4/29/2003   Letters Urge Congress to Support Higher Funding Levels
for Sustainable Energy Programs    EarthVision Environmental News

In two separate letters sent to key congressional appropriations subcommittee chairmen, members of the U.S. House of Representatives and a coalition of business and environmental groups called for higher funding levels for sustainable energy programs in the Fiscal Year 2004 (FY’04) U.S. Department of Energy budget.

4/28/2003   EPA Encouraging Texas Companies to Use Fuel Cells - Houston Business Journal (Texas)

A team of scientists and engineers in the Dallas office of the Environmental Protection Agency is working with the Houston Advanced Research Center to lay groundwork for reducing Houston air pollution with low-emission fuel cells. ...With EPA funding support, HARC is scouring the Houston-Galveston area for companies and non-profit agencies that could install fuel cells to replace old polluting equipment. The goal is to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxide, one of the pollutants that causes ozone. Houston-Galveston is a designated ozone non-attainment area.

4/26/2003   Honda Puts Big Money On FCX by Duncan Haimerl - Hartford Courant (Connecticut)

The FCX gets surprising acceleration because the fuel cell's electrical output is fed to an electric motor and electric motors have full torque right from the start - in the FCX's case, 201 foot-pounds from an 80-horsepower, 60-kilowatt motor. The fuel cell's output is 78 kilowatts, so the extra electricity is stored in a huge capacitor, not a battery, so it can provide an instant burst of energy when starting off. ...Right now, there are no public hydrogen fueling stations, so we are just at the beginning of the hydrogen car era. In a way, it was almost the same when Mazda came out with its first rotary-engine car that used unleaded gasoline. When I had that car in Montreal for a week in the early '70s, there were only three unleaded-gasoline pumps in and around Montreal so some careful planning was needed.

4/25/2003   Shell Opens the Island's First Hydrogen Filling Station and Hopes to Sell Its Excess to the European Union by Terry Macalister - The Guardian (UK)

Siv Fridleifsdottir, Iceland's environment minister, said various government departments were in talks about exporting its "green" power. "We have excess capacity from geothermal and hydroelectric sources and we are looking at a cable to carry power to Britain and other European countries," she said.   Jeroen van der Veer, the vice-chairman of Shell, described the move as a milestone in the search for a sustainable future. "We believe that hydrogen offers immense new business opportunities. We believe it could play an important role in Shell's future growth and success." ...The pilot scheme in Reykjavik will see three buses (4% of the fleet) run by local firm Straeto but the hope is the success of the venture - with or without future EU funding - will allow the entire fleet to be switched to hydrogen. The ultimate aim is to bring Iceland's 180,000 private cars into the same experiment followed by its fishing fleet. Iceland has the highest per capita greenhouse gas emissions in the world, partly because the 280,000-strong population is relatively affluent and Icelanders are heavy car users.

4/22/2003   Unusually Long 'Buckytubes' Grown at Duke - Duke University

"To the best of my knowledge these are the longest individual single-walled carbon nanotubes ever recorded, although we removed that ‘longest’ statement from our paper because you can never claim longest forever," Liu said. "In our paper, we claimed lengths of more than 2 millimeters, but in our own lab we are now growing 4 millimeter long nanotubes," he added in an interview. "We may get even longer nanotubes later on."

4/22/2003  Fourteen Organizations Sponsor 2003 Fuel Cell Effort at the Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC) - HARC/Business Wire

A group of 14 corporations, regulatory agencies, and universities will work together in support of a program at the Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC) to evaluate the performance of stationary fuel cell systems. BP, California Air Resources Board, California Power Authority, ChevronTexaco, Ecce Energy Corporation, San Diego Gas & Electric Company (SDG&E), Shell Hydrogen, South Coast Air Quality Management District, Southern California Gas Company, Southern Company, Texas A&M University, Texas State Energy Conservation Office, University of Houston, and Walt Disney Imagineering R&D are sponsors of HARC's Center for Fuel Cell Research and Applications for the 2003 program year. The Center's work will provide sponsors with engineering data regarding fuel cell operations and the commercial and industrial applications where they can be used.

4/21/2003   The Woman Behind the Exhaust-free Car by Todd Wilkinson     Christian Science Monitor

The admitted science junkie has been involved with developing GM's Precept, a concept car that gets 80 miles per gallon, something that skeptics in the early 1990s deemed impossible. Now, too, there are skeptics. Some claim hydrogen is too costly to mass produce. A recent report by the Laboratory for Energy and the Environment and the Massachusetts Institute for Technology, meanwhile, stated that hybrid vehicles hold more promise for reducing greenhouse gases over the next 15 years than hydrogen vehicles. General Motors is betting that they're wrong. "It's okay to be innovative and have great ideas but they have to come at a time when they make sense commercially," says Sloane. "The fuel cell, hydrogen economy is a compelling vision. We can get there."

