasy for the time being. A more tangible approach involves metal hydrides, which store and release hydrogen in the way that the batteries in some of today's mobile phones and laptop computers do. The firm that pioneered the rechargeable nickel-metal hydride battery, Energy Conversion Devices (ECD) of Troy, Michigan, claims to have repeated the same trick with fuel cells. Though rivals are sceptical, ECD's Alastair Livesey says tests prove that its new metal hydride can be recharged in just a few minutes; will last for over 500,000 miles; and can travel 300 miles without refuelling. The tank will weigh about 220 pounds-twice the weight of a full petrol tank-but be only slightly larger, and drivers could fill it up with hydrogen at filling stations. The firm and its oil industry partner, Texaco, believe they can get this project from the research phase to the mass market within five years. ... Stuart Energy, a firm based in Toronto, is building tiny electrolysers for a car that can produce hydrogen from off-peak electricity. It aims to sell these for $2,000. Electrolysis is especially suited to the early years of hydrogen-powered cars because it is inherently scalable.

4/2/2001  Hydrogen Powers Energy Hopes Experts Say It May be the Fuel of the Future by Carl Hall - San Francisco Chronicle (CA)

"The California situation is enlightening a lot of businesses and individuals about the need for an alternative energy source for backup or primary power," said Jim Kirsch, a vice president and head of a power generation unit at Ballard Power Systems in Vancouver, British Columbia. ...There's an emerging consensus that "hydrogen will be the fuel of the future, " said Robert Stempel, the former chief executive of General Motors, now chairman of Energy Conversion Devices Inc. in Troy, Mich. ...His company, a pioneer in portable electricity storage, formed a joint venture with Texaco to develop solid-state, metal-hydride hydrogen storage systems for powering clean-running vehicles. There are other methods, too, but the real take-home lesson from the joint venture, according to Texaco CEO Peter I. Bijur, is that oil companies now are embracing technologies "that just 20 years ago we brushed off as a weak threat to our industry." Ultimately, the idea is to move away from fossil fuels and other traditional energy sources toward what's known as a "hydrogen economy," in which renewable solar and wind generators might be used to produce pure hydrogen fuel out of water. ...The individual fuel cells can be arranged in "stacks" of virtually any size. There's no pollution, and no moving parts to wear out or break down. "It's very clean and elegant chemistry," said Bill Smith, vice president of business development at Proton Energy Systems in Connecticut. ..."We don't consider it a fringe technology at all," said William M. Wicker, senior vice president for global businesses at Texaco. "Although the traditional oil and gas business is not going away any time soon, hydrogen is going to be a part of our energy future." ...Hydrogen's first large-scale commercial use is expected to be not in California but rather in such locations as Iceland and Hawaii, where renewables are much higher on the political radar. Hawaii state Rep. Hermina Morita, a Democrat who chairs a legislative energy committee, is leading the push to reduce her state's need for imported oil, partly by encouraging alternatives and hydrogen fuel cells. She described it as a "market-based approach" that includes demonstration projects and economic incentives for utility investment. Eventually, she added, California could be part of the picture. Rather than importing energy, she said, "ultimately what we want in Hawaii is to be capable of producing more hydrogen than we need, so we can send the excess to California."

April 2001  Uncertainty Over New Bush Policies Mark 12th National Hydrogen Association Meeting - H&FCL

On the positive side, speakers such as Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD), the new chairman of the House of Representatives energy committee, as well as DoE officials and others came out foursquare for re authorization of the Hydrogen Future Act of 1996 which expires at the end of the current fiscal year, legislation that had bestowed legitimacy to a technology in Washington that not so very long ago was seen as something out of the realm of science fiction. But on the downside, Bartlett as well as former Republican House Science Committee chairman Robert Walker, father of the Hydrogen Future Act, as well as the U. S. Senate's "Mr. Hydrogen," Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), were wondering aloud whether hydrogen would have a significant place at the table in the ongoing redefinition of national energy policy currently underway by a team headed by vice president Richard Cheney - a sign of a split on these issues in the Republican Party.

