10/31/2002   Experts Question New Energy Sources - AP/New York Times

The study by 18 scientists and engineers in university, government and private labs evaluated technologies that would make energy without burning oil, coal or natural gas and found that no single system or combination of systems could replace these fossil fuels, based on the present level of development. ..."What our research clearly shows is that scientific innovation can only reverse this trend if we adopt an aggressive, global strategy for developing alternative fuel sources that can produce up to three times the amount of power we use today,'' said Hoffert, first author of the study. ``Currently, these technologies simply don't exist.'' Hoffert said U.S. government policy favors increased domestic oil production and shortchanges energy technology research that might lead ultimately and economically to replacing fossil fuels. ...Currently, the world's power consumption is about 12 trillion watts, with 85 percent of it produced by burning fossil fuels. To stabilize the amount of carbon dioxide emitted to the atmosphere by the middle of the century while still permitting the current level of global economic expansion would require production of about 30 trillion watts of power worldwide using power systems that do not emit carbon dioxide, the study found. For that to happen, said Hoffert, the United States and other countries need a crash program of alternate energy technology development.

10/31/2002   Hydrogen Fuel Depot is First in Bay Area by William Brand - Daily Review (California)

Taking a giant step into the future of transportation, AC Transit officials on Wednesday afternoon dedicated the first hydrogen-fuel-cell refueling facility in the Bay Area. It is one of only a handful in the entire world that produces hydrogen for use in cars, officials said; there are just seven facilities on the West Coast. However, Alan Lloyd, chairman of the state Air Resources Board, predicted that within a few years, hydrogen refueling stations like this one at AC Transit's Richmond bus yard will be commonplace. ...The pump looks exactly like commercial pumps found in corporate yards around the world. The nozzle locks onto the refueling tank in a manner similar to those used to refill natural gas tanks from backyard barbecues. But beneath the pump's ordinary appearance is a lot of extraordinary technology. The facility, made by Stuart Energy, of Ontario, Canada, produces hydrogen from water. ...AC Transit plans to build a hydrogen refueling facility for its buses next year at its Oakland yard on Seminary Avenue. A request for bids on the facility is in process. The bus district has a $15 million federal fuel cell technology grant.

10/31/2002   Hydrogen Station Opens in Richmond Transit Lot by Jose Lopez - Contra Costa Times (California)

On Wednesday, the California Fuel Cell Partnership -- a Sacramento-based group that consists of government agencies, automakers, energy providers and fuel cell technology companies -- unveiled the station at an AC Transit facility in Richmond. ..."What we're seeing today is clear proof that the Hydrogen Age is here and being tested," said Rick Fernandez, AC Transit's general manager.

10/30/2002   Kyoto Was Never Going to Save the Earth, Anyway by Michael McCarthy - The Independent (UK)

It is citizens we must cater for, ordinary fallible people, people who aren't idealists, who have ordinary human wants and needs and greeds, if we are to fight climate change effectively in our democracies. The key will be not demanding that ordinary people change their lives, as Kyoto does, and as environmental activists do, but changing the technology by which those ordinary lives are lived. The possibility of replacing the internal combustion engine with the hydrogen fuel cell seems to offer a real chance; the "hydrogen economy" is coming closer. The task for governments such as Britain's will be to push such technology as hard as they possibly can, with every economic and research incentive, and not to pretend that they will make any difference to the coming of global warming by merely meeting their commitments to a treaty which is entirely honourable, and well-intentioned, but not up to the job.

10/29/2002   First Hydrogen Filling Station in Berlin - DWV (German Hydrogen Association)

On 23. October the first hydrogen filling station in Berlin was opened on a service ground of the transport utility Berliner Verkehrs-Betriebe (BVG). This was also the start for a hydrogen competence center where BVG and the TotalFinaElf group will concentrate their hydrogen research. The station dispenses both cryogenic liquid and compressed gas. Linde delivered the station for liquid hydrogen. From the 18 m3 storage tank the liquid is transferred subcooled to the vehicles; this reduces evaporation losses. The gas is generated in a membrane high pressure electrolyzer provided by the US company Hogen and stored in cylinders under 250 bar. The plant has so far a throughput of 1 Nm3/h; it will be increased by a factor 100 until 2004. There is also an info center for visitors. The station is part of a project supported by the EU in which a city bus will circulate in regular service in Berlin for a few months, after this in Copenhagen and Lisbon. The operation under such very different conditions will facilitite comparisons and the further development of the technology. MAN provides the bus. Berlin's senator for economy, Harald Wolf, underlined the innovative potential of the city in the field of transport and that this project puts it into an European context. He promised that the Senate would do everything to help the technology on its way to success.

10/28/2002   When the Oil Runs Out by Paul Klebnikov - Forbes

"We are probably looking at a peaking of conventional oil supply within the next two to three decades," says Ged Davis, the head of Shell's Global Business Environment division. "With natural gas, we will keep growing a bit longer, but somewhere around the middle of the century we will turn down. Technology may continue to surprise us, but it can only go so far in addressing resource constraints." What comes next? Hydrogen-powered fuel cells. "For the very first time we may have a genuine competitor for the internal combustion engine," says Davis. "This could dramatically change the nature of the energy industry as we know it." The technology is beguiling. You can get hydrogen from water when you zap it with electricity, or you can extract it by "reforming" natural gas. When you feed the hydrogen into a fuel cell (a generator without moving parts), out come electricity and steam. A fuel cell is not only much cleaner than the internal combustion engine; it is also more efficient--it expends half the energy per kilometer as a gasoline engine.

10/25/2002   Experimental Bus Goes for Test Drive: Fuel-cell Vehicle Powered by Air, Hydrogen - Desert Sun (CA)

One of the world’s most advanced experimental buses took to the streets of Palm Desert on Thursday for a trial run. The large blue fuel-cell bus is powered by air and hydrogen from renewable sources such as wind and sun. It has no transmission. Only 12 such buses are known to exist in the world, its creators say. The bus’ electric engine can reach speeds as great as 65 mph without the lurching motion of most buses.  ...It was created by ThunderPower, a joint venture between Thor Industries and ISE Research, a San Diego-based company. ISE President David Mazaika said the cost to develop the bus was less than $1 million. SunLine Transit Agency is one of three public transportation authorities in the world selected to showcase the fuel-cell bus while designers work out the kinks. ...SunLine agency has a hydrogen refueling facility it hopes to expand as fuel-cell technology becomes more commonplace, Kronmiller said.

10/25/2002   Genesis Technologies’ Device Eyed for Military Fuel-cell Power Systems by Kim Crompton - Spokane Journal of Business (WA)

Genesis landed a contract in August to develop a prototype fuel processor for Boulder, Colo.-based Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., a U.S. defense and aerospace contractor, and expects to deliver the compact unit in January, says Phillip Piffer, Genesis’s president and CEO. ...The hydrogen fuel processor that Genesis is developing for military use weighs less than 20 pounds and is slightly larger than a shoe box, he says. Also called a reformer, it’s designed to produce high purity hydrogen from fuels such as methanol, ethanol, or alcohol. In the process, the fuel is mixed with water, pumped into the reformer, heated, and converted to hydrogen and carbon dioxide, after which a membrane extracts the hydrogen. A separate fuel cell then converts that hydrogen into power through an electrochemical process.

