FuelCellsWorks

Latin America’s first hydrogen-powered bus in São Paulo, Brazil, is fueled by water and exudes clean vapor instead of fumes. (Photos: UNDP

New York – Imagine quiet, water-fueled buses and cars that exude clean vapor instead of fumes. In Latin America, this dream may be closer to reality, with the recent introduction of the region’s first hydrogen-powered bus, in São Paulo, one of the world’s largest cities, with 18 million inhabitants – almost half of them riding buses every day.

The eco-bus does not emit a single gram of pollution, and is the first such initiative in Latin America, thanks to a Global Environment Facility  partnership among the United Nations Development Programme, the Brazilian Mines and Energy Ministry and the city of Sao Paulo’s Urban Transportation Company.

“Even though the technology to produce the hydrogen-fueled bus is already available in four other countries – China, the United States, Japan and Holland – the Brazilian project has been able to gather technology from national and international partner companies to produce hydrogen more cheaply,” said Carlos Castro, UNDP Brazil’s environment expert.

The hydrogen used by the bus is obtained by electrolyses, a process that separates hydrogen and oxygen. Reacting with oxygen in the atmosphere, an electric current is produced. It runs the engine while releasing water vapor, instead of releasing carbon dioxide, as vehicles powered by gas and other oil-related products do.

“The process is totally clean, in a closed loop: it begins with water plus energy and ends with the same elements,” said Carlos Zündt, planning manager of the Sao Paulo Urban Transportation Company and coordinator of the hydro bus project. “But our main goal at this point is not to completely replace the fleet – because the technology is still too expensive – but to study how a clean public transportation initiative would work in a huge city like Sao Paulo.”

The bus is hybrid: using hydrogen, three high power batteries, or both simultaneously. When running with hydrogen alone, the bus can run up to 300 km and 40 km extra only on batteries.

The hydrogen bus can carry 63 passengers and will be tested over the next two months. During this period, the partners will study the effects on greenhouse gas emissions, the hydrogen production infrastructure and the effectiveness of the buses as public transport.

“This is the first prototype, and was a result of four years of research and knowledge sharing by a consortium of national and international partners,” Castro said. The consortium involves Brazilian energy companies AES Eletropaulo and Petrobras, and bus manufacturers Marcopolo and Tuttotrasporti. The international partners are Ballard Power Systems and Hydrogenics (both from Canada); Epri International (USA) and Nucellsys (Germany). “This enabled us to get the high quality contribution from companies that are researching hydrogen fuelled-transportation all around the world. Lessons were learned from other countries’ experiences.”

An energy plant to produce hydrogen by electrolysis is also under construction, and will be ready in six months. Until then, the new bus will produce hydrogen by processing natural gas.

Hydrogen is considered a promising alternative to fossil fuels. Today, there are only 5,000 vehicles worldwide that produce energy from this gas. According to the International Partnership for the Hydrogen Economy, in 2015 the fuel should be widely distributed, though mainly in Europe and the United States.

Hydrogen is forecast to be widely available in Brazil only by 2020. “Researchers estimate that by 2080, 90 percent of the world’s vehicles will be run by hydrogen,” Zündt added.

Though abundant and clean, hydrogen is still very expensive to produce. That’s why oil-related fuels are still being used today.

“Diesel is much cheaper [than hydrogen],” Zündt acknowledged. “But it is a highly pollutant fuel. So we must also consider the costs of public spending in respiratory diseases and other horrible effects of pollution and acid rain. If you take that into account, diesel has a cost 200 times higher than hydrogen.”

The consortium involved in the project is also interested in exporting the hydrogen-fueled buses. Unlike many developing countries, Brazil has a large, modern and competitive bus industry, and builds up to 20,000 buses a year – one of the top bus producers in the world. Over time, the partners hope to make this lower-cost technology available to other developing countries – to offer a cleaner environment to all.

Center for Transportation & the Environment Secures Proterra’s Fuel Cell Hybrid Bus for High Profile Pilot Project

Golden, CO — Proterra LLC, the pioneering innovator and manufacturer of zero emission commercial transportation solutions from city transit buses to class 