April 2001  Hydrogen Bombs Out by Richard Littlemore - National Post Business

David McLeod, a former vice-president of marketing at Ballard and former vice-president, government relations and corporate affairs at XCELLSIS, says a key move was bringing in James Sturek as XCELLSIS' chief executive last year. Sturek, a veteran product development engineer from Ford's Detroit operations, quickly impressed management with his no-nonsense approach. Ballard has always been staffed by scientists and innovators who took it on faith that "technology will triumph against all odds," says McLeod. "When he showed up, I got a sense that this was reality." ...Even Ballard's competitors at General Motors Corp. concede that fuel-cell engines will have a place. Bill Noack, GM's director of public policy communications, says that while nearly every automaker in the world has an advanced technology car in development, most of them are hybrid-electrics which meet low-emission, but not zero-emission guidelines. "And everyone agrees that the battery-powered car is an idea whose time has come and gone," he adds. That leaves little else in the zero-emission field other than fuel-cell cars, whether they're powered by Ballard or rivals like International Fuel Cells and General Motors. Ken Stroh, manager of fuel-cell programs at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico, is more complimentary, calling Ballard's fuel cell "state-of-the-art." Stroh, whose team at the LANL does pure research on fuel cells, also notes that Ballard has an advantage in the fact that it's well capitalized.

3/31/2001  P2000's Zero Emissions Come with $6m Price Tag by Royal Ford - Boston Globe (MA)

I've noted here before that auto industry leaders don't like to talk much about future products. But listen to Bill Ford, chairman of the Ford Motor Co.: ''I believe fuel cells could end the 100-year reign of the internal combustion engine. In 25 years, fuel cells could be the predominant automotive power source.'' So when the chance came this week to drive the future, a $6 million experimental Ford four-door sedan, and drive it not just for moments on some controlled test track but on the roads around the town of Harvard, I jumped. So with a whir and a buzz, we were off.

3/29/2001  An SOFC Stack Fuelled by LPG - Power Online

A Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) stack using Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) as the fuel has been successfully tested by Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited (CFCL). A kilowatt-class stack was built and run at the company's Melbourne headquarters and its performance met all expectations. It is an important milestone in the company's program to develop multi-fuelling capability for SOFC-based systems to operate on hydrocarbon-based liquid fuels including logistic fuels, such as diesel.

3/27/2001  Connecticut Orders Largest Fuel Cell System Yet - Reuters

The state of Connecticut is proceeding with construction of the largest installation of pollution-free fuel cells yet to supply power to the Connecticut Juvenile Training School in Middletown, Select Energy Group said Tuesday. Select, the unregulated subsidiary of Northeast Utilities , said it won the contract to install six 200-kilowatt fuel cells built by United Technologies Co.'s International Fuel Cells subsidiary. ...The project will cost about $18 million to construct. It will be operated and maintained by Select under a 20-year contract with a 10-year renewal option expected to generate about $2 million in annual revenues, Select said. When completed in September, the training school's new central energy plant will supply 1.2 megawatts of electricity, 9 million British thermal units per hour of hot water, and 680 tons of chilled water. This will serve all heating, cooling, and electrical power needs of the training school's 227,000 square feet of buildings that include residences and a greenhouse and other facilities. The fuel cells will be installed in parallel with the local utility power grid to provide power in the event of a failure. It will be backed up with gas-fired combustion generators.

3/27/2001 Exxon Mobil Joins Venture to Build California Fuel-Cell Cars by Gene Laverty - Auto.com

The California Fuel Cell Partnership, based in West Sacramento, Calif., expects to have 80 fuel-cell vehicles using hydrogen, methanol and petroleum-based fuels, operating by 2003, Exxon Mobil said in a statement issued by Business Newswire. Exxon Mobil said it will develop fuels for the partnership's vehicles.