4/16/2002  Rep. Dicks Laments Bush Cuts to Hydrogen Energy Research by Gene Johnson - AP/The Olympian (Washington)

Dicks, the ranking Democrat on the House Interior Appropriations subcommittee, said he would fight to restore the cut. Bush is proposing a tax cut of $550 billion as a way to stimulate the economy. The nation's deficit is expected to approach $400 billion this year. Among the speakers praising the potential of fuel cells was David Daggett, of Boeing's product development group in Everett. He said the company hopes to have fuel cells providing auxiliary power -- for things such as air conditioning and lighting -- on its aircraft by 2015. The fuel cells would be placed in the tail of the planes. The jet engines would still provide the power to move the aircraft; fuel cells would simply reduce the amount of fuel diverted to run the auxiliary power systems, saving maybe as much as 1 percent of the jet's fuel.

4/14/2003   Geneva Prof Leading Hydrogen Project by Matthew Daneman - Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (New York)

Assistant Professor Tom Drennen is the principal investigator on a two-year project that started last fall with Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico. The research team is using past research and data on hydrogen, as well as doing some investigating and projecting of its own, to create a computer simulation that will allow people to compare different options for hydrogen-based power sources.

4/14/2003  New Metal-supported Catalysts Using Carbon Nanofiber - Jiji/Financial Times/Hoovers

Japan's GSI Creos Corp. has developed new metal-supported catalysts using carbon nanofiber, which could be applied to a wide range of products including electrodes for fuel cells. The catalysts are made by depositing nanometer-level superfine particles of platinum evenly onto a GSI nanofiber product called Carbere, whose shape is like stacked cups. A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter. The size of the platinum particles and their distance from each other can be adjusted easily at the manufacturing stage, said GSI, affiliated with underwear maker Gunze Ltd. Coated with the superfine particles, the new catalysts require less platinum, an expensive noble metal, in their manufacturing process than conventional products. The catalysts were developed jointly by GSI's nanotechnology team and Shinshu University Professor Morinobu Endo, a noted Japanese expert in the field.

4/14/2003  University of Victoria Gets $400,000 for Fuel Cell Research - CanWest (Canada)

UVic's Institute for Integrated Energy Systems (IESVic), one of Canada's leading fuel cell research institutions, will use the money to develop a laser imaging system that can study the inside workings of a fuel cell to help develop 3-D computer models. An experimental energy system will also be set up to supply a typical B.C. home with electricity. Renewable energy sources such solar cells, wind turbines, micro-hydro or tidal systems will be evaluated in the experiment. ...IESVic director Ned Djilali said in the release that the grant will allow researchers to explore new ways of introducing fuel cells into mainstream activities such as powering vehicles, homes and industries.

4/14/2003   A Tiny Leap Forward: Nanotech May Revive Japan's Industry -     Business Week

Iijima's research on fuel cells for phones and laptops is now being applied to a bigger challenge: a low-cost fuel cell for cars. The fuel cells in today's prototype cars typically use an expensive platinum catalyst -- one reason that the fuel cell accounts for about half of the car's total cost. "If we can develop a nanohorn version, this could be a very big market," says Iijima. Toyota Motor Corp., meanwhile, has another idea up its sleeve. In collaboration with Nagoya's Shinohara, it is braiding nanotubes into ropes for storing hydrogen in fuel-cell cars.

4/9/2003  GM, BMW to Develop Liquid Hydrogen Refueling Technology by John Porretto - San Diego Uniton-Tribune (California)

GM, the world's largest automaker, said BMW is an ideal partner because the German automaker has done extensive research on liquid hydrogen. "We want to accelerate the progress being made on the distribution and on-board storage of liquid hydrogen as the future fuel," said Larry Burns, GM's vice president of research and development and planning.

4/9/2003  A Tiny Leap Forward: Nanotech May Revive Japan's Industry - Business Week

    Iijima's research on fuel cells for phones and laptops is now being applied to a bigger challenge: a low-cost fuel cell for cars. The fuel cells in today's prototype cars typically use an expensive platinum catalyst -- one reason that the fuel cell accounts for about half of the car's total cost. "If we can develop a nanohorn version, this could be a very big market," says Iijima. Toyota Motor Corp., meanwhile, has another idea up its sleeve. In collaboration with Nagoya's Shinohara, it is braiding nanotubes into ropes for storing hydrogen in fuel-cell cars.

