8/31/2001   Methanol v. Hydrogen: Automakers and Fuel Cell Developers Remain Tight-Lipped About the Ideal Fuels of the Future by Philip Quinn - Financial Post (Canada)

"Auto partners meet every few weeks to discuss common issues involving Partnership goals -- for example, fuelling stations, future planning issues (such as post-2003 activities) and upcoming event participation," says Joe Irvin, spokesman for the California Fuel Cell Partnership (CaFCP). ...To date, Mr. Irvin says there are 11 vehicles slated for operation at the West Sacramento test facility, with DaimlerChrysler, Honda, Ford, Toyota and Hyundai supplying two vehicles each and Nissan a single car. General Motors and Volkswagen will provide vehicles later in the year. Most of the vehicles are using gaseous hydrogen as their fuel. In the fall, there will be several methanol-fuelled cars once there is a methanol fuelling station in place. ..."We do have a vehicle called the FC5, which is a methanol reformer, but our primary vehicles -- the Ford Focus FCV and P2000 -- are both direct-hydrogen vehicles, not methanol reformers," says Ms. Schultz. "We believe direct hydrogen holds the most promise for the future because it offers zero emissions and because on-board reformer systems add tremendous complexity to the vehicle. We believe the simpler a system is, the better it will be for the customer in the long run."

8/30/2001   China, USA to Cooperate in Developing Clean Energy Technology by Sun Zhifa - Zhongguo Xinwen She

The "China-US Clean Energy Technology Forum and Exhibition on Clean Energy Technology and Facilities" held jointly by China's Ministry of Science and Technology and the US Energy Department is presently going on here. ...Speaking at the forum and exhibition, described by [Robert Kripowicz, the US deputy secretary of energy] as the "crystallization of yet another successful cooperation between China and the United States in the area of energy", Xu Guanhua indicated that both the Chinese and US sides will further explore the areas and channels for cooperation, and step up cooperation in the areas of fuel and batteries, hydrogen energy technology, as well as the development of oil, gas and coal.

8/26/2001   The Future of   Fuel by Thomas W. Still - Wisconsin State Journal

When U.S. Rep. Ron Kind and other members of the House Energy Subcommittee toured Iceland this summer to check out that island nation's transition to alternative energy sources, he was surprised to see something stamped "Made in Wisconsin." Hydrogen fuel cells built in Middleton, a couple hours' drive from Kind's 3rd Congressional District base in La Crosse, are powering Iceland's energy future.

8/17/2001   Bright Future for Hawaii's Energy Pioneers by Ben DiPietro - Pacific Business News

Jack Dean is looking to the future with his new hydrogen energy start-up company, so far ahead he doesn't expect to be alive when hydrogen becomes the major fuel source for Hawaii and the world. Dean is president of The Hydrogen Renewable Energy Enterprise LLC, or T.H.R.E.E., an 18-month-old firm in Hilo that is looking to develop projects using hydrogen that is created not from fossil fuels like natural gas, but from alternative sources like wind, solar and geothermal. "We see a golden horizon for Hawaii focusing on renewable energy and on production of hydrogen from that renewable energy source," Dean says.     more

8/12/2001   Auto Industry Rushes to Put Fuel-Cell Cars on Roads within Decade by Nick Popely - Chicago Tribune (Illinois)

GM says consumers won't buy fuel cells if they have to go out of their way for hydrogen or another fuel, so it will use gasoline as a "bridging strategy" until hydrogen is widely available. "You can kid yourself by doing a small number of vehicles for fleets. The real test is when you have to deal with the real, hard problems of consumers," said Byron McCormick, co-director of GM's alternative propulsion research. "Unless you sell millions of these, you aren't going to clean up the environment." GM expects to offer a fuel-cell vehicle for fleet use by 2005 and for retail customers by 2010. GM began to look at gasoline in 1998 and by 1999 dropped methanol from consideration to concentrate on gasoline as the interim fuel until hydrogen is available.