3/27/2001  LG Caltex Oil Launches Fuel Cell Maker Ceti in Korea - Asia Pulse/Yahoo!

LG-Caltex Oil Tuesday set up Clean Energy Technologies Inc. [CETI], a fuel cell manufacturer, with Dais-Analytic Corp. [DAC], an American producer of fuel cells, and Advanced Business Link [ABL], a Korean venture capital firm. LG-Caltex and DAC each invested 40 per cent of the initial capital of 3.5 billion won (US$2.6 million) and ABL financed the remainder. The new company announced that it has developed the nation's first residential power generators, which will be available on the market in the second half of this year. ...CETI plans to develop smaller power cells which produce 1.5 kW of power and boiled water, as well as batteries for laptops and cell phones.

3/23/2001  Energy Crisis May Not Be Such a Bad Thing by Warren Brown - Washington Post

Billions of dollars are being poured into fuel-cell research efforts at places such as GM's Global Alternative Propulsion Center in Rochester, N.Y. Similar facilities are being operated by Ford Motor Co., Honda, Toyota, DaimlerChrysler Ag and Nissan/Renault. Also, the federal government, through its Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles, is funding fuel-cell research. Some companies plan to introduce their first marketable fuel-cell models by 2004. GM, however, says it won't meet that schedule. "We could have a car ready by then," said Byron McCormick, director of GM's Alternative Propulsion Center. But he said that GM's primary goal is to have fuel-cell vehicles that have a market future. "We want to be the first company to sell one million fuel-cell vehicles annually," he said. That sounds good. But I've got my doubts. Reaching that kind of goal requires some kind of incentive, like, maybe, a do-or-die energy crisis.

3/22/2001  Gasoline Offers Advantages for Fuel-Cell Vehicles, GM Study Says - Car & Driver

The study examined gasoline and diesel internal combustion engines, fuel cells, and hybrids, all in a common platform -- a Chevrolet Silverado pickup -- and studied a variety of fuel types from a North American perspective. The Silverado was chosen because it is a popular vehicle that, with modest improvements in fuel economy, can deliver large overall gains in fuel saved and total greenhouse gas emissions reduced. Key findings in the study are:

• Fuel-cell vehicles powered by clean gasoline offer higher efficiency and lower emissions when compared with the other powertrains examined in the study.
• A diesel hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) -- using a clean, reformulated diesel fuel -- scored very high among the non-fuel-cell vehicle fuel/vehicle combinations, in terms of efficiency and carbon dioxide emissions.
• Fuel-cell vehicles powered by hydrogen offer the greatest long-term potential.
• Methanol used in fuel cells and compressed natural-gas internal-combustion engines offered no advantages over clean gasoline in well-to-wheels efficiency.
• As expected, renewable fuels such as ethanol from cellulose gave by far the lowest greenhouse emissions.

3/21/2001  Clean Buses Come to London - E4:Engineering

BP, DaimlerChrysler, First Bus, Transport for London and The Energy Saving Trust are to bring clean public transport to London with the introduction of hydrogen fuel cell buses to major routes in the capital. Three of DaimlerChrysler's hydrogen-powered Citaro buses will begin taking fare-paying passengers in 2003 - the first time hydrogen fuel cell buses have begun commercial operation in the UK. Hydrogen fuel cell buses are quiet and clean – the only emission is water vapour. Under the terms of the deal, BP will build and manage the infrastructure to supply hydrogen to the buses. The hydrogen is stored in tanks on the roofs of the buses, which will use around 40 kilograms of hydrogen a day, and have a range of around 250 miles. The introduction of the hydrogen fuel cell buses to London is part of a Europe-wide EU-funded project to look at the viability of hydrogen as a fuel for motor transport vehicles. BP is working with DaimlerChrysler on similar projects in Barcelona and Porto; and in Stuttgart and Hamburg BP will be working closely with the local utilities to develop the fuel.

