Introduction

    The South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) is known throughout California and across the nation for community outreach aimed at increasing understanding of the district's environmental condition and SCAQMD's pollution mitigation research, policies and practices. This reputation, coupled with specific initiatives such as #2001CFT-1, led the National Fuel Cell Education Program (NFCEP) to initiate a dialogue with SCAQMD about support for an educational effort that would enhance student understanding of hydrogen and alternative energy science and technology.

    The NFCEP was created to educate the public, and in particular the student public, about alternative energy sources such as hydrogen, solar, and wind along with technologies such as fuel cells and wind turbines. The NFCEP is a project of Eco-Soul, a 501 (c) (3) corporation organized under the laws of the State California. In pursuit of its mission, NFCEP has created a reversible fuel cell kit for classroom and informal education purposes.

    The Hydrogen Outreach Program (HOPE) Pilot^TM, an Interdisciplinary High School Science Curriculum, was created to teach students about the properties, benefits and potential of hydrogen as a fuel and an energy carrier that can such power advanced technologies as fuel cells. HOPE consists of a written curriculum, both high school and middle school versions, several videos and a CD-Rom.

Purpose

    The purpose of this proposal is to request support from SCAQMD for a Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Education Demonstration Project in the California Regional Environmental Education Community Network (CREEC).

Demonstration Description

Summary

    The proposed Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Education Demonstration would identify and train ten CREEC high school teachers on the RFC Renewable Hydrogen Education Kit and HOPE. Each teacher would receive an RFC kit and a copy of HOPE. (A complete description of the kit and the curriculum is attached.) Teachers would be expected to utilize these materials in the classroom and report on their experience in a survey prepared for the Demonstration.

The CREEC Network - a Recruiting Tool

    The California Regional Environmental Education Community (CREEC) Network was created to further awareness about the environment among educators committed to teaching students environmental science and technology. SCAQMD has close ties to this network and recognizes its effectiveness as an outreach vehicle. Relative to interest level and overall familiarity with energy and environmental subject matter, CREEC members are eminently qualified to participate in this Demonstration. Other qualifications for teacher participation include training and experience in science education and current high school teaching assignment in chemistry, physics, environmental science, environmental chemistry or a related area.

    Ms. Janet Yamaguchi of the Discovery Science Center is a CREEC Network member. In the recent past, she arranged an RFC demonstration and HOPE presentation for teachers participating in a special Discovery Science Center program. Ms. Yamaguchi has graciously agreed to facilitate introductions to other CREEC members for participation in the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Education Demonstration. NFCEP will follow-up on these teacher introductions and make additional teacher contacts through the CREEC network to develop an appropriate complement of teachers for the Demonstration.

Demonstration Dynamics

    The Demonstration is expected to last several months from early in the spring 2002 semester through the end of the school year. Initially, a workshop will be held to educate teachers in use of the RFC kit and the HOPE materials. E-mail and phone support will be available to teachers participating in the Demonstration. To assure that SQACMD receives meaningful feedback, a simple survey will be developed and administered to gather information on the experience. Teachers will receive the survey instrument early in the process with instructions for completion over the course of the Demonstration. Survey results will be evaluated in a short final report to SCAQMD. The results of the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Demonstration #1 will be used to inform future SCAQMD ventures.

Funding Level

    The total funding request is $10,000, broken down as follows. The unit cost of the RFC kit is $400; the unit cost of the HOPE curriculum package is $500, including training. (The video, Beakman's World - Hydrogen: It's a Gas and the CD ROM, Mission H2, are complementary.) The sub-total for ten sets comes to $9,000. NFCEP will develop and administer a survey on the Demonstration and furnish SCAQMD with a final report at a cost of $1,000.

Proposal Contact:

Skip Staats, 949/637-1997
Mary-Rose de Valladares, 301/530-6591

RFC Abstract

Department of Technology
School of Engineering and Technology
California
State University, Los Angeles.

    Hydrogen has been identified by many researchers as the ultimate, universal fuel.? In order to implement a hydrogen infrastructure/economy advances in hydrogen technology and education must occur.