8/8/2001   GM to Compete with Utilities by Producing Home Fuel Cells by Drew Hasselback - Financial Post (CANADA)

The automaker says its refrigerator-sized, fuel-cell generator would connect into a home's natural gas supply and produce five kilowatts of electricity, enough to power a home or small business. Yet while GM eyes a market where consumers buy personal fuel-cell power plants for their backyards or basements, the world's largest automaker says it would not begin mass production of fuel cell cars until 2008.

8/7/2001   GM Unveils Fuel-cell Powered Truck by Nikki Tait - Financial Times (UK)

GM saidon Tuesday that it planned to make gasoline-fed fuel cells an "interim strategy" until a hydrogen infrastructure was established. It also claimed that the onboard "cracking" system was an industry first: "To our knowledge, no one else has cracked gasoline in an onboard system," said Larry Burns, vice-president of research and development. The company, which packaged the system in a Chevrolet S-10 pick-up truck, has hopes of developing commercially-viable fuel cell-powered vehicles towards the end of the current decade. GM also unveiled a prototype of a stationary fuel cell system which could be to generate power in homes or offices - an area of growing interest in the wake of the US's recent energy problems.

8/2/2001   Brussels in Push for Biofuels by Christopher Bowe and Michael Mann - Financial Times (UK)

Large areas of the European Union's farmland could be turned over to the production of alternative fuels, whose use would become compulsory by 2005, under plans being drawn up by the European Commission. The proposals, scheduled for adoption in September, would force EU countries to ensure that by 2005 at least 2 per cent of fuel used for transport came from biofuels - produced from crops such as sugar beet and oilseeds as well as waste. This figure would rise by 0.75 percentage points every year until at least 2009, when a compulsory target would be introduced for blending small quantities of biofuels into conventional diesel and petrol. The goal is for bio-fuels and other substitute fuels, including hydrogen, to make up 20 per cent of fuel use in transport by 2020.

8/1/2001   Life of Land Suggests Hawaii Comply with Kyoto - Pacific Business News (HI)

The Hawaii environmental group Life of the Land has suggested in a letter this week to state and county officials that Hawaii make its mark as a pro-environment state by choosing to adopt the Kyoto Protocol. "Although industry officials complain that Hawaii's contribution to global warming is insignificant, Hawaii should set an example," says organization executive director Henry Curtis. The Bush administration has pulled the United States out of the Kyoto Protocol, but the directors of Life of the Land have voted to support a push for symbolic compliance by Hawaii governments. "Hawaii is poised to be the clean energy capital of the world with prevalent trade winds, almost constant sunshine, and an exciting future as a hydrogen exporter," Curtis says.

8/1/2001   Lawmakers Press Case For Fuel Cell Strategy  - Hartford Courant (CT)

Connecticut lawmakers touted the potential of fuel cell technologies Tuesday, urging their colleagues to pass energy legislation that includes money to help develop the alternative fuel source key to several state companies. To help make the case on a steamy Washington afternoon, they showed off a Hyundai sport utility vehicle powered by a unit built by International Fuel Cells, the South Windsor, Conn.-based division of United Technologies Corp. ...The House Science Committee has approved about $84 million for fuel cell demonstration projects as part of the larger energy bill now under consideration. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn., is pushing a similar provision in the Senate.

8/1/2001   Field Test to Analyze Everyday Performance of Fuel Cell Van - EarthVision Environmental News

The Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, the world's first fuel cell van, is about to hit the streets in a real-world field test. DaimlerChrysler is teaming up with the Hamburg–based delivery company Hermes Versand Services to begin a two-year field test of the fuel cell powered van. ...The new prototype Sprinter van has front-wheel drive and will utilize gaseous hydrogen for fuel. ...A genuine zero-emissions vehicle, the modified Mercedes-Benz Sprinter delivers a 55 kilowatt output, can achieve a top speed of 120 kilometers per, has a range over 150 kilometers, and does not restrict available cargo space.