3/21/2001  Avista Subsidiary Unplugs IPO Plans by Matt Andrejczak - CBS MarketWatch

Avista Labs, the unprofitable fuel cell technology unit of Avista Corp., indefinitely delayed its initial public offering plans on Tuesday due to unfavorable market conditions. ...Based in Spokane, Wash., Avista Labs recently formed a subsidiary called H2fuel LLC to develop and commercialize a new technology for manufacturing hydrogen for fuel cells. Avista Labs reported a 2000 loss of $8 million on revenue of $761,000 vs. a 1999 loss of $2.6 million on revenue of $748,000.

3/20/2001  Impco Tech Unit, GM In Talks For 'Business Relationship' - Wall Street Journal

General Motors Corp (GM) and Impco Technologies Inc.'s (IMCO) Quantum Technologies Inc. unit have started discussions about establishing a business relationship.

3/20/2001  BP Amoco, Daimler In London Fuel Cell Bus Project - Wall Street Journal

U.K. oil major BP Amoco PLC (BP) and U.S.-German auto giant DaimlerChrysler AG (DCX) will take part in a GBP3.5 million joint venture to bring hydrogen fuel cell buses to major routes in London, BP Amoco said in a press release Tuesday. London bus operator First Bus, public transport authority Transport for London and the Energy Saving Trust, a government-funded body, are also taking part in the environmentally-friendly project, the statement said. ...Transport for London will cover GBP1.5 million of the GBP3.5 million basic costs of the London project, with the rest being divided between First Bus, the U.K. Department of the Environment, Transportation and the Regions, and the European Union, a BP spokeswoman said. BP will fund the cost of developing the hydrogen fuel infrastructure for the wider project, she said, adding that those costs haven't yet been determined. ...BP is also supplying hydrogen for similar projects in California and Western Australia, the company said.

3/16/2001  Could Hydrogen be the Fuel of the Future? by Marsha Walton - CNN

Alternative fueled vehicles often conjure up visions of heavy and clunky electric cars, a good idea that's just "not quite there yet." And certainly not the image of speed and performance BMW cultivates. So it was important to BMW that their hydrogen vehicle look like their other products. "It feels like a normal car. It can be operated like a normal car. And so the feeling for our customers will be, they have a high powered car, a normal car with clean emissions," said Klaus Pehr, head of concept cars for BMW in Munich.Speaking at the first -- and only -- public, robotically operated hydrogen fueling station located at the Munich Airport, Pehr showed off the 750hL sedan: one of the bivalent 5.4 liter, 12-cylinder V -engine, with a 140 liter hydrogen tank. Its maximum speed is 140 miles per hour (226 km/hour). Crucial for the foreseeable future, the cars can run on either liquefied hydrogen or gasoline.

3/15/2001  GM to Demo Gas Fuel-Cell Vehicle - Car & Driver

GM expects to be the first automaker to demonstrate a fuel-cell vehicle using a system that extracts hydrogen from gasoline. The automaker plans to use a version of its Chevrolet S-10 pickup truck in the demonstration. Most other companies are using methanol, but GM feels gasoline is the best fuel for the cells until storage and distribution systems are developed to support fuel cells powered directly by hydrogen.

3/15/2001  Doron Levin: GM Sees Gas as Powering Fuel Cell Cars - Detroit Free Press (MI)

GM and other automakers had considered methanol, methane and diesel fuel as so-called bridge fuels until hydrogen is plentiful and practical enough for consumer use. But GM and automakers including Toyota Motor Corp. and Volkswagen AG now agree that gasoline is the most practical. GM has lined up allies among major petroleum producers. ...Though not a slam dunk by any means, fuel cells look more promising than ever as an emerging technology because they offer a 50-percent increase in gas mileage without sacrificing performance or producing pollution.