10/24/2002   Exploding Balloons Injure 50 - The Australian

At least 50 people were injured when decorative balloons filled with hydrogen exploded at a political rally in Istanbul. Police said dozens of the balloons blew up as Nationalist Action Party supporters gathered to hear Deputy Premier Devlet Bahceli speak. At least 50 people, mainly burn victims, were being treated at a local hospital, an officer said. Four people were in serious condition according to Turkey's Anatolia news agency. It said the balloons exploded as people squeezed them.

10/23/2002   Honda Unveils Prototype of FCX Fuel-cell Vehicle - Japan Times

The 4.17-meter-long car, equipped with a 157-liter compressed hydrogen fuel tank, is capable of a maximum speed of 150 kph and a range of 355 km. It seats four passengers. Earlier this month, Honda agreed to lease the vehicle to the Los Angeles city government.

10/21/2002   Norway's Green Rebel Befriends Oil Industry by Barbara Lewis - Reuters

On a private yacht moored alongside the supertankers and fishing boats in the harbor of Norway's energy capital, Stavanger, sits the conscience of the nation's oil industry. Norway's leading environmental campaigner, Frederic Hauge, seeks to promote his vision of a green and sustainable future by working as a friend rather than foe of the oil industry that has helped make his country one of the richest in the world. "We have got to make the industry go from being part of the problem to being part of the solution," he says. ...His Utopia consists of small, sustainable and democratic power sources based on hydrogen and solar power, but Hauge says the oil industry's energy and technology are indispensable to that vision. "We need energy input to produce all these (solar) panels," Hauge says. "Only the energy industry has the technology and the knowledge to (bring about) change."

10/21/20   Web Concept for Fuel Cells Has Promise by Paul Andrews - Seattle Times (WA)

Rifkin's current thesis: We're a decade or two from peaking in world oil production, meaning oil will get scarcer, harder to drill and costlier. The alternative, however, already is within our grasp: a Hydrogen Energy Web, where small, decentralized hydrogen-conversion plants, linked together by energy networks, supply fuel cells to run cars, homes and businesses. "It's like the World Wide Web for energy," Rifkin said. Fuel cells would proliferate like personal computers; hydrogen plants would be the network servers. As with a Napsterlike peer-to-peer network, you would upload excess energy to the "commons" and draw energy when you need it from wherever it's available. "Soon, end users will not only produce their own electricity but be able to share it with others, posing a fundamental challenge to the current top-down, unidirectional energy regime," Rifkin writes. Already this is happening in places like California, where savvy energy geeks store solar-boosted power during the day and sell it back to utilities at a premium during peak hours.

10/19/2002   DBEDT Director Naya is Bullish on Hydrogen by Russ Lynch - Star Bulletin (HI)

Hawaii could become a "hydrogen-based economy," using cheap local production as a new energy source to fuel all kinds of developments, the Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism said yesterday. That was one of a list of high-technology opportunities DBEDT listed in a follow-up to a Year-2000 "new millennium" report. The department set out to identify specific technological developments that could get Hawaii away from its reliance on tourism and broaden its economy. The hydrogen fuel cell seems to be the answer, said the report, using Hawaii's natural and renewable resources to produce hydrogen for use in new fuel cells to drive automobiles, industry and a host of other applications. A study suggests that "geothermal-produced hydrogen (on the Big Island) and biomass-produced hydrogen (on the Big Island, Maui and Kauai) could all compete with gasoline at current prices," said the report issued by DBEDT Director Seiji Naya.

10/19/2002   British Rain Puts Paid to Car of the Future by Anthony Browne - London Times

The Ford Focus Fuel Cell Vehicle has a top speed of 130mph and a range of more than 200 miles, and is fuelled by 4kg (8.8lb) of hydrogen in a tank in the boot. The £1.7 million car emits no carbon dioxide or other gasses, and the water that dribbles out of the exhaust pipe is so clean you can drink it. Ford and other carmakers believe that hydrogen fuel cells are the technology to end the 100-year reign of the internal combustion engine. They envisage mass production starting by 2010 and sales overtaking petrol cars by 2020. However, the car, the result of research costing £300 million, came to a sudden halt while being driven by The Times in the Cornish rain, and the world’s top fuel cell engineers failed to fix it. “It’s not been tuned to Britain’s climate,” one said.

10/18/2002   South Windsor Fuel Cell Unveiled - Connecticut Clean Energy Fund/Business Wire

After months of planning, installation and testing, the fuel cell at South Windsor High School was unveiled at a ceremony held today at the school. Town and state officials participated in the event, marking the launch of the state's first municipal facility to be powered and heated by a fuel cell. The South Windsor High School also will serve as a regional emergency shelter. Because the fuel cell provides heat and power independent of the existing electric grid, the high school will continue to operate in the event of a power failure. And a comprehensive fuel-cell curriculum has been developed for high school students, providing learning opportunities for students in programs that include earth sciences, chemistry/physics, and general studies. ...UTC Fuel Cells provided engineering personnel to assist in the curriculum development and implementation. The fuel cell installation was made possible by a funding program through the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund, which is administered by Connecticut Innovations, the state's high-technology investment arm.

10/17/2002   Stuttering Start for the Revolutionary Car that Some Say Will Save the Planet by John Vidal - Guardian (UK)

It looked like a car, it felt like a car, it mostly drove like a car - but for the technologically minded it was as far away from today's toxic smell boxes as a space capsule is from a biplane. Ford's "third generation" hydrogen car, adapted from a production line Focus model, is the result of more than $600m (£387m) of investment. So far there are only five of them, but next year there should be twice as many. The marketing men say their goal is to have them rolling off production lines within eight years at "competive" prices. ...The race is now on between car makers to mass-produce hydrogen cars, says Ford. All the major league players are developing their own models and are gearing up for production around 2010. In the meantime, we can expect to see Mercedez Benz, General Motors, Toyota, Honda and others launching buses and goods vehicles into niche markets. Ford believe that they are out in front, but the others would disagree. But the interim hydrogen economy is on its way, say car makers, energy analysts and environmental gurus. At least $7bn is believed to have been invested into fuel cell systems by car companies, governments and other leading industries in the past decade, and some 4,000 companies worldwide are thought to be developing applications.

10/17/2003   The Hydrogen Highway: Hype or a Happening? by Larry E. Hall - MSN

10/16/2002   Prodi Hopes to Vault EU To Front of Hydrogen Race by Scott Miller, Bhushan Bahree and Jeffrey Ball - Wall Street Journal

As the U.S. did earlier this year, Europe is launching a high-profile push toward a massive increase in hydrogen research and development. European Commission President Romano Prodi says the scientific program will be as important for Europe as the space program was for the U.S. in the 1960s. If successful, hydrogen power also would relieve Europe from a potentially dangerous and growing reliance on imported oil and gas, and address the concerns of the region's politically powerful green lobbies. Mr. Prodi said that hydrogen power, although still years from widespread use, has reached a point where it presents a realistic alternative to fossil fuels. Government financial support and legislation, he said, could now push the technology toward practical use, thrusting Europe into the global lead in hydrogen and triggering a wave of scientific achievement. "It's like going to the moon in a series of steps," he said of the European Union's hydrogen ambitions. ...Mr. Prodi, who compared the importance of his hydrogen initiatives with the introduction of the euro and EU enlargement, said that the technology carried a higher priority in Europe than in the U.S., where fuel is cheaper. "For us, it's even more urgent than it is for the U.S.," Mr. Prodi said.