7/26/2001   Australian 'Scramjet' Test Flight Delayed - Reuters/Space.com

Originally due for its maiden launch in the Australian outback on August 13, the prototype engine -- built by the University of Queensland's Center for Hypersonics -- will now be fired off into the upper atmosphere on October 23, a university spokesman said. ...Unlike the failed NASA prototype, "HyShot" is not a winged aircraft but an engine that will be launched on a booster rocket and when it falls back to earth it is expected to ignite at between 35 km to 23 km (22 miles to 14 miles) above the earth. Developers are aiming for a speed of Mach 7.6.

7/26/2001   Tiger Trap by Emma Brockes and Julian Borger - The Guardian (UK)

However, unlike most of its rivals in global oil's first division, Exxon Mobil is not putting any research money into renewable fuels. It gave up on solar power years ago, saying there was no future in it. Its fuel cell research is oil-based - essentially a more efficient way of using oil - while its chief US competitor, Texaco, has invested $67m in fuel cell technology based mainly on hydrogen as a fuel, which would produce water as a by-product. Moreover, for a company making more than $17bn net income a year, a $12m annual investment in a future based on alternative technologies is less than impressive. But the campaign against Exxon/Esso does not have its roots in the company balance sheet, and the company's claim to have been mugged while quietly going about its business is not entirely accurate. In fact, Exxon Mobil, more than any other oil company, has fought an aggressive campaign to undermine public confidence in the scientific studies pointing to industry's role in global warming.     more

7/25/2001   Now World Leaders Have Saved Kyoto, We Can Save the World
by Michael McCarthy - The Independent (UK)

It is becoming clear that deep cuts in emissions may be politically impossible to deliver in rich countries by regulation and government diktat, and it is possible that only developments as the non-CO2-emitting hydrogen fuel cell for motor vehicles will make a real difference. Ford is spending a billion dollars on the fuel cell between now and 2003; without the Kyoto process the impetus to do so would be enormously reduced.

7/24/2001   Fuel Cells for All - E4: Engineering

With funding from the Department of Energy's Office of Advanced Automotive Technologies, a Chemical Technology Division team has been developing unique catalysts and reforming processes to be used in light-duty vehicles powered by fuel cells. As part of the co-operative R&D agreement, H2fuel has built a fuel processor designed by Argonne's Chemical Technology Division. Subsequent testing is said to have demonstrated its fuel flexibility and hydrogen-production capability. Through a series of catalytic reactions, this first-generation unit converted petrol, pipeline natural gas and ethanol into a gas containing about 45 percent hydrogen. According to Argonne, the next two years will see H2fuel and Argonne's Chemical Technology Division further improve this processor to the point where it is ready to enter the marketplace.

7/24/2001   Hydrogen-powered Internal-combustion Engines for Future 7 Series - Auto.com

BMW sees the big H as the answer to ever-tightening emissions requirements worldwide, and to California's zero-emissions-vehicle standard in particular. Hence, Goeschel made his announcement in California, home of the California Air Resources Board, scourge of emissions engineers worldwide. “California is, so to speak, the laboratory of the future for carmakers throughout the world-and also our toughest test bed,” said Goeschel. “If I may use an expression from our engineers in Munich, ‘California is a tough nut.'”

7/23/2001   Shell Boosts Renewable Energy Arm with Acquisition
by Matthew Jones -  Financial Times (UK)

Shell has said it would invest between $500m and $1bn on new energy technologies over the next five years, including hydrogen fuel cells, solar power, biomass and wind.