3/13/2001  DTI: Entrepreneur Pushes His Gasoline Substitute by Ryan Tate - Wall Street Journal

Some experts, too, say Mr. Marsh's cells have some maturing to do. Scott Samuelsen, director of the
National Fuel Cell Research Center at the University of California-Irvine, says the cells show strong promise, but that others based on a variant of conventional gasoline are better poised to make use of the existing petroleum infrastructure. .... "What we have is not a can of Coke you can just buy," says Caltech's head of licensing, Larry Gilbert. "It's an opportunity to invest a lot of time and a lot of money to commercialize something. And between 1993 and 1999, other than work at JPL and USC, there was no other party attempting to commercialize this, except {now} with Ballard, who has no mandate requiring it to develop it."  For his part, Mr. Marsh blames stubbornness on the part of car companies, saying they have invested so much in "indirect" fuel-cell technology -- which requires either a reformer or liquid hydrogen -- that they have dragged their feet in looking at other approaches. He admits, though, that his cells are about 30% less efficient than the indirect variety, elegantly simple as they may be.

3/13/2001  Fuel Cells: Taking the Car Beyond Gasoline by Frank Sweeny - San Jose Mercury News (CA)

The California Fuel Cell Partnership, based in West Sacramento, is a collaborative working to advance the technology. Its 18 members include automobile manufacturers, fuel cell developers such as Ballard Power Systems, oil companies and state and federal government agencies such as the California State Air Resources Board and the U.S. Department of Transportation. Over the next three years, the partnership's members will test as many as 60 fuel-cell cars and 20 buses on California's roads in real-world conditions. ``The real acid test is the road test,'' said Joe Irvin, communications manager for the organization. ``How are they going to hold up under various conditions?'' The first phase of tests will consist of operating cars with fuel cells directly powered by hydrogen, in gas and liquid form, Irvin said.

3/11/2001  Ukraine: Nuclear Reactor Restarted After Unscheduled Repairs - Ukrainian News Agency/BBC

The No 3 generating set at the South-Ukrainian nuclear power plant was started on 10 March after unscheduled repairs had been completed, UNIAN learnt at the information centre of the State Committee for Nuclear Energy Regulation. ...UNIAN reported earlier that the No 3 generating set of the South-Ukrainian nuclear power plant was halted on 1 March to prevent a possible fire or explosion due to a hydrogen leakage in the reactor's cooling system.

3/8/2001  World-First Research Could be Wasted Through Lack of Funds - AAP (Australia)

Professor Charles Sorrell of the Centre for Materials Research in Energy Conversion at the University of New South Wales said the department was the only one in the world to develop an environmentally sound method of converting water into hydrogen. "We now have the capability of converting water into hydrogen using sunlight, without producing harmful by-products," he said. They already receive funding from the Australian Research Council but Prof Sorrell said $1 million was urgently needed from the government to help sustain the project.

CHBC Note: "NREL researchers have developed a device that splits water into hydrogen and oxygen with greater efficiency than most other methods using sunlight. Current systems link photovoltaic cells that generate electricity with an electrolyser to break down water. The NREL all-in-one device is an advanced alternative to these less efficient photovoltaic/ electrolyser systems. The new NREL device converts about 12 percent of available sunlight into hydrogen, compared to 4 to 6 percent for the photovoltaic/ eletrolyser system. While not currently economical, the device has a potential for lower cost hydrogen and represents a breakthrough in hydrogen research."  Hydrogen Research, U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory

3/6/2001  INSIDE Magazine to Reveal Exclusive New 'Ginger'/'It' Evidence - INSIDE/PRNewswire

Investigative reporter and [INSIDE] contributor Adam Penenberg has unearthed revealing new information including trademark and patent filings, domain registrations, financial transactions, factory blueprints, and a hitherto unknown company linked to "Ginger" inventor Dean Kamen, among other evidence.      ...As many have guessed, "Ginger" has to do with a ground-breaking, scooter-type vehicle that can balance on two wheels. But the real revelation is the power behind it - hydrogen, which runs basically emission-free. "Ginger" represents the first generation of a new mode of transportation that will compete with and possibly replace automobiles. The ramifications of a "hydrogen economy" would be profound on everything from the environment to the energy business to global politics.  In subsequent iterations, Kamen intends to retrofit his scooters with his patented version of the Stirling engine, an almost perpetual motion machine that could be manufactured for any product that requires power.  Kamen has created a new company called ACROS, whose goal is to create a product line that features "motorized, self-propelled, wheeled personal mobility aids, namely wheel chairs, scooters, carts and chariots," and that company has begun building a factory in New Hampshire.