    Recently, the Proton Exchange Membrane Unitized Regenerative Fuel Cell (PEM URFC) energy storage systems have out performed expectations in comparison to individual electrolyzer, storage, and fuel cell units. The PEM URFC acts much like a rechargeable battery by converting pure water into hydrogen and oxygen and storing the pressurized gasses for later use.? When an electrical load is applied the hydrogen and oxygen are converted back into water and electricity.? This process is done quietly, cleanly, efficiently, and safely without many of the limitations associated with that of conventional batteries.

    The PEM URFC may also assist in the development of more environmentally benign energy generation methods such as wind and solar.? This technology though must transfer to the classroom where the next generation of scientists, technologists, engineers, and researchers can learn about its use.

    A company named Eco-Soul Inc. has recently introduced a PEM URFC classroom demonstration module.? This module is comprised of a PEM URFC, a small solar panel, electric motor and battery holder.? The PEM URFC is comprised of a Nafion 117 proton exchange membrane utilizing a platinum black hydrogen catalyst and a proprietary noble metal oxygen catalyst. The membrane and electrode assembly (MEA) are encased in a uniquely designed, high pressure, clear polycarbonate shell where bubbles of hydrogen and oxygen can be seen and heard during charging.? The small solar panel can provide electricity for charging the PEM URFC in direct sunlight and the battery pack utilized during indoor or evening demonstrations.? The small electric motor provides the electrical load by spinning a propeller.

    PEM URFC classroom demonstrator kit from Eco Soul Inc. Sample PEM URFC learning kits provided by Eco-Soul Inc. are currently undergoing testing at California State University, Los Angeles.? This testing includes determining charging and discarding characteristics and longevity, along with educational use and effectiveness.

    Based on the preliminary findings of this research it is recommended that investigation continue on the PEM URFC demonstrator to advance its development.? Further development of this PEM URFC demonstration module may lead to significant increased educational value, potentially saving our environment.

Hydrogen Outreach Program for Education (HOPE) Pilot^TM

    The Hydrogen Outreach Program for Education (HOPE) Pilot^TM was developed by Mary-Rose Szoka de Valladares of M.R.S. Enterprises to teach secondary school students about the potential and benefits of hydrogen as a fuel and an energy carrier. This multi-media education outreach effort was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy Hydrogen Program. The complete HOPE^TM package consists of: two curricula; the videos Hydrogen: The Pollution Solution, Beakman's World - Hydrogen: It's a Gas (produced with the cooperation of Columbia Tri-Star); Renewable Power: Earth's Clean Energy Destiny and the CD ROM, Mission H2.

    The HOPE^TM products are intended as a supplement for existing instructional materials. All learning in the HOPE^TM curricula is linked to national science standards. The curriculum is sufficiently comprehensive in scope that it could be used to teach basic chemistry science.

    The curricula are combined teacher/student products that involves plenty of fun-filled, hands-on activities for secondary school science education. User-friendly and well-indexed for easy teacher reference, the curricula contain over 75 lessons with labs, exercises, and demonstrations. The curricula highlight the role of environmentally friendly hydrogen techniques, such as fuel cell technology. Most importantly the curriculum uses hydrogen topics to teach chemistry basic science. Relevant learning in physics, biology, earth science, and environmental science are also included. In addition, the lesson activities are designed to reinforce learning in?mathematics.

    The curricula are organized into modules that consist of multiple lessons. The lessons provide teacher guidance, student activities, and student assessment material. The videos are integrated into the curricula to enhance and enliven the learning process.

    The high school curriculum contains seven modules plus a final project, HOPE Hydrogen Fueling Station Project.

Fundamentals

• Learning About Hydrogen
• Naming Hydrogen Compounds
• Acids and Bases
• Equations
• Bonding and Polarity
• Redox and Electrochemistry
• Production Storage
• Distribution and Safety
• Utilization
• Renewables & Renewable Hydrogen
• Mission
• Basics
• The Hydrogen Story: Past, Present and Future Mission
• H2 CD ROM
• Scavenger Hunts A Pollution Solution
• Storage and Safety

THE ICHC SHORT LIST

1) The Riversimple Open Source Car Design

Are Our Designs Free?
Patrick's blog    40 Fires Foundation    June 19, 2009

How does open source car design work?
    The honest answer is that we won't know until we have done it. But we have plenty of ideas, which will develop over the coming months as we share the designs for the Riversimple technology demonstrator and start to produce collaboratively a production prototype.
    There are lots of inspiring examples from open source software, and we are being advised by people with experience in this area. But there are many differences between open source hardware and software design.