7/23/2001   Carmakers Testify on Power Sources
by Dick Seelmeyer - Lincoln Journal Star (Nebraska) 

The nation's car manufacturers Tuesday told Congress they prefer that cars of the future be powered by hydrogen fuel cells, terming the fuel cell "the most promising long-term technology." Their reasoning, Gregory Dana, vice president for environmental affairs for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, is because fuel cells "offer breakthrough fuel economy improvements, zero emissions and a shift away from petroleum-based fuels." The association membership includes BMW, DaimlerChrysler, Fiat, Ford, General Motors, Isuzu, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Porsche, Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo. Fuel cells, which could replace petroleum as automotive fuel as early as a decade from now, have the advantage of providing enough power to let American car buyers put on all of their favorite power-draining devices on their trucks, vans, SUVs and passenger cars at an affordable price. 

7/19/2001   Replacing Gas with a Gas - The Economist (UK)

One way that global warming might be reduced is by powering cars with something that does not release carbon dioxide when it is burned. That is part of the idea behind a “hydrogen economy”—a future in which hydrogen, which can be produced from renewable sources, takes over from hydrocarbons as the world’s principal fuel. Given this possibility (and also given the more immediately pressing need to produce vehicles that can comply with the exacting emissions standards of California), several of the world’s car makers—notably Ford, DaimlerChrysler and Honda—are studying fuel cells. These react hydrogen and oxygen together in a controlled process, extracting energy in the form of electricity. Fuel cells, which are an old technology, certainly work, but they are still some years from commercial viability in cars. There is, however, an alternative: burn the hydrogen in a conventional internal-combustion engine. And that is what BMW proposes to do. This week it unveiled a prototype version of its 7-Series saloon car that has a hydrogen-powered engine.

7/19/2001   Fuel Cell Cars Face Hold-ups on Road to Mass-market
by Matthew Jones - Financial Times (UK)

"The timelines are moving a bit further out than people had thought. The work we are doing in California is showing that we will not be able to see commercial application of hydrogen vehicles for at least five years," says Don Huberts, chief executive officer of Shell Hydrogen, one of the companies involved in the venture. ...Firoz Rasul, chairman and chief executive of Ballard, the Canadian fuel cell manufacturer that is in partnership with DaimlerChrysler and Ford, argues that the growing requirement for electrical devices on vehicles means fuel cell vehicles will succeed, even if they are initially more expensive. "The cars of the future will need a lot more electrical power as manufacturers move to increasing automation and drive-by-wire...  Fuel cells, which produce their own electricity, are ideally placed to meet that need," he says.

7/18/2001   House Committee Moves Energy, Voting Bills by Mike Martin - UPI/Virtual New York

In a meeting so friendly Florida Congressman Dave Weldon let his son sit in dad's official seat, the House Science Committee Wednesday sent bills to the full House designed to ease two recent problems that have taken center stage in American life -- voting and energy. ...Throwing the kitchen sink into the energy debate, the science committee also approved the Comprehensive Energy Research and Technology bill, which chairman Sherwood Boehlert called "balanced, comprehensive, and bipartisan." The bill includes funding for every imaginable energy source and alternative -- efficient housing; high-tech turbines; alternative-fuel source vehicles; hydrogen and bio-waste fuels; solar, wind, geothermal power, and a host of tax incentives designed to sweeten the energy research and development pot. House members toasted each other -- and their respective staffs -- for moving the legislation through late night sessions and intense debates. "This bill truly emphasizes conservation and renewable energy sources," Boehlert said.

7/18/2001 Pure and Simple Solution:  Iceland Moves Naturally to a Hydrogen Economy by Sigrún Davídsdóttir - The Guardian (UK) 