10/15/2002   Europe Pushes for Renewable Energy by Paul Meller - New York Times

Mr. Prodi said that Europe was poised to leap ahead of its rivals in its overall energy strategy. "Neither the United States nor Japan is clear on its goals," he said, and without clear goals, there is little progress. Industry agrees. "The European commission is playing a very significant role now in developing hydrogen fuel cells," said Don Huberts, chief executive of Shell Hydrogen, after the advisory panel met last week. "It is providing a framework for the introduction of the new technologies in the E.U. It would be very hard to convert the environmental benefits into consumer benefits without this political leadership." ...Mr. Prodi put the cost of converting Europe to a decentralized energy grid based on hydrogen fuel cells placed at or near the point of energy consumption at about five times the cost of installing a mobile-phone network. "The cost is enormous," he said, "but it is not out of reach." Without involvement of the private sector, the project will not succeed, he said, but companies will become involved in building the new energy network only if there is a strong political will behind them. What if the looked-for dawn of cheap hydrogen energy never breaks? "Maybe this will fail," Mr. Prodi said. "But then there are no other serious alternatives."

10/15/2002  British Columbia:   Don't Fumble Our Lead by David Berkowitz - Globe and Mail (Canada)

The emerging fuel cell industry in Vancouver has world-class companies, experienced people, strong networks, leading research, and intelligent capital -- all the ingredients to begin a dominant cluster. For fuel cells, Vancouver could be Silicon Valley. There are a few fuel cell-related companies in other provinces -- such as Hydrogenics, based in Mississauga, Ont., or the Calgary-based Global Thermoelectric -- but B.C. is home to the highest number of companies and employees in the sector. The best-known company in the cluster is Ballard Power Systems, the acknowledged global leader of the fuel cell industry. Founded in the early 1980s, and financed in the late 1980s by Ventures West and others, Ballard now has 1,400 employees and a market capitalization of more than $1-billion (U.S.). Vancouver has emerged as home to the most knowledgeable early-stage investors in fuel cell-related technologies. Most young fuel cell companies in the U.S. look to Vancouver venture-capital firms for support, and a trip to Vancouver is an obligatory part of any investor roadshow. Many of these companies are willing to relocate in Vancouver because of our emerging cluster, the same way Canadian companies were willing to move south of the border a few years ago. Fuel cell companies have taken a beating lately in the public markets, mostly for overpromising and underdelivering. The investment community, not known for its long-term view of the world, has ravaged the market caps of Ballard, Plug Power and others as they've stumbled on the road to the market. They will get there, but it's taking a bit longer than expected. The reality is that the industry needs a helping hand to bring the product to market. ...If Jean Chrétien wants to leave a legacy to our economy and environment, he should stop his grandstanding on Kyoto and commit investments in the hydrogen economy.

10/15/2002   Life After Gasoline: Harnessing Hydrogen to Power Cars by Noel Paul - COMTEX/Christian Science Monitor

"There are three major crises facing the human family, and they're all connected to oil," Rifkin said during a recent Monitor interview. Rifkin cites global warming, the mounting debt of poorer nations that control no reserves, and the Middle East conflict. "All three of these crises will worsen," he says, "when the global oil supply peaks." The clear alternative to oil is hydrogen, argues Rifkin in his book "Hydrogen Economy."

10/14/2002   Alternative Fuels Seen as Key to Oil-price Stability by Christina Hoag - Miami Herald (FL)

New energy sources are the ideal mechanism to stabilize long-term oil price volatility, as well as conserve the hemisphere's increasingly endangered environment, energy experts said Monday at The Herald's Americas Conference. ''The myth of infinite demand for oil has collapsed in a world that is increasingly sensitive to the impact of fossil fuels,'' said Gustavo Roosen, chairman of Venezuela's largest telecommunications company CANTV and former president of the country's state oil conglomerate Petróleos de Venezuela. Some on the energy panel examining ''Oil Pricing and Policies'' predicted that the need for gasoline, which fuels 60 percent of the overall U.S. demand for oil, will drop drastically in the future due to rapidly advancing technology. ''In the next six to 10 years, we may see a change in fuel for the automotive industry due to energy cells,'' said Robert Grosse, professor at Thunderbird, The American Graduate School of International Management.

10/14/2002   "Roadmap" For The Way to Hydrogen as Clean Fuel to be Created for Germany - EV World/German Hydrogen Association

The objectives of the roadmap are:
· Formulation of a hydrogen strategy for Germany by the economy together with the federal government
· Definition and creation of suitable boundary conditions by the politics
· Activities coordinated by the involved branches of the German industry in the framework of a national hydrogen strategy
Main contents will be:
· Principal demands on the H2 infrastructure
· State and possible development of the technology
· Determination of costs and economically reasonable plant sizes
· Description of the basic phases of an H2 infrastructure installation
· Identification of interdependencies between different social and economic sectors (politics, infrastructure industry, vehicle industry, consumers, banking, insurances, ...)
· Identification of dependencies of the various components and subsystems of a H2 infrastructure (generation, transport, filling stations, vehicles, approvals)
· Summary of possible supporting political boundary conditions · Presentation of supporting external factors (climate change, resource availability, dependence on energy imports, global motorization, strategies of other countries like USA, Japan, EU, technology development, etc.)

10/12/2002  Hydrogen: The Next Generation by Jessica Gorman - Science News

10/11/2002   Europe Tries to Boost Energy With More Fuel Cell Research by Scott Miller and Bhushan Bahree - Wall Street Journal

During the past few years, hydrogen power has emerged as the darling of industry and political leaders looking for an alternative to fossil fuels. Converted to electricity through a fuel cell, hydrogen can power everything from factories to cars with no pollution and in almost-complete silence. However, production of hydrogen itself will create pollution unless major technological advances are made. "Today fuel cells are too expensive -- that's why we need a consistent approach at a European level," said Philippe Busquin, the European Union's research commissioner. There is little infrastructure to support hydrogen-powered vehicles, which would replace the fossil-fuel-powered vehicles that are the main cause of air pollution. Car companies like DaimlerChrysler AG and General Motors Corp. have been putting considerable effort into developing fuel-cell cars, and even oil companies, such as Shell, have been working on the technology. But hydrogen is a technology in its infancy.

10/11/2992   New Hydrogen 'Trap' Spells Promise for Fuel Cells - EarthVision

Scientists have been able to use crystalline solids where a framework of water molecules acts as a molecular trap (called clathrate hydrates), but only for bigger size molecules. Since hydrogen is so small, the conventional thinking was this trapping system wouldn't work. However, researchers from Carnegie Institution of Washington's Geophysical Laboratory, University of Chicago, and Los Alamos National Laboratory, have shown they can trap the hydrogen gas inside water-ice structures forming hydrogen hydrate. The scientists, writing in the September 27, 2002, issue of Science, say they may be on their way to a new hydrogen storage method. ...Hydrogen is the most abundant gas in the universe and the race has been on to find a cost-efficient, practical way to store it for fuel use. The researchers made their breakthrough by subjected a mixture of hydrogen and water to a pressure equivalent to about 2,000 times the atmospheric pressure at sea level at room temperature. This caused two regions to form - a hydrogen bubble and liquid water. When the mixture was cooled to -11°F the two regions reacted and formed one solid compound. However, unlike most clathrate hydrates, where only one molecule of a gas can be trapped in each of the H2O cages, the researchers say multiple hydrogen molecules were entrapped in this material - two molecules in small cages and four in larger ones. The synthesized material "showed remarkable stability," persisting when warmed to about 45°F. Upon cooling to liquid nitrogen temperature and releasing pressure completely, the clathrate remained they note.