3/2/2001  Japan Ministry Backing Clean Gasoline Research for Fuel Cell Applications - Hart Energy Worldfuels

The ministry plans to establish an official body with Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Corp. and other companies this month to set unified quality standards for the gasoline. It will also seek funding in the country's 2002 budget to subsidize technology development. The ministry has sided with gasoline as the preferred method of hydrogen extraction for use in fuel-cell vehicles, saying gasoline would be more practical than methanol because existing service stations can be used to supply modified gasoline to fuel-cell vehicles.

3/2/2001  Toyota Shows New Hybrid Fuel-Cell Vehicle - AP/Auto.com

The Japanese automaker's FCHV-3, on public display Thursday at a symposium on fuel cell technology, is similar to Toyota's hybrid Prius car already on the market. The Prius switches back and forth between an electric motor and a gas engine to maximize efficiency and store energy created by braking. The fuel cell hybrid switches back and forth between the fuel cell and battery-operated electric motor. It runs on pure hydrogen stored inside the car in an alloy -- a mixture of metals -- that absorbs hydrogen.

3/2/2001  Is This Thing On? Fuel-Cell Power Inches Toward Prime Time by Eric Mayne - Ward's Auto World

Turn the key in Ford Motor Co.’s Focus FCV and you might think the battery’s dead. That’s because there’s no starter noise. No revving sound. Not even a gentle idle. All those auditory cues that rank just below your mother’s voice on the familiarity scale, are absent. But breathe easy. This car’s battery is very much alive. And it’s designed, literally, to let us all breathe easier. Propelled by 200 amps worth of juice — the byproduct of introducing hydrogen to a specially coated electrode — the Focus FCV is more memorable for what it lacks than for what it offers. Missing are noise, noxious emissions — and power. At curb side, the Focus FCV (fuel cell vehicle) is indistinguishable from its conventionally equipped cousin. Until the hood is raised. Again, little is recognizable. Dominating the view is a pair of silver boxes that wouldn’t look out of place on a Payless shelf. A Ford engineer’s say-so is the most compelling evidence that the tidy package indeed is a powerplant. Despite a modest peak power rating of 92 hp, the AC induction motor performs capably. There is no discernible lag in acceleration, but there isn’t far to go anyway, with a top-end speed of 80 mph (129 km/h). Meanwhile, the vehicle’s single-speed transaxle contributes to extraordinarily smooth acceleration. And, curiously, as it accelerates it does emit sound. Closer to a whir than purr. Like George Jetson’s flying car. Only muted.

3/1/2001  Plastic Skin Generates Electricity - Irish Times (Ireland)

A plastic skin has been patented that generates electricity and could one day power airships, laptop computers, or small aircraft. The material, invented as part of a project to develop unmanned reconnaissance airships, is really an extended, hyper-thin fuel cell. Chemical reactions inside the skin produce electricity. Its designers say it could be used to drive a wide range of machines, from laptops and lawnmowers to aircraft. Its significant drawback is that it has to be fuelled by explosive hydrogen gas. Mr Laurence Williams, an engineer at aerospace company Lock heed Martin came up with the idea while looking for a way to power miniature remote-controlled airships. The skin produces electricity by enabling hydrogen inside the airship to react with oxygen in the air outside. Without heavy batteries or aviation fuel, a 12 ft airship fitted with cameras, navigation and communication equipment would weigh just three kg. It would have a power output of 200 watts and a range of around 700 km, according to Mr Williams.