Tiny Iceland, already the greatest harnesser of renewables, with 99% of electricity coming via geysers and hydroelectric dams, is politically committed to becoming the world's first hydrogen economy - cutting greenhouse emissions to zero, it hopes, within 30 years and leading a global energy revolution. ...The vision of turning Iceland into a hydrogen economy came from Bragi Árnason, a professor of chemistry at the University of Iceland, who turned his attention to potential energy sources in Iceland in the 1960s. It struck him that, in spite of seemingly infinite sources of hydro-energy and geothermal energy (the country exploits only about 16% of its potential), Iceland still had to import oil to cover almost 40% of its energy needs. In the 1970s, Árnason believed that hydrogen was the obvious answer, athough it sounded like science fiction to his countrymen. ...Influenced by Árnason's ideas, the Icelandic government has been committed to the use of hydrogen since 1997. As the news spread, foreign companies interested in forming alliances to test and develop new technology in Iceland started knocking at the door. Eventually, DaimlerChrysler, Shell Hydrogen and Norsk Hydro formed a joint venture, Icelandic New Energy, (INE), run by Jón Björn Skúlason. The majority partner is Vistorka, a company owned jointly by the Icelandic public and private enterprises. ...One of the companies working with INE is DCH Technology, an innovator in hydrogen fuel cells, which will be testing its products in Iceland.

7/18/2001   Melt Down by Paul Brown - The Guardian (UK)

There has been widespread public debate about the wisdom of George W Bush's repudiation of the Kyoto protocol. But perhaps the brightest spot in a gloomy picture has been the extraordinary turnaround in the views of big business. With the exception of some US oil companies with Exxon/ Mobil (Esso in Europe) top of the list, the business community is reacting rapidly to the threat of global warming. In the last five years companies like Ford, oil companies like BP and Shell have begun to pour billions into research in new technologies. Wind power is now mainstream, solar is in rapid development, hybrid cars are on the road. Cars that run on fuel cells, hydrogen and compressed air are no longer pipe dreams, they are close to mass production.

7/16/2001   BMW's Hydrogen Biggie: Is There a Fuel-cell 7-Series in the Future? by Paul A. Eisenstein  - The Car Connection

BMW intends to leave two of ten hydrogen cars in California for extensive field testing during the coming months. That program coincides with the ongoing California Fuel Cell Initiative, in which a dozen automakers are fleet testing their own fuel cell vehicle, or FCV, prototypes. ...To support its California field test, BMW also is opening a hydrogen fueling station in Oxnard, a suburb north of Los Angeles. Additional stations are being set up in other parts of the state to support the fuel cell initiative.

7/16/2001   BMW Unveils Fleet of Luxury Cars that Run on Rocket Fuel by Andrew Bridges - Auto.com/AP

The 750hL features a 12-cylinder engine and can hit 141 mph. BMW has not calculated how much the hydrogen-fueled model would cost compared to a conventional version, which sells for about $93,000. BMW has hauled the 10 cars from United Arab Emirates to Europe to Japan and California to tout the benefits of hydrogen as a fuel source. Already, the fleet has covered more than 80,000 miles during BMW tests. When burned, hydrogen packs a powerful punch. It helps propel the space shuttle to orbit. In the BMW models, it cuts tailpipe emissions by 99.5 percent.

7/16/2001   Auto Tech Talk: BMW and H2 by Paul A. Eisenstein - The Car Connection

BMW has chosen to stick with the technology it knows best, the internal combustion engine. The Bavarian carmaker has modified its top-line 12-cylinder engine to run on either gasoline or on hydrogen, which is stored in super-cold liquid form. This dual fuel design is a pragmatic recognition of reality. Before hydrogen can become a viable alternative to petroleum, there needs to be a production and distribution infrastructure that matches the one already in place.

7/14/2001   The High Cost of Inaction by Paul Brown - The Guardian (UK)

The world's poor countries, and poor people who cannot adapt, will suffer first. There will be flooding, drought and famine. There will be millions of environmental refugees in Africa and Asia. Some northern countries gain marginally from a longer growing season in a warmer climate but the gains will not outweigh the losses. What is the worse-case scenario? Huge tracts of productive land will become submerged, including major cities. Large migrations of people. More natural disasters, triggering a collapse of the insurance market, and a global crash as the world economy collapses. What is the best-case scenario? That man's ingenuity and technology comes to the rescue with hydrogen and solar power replacing fossil fuels to run transport and create electricity.