10/11/2002   Yakushima to Lead World in Hydrogen Energy Use by Shigeo Masui - Daily Yomuri (Japan)

Yakushima, a volcanic island off southern Kyushu, is planning an energy revolution. The island--which is on the World Heritage List for its thousand-year-old cedar trees--will shun the use of petroleum and other fossil fuels in favor of clean hydrogen energy in an effort to stop the emission of carbon dioxide, the main culprit of global warming. Yakushima has embarked on an experimental project to use hydrogen as the sole energy source for the island's 14,000 people. ...The project envisions the island itself as an energy source. Yakushima has an annual rainfall of about 8,000 millimeters. An enormous amount of water flows down the steep slopes of 2,000-meter-high mountains. The project would utilize the rich water resource and the dynamic head of water to generate electricity with small generators. It seeks to minimize environmental impact and does not involve damming the flow of water for power generation. The use of wind power is also envisioned as an energy source. ...Yakushima Denko Co., a Tokyo-based power firm affiliated with Taiheiyo Cement Co., is playing a key role in the Yakushima initiative. It is conducting local feasibility studies on the installation of small generators that generate electricity from flowing water. The system is scheduled to go on line next year. The Yakushima town office also plans to build a hydropower station in a reserve forest to keep step with the company. Yakushima Denko currently generates about 60,000 kilowatts of hydroelectric power. This exceeds the island actual energy requirement, so the company plans to use the surplus energy to electrolyze water to produce hydrogen. The office then hopes to encourage some island residents to switch their gasoline-powered cars to hybrid hydrogen-gasoline vehicles. The island is enthusiastically embracing the hydrogen energy supply base project. Yakushima Denko has applied to the government to make the whole island a hydrogen energy-oriented special economic zone. The initiative is drawing the attention of energy and automotive companies around the world. German automaker BMW has already made contact with the company, as has the government of Canada, which is the home of Ballard Power Systems Inc., the world leader in fuel-cell technology.

10/10/2002   EU Criticizes Lack Of Progress In Hydrogen, Fuel Cell Development by Renee Lawrence - Dow Jones

The lack of harmonization of research in the European Union continues to block progress in hydrogen and fuel cell development for sustainable energy, Philippe Busquin E.U. Commissioner on Research said Thursday. "E.U. research effort on fuel cell and hydrogen technologies is considerable but this is fragmented...the total E.U. public funding for research in this area is estimated one-third of that in U.S. and one quarter of that in Japan," Busquin said. A recent report from the U.N. on climate change estimates that if current trends persist, annual losses due to natural disasters will come close to $150 billion in the next decade. In future, these losses may not always be insurable and so they could become direct business costs, the Commission said. This is comparable to the cost of installing a hydrogen infrastructure throughout Europe that could help mitigate the effects of global climate change, Busquin said.

10/10/2002   New Clean, Quiet Cars Guzzle Hydrogen - Experimental Autos Offer Clean Alternative to Gasoline by Jeordan Legon - CNN

The new fuel cell cars are powered by hydrogen, the most abundant element in the universe, and they are pollution and noise free. The mayor of smog-choked Los Angeles, Jim Hahn, likes them so much he signed a lease with Honda this week that will put city employees behind the wheel of five of the experimental cars by year's end. "Hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles hold great promise for future clean air vehicles," Hahn said in a press release. "It's important that Los Angeles play a leading role in development and early use of this technology."

10/9/2002   The US Must Follow Europe's Lead and Turn its Back on Oil by Jeremy Rifkin - The Guardian (UK)

The EU and the US are beginning to diverge in the most basic aspect of how a society is organised: its energy regime. Nowhere was this emerging reality more apparent than in Johannesburg, at the world summit, when the EU pushed for a target of 15% renewable energy by the year 2010 for the whole world while the US fought the initiative. The EU has already set its own internal target of 22% renewable energy for the generation of electricity and 12% of all energy coming from renewable sources by 2010. The difference in approach to the future of energy couldn't be more stark. While the EU is beginning to mobilise its industrial sector, research institutes and the public to the task of making an historic transition out of carbon-based fossil fuels and into renewable resources and a hydrogen future, the US is pursuing an increasingly desperate search to secure access to oil.  The difference in perspective between Europe and America on this score is reflected in the attitudes of the world's giant energy companies. The European-based energy giants, British Petroleum and Royal Dutch Shell, have made a long-term commitment to making the transition out of fossil fuels and are spending large amounts of money on renewable technologies and hydrogen research and development. BP's new slogan is "Beyond Petroleum" and Philip Watts, chairman of the committee of managing directors of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group, has stated publicly that his company is preparing for the end of the hydrocarbon age and is actively exploring the promise of the hydrogen economy. By contrast, the American energy company, Exxon Mobil, has remained steadfast in its long-term commitment to fossil fuels with little effort being expended on renewables and the exploration of hydrogen-based research development. The EU is now in a unique position to lay claim to the future by becoming the first superpower to make the long-term shift out of carbon-based fuels and into a hydrogen era. A change in energy regimes of this magnitude over the course of the next half century is likely to have as profound an impact on human society as the harnessing of coal and steam power more than three centuries ago. The fossil-fuel era forever changed our living patterns, our notion of commerce and governance, and the values we live by. So too will the coming hydrogen economy. At some point, the reality is going to set in that Europe is heading into a new energy future. When that happens, the ripple effect could cross the pond like a great tsunami - forcing the US to rethink its own energy future. The last time the US was awakened from its somnambulance was 1957 when the Russians sent their first satellite into outer space. Caught by surprise, it mobilised every corner of American society to the task of catching up and surpassing the Russians. Maybe it's time for another jolt.

10/9/2002   The Fuel Cell: Power Plant in a Box - Utne Reader

Fuel cells are small and quiet. The unit in your car, for instance, might be a box hardly bigger than a case of beer. Technically, the box would contain not just one big fuel cell but many small ones that together power the car's electric motor. You'd fill the car's tank with hydrogen, which then would be converted cleanly into electrical power in the fuel cell without releasing any pollutants.

10/8/2002   Driving Toward a More Livable Planet by Eric C. Evarts - Christian Science Monitor

Driving one of these experimental fuel-cell cars doesn't feel much different from driving a regular car. The one I drove, a Mercedes NECAR 4, was small and slow, especially with five large men as passengers. A key unlocks the ignition and turns on the fuel cell. It takes a few moments to warm up. The whir of an air pump rose and fell as I stepped on the accelerator and released it. The noise reminded me of a roar of a gasoline-powered car. The electric car didn't have a transmission, just a switch for forward and reverse. Toyota plans to sell a fuel-cell car starting in 2004. But it will only be for businesses, because regular consumers would have no way to get hydrogen to fill up the tank. Industry experts say we can expect fuel-cell cars to be commonplace by 2010. Fuel cells could also provide electricity and heat for buildings and factories. Someday you might have a hydrogen gas line come to your house to run your home fuel cell for electricity. You'd fill up your car at the hydrogen pipe.