Differences between open source hardware and software
    There are some major differences between open source software and hardware design:

- There is a "gap" between the on-line design work and the finished product delivered to the consumer. Not only is there substantial physical testing to be done, but also there is significant work to be done to turn the designs into an actual functioning product (we like the analogy of a food recipe – a recipe is not a meal, you need a chef to turn it into a meal). The answer we believe lies in establishing the right relationship between 40 Fires and the manufacturers (the first of which is Riversimple), where each party has its needs met.

- There’s a technical challenge to share ideas on-line, where there is no satisfactory open source CAD (Computer-Aided Design) application. Our solution is to use a low tech approach at first, using a wiki-based website and freely available 3-D viewers to show the 3-D drawings. In time we may get involved in developing a OS CAD program.

- Licensing. We cannot simply take the standard OS software license (the GPL is the most common), since we are dealing with hardware, which is not so well protected by copyright. See further down for some thoughts on the licensing issues.

We'd like to hear from you!
    As in Open Source software projects, we are not attempting to do everything at once and we don’t have to. The designs that Riversimple is licensing to 40 Fires resemble in many ways the code base which a complex software project starts with.
    However, because a car is different to software and requires different development stages and processes, we will be asking for input into specific areas, as well as procedural matters.
    That's why we would like to hear from you, not only from engineers or designers, but also if you have contributed to large scale open source software projects and can help set up our project management structure. Lawyers with an understanding of copyright and patents would also be useful as we review the most appropriate license to use and if and how we should be using patents for some new inventions which emerge.
    To get involved, send an e-mail to participate@40fires.org explaining your interest and skills.

The stages
    We envisage different stages:

Stage 1  Over the coming months, starting this month (July 2009), we will make available design schematics from the Riversimple technology demonstrator vehicle, together with a description of each component's function in the whole system, and a vehicle design brief for the production prototype. We will provide a mailing list or discussion forum to enable comments and discussions. At this stage we expect Riversimple, as the creator of the original designs, to be leading the discussions.

Stage 2  As the detailed discussions develop, we expect a broad consensus to emerge amongst the participants as to which is the best solution to pursue for each design . By this stage, we expect the conversations to be more democratic, with a broad cross-section of collaborators participate, sharing their knowledge and insights.

Stage 3  We start creating detailed designs collaboratively and publishing them on-line. Eventually an entire vehicle will be created, and tested, on-line. We are aiming to complete the design of the production prototype by the summer of 2010.

Stage 4  Riversimple and other entrepreneurs, under license from 40 Fires, can start downloading the schematics and building and testing the vehicles. With the lessons from this, work can start on an improved production prototype.

Are our designs free (as in beer)?
    Richard Stallman famously said that free software is "free as in speech not free as in beer."

Are our designs free?
    We consider that the designs themselves will be free in the sense of free speech, with one exception. Currently we have chosen a Creative Commons, non-commercial license. So the designs can be used, modified, distributed under the same license terms but not for commercial purposes.
    We have chosen to be conservative at this stage and not allowed commercial use. This may change - we intend to set up a discussion group to debate this. The issue is that we don't want a large, profit-focused organisation taking the designs and starting manufacturing with them yet. We intend that when we grant a manufacturing license, this will be for a small fee (say $10 per car) to cover 40 Fires running costs.
    We are also keen on collaborating so if a commercial organisation wants to use the designs, we'd like to chat with them first before allowing them to use the designs for commercial purposes.
    The licensing issues are very complex (patent law is not copyright law; cars are not software) and we don't pretend to have all the answers. It is quite possible that our license may in the end not meet the strict requirements of the Free Software Foundation. But all we really care about is that the license works to ensure that the cars can be built in hundreds of different variations around the world, by local companies and entrepreneurs as well as big multinationals if they like, and that no one company (whether Ford or Riversimple) can dominate the market and keep the ideas to itself.