7/13/2001   The 17 Million Dollar Fuel Cell - E4: Engineering

The prime contract is for research to develop an advanced high-efficiency quick-start (HiQ) fuel processor for transportation applications. Using a novel system design, Nuvera will try to obtain instantaneous (less than 10 seconds) power from an automotive fuel cell power system. The Nuvera system is expected to address the long start-up time and system efficiency issues common to conventional fuel cell power systems. Engelhard and Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) will provide research and technology support.

7/13/2001   Ethanol Fuel Cells Take Aim at Portables' Power by Charles J. Murray - EE Times

Unlike traditional fuel cell designs, which typically use hydrogen, Medis' new system employs direct conversion of ethanol to create electrical current. In that sense, it also departs from other techniques that use methanol as a fuel that is later converted to hydrogen before the reaction. Medis said a proprietary additive provides the key to the fuel cell reaction. This so-called "X-additive," an electrolyte, is contained in a thumbnail-sized cartridge that also includes water and ethanol. The cartridge fits in the fuel cell, which is about the size of a cell phone battery. Medis said the "X-additive" allows engineers to scrap proton exchange membranes, typically used in large hydrogen-based fuel cells. ...Medis executives said the new technology offers energy densities "an order of magnitude higher" than anything available on the fuel cell market right now. The company said it has demonstrated energy densities of 150 W-hr/kg and expects that figure to climb to 450 W-hr/kg by the end of next year. ...The announcement surprised some experts, many of whom expected direct ethanol conversion technology to be limited to smaller electronic devices, such as PDAs and cell phones, but not anything as large as a laptop computer.

7/13/2001   BMW Showcases Cars That Run on Hydrogen - CNN/AP

BMW officials traveled to one of the nation's smoggiest cities to show off a fleet of luxury cars that run on rocket fuel, but belch virtually nothing more than water and steam from their tailpipes. Company officials said Thursday that the hydrogen-powered cars are an important step in weaning the automotive industry from the oil that has nurtured it since the internal combustion engine first powered automobiles in the late 1800s. The silver 750hL sedans sport a new type of internal combustion engine that runs on clean-burning hydrogen -- the most abundant element -- instead of gasoline.

7/13/2001   $225 Million in Deals - Montreal Gazzette (Canada)

Hydro-Quebec, Shell Hydrogen and Gesellschaft fur Electrometallurgie will invest $42.8 million on Montreal's South Shore to develop and sell hydrogen storage tanks, creating 20 jobs.

7/10/2001   Pinnacle West, Quantum Seek Fuel Alternatives - Phoenix Business Journal

Irvine, Calif.-based Quantum Technologies Worldwide Inc. and Pinnacle West Capital Corp., the Phoenix-based parent company of electricity provider Arizona Public Service, today announced the formation of a strategic alliance to pursue the development of the infrastructure required to support hydrogen-fueled vehicles. Under the terms of the alliance, Quantum will supply its lightweight, advanced composite hydrogen and compressed natural gas storage tanks and control systems to Pinnacle West for application in stationary fuel-cell power plants, hydrogen and blended-fuel dispensing stations, and compressed gaseous fuel vehicles, including vehicles powered by hydrogen, natural gas, and hydrogen-natural gas blends.

7/9/2001   Southern California Gas Offers Monetary Incentives For Installation Of On-Site Power Generation - Sothern California Gas Company

Customers of Southern California Gas Co. (The Gas Company) who install on-site power-generation systems to supply all or a portion of their own energy needs may now qualify for monetary incentives under a new $13.6 million-a-year rebate program launched today. The new "self-generation" rebate program is aimed at businesses and large residential complexes. Electricity-generation systems covered by the program include microturbines, small gas turbines, non-diesel internal combustion engines, solar power (photovoltaics), wind turbines and fuel cells, all of which must be interconnected with the utility grid to qualify for the program. Higher incentives are tied to the use of renewable or super-clean generation technologies, as follows:

Renewable Technologies. Systems between 30 kilowatts (kW) and 1 megawatt (MW) that include photovoltaics, wind turbines or fuel cells using renewable fuel can receive a $4.50 per watt incentive, up to a maximum of 50 percent of the project's cost.