10/8/2002   New Era of Oil Is Coming, Energy Analyst Tells Buffalo, N.Y., Audience - Buffalo News

"Something extremely dramatic and something extremely important is heading toward us," Maxwell, the senior energy analyst at Weeden & Co. told members of the Buffalo Society of Securities Analysts at the Saturn Club on Monday. Maxwell estimates that world oil production will peak somewhere around 2015, but the output of non-OPEC nations will top out much earlier, around 2005 to 2007, increasing the world's dependence on the cartel. "We're going to see a fundamental change in the pricing of oil and it will begin moving upward," Maxwell predicted. "I believe we will find OPEC beginning to put real pressure on the price of oil." ..."We're going to have to change everything," he said. "We'll go into a massive national and international conservation program on energy." He also predicts it will spawn a whole new industry that he calls "energy technology" that will seek more efficient processes and alternate sources of energy, including the extraction of oil from tar sands.

10/5/2002   Home-Grown Hydrogen by Spencer Abraham, U.S. Secretary of Energy - Washington Post

Jeremy Rifkin's "End of the Fossil-Fuel Era" [op-ed, Sept. 26] tried to describe a "divergence" between U.S. energy policy and European energy policy with a most implausible example -- hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles. Rifkin asserted that General Motors' fuel-cell vehicle, the Hy-Wire, is largely a product of European engineering. In reality, its technology was made possible by Department of Energy laboratories. ...The Department of Energy, in collaboration with U.S. automakers, also launched the Bush administration's FreedomCAR program in January. FreedomCAR will develop technologies to enable mass production of affordable hydrogen-powered fuel-cell vehicles and the hydrogen infrastructure to support them. Our partners -- General Motors, Ford and DaimlerChrysler -- are working together on pre-competitive, cutting-edge research that will solve the daunting technical and cost barriers to affordable fuel-cell vehicles.

10/5/2002   The Focus is on Hydrogen by Jesse Crosse - Telegraph (UK)

Accompanied by fuel-cell programme marketing manager (and former F15 pilot) Phil Chizek, test engineer Brian Gillespey and planning analyst Mark Sulek, the Focus endured a two-hour fuel consumption test around the Hockenheim grand prix circuit, near Heidelberg, and outpaced a production Toyota Prius in the process. Later, it completed a three-day trip from Hockenheim to Paris in the hands of sceptical hacks. "This is no hand-built mule cobbled together in a research lab," said Chizek. "It's the first prototype from the production programme and the first to be made using production processes and production tooling." It also has a unique body made from aluminium, stainless steel and carbon-fibre, which saves 300kg compared with a standard Focus and partially offsets the extra weight of the new 902 fuel-cell engine from Canadian company Ballard.

10/4/2002   Eighty Years On: The Triple Threat Being Posed to Arab Oil by Patrick Seale- Daily Star (Lebanon)

Just over the horizon lies the real possibility of an inexhaustible source of renewable energy, based on hydrogen, which could doom oil to a slow death. These are all potential threats to the prosperity of the Middle East, yet there is little sign that the Arabs have woken up to the challenge and are preparing to face it. ...Perhaps the most serious long-term threat to Arab oil lies in the industrial world’s search for sources of renewable energy such as hydrogen to replace the present dependence on hydrocarbons. Major European industrial companies and scientific institutes are spending large sums on research. The EU has set itself a target of 22 percent of renewable energy for electricity generation by 2010 and 12 percent for all energy uses.

10/4/2002   Fuel Cell Approved for Use on Planes by Michael Kanellos - CNet

Onboard use of fuel cells, which will let notebook computers run three to 10 times longer without a recharge, has been questioned because they contain methanol, a flammable liquid. But the DOT said that a cell designed by start-up PolyFuel can ride in airplane cabins when it emerges commercially because it contains a relatively low concentration of methanol, according to Jim Balcom, PolyFuel's CEO. ...In PolyFuel's so-called eight molar methanol fuel cells, methanol, which ultimately provides the power, constitutes only 24 percent of the fluid. The rest is water. ...Menlo Park, Calif.-based PolyFuel is a spinoff of research firm SRI Research. Investors include Intel and venture capital firm Mayfield Venture. Competitors include MTI MicroFuel Cells.

10/3/2002   Panel Debates Future of World Oil Supply by Julie Breaux - Odessa American

Deffeyes, the author of “Hubbert’s Peak: The Impending World Oil Crisis,” said he believed world oil supplies will start dropping beginning in 2004. But Deffeyes also predicted price swings “will get noisy” as supplies dwindle. When the cushion of unused crude oil capacity is used up, the good news is OPEC will no longer be in charge of the price of oil,” Deffeyes said. “The bad news is no one will be.” Accompanying the peak in world production will be a “double-helping of uncertainty in the next few years,” Deffeyes said. Deffeyes said there was no time anymore for research and development. “We need to do what we know how to do,” he said. Conserve, expand the production of hydrogen from coal and produce more wind and nuclear energy. Dwindling oil supplies will hurt agriculture, which relies heavily on petroleum-based fertilizers and aviation, Defies said. “Aviation is very much in danger,” he said.

10/2/2002   Power Plant Explosion Turns into 9-Alarm Blaze by Kevin Rothstein and Franci Richardson - Boston Herald (MA)

An explosion inside a hydrogen-cooled generator at the old Boston Edison plant in South Boston yesterday turned the windowless 15-story building into an oven, that ignited a stubborn nine-alarm blaze for exhausted firefighters, officials said. ...The generators burn natural gas and use hydrogen and oil for cooling, but the highly explosive hydrogen vented into the atmosphere after the fire broke out and did not burn. About 20 employees were evacuated from the plant, which suffered $10 million in damage.

October 2002  Future Tech: The Car of Tomorrow We Put the Pedal to the Hydrogen by Brad Lemley - Discover

Why should we believe these things are the future if we can't take them out for a spin now? The question is particularly tantalizing if, like me, you are both an environmentalist and a gearhead. So my heart leaped on a muggy afternoon last June when I got to drive not one but three hydrogen fuel cell vehicles on a test track outside Washington, D.C. They exist. They go. Some even have air-conditioning. ...Every major automaker in the world is feverishly researching fuel cells. The first production-run vehicles for fleet use are expected to roll out late this year, with consumer versions arriving sometime around 2008. There are no public hydrogen filling stations in the United States yet, but the consensus among automakers is that good cars, coupled with government incentives, will soon lead to a modest fueling infrastructure. That infrastructure will in turn breed more cars, which will breed more filling stations, until hydrogen nudges gasoline aside.

9/30/2002   Dynetek Gets Ballard Power Hydrogen Fuel Storage Systems Pact - Dow Jones

Dynetek Industries Ltd. has received an order from Ballard Power Systems Inc. for the final 16 on-board hydrogen fuel storage systems of 30 fuel cell buses bound for European cities.

9/30/2002   The Hydrogen Balm? - Business Week

And now the hydrogen movement has a marquee spokesman. Jeremy Rifkin, liberal social critic and best-selling author, has written a book published this month called The Hydrogen Economy: The Creation of the Worldwide Energy Web and the Redistribution of Power on Earth. Although Rifkin is no expert on the physics, he gives the hydrogen cause a social dimension. He argues that cheap hydrogen could make the 21st century more democratic and decentralized, much the way oil transformed the 19th and 20th centuries by fueling the rise of powerful corporations and nation-states. With hydrogen, writes Rifkin, "Every human being on earth could be `empowered."'

9/29/2002   Dean's Vision at WSU School Focuses on New Technology Role by James V. Higgins - Detroit News (MI)

This unexpected stroke came from the Michigan Economic Development Corp., which did a startling about-face on the location of its NextEnergy Initiative. That's the state's plan to build a center for research and development of fuel cells and other alternatives to the gasoline engine for cars and trucks. MEDC first announced that it would build NextEnergy in Washtenaw County's York Township, south of Ann Arbor and on the fringe of a fast-growing high-tech cluster. But difficulties arose. Delays, along with the costs of acquiring land and imposing infrastructure on a rural patch, argued against the site. MEDC finally bowed to reason, along with intense lobbying from Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and WSU President Irvin Reid, and switched the location to Detroit. It will be built alongside another promising project -- WSU's Research and Technology Center. This is Reid's plan to construct a campus where WSU's considerable and expanding research in a variety of advanced technology areas can be translated into marketable products and services.

9/26/2002   DOE Backing Automotive, Stationary Fuel Cell Research - EarthVision

The Department of Energy has announced a $70 million solicitation program for the research and development of stationary and automotive fuel cell technology. This move also marks the largest Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) fuel cell solicitation to focus on stationary applications the Energy Department said. The research will be key to the development of FreedomCAR technology, which is an Energy Department program that helps fund the high-risk research needed to provide a full range of affordable cars and light trucks that are free of foreign oil and harmful emissions. "A successful stationary fuel cell program will save energy and improve our nation's energy security through energy diversity," said Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham. "By taking advantage of synergies between stationary and automotive applications, this solicitation represents a first step in implementing an integrated procurement strategy in the newly formed Hydrogen, Fuel Cell and Infrastructure Technologies Program."

9/26/2002   Posthumus: 'I Will be the Jobs Governor' by Steven Harmon - Muskegon Chronical   (MI)

Saying he would be the "jobs" governor, Lt. Gov. Dick Posthumus made tax cuts a key plank in a 35-point economic plan he was to unveil today in Grand Rapids. ..."My promise to the working families of Michigan is this: as governor, no one will fight harder for Michigan jobs -- every job -- than I will," Posthumus said in prepared remarks. "This is a promise based on my record and my vision and it is a promise that I will keep. I will be the jobs governor." ...He also said he would: ...Ensure Michigan "remains the home of the auto industry" by developing alternative fuels and fuel cells.

9/26/2002   GM's Hy-Wire Brakes Driving Mold by John Gartner - Wired

The most noticeable departure from standard car design is the unobstructed view from the driver's seat. Because there is no dashboard or hood, the windshield extends to the floor, providing a much wider view of the road ahead. Such a view is possible because the engine is located underneath the car. The Hy-wire's fuel-cell engine is nestled between three tanks of compressed hydrogen that sit in the center of the skateboard-like chassis. Putting the engine and fuel tanks underneath the car provides a lower center of gravity that enables the car to handle like a Porsche 911, Shabana said. The Hy-wire weighs slightly more than a standard sedan.

9/26/2002   End of the Fossil-Fuel Era by Jeremy Rifkin - Washington Post

Today the world gets a glimpse of the future. General Motors' revolutionary Hy-wire car makes its debut at the Paris Motor Show. While GM financed the car, much of the engineering, design and software was developed in Europe. The GM car marks the beginning of the end of the internal combustion engine and the shift from an oil-based civilization to a hydrogen age. Its debut in Europe also speaks to a great change taking place in the way Europe and America view the future. The European Union and the United States are beginning to diverge in the most basic aspect of how a society is organized: its energy regime. Nowhere was this more apparent than in Johannesburg, at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, when the EU pushed for a target of 15 percent renewable energy by 2010 for the whole world, while the United States fought the initiative. The EU has already set its own internal target of 22 percent renewable energy for the generation of electricity, and 12 percent of all energy coming from renewable sources, by 2010.

9/26/2002   Car Industry Struggles to Wean Drivers Off Oil - Financial Gazette (South Africa)

The Paris show serve as a reminder that, early in the 21st century, the internal combustion engine still rules, though carmakers are edging closer to viable hydrogen powered cars. General Motors Corp will display its Hy-Wire concept as part of an effort to become the first firm with a million fuel cell automobiles on the market. Peugeot will unveil a small fuel-cell-powered offshoot of its 206 compact car, customised for use by fire departments, whose hydrogen is produced chemically on board. Perhaps the greatest challenge, say analysts, lies with governments, who need the political courage to create a fiscal regime that makes drivers want to buy vehicles that spew out less carbon dioxide.

9/24/2002   As Oil Prices Rise, Push for Alternatives Stalls - USA Today

    The International Energy Agency predicted a two-thirds increase in global-energy demand by 2030 that would prevent the world from breaking the oil dominance of the Middle East, which sits on 65% of known oil reserves. No prize for guessing which country is the most vulnerable. With 3% of the world's oil reserves, the USA consumes a quarter of global output. And its imports keep growing, from 35% in the 1970s to 54% today and a projected 64% by 2020. Yet, neither President Bush nor Congress is addressing the long-term need to end a reliance on foreign oil that puts the country's economic well-being and security at risk. Instead, they are emphasizing short-term fixes - particularly increased U.S. production - that barely curb imports. A more promising solution would be a determined drive to replace the automobile's internal-combustion engine, which accounts for more than 40% of U.S. oil consumption and is the single biggest impediment to U.S energy self-sufficiency. ...Congress is no closer to a solution. It is considering tax breaks of between $13.5 billion and $26.2 billion during 10 years for the oil, gas, nuclear-power and coal industries. Such largesse, which spurs consumption by helping to keep costs down, dwarfs the $1 billion to $2.5 billion in tax breaks lawmakers are considering for automakers that develop alternative cars and consumers who buy them.  Until the U.S. government commits itself to the goal of ending its reliance on foreign oil and makes the needed investment, American consumers will continue to be buffeted by price spikes traced to an unstable region half a world away.

9/24/2002   Hydrotopia by Katharine Mieszkowski - Salon.com

Gray Davis signed legislation this summer saying that if you want to sell a car in the state of California in 2009, you can't come into the state without near zero emissions, and that's hydrogen. General Motors is suing to stop this, and so are other companies, but they're also rushing furiously to get to hydrogen, because they can't lose California. It's the single biggest automobile market in the entire world. How do consumers become producers of energy in the hydrogen economy? When a hydrogen car is not operating, you can plug it in to generate power for your home, factory or shopping mall. So, if the whole U.S. fleet was hydrogen, and if 25 percent of the fleet were plugged in when it was not operating, you wouldn't need one power plant in the country. That's the power of distributed generation.

9/22/2002   Power-producing Cars Envisioned by Wendy Culverwell - Tri-city Herald (WA)

Lovins described a lightweight car with a carbon skin, powered by fuel cells. In the future, hydrogen-powered cars will serve as generators on wheels -- powering homes and businesses wherever they're parked, he said. Imagine, he said, in a rare break from the serious business at hand, being paid to park your car instead of the other way around. Such "hypercars" will perform the same as their gasoline cousins, but weigh far less and be more efficient at using power. ...Widespread use of such vehicles would reduce dependency on foreign oil and speed the transition to a future powered by hydrogen rather than electricity. His institute even has developed a business model to make the transition from traditional energy to fuel cells and hydrogen. First, introduce fuel cell systems to commercial buildings -- something that already is happening and feasible. Then, introduce hydrogen-ready hypercars to vehicle fleets -- where they can be refueled overnight at the central parking system. Then, start selling the cars to the people who work in or near buildings equipped with fuel cells and hydrogen reformers, a natural pairing that would allow the car owners convenient access to hydrogen when they need to refuel.

9/22/2002   Fuel-topia by Chris Lehmann - Washington Post

Rifkin prophesies that the advance of hydrogen technology will do for the fuel sector what the World Wide Web has done in the information trade: drive costs down, decentralize distribution and flatten old hierarchies of access. ...Yet Rifkin is also arguing that the hydrogen revolution will produce something far larger than the sum of its parts. By making the formerly scarce resource of fuel -- the central ingredient of industrial (and, for that matter, postindustrial) economic life -- suddenly plentiful, cheap and democratic, we will upend the presently uneven pattern of globalization. And that means, among other things, that the very patterns of human settlement will shift dramatically. "The nation-state, after all, is a unique creation of the fossil-fuel era. . . . In the hydrogen economy, with its decentralized and democratized energy web, it is possible to establish human settlements by bio-regions, eco-regions, and geo-regions. . . . Embedding human communities into biocommunities creates a deep new sense of security that is indivisible from the Earth's own health and well-being."

9/22/2002   Canada's Palcan Fuel Cell Bike by Alec Tsang - EV World

Electric bicycles currently fill the void created by the ban on two-cycle, two-wheeled vehicles in China. ...Palcan's PEM fuel cell stack is designed for simplicity, which suits the bicycle application. It operates at ambient temperature and pressure and is air-cooled. The rare-earth metal hydride storage system operates at ambient conditions. Although less extreme operating conditions result in a lower power density for the fuel cell and a lower hydrogen storage density for the hydride storage system, the performance versus simplicity balance is very suitable for the intended transportable application of a fuel cell bicycle.

9/21/2002   Micro Fuel Cells May Replace Rechargeable Batteries by Michael Hill - AP/Detroit News

The prototype created by Acker's company, MTI Micro Fuel Cells Inc., relies on a minute flow of methanol to generate electricity. MTI Micro aims to shrink the prototype and begin selling its first commercial fuel cell product in 2004. The idea is to tap into the ever-expanding personal electronics market and provide a power source for the millions of people talking, computing and checking e-mail on the go. ...Micro fuel cells are supposed to have several advantages over rechargeable batteries. Once fully developed, micro fuel cells should last 10 times as long as the current generation of batteries, Acker said. And no more recharges. When a fuel cell runs out of methanol, just snap on a replacement fuel cartridge.

9/20/2002   PGE Begins Researching Fuel Cell Costs and Uses by Natasha Nowakowski - Business Journal - Portland (OR)

PGE's interest in fuel cells goes back several years when it lent support to the city of Portland's own $1.3 million fuel cell project with a $247,000 donation. The city implanted a large fuel cell, one that can provide electricity for use in 120 Portland homes, at the Columbia Boulevard Wastewater Treatment plant to turn methane gas, a natural by-product of the sewage treatment process, into renewable energy. To date, the project has been largely successful, reducing power bills at the treatment plant by $100,000 per year, explained Dave Tooze, energy division manager at the Office of Sustainable Development. With the cell's success at the treatment plant, PGE "wanted to test a small scale cell, one that you would find in a home or small office." Roughly the size of a home refrigerator, PGE's new cell can produce enough power for two large homes or the lights at the 10,000-square-foot center.

9/20/2002   GM to Cut Platinum Use 17%, Says “Chaos” in Platinum Pricing Could Set Back Fuel Cell Development - Eye for Fuel Cells

The situation deteriorated so badly that GM once dubbed palladium "unobtainium" and then swiftly changed its name to "plentium". Ford Motor Co. took a $1 billion charge last year on its platinum group metals stockpile after prices slumped. The automobile sector has been trying to make catalytic converters more efficient to reduce their dependence on the metals and meet increasingly stringent global emission standards. Based on estimates of supply, cost and the amount of platinum group metals required for the 38 million automobiles subject to low emission vehicle rules globally, Andres said GM engineers are instructed to estimate future loadings of not more than 1.5 grams of platinum, 3.0 grams of palladium and 0.3 gram of rhodium per vehicle.

9/19/2002   50,000 Atoms of Anti-hydrogen Made - Nature (UK)

CERN's ATHENA scientists bombard atoms with protons from a particle accelerator to make antiprotons which they catch in a storage ring called the Antiproton Decelerator. This feeds slow-moving antiprotons into a magnetic trap, immobilizing them. Another trap accumulates positrons, which some radioactive materials emit. The researchers combine these ingredients in a magnetic mixing trap. When some pair up to form antihydrogen, the electrically neutral anti-atoms drift out of the trap, hit the walls, annihilate and produce particles called pions. Pions signal the death of an anti-atom. Judging from the number of pions, the ATHENA team calculates that their trap holds at least 50,000 anti-atoms, all cooled to within 15 degrees of absolute zero.

9/19/2002   Mitsubishi Joins Chrysalix Fuel Cell Venture Partnership - Dow Jones

In a news release, Mitsubishi said becoming part of the Vancouver-based partnership is logical, given its participation in Europe's Conduit Ventures Ltd. fund for later-stage fuel cell investments, and will provide the company with "an eye on new technologies." ...The parties didn't disclose the amount contributed by Mitsubishi. But they said it will have the same rights and responsibilities as Chrysalix's other five partners: Ballard Power Systems Inc.; BASF Venture Capital, a unit of BASF AG; BOC Group plc; Duke Energy Corp; and Shell Hydrogen, a unit of Royal Dutch/Shell group.

9/17/2002   Power for Everyone by Jeremy Rifkin - Guardian (UK)

Renewable sources of energy - wind, photovoltaic, hydro, geothermal and biomass - can be harnessed to produce electricity which is then used, in a process called electrolysis, to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen is stored in a fuel cell and used to generate electricity for power, heat and light. People often ask why electricity must be generated twice, first for the process of electrolysis and then again to produce power, heat and light by way of a fuel cell. The reason is that it doesn't store. If the sun isn't shining, the wind blowing, or the water flowing, electricity cannot be generated and economic activity grinds to a halt. Hydrogen is a way to store renewable sources of energy to ensure a continuous supply of power.

9/16/2002   Nanotubes Could Reduce CO2 Emissions - UPI

A team led by scientists at Carnegie Mellon University said Monday that carbon nanotubes, which are straw-like structures with walls a single atom thick, could filter gases much more quickly than current systems. The atoms of carbon nanotubes are arranged so that they offer practically no friction to passing gas molecules, said David Sholl, a professor of chemical engineering at Carnegie Mellon. ...Two possible applications for nanotubes' gas transport qualities involve carbon dioxide and hydrogen, Sholl said. ...Most nanotubes form in multi-walled clumps, and the spaces between them could be an even better transport mechanism for hydrogen, he said.Taking advantage of multi-wall tubes' interstitial spaces to deal with hydrogen does make sense, according to Tom Chapman, acting director of the Chemical and Transport Systems Division at the National Science Foundation, which partially funded Sholl's work. Nanotubes' frictionless quality also could play a role in efficiently storing hydrogen, Chapman told UPI.

9/14/2002   Detroit May Win Energy Project by Alejandro Bodipo-Memba and Maryanne George - Detroit Free Press (MI)

In a surprise development, Wayne State University has become the front-runner to be named the new home of Michigan's $50-million NextEnergy fuel cell project. York Township in Washtenaw County was supposed to be the site for the high-tech research and development center, which will study fuel cell and alternative energy technology for the auto industry. But people familiar with the situation said Friday that York Township's effort is unraveling and Detroit, in alliance with WSU, has become the likely new destination. ...NextEnergy is intended to create a research hub for fuel cell development. Fuel cells use stored hydrogen and oxygen from the air to produce electricity that could power cars and trucks. During his State of the State address in January, Gov. John Engler said fuel cell technology would eventually replace internal combustion engines, and Michigan should be leading the research into the field.

9/13/2002   Hydrogen-fueled Vehicles Taking Slow Lane Forward - New Haven Register (CT)

The futuristic SUV being tested at the California Fuel Cell Partnership is part of an international push to create cars and trucks that run more cleanly and efficiently than any in history. Fuel cells that power the vehicles combine hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity. They emit only water vapor and heat. But the hydrogen-powered Highlander also exemplifies a critical problem faced by alternative vehicles: They may be friendly to the environment but they're a mystery to consumers.

9/12/2002   Leak Halts NY State's Indian Point Pwr Plant's Elect Prod - Dow Jones

Electricity production at the Indian Point 2 nuclear power plant was shut down to repair a hydrogen gas leak in the non-nuclear part of the facility, officials said. ...When it was first detected, the leak had been allowing about 600 cubic feet of gas to escape daily, but the amount of escaping gas grew to about 10,000 cubic feet, Steets said. The hydrogen was mixed with water that helps to cool the generator and was being discharged into the Hudson River.

9/6/2002   Delaware Leaders Push for Fuel-cell Investment - News Journal (DE)

For Delaware, government spending could mean more jobs because two big employers - Wilmington-based DuPont Co. and W.L. Gore & Associates of Newark - make fuel-cell components. The two companies' fuel-cell divisions employ more than 200 workers combined. The units could expand as the technology advances and opportunities to use it increase. ...Delaware's congressional representation is pushing for increased investment in fuel cells and tax breaks for consumers and businesses that buy fuel-cell automobiles and other products. Fuel cells could reduce America's dangerous dependence on foreign oil and reduce air pollution and global warming, lawmakers said.

9/5/2002   Lawmakers Applaud Fuel-Cell Strategy by Scott R. Burnell - UPI

Members from both houses of Congress said Thursday an industry partnership plan for fuel-cell technologies, involving more than $5 billion in government funds to speed development over the next 10 years, dovetails nicely with existing efforts in research and other areas. An ad-hoc coalition of companies involved with fuel cells released the plan, "Fuel Cells and Hydrogen: The Path Forward," during a news conference at the House Science Committee's hearing room. ...The plan calls for $5.5 billion in federal money over 10 years, almost half going to basic research and development in areas such as cost reduction, durability and hydrogen production. ...Just over $1 billion of the plan's suggested spending would help create the infrastructure for distributing hydrogen and educate officials and the public about the technology's advantages. Another $1 billion would enable the government to add more than 7,000 fuel-cell powered vehicles to its fleet by 2011, as well as purchase large-scale fuel cells to provide about 200 megawatts of electricity to federal buildings by 2005. The government is in the best position to advance the fuel-cell agenda, since it is one of the largest power consumers in the country and operates an extremely large vehicle base, said William Miller, president of UTC Fuel Cells, a South Windsor, Conn.-based part of United Technologies. The best candidates for fuel-cell power would be locations that require stable, reliable current, such as Veterans' Administration hospitals and air traffic control facilities, he said.

9/5/2002   Sumitomo Buys 3% Stake in Acumentrics - Boston Business Journal (MA)

Japan-based Sumitomo Corp. has purchased a 3 percent stake in Westwood-based power-generation technology maker Acumentrics Corp. The stock purchase deal includes a one-year study, to be conducted by Acumentrics, of the Japanese market for solid-oxide fuel cells, flywheel-based uninterruptible power supplies, and battery-based uninterruptible power supplies.

9/3/2002   Pentagon Gives Boeing UAV Contract by Andrea Shalal-esa - Reuters

Boeing Co. on Tuesday said it won a Pentagon contract to design a fuel cell-based propulsion system for a new pilotless aerial vehicle (UAV) that could eventually stay in the air for weeks rather than days. ...During the first phase of the project, Boeing will lead a team to design the UAV's fuel cell-based propulsion system, drawing on currently available automotive fuel cell technology, and conduct risk-reduction studies. In a second phase, planned for 2003, Boeing will build and demonstrate the complete propulsion system, with the actual aircraft to be built in a third phase.

9/3/2002   AltFuel Solutions Awarded Hydrogen Infrastructure Planning Grant - Oil and Gas Online

AltFuel Solutions announced receipt of a 50/50 grant through the Ohio Department of Development, Office of Energy Efficiency, to conduct Phase I of a demonstration hydrogen fuel station project in the Cleveland area. This project falls into one of three core areas, "demonstration projects involving hydrogen infrastructure", focused in the Ohio fuel cell initiative announced by Governor Taft May 9, 2002. This $100 million initiative is an integral part of the Third Frontier Project, a 10-year, $1.6 billion plan to create high-paying jobs in Ohio. The State of Ohio has designated the AltFuel Solutions' project as a "Smart Energy" project. AltFuel Solutions' major partner on this project is Northeast Ohio Clean Fuels Coalition, a program of Earth Day Coalition (and a U.S. DOE Clean Cities Coalition). The new facility will refuel natural gas, hydrogen, and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, utilizing on-site natural gas. It will include a small stationary fuel cell fueled by excess station hydrogen and, in return, supplying power to the station and local power grid. ...The AltFuel Solutions "New Energy Bridge" concept spans the expansion of gasoline/diesel stations to include refueling of natural gas vehicles, subsequent expansion to include reforming natural gas into hydrogen to refuel hydrogen and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, and final expansion to include hydrogen production from renewable energy resources. Energy security and environmental benefits will increase significantly at each new stage. And economic benefits will appear and continue to increase as oil prices inevitably rise.

9/2/2002   Ford Decision May Boost Hawaii Hydrogen Fuel Cell Industry - Pacific Business News (HI)

A law in California, currently on hold because of an injunction, would order automakers to offer up to 100,000 low-emission vehicles per year starting Oct. 1. New York and Massachusetts passed similar laws, and once all three are in force they will apply to a fifth of the entire U.S. car market. The California law says 10 percent of car sales must be low-emission of which 2 percent must have no pollution emissions. Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles comply with the latter. Ford says it still intends to comply, with hybrid-electrics and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. General Motors says it will actually give such vehicles to California government agencies to comply with the law even though it is the company that sought the injunction. Hoku Scientific of Honolulu is developing several kinds of fuel cells with some of its funding coming from Hawaiian Electric Industries. Enova Systems has done two years of testing in Hawaii on prototype Hyundai SUVs that run on batteries.

September 2002  Nanotech by the Numbers by Peter Fairley - MIT Technology Review (MA)

In his cramped cubicle at Nanomix, a nanotechnology company in Emeryville, CA, just across the bay from San Francisco, theoretical physicist Seung-Hoon Jhi peers at a computer model of a hydrogen fuel tank, carefully tracking the movement of individual molecules. As he raises the temperature of a simulated sheet of boron and nitrogen atoms from a frigid 50 Kelvin to a slightly less chilly 80 Kelvin, he watches the reaction of a handful of hydrogen molecules dotting its surface. The boron nitride sheet undulates, yet the hydrogen molecules hold fast. It’s an encouraging sign in a virtual experiment that may have just saved weeks or months of painstaking experimental testing in Nanomix’s effort to develop more efficient hydrogen storage materials for fuel cell cars.