4/5/2003  Officials Break Ground for Fuel Cell Energy Plant by Neil Modie - Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Washington)

The fuel cell will produce up to 1 megawatt of electricity a year, or enough to serve more than 750 households. It will be used to help operate the Renton treatment plant, which consumes 6 to 7 megawatts of energy a year, according to Don Theiler, the county's director of waste-water treatment. The value of that electricity is about $400,000.

4/5/2003  Vermont Senate OKs Repealing Electric Car Regulation by David Mace - Barre-Montpelier Times Argus (Vermont)

Thomas Moye, chief of the Mobile Sources Program in the Air Pollution Control Division at ANR, said that under the existing rules manufacturers would need to sell almost 300 such vehicles, but officials had no plans to enforce the mandate. “But that’s kind of a moot point, because the version of the regulations that are in effect in Vermont are not the same as the ones in effect in California,” he said. “So they’re not enforceable.” On top of that, California is in the process of re-writing its rules to reflect changes in technology and give auto manufacturers more flexibility, so Vermont will have to update its rules anyway. “These changes will reflect the fact that manufacturers are relying more on hybrid vehicles (using both gasoline and electric motors) and fuel cell (hydrogen) vehicles than battery electric vehicles,” Moye said.

4/4/2003  Danish Companies Lead the Pack in New Research to Develop Hydrogen Energy in the Nordic Countries - Copenhagen Post (Denmark)

Denmark's delegates to the Reykjavik meeting include the Risø project, the National Engineers' Associations, energy company E2, and the Danish Gas Technical Center.

4/2/2003  Long-lasting Fuel Cells Favored to (Eventually) Power Portable Devices by Lincoln Spector - PC World

Today's digital devices are smaller and more powerful than ever, but a roadblock obstructs further miniaturization: the batteries. Manufacturers can produce smaller notebooks, cell phones, and PDAs, but today's cumbersome power sources make the small packages impractical. That roadblock may soon be lifted: Over the next year or two, new technologies could bring better batteries and even better fuel cells. Many industry insiders consider fuel cells, which create electricity through a chemical reaction, the power source of the future. But don't recycle your batteries just yet. Fuel cell technology remains in its infancy, and products that use it aren't expected until next year at the earliest. Even when fuel cells become widely available, experts believe that the technology will coexist with today's traditional batteries.

4/2/2003  Deere Shows Off Emission-free, Fuel Cell Vehicle by Tyler Hamilton - Toronto Star (Canada)

Based on John Deere's popular Gator product, commonly used for landscaping golf courses, the vehicle can reach speeds of up to 50 kilometres an hour, is powerful enough to supply electricity to more than four homes, generates little noise and produces water as its only by-product. Joe Cargnelli, co-founder and vice-president of technology at Hydrogenics, said it's an example of emission-free vehicles that can double as mobile generators, capable of supplying clean power to almost any appliance or structure that requires electricity. "You now have a vehicle and a generator," he said. "The two are almost interchangeable now." This is the future the way Hydrogenics sees it. Cars that plug into your home at the end of the day that provide power to your fridge, stove and lights. Fleet vehicles that, when parked overnight in the company parking lot, collectively contribute electricity back to the power grid and reduce corporate hydro bills.

4/2/2003  EU Urged to Speed Up Fuel-cell Research by Karen Carstens - European Voice/Manufacturing.Net

It will have come as no surprise to most that George W. Bush used last month's State of the Union address to pump America up for the war now being waged in Iraq. But did anyone expect the US president to use his annual congressional address to plug hydrogen-powered cars? "In this century, the greatest environmental progress will come about through technology and innovation. Tonight I'm proposing $1.2 billion (1.1 bn) in research funding so that America can lead the world in developing clean, hydrogen-powered automobiles." And it will, if the EU doesn't get its act together soon, warns Marcus Nurdin, president of the Frankfurt-based International Platinum Association (IPA).

4/2/2003  Iveco Supplies "Green" Bus to Spain - La Stampa/FT/NewsEdge (Spain)

Umberto Agnelli, chairman of Italian conglomerate Fiat, was in Madrid yesterday to deliver the prototype of CityClass Fuel Cell, a hydrogen-powered bus. The new vehicle is manufactured by Irisbus, a division of Fiat in Spain. It is powered with a hydrogen battery which needs to be recharged every 16 hours.The CityClass Fuel Cell will also be adopted in Paris, Berlin and Turin. Ansaldo, the engineering division of Italian aerospace and defence group Finmeccanica, manufactured the electrical engine, while Spanish oil group Repsol-Ypf supplied the hydrogen and US group UTC provided the battery.

4/2/2003  The Billion Dollar Bet   60 Minutes II   CBS

Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe. Right now, the easiest and cheapest way to make the fuel is to extract hydrogen directly from gasoline, methanol or natural gas. But the goal is to do it cleanly and on a massive scale. At the Desert Research Institute in Reno, Nev., they are using solar and wind power to create hydrogen fuel from water.  But environmentalists say they’ve seen and heard this all before. They believe that GM should concentrate on building fuel-efficient hybrid cars that run on gasoline and electricity, and are being sold right now, rather than promising drivers the hydrogen car of tomorrow while selling gas-guzzling SUVs today. Wagoner disagrees. “We would argue that the problem isn’t the SUV, it’s the fuel that goes into the SUV,” says Wagoner. “If we can come up with a new technology to propel the SUV, then I think we’ve really substantively addressed a lot of the legitimate concerns about low fuel economy, emissions and things of that sort.”

April 2003  How Hydrogen Can Save America by Peter Schwartz and Doug Randall - Wired Magazine

The cost of oil dependence has never been so clear. What had long been largely an environmental issue has suddenly become a deadly serious strategic concern. Oil is an indulgence we can no longer afford, not just because it will run out or turn the planet into a sauna, but because it inexorably leads to global conflict. Enough. What we need is a massive, Apollo-scale effort to unlock the potential of hydrogen, a virtually unlimited source of power. The technology is at a tipping point. Terrorism provides political urgency. Consumers are ready for an alternative. From Detroit to Dallas, even the oil establishment is primed for change. We put a man on the moon in a decade; we can achieve energy independence just as fast. Here's how. [CHBC Note: This article has been nominated as one of the most significant recent published works on creating a hydrogen future.]

3/30/2003   Fuel Cells Have Power to Shift the Auto Axis by Ted Evanoff - Indianapolis Star (Indiana)

Indiana might lose thousands of metalworking jobs over the next 20 years if fuel cells replace piston engines in cars and trucks. Fuel cells are experimental electric vehicles that promise to slash oil imports and clear the air in smoggy cities. While the technology is far too expensive today for passenger cars, automakers primed with new federal research cash are trying to pioneer an affordable fuel cell car by 2010. If they succeed, industry analysts say, the center of the auto industry could shift out of the industrial Midwest and shake Indiana's traditional automotive economy.

3/30/2003   New Nuclear Generation for Idaho? by Jennifer Sandmann - Twin Falls Times-News (Idaho)

Idaho's senior congressman is working to secure eastern Idaho as the birthplace of the next generation of nuclear reactors. If Republican Sen. Larry Craig's plan receives congressional approval, the prospect could mean $1 billion to eastern Idaho for research and development. ...Craig's blueprint is ambitious, setting a 2010 deadline for initial testing of a new technology that would generate both electricity and hydrogen fuel.
...INEEL and Argonne National Laboratory-West already have been taking the lead role in development of a Generation 4 reactor. Generation 1 reactors were prototypes. Generation 2 reactors still operate in the United States and supply about 20 percent of the country's power. There are no Generation 3 reactors operating in this country; these reactors are mainly operating in Eastern Asia for electricity. The guiding vision for the Generation 4 reactor is a nuclear energy source that is safer, less waste producing, resistant to breeding nuclear weapons material and economically competitive. Development efforts have involved international forums that so far have included 10 countries: the United Kingdom, France, Japan, Canada, South Korea, South Africa, Switzerland and Brazil, according to INEEL. ...Technology used for cooling a Generation 4 reactor would not require water, Bennett said. Dry cooling towers would be used. ...A reactor that produces hydrogen fuel would require water, but only about 1 percent of INEEL's water rights -- or about 330,000 gallons, he said. ...A hydrogen-producing plant would be valuable, he said.

3/29/2003   Air Panel Backs Smog-free Cars by Chris Bowman - Sacramento Bee (California)

The staff had recommended that major vehicle manufacturers produce a total of 250 fuel-cell-powered vehicles in the next five years as an alternative to meeting substantially higher quotas of nonpolluting vehicles required under existing law. The pioneering mandate, adopted in 1990, has been revised several times. Most, if not all, manufacturers would have opted for the fuel-cell alternative, industry and environmental sources said, virtually guaranteeing the death of the fledging battery-powered car. The auto industry generally favored the change or remained neutral. Most speakers at the board's two-day hearing in Sacramento opposed the change. Many argued that fuel-cell cars powered by hydrogen are still years away from being produced at a price within reach consumers. The proposed 250 vehicles would be demonstrator models that currently cost about $1 million each.

3/29/2003   State Holds Line on Cleaner Car Rule 'Zero-emission' Mandate to Stay, Despite Resistance by Mark Martin - San Francisco Chronicle (California)

California air quality officials sent a clear signal to automakers Friday that they will not scrap the state's landmark program aimed at ramping up the production of nonpolluting cars. ...A new mandate will likely encourage fuel cell vehicles and hybrids, although several board members said this week they want to continue encouraging electric cars.

3/29/2003   California Delays Rewriting Nation's Toughest Emissions Rule by Brian Melly - AP/Macon Telegraph (Georgia)

After a two-day hearing, the Air Resources Board could not reach a decision Friday on how to revamp the strict quota it set for clean cars 13 years ago, when battery-powered electric cars seemed like a promising alternative to gas engines. But Chairman Alan Lloyd said the board will most likely vote next month to scap its ambitious mandate in favor of small numbers of fuel cell vehicles in the next five years and thousands of low-polluting gas cars and gas-electric hybrids. Both options have emerged since the state adopted its zero emission vehicle rule in 1990. "While we didn't get the holy grail of battery-electric vehicles we wanted, we've got many more of these near-zero emission vehicles," Lloyd said after the meeting. "We'll continue that push toward zero."

3/28/2003   Fuel Cell Buses to Bust Air Pollution in Beijing and Shanghai - China Daily

A US$32 million project was launched Thursday in Beijing and Shanghai to help reduce the cost of fuel-cell bus (FCB) technology, one of the most promising methods for developing emission-free public transport. Jointly funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Global Environment Facility (GEF) and United Nations Development Programme, the project will lead to trials of FCBs - along with their hydrogen refuelling stations - in Beijing and Shanghai. Over the next five years, the project will help public transit companies in each municipality obtain six FCBs and use them for a total of 1.6 million kilometres. ...China's bus project is part of a global GEF strategy, which supports FCB development in developing countries. In co-operation with GEF projects and other similar proposals in industrialized countries, GEF wants to reduce the expense of FCBs so they can become more cost-competitive, a ministry source said. The ministry also disclosed Thursday in a document that requests for FCB proposals for Beijing and Shanghai were expected during autumn. "Bids for different combinations of fuel cell engines, bus chassis and body manufacturers, and fuelling system vendors will be sought and encouraged. It is preferred that a single supplier will be contracted for the buses and fuelling system, with appropriate sub-contracting arrangements," it said.

3/27/2003   Is Hydrogen the Fuel of the Future? by Maggie Shiels - BBC (UK)

Peter Schwartz of the Global Business Network charts trends and shifts in the worlds of energy, business, technology and government. In an article for Wired magazine, he has devised a five-point-plan to build the hydrogen economy so that people can continue their love affair with the car. Mr Schwartz told BBC Online an investment of $100bn could shift the balance of power from foreign oil producers to US energy consumers within a decade. By 2013 a third of all new cars sold could be hydrogen-powered, 15% of the national gas stations could pump hydrogen, and the US could get more than half its energy from domestic sources, he said. ...Futurist Peter Schwartz says the genie is now out of the bottle and the need for hydrogen to replace oil cannot be ignored any longer. Scientists estimate that the days of cheap oil will end anywhere between 2007 to 2040. The stakes are high and energy independence bears directly on US self-determination. The turmoil in the Middle East, the growing national security budget, the promise of technology that needs only a financial push, appear to make this the right moment to launch an Apollo-scale commitment to hydrogen power.

3/26/2003   State Backing Unproven Car as Pollution Solution by Brian Melly - AP/Mercury News (California)

The state's Air Resources Board is scheduled to vote on a proposal that would abandon the 13-year effort to require battery-powered cars in favor of the hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicle, which is being hailed from the White House to Detroit as the car of the future. ...One of the main concerns with the proposal expected to be voted on by Friday is that it would gut the stiff regulation by requiring only 250 fuel cell vehicles in 2008, compared to the 100,000 so-called zero emission vehicles that would have been required this year. It would probably mean the end of the battery-powered car and there are fears the fuel cell would go the same path because there is no requirement for any vehicles to be built in the following years, giving automakers an escape. "In my view, the program needed a tuneup maybe even an overhaul," said Jason Mark of the Union of Concerned Scientists. "The staff proposal would abandon it by the side of the road." Air Board spokesman Jerry Martin said the agency is privy to proprietary information from car makers that provides confidence the technology will become a reality. But he noted that skepticism remains when it comes to promises from the industry. "They're notorious for not keeping their word," Martin said.

3/26/2003   Renewable Energy to Sustain Growth by Jiang Zhuqing - China Daily

Growing pollution problems and recent soaring oil prices have sparked calls for the country to adjust its energy policy to support the development of renewable energy sources. "One of the biggest challenges facing the nation's development is the growing demand for energy - especially clean, cheap and efficient energy," said Wang Xiaofeng, a researcher at the Institute of Geomechanics under the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences. According to Wang, new technology to raise the efficiency of power generators and internal combustion engines and increased use of hydrogen fuels and biogas in rural areas are urgently needed to deal with the problem.

3/26/2003  University of Alabama at Birmingham Scores $3M Federal Grant for Energy Study - Birmingham Business Journal

A federal government has awarded a $3 million grant to the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Engineering to study the use of hydrogen as an alternative energy source for automobiles. The money also will help create a Southeast consortium that will form an infrastructure that will one day make hydrogen easily accessible, according to UAB. The Federal Transit Authority gave the school's department of civil and environmental engineering a $2 million grant to study fuel cell technology for mass-transit buses. A $1 million U.S. Department of Energy grant will have UAB researchers studying the use of hydrogen in automobiles and the usage of hydrogen fuel cells for portable equipment, such as appliances. UAB officials hope the study will help lessen or cut the United States' reliance on foreign oil. "By developing hydrogen technology, the U.S. would no longer have to spend billions of dollars buying oil from volatile countries," says Fouad Fouad, chairman of the civil and environmental engineering department. "Hydrogen is an excellent option as an alternative fuel. It is much more environmentally friendly and has applications across a variety of industries." A portion of the DOE grant includes establishing the Southeastern Hydrogen Technology Consortium, which will consist of energy experts, automobile manufacturers, transit authorities, fuel cell manufacturers, national laboratories and academic researchers.

3/25/2003   NEC Tries to Grab the Fuel Cell Market by the Carbon Nanohorns by Paul Kallender - Small Times

Twelve years after NEC Corp.'s Sumio Iijima discovered the carbon nanotube, the company's fuel cells – powered by a variant called the carbon nanohorn – are getting ready to power portable devices. Yoshimi Kubo, senior manager of NEC Fundamental Research Labs' Nanotube Technology Center, said the fuel cells will start shipping for laptops in 2004 and cell phones in 2005. In a demonstration at a nanotech conference in Japan late last month, Kubo showed mockups of a fuel cell that ran an NEC laptop and a smaller fuel cell that operated an NEC mobile phone. The 400-gram, 12-volt notebook fuel cell was still about the size of the computer's display, but had no problem providing the 18 watts necessary to boot the laptop. The mobile phone fuel cell can already provide the 3 watts needed for Japan's 3G phones, he said. NEC's methanol-fueled polymer electrolyte cells, using 100-nanometer nanohorn clumps dusted with platinum catalyst particles, can theoretically achieve up to 10 times the power density of lithium ion batteries. Next year, NEC will produce methanol-fueled power cells the same weight as lithium ion batteries that will run for about 16 hours, he said.

3/23/2003   Job Growth Could Hinge on Fuel Cells by Ted Evanoff - Indianapolis Star (Indiana)

"Sometime between now and 2010 we are going to be at the point where fuel cells are ready from the standpoint of commercialization and performance," said Byron McCormick, GM co- director of alternative propulsion research in Warren, Mich. What probably won't be ready by then, McCormick said, is a convenient national refueling system for fuel-cell cars. With $1.2 billion in research money on tap from the Bush administration, researchers are expected to work out the elements of the refueling network. In Detroit, NextEnergy's Arwood said an agency goal is to link entrepreneurs, scientists and federal research grants aimed at developing elements in the refueling infrastructure.

3/21/2003   City Fuel Cell Helps Power Vancouver Olympic Bid - Mississauga News (Canada)

"This fuel cell and hydrogen power demonstration at the Science World geodesic dome is helping to communicate the Vancouver 2010 Bid team's sustainability message," said Ken Baker, executive director of Environment and Sustainability for the Vancouver 2010 Bid Corporation. "This unique demonstration of an emerging clean energy source, utilizing leading-edge Canadian technology and expertise, shows how this sustainability commitment can be achieved in delivering an outstanding Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in 2010." The Hydrogenics 20kW HyPM-LP2 fuel cell power module produces enough electricity to power the lights on the Dome during the entire visit by the IOC delegation. Science World's geodesic dome is comprised of 257 11-watt energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) and 150 strobe lights. Hydrogen to power the fuel cell is being provided by BC Hydro.

3/20/2003   Samsung Electronic Group Initiated Cooperation on Fuel Cells with China's Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics - DICP (China)

On the 3rd to 6th of March, Mr. Lim Chang Bin, Executive Director of the Comprehensive Technology Institute of Samsung Electronic (Group) Co. of South Korea, visited the Fuel Cell Engineering Center of DICP. During his visit, an agreement on the establishing of cooperation relationship between his institute and DICP and the setting up of a joint laboratory for fuel cell research has been reached.

3/20/2003   DaimlerChrysler: Over 500,000 Fuel Cell Cars Worldwide by 2010 - Automobile

More than half a million cars in the world will be powered by fuel cells by the year 2010, a top DaimlerChrysler executive predicted Thursday, while calling for greater cooperation among carmakers in future technology efforts.

3/20/2003   Hydrogen State by Mike Keefe-Feldman - Missoula Independent (Montana)

UM College of Technology dean Paul Williamson wants to turn Montana into the first hydrogen economy in the nation. But is the state ready to take its first major step into new technology since the dawn of mining? ...For Williamson, Montana’s lemons are its abundant natural resources: coal, platinum, water, sun, wind, methane. The lemonade that Williamson would like to see squeezed out of these resources is hydrogen power. ...“Montana has the most unbelievable opportunity here,” he says. “Right now, we mine 40 million tons of coal a year here…But we sell that for $6.43 a ton, which nets about $250 million a year. Which, for Montana, that’s a pretty good chunk of change. We could take that same amount of coal, and we could make almost two trillion cubic feet of hydrogen…which would sell on the commercial market for $7.4 billion a year. Now I’m not a great economist and I’m not that good at math, but the difference between $250 million and $7.4 billion is substantial.”

3/19/2003   Greek Navy: Class 209 Submarines to be Equipped with Fuel Cell Propulsion Systems - Seimens

The Siemens Industrial Solutions and Services Group (I&S) together with Howaldtswerke Deutsche Werft AG (HDW) of Kiel are to equip three Greek class 209 submarines with a propulsion system that is independent of an outside air supply. The project covers the supply of the PEM fuel-cell modules and the electrical equipment for integration into their existing propulsion system. In addition, an option has been agreed upon for a fourth installation. Delivery is scheduled to be between mid-2004 and 2010. Modernization of the roughly 25 years old class 209 submarines is intended to increase their submersed range to that of new ships. Earlier orders placed with Siemens both from Greece and also South Korea included the equipment for modern class 214 submarines. A PEM (polymer electrolyte membrane) fuel cell system provides the power for the submarines when running submerged and so provides air-independent propulsion (AIP). The AIP system is an HDW development. Siemens is providing the fuel cell modules as well as the control and monitoring systems. The equipment to be supplied by Siemens is currently the most advanced type to supply air-independent power for non-nuclear submarines. The company's scope of supply also includes the control cubicles of the fuel cell system (FCS), the control gear to integrate the FCS into the existing propulsion system, and material packages to modernize the existing electrical equipment. Modernization of the submarines will be undertaken by HDW, the FCS being incorporated as a new some seven meter long hull section. A substantial part of the refurbishing and the commissioning will be carried out by HDW's Greek subsidiary, Hellenic Shipyards Co. (HSY) of Skaramanga, Attica.

3/14/2003   US 'Playing with Fire', Warns Yamani by Andrew Walker - BBC (UK)

Oil is the major objective for the United States in seeking to occupy Iraq, according to the former Saudi Arabian Petroleum Minister Sheikh Zaki Yamani. Sheikh Yamani, who was the leading figure in oil producers' cartel Opec for 25 years, gave his assessment of the push for regime change in a BBC interview. He said the US is aiming to secure its oil supplies. In his view, the US wants to reduce its dependence on oil from the Gulf, and from Saudi Arabia in particular.

3/14/2003   Mayor Hahn, LADWP Dedicate North America's Largest, Most Efficient Commercial Design Fuel Cell Power Plant - Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (California)

The John Ferraro Building (JFB) Fuel Cell Power Plant, manufactured by Danbury, CT-based FuelCell Energy Inc. and located at the LADWP's headquarters in downtown Los Angeles, provides 250 kilowatts of environmentally clean electricity, enough power to serve about 250 households. The plant, which sends electricity to the City's power grid, uses up to 50 percent less fuel per kilowatt-hour than the average conventional power plant and produces nearly zero emissions of pollutants. The JFB Fuel Cell Power Plant is the latest in a series of LADWP programs designed to address air quality in Los Angeles. "Today's unveiling illustrates a new generation of clean energy production," said Mayor Hahn. "This advanced hydrogen-powered fuel cell technology exemplifies the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power's commitment to reducing dependence on fossil fuels. LADWP continues to set the standard for excellence in public power." The Direct FuelCell features a unique technology that enables it to create its own hydrogen within the fuel cell module, capturing the benefits of a "hydrogen-powered economy while utilizing the current natural gas-based delivery system," said Jerry Leitman, president and CEO of FuelCell Energy.

3/12/2003   Japan's Government Targets 5 Million Fuel Cell Vehicles by 2020 by Lindsay Whipp - Bloomberg

Japan's government said it wants to have 5 million vehicles fuel cell vehicles running on domestic roads by 2020 and is beginning to develop a hydrogen- refueling infrastructure to help. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry may spend 22.5 billion yen ($191.7 million) in the business year starting April 1 on fuel cell related projects, 28 percent more than this year's 17.6 billion yen, the Japan Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Demonstration Project said in a release. The project, a government subsidized organization, opened its first hydrogen refueling station today near Yokohama, south of Tokyo. Through the project the government plans to set up five refueling stations by March 2004 in a test to find the most effective method for hydrogen refueling.

3/10/2003   U.S., European Union to Cooperate on Hydrogen Energy Research -
American Embassy London

U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham and European Commission President Romano Prodi have agreed to implement an annex to the U.S.-EU Non-Nuclear Energy Cooperation Agreement that will help unify U.S. and European approaches to hydrogen energy research.

3/10/2003   GM Is First Automaker Approved To Drive A Liquid Hydrogen Vehicle On Japanese Roads - GM

3/5/2003   A Boost for the Hydrogen Car? by Diana Olick - MSNBC

On Wednesday, GM and Royal Dutch Shell announced a partnership to improve on the current technology as well as create a nationwide network of hydrogen gas stations. GM will bring a fleet of hydrogen minivans to Capitol Hill this spring for lawmakers to test drive. ...As part of the deal, Shell will open the first and only neighborhood hydrogen filling station in downtown Washington. ...Shell will also be opening filling stations in several other countries, trying to turn hydrogen hopes into commercial reality.

3/4/2003   GM, Shell Push for Acceptance of Hydrogen-powered Autos by Earle Eldridge - USA Today

"We have to make it real in the eyes of our customers, and we have to make it real in the minds of policymakers," says Larry Burns, GM's vice president of research and development. GM says it can have a "compelling and affordable" fuel-cell vehicle ready for regular production by 2010. The six vehicles being used in the D.C. test are based on a compact van called Zafira, which is sold in Europe under GM's Opel brand. GM calls the vehicle the HydroGen3. ...The Society of Automotive Engineers recently estimated that a new nationwide system of hydrogen fueling stations would cost up to $300 billion.

3/4/2003   Hydrogen Fuel-Cell Powered Cars Promise Major Benefits by Carolene Langie - U.S. Department of State

Showa Shell Sekiyu KK, partnering with Iwatani International Corporation and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, is building Tokyo's first hydrogen refueling station, slated for completion in 2003. Technical expertise is coming from Amsterdam-based Shell Hydrogen, which boasts projects in the United States and Europe as well as Japan. In Iceland, Shell is working with DaimlerChrysler and Norsk Hydro on ways geothermal energy and hydropower can contribute to eventually eliminating fossil fuel use and creating hydrogen exports.

3/3/2003   Nissan Ties Up With United Technologies in Developing Fuel Cells
- Dow Jones

Under terms of the agreement, Nissan will obtain rights to UTCFC's technology, and the two companies will jointly develop the technology for automotive applications. UTCFC will continue separate development efforts with other auto companies. ...Nissan has also tied up with Canadian fuel cell developer Ballard Power Systems Inc. to test fuel-cell vehicles on U.S. roads with engines made by Ballard.

3/3/2003   CANADA: Hydrogen Build-up: Is Fuel-cell Technology Poised to Displace Oil? by Tyler Hamilton - Toronto Star (Canada)

The need for a hydrogen-delivery infrastructure — fuelling stations, long-haul pipelines, and maintenance — puts companies such as Shell Canada and Enbridge Inc. in the power seat. Sensing a "willingness and openness" that didn't exist as recently as two years ago, Rasul hopes to push this sector in a hydrogen-friendly direction. "For Canada, the challenge is how to continue to benefit from an industry it has leadership in," says Rasul. But the gap is narrowing. ...PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP predicted in a report last year that the fuel-cell industry will be worth $46 billion by 2011. This industry would employ more than 150,000 people. By 2021, that estimate rises to as high as $2.6 trillion.

3/3/2003   GM Says Hydrogen, Not Hybrid But California Regulators Don't Want to Wait by Don Thompson - AP/Commercial Appeal

California regulators and environmental groups say there's no need to wait to battle the state's legendary air pollution because the technology to do so already exists in both electric and gas-electric vehicles. And, they add, the hydrogen that will power tomorrow's fuel-cell cars could very well come from fossil fuels. "Hybrids are here now," said Jerry Martin, a spokesman for the California Air Resource Board. The government body recently withdrew proposed regulations that would have delayed until 2005 requirements for low-polluting vehicles and allowed major manufacturers to rely until 2009 on "credits" for existing low-pollution vehicles. The board staff is considering rewriting the regulations to add new requirements for hybrids and other cars with cleaner emissions as a way to immediately cut pollution from internal combustion engines. "We're talking 2012 before significant numbers of (hydrogen-based fuel cell) vehicles are on the streets," Martin said.