Fuel Cells. Fuel-cell systems up to 1 MW in size using nonrenewable fuel and waste-heat recovery can receive a $2.50 per watt, up to a maximum of 40 percent of the project's costs.

Microturbines, Gas Turbines and Internal Combustion Engines. Systems up to 1 MW in size that use gas turbines, microturbines or internal combustion engines with waste heat recovery can receive $1.00 per watt, up to a maximum of 30 percent of project costs.

7/6/2001   Plane of the Future Will Run on Liquid Hydrogen by Christiana Stylou - Kathimerini (Greece)

In the ambitious program for the creation of the Cryoplane, 35 scientific teams from 11 European countries are to participate, including Austria, Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and Sweden. Greece is represented in the program by the departments of Mechanical Engineering and Physics of Aristotle University in Thessaloniki. These have responsibility for planning the Cryoplane's effects on the environment. ..."The replacement in the future of the existing fleet by Cryoplanes will bring us out of ecological deadlock, as it is anticipated that the use of Cryoplanes will bring about the achievement of a balance of the emission gases that cause the greenhouse phenomenon," noted Professor Christos Zerefos, head of the Department of Physics at Thessaloniki's Aristotle University, in an interview with Kathimerini. The Cryoplane will be using liquid hydrogen for fuel, which is produced by passing electric current through water, and is, therefore, a renewable source of energy. The new ecological plane will thereby spare the atmosphere further pollution from carbon dioxide emissions currently produced by conventional aircraft, a problem which magnifies every year as aerial transport increases globally by 4 to 5 percent.

7/5/2001   'Flying Wing' Tested for Satellite-like Uses by Peter N. Spotts - Christian Science Monitor

He envisions a fleet of Helios-type aircraft acting as "11-mile high towers," linking users to the Web in a manner similar to satellite TV. The key to the craft's endurance is a system - still under development - of fuel cells that convert hydrogen and oxygen into electricity and water. Mr. Hicks explains that during the day, the solar cells produce more than enough electricity to run the craft's motors. The excess is used to break down about seven gallons of water into oxygen and hydrogen. At night, the process reverses. The fuel cells use the oxygen and hydrogen to generate electricity and water. The Helios team hopes to add the fuel-cell system after this set of flights and set a high-altitude endurance record in 2003.

7/3/2001   Fueling the Hype by J.P. Vicente - Red Herring Magazine

Although California's energy crisis has heightened public awareness about the need for new sources of energy, investors' infatuation with the stocks in this sector is eerily reminiscent of the early stages of the Internet. ..."While there's a lot of excitement about this sector, there may not be too much knowledge of the subject matter," says Maurice Schoenwald, portfolio manager of the New Alternatives Fund. One unfortunate by-product of this newfound interest in the sector, Mr. Schoenwald says, is a higher level of volatility in the stocks. It's a phenomenon that's been noticed among Wall Street's most skeptical bunch: the short sellers.

7/2/2001   State Contributing $500K for Fuel Cell Research by Richard A. D'Errico - Capitol District Business Review Business Review (Albany NY)

The state, a local company and a Germany-based company will work together in a fuel-cell research effort at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the state Senate announced last week. The state will contribute $500,000 for the program to be headquartered in the New York State Center for Polymer Synthesis at Rensselaer. Plug Power Inc. of Latham, a developer of fuel cell generators, Celanese Ventures, a Germany-based company involved in the chemistry industry, are partners in the program. The state money will be used to support the development of new polymer membranes and the purchase of new equipment necessary for the manufacturing of film-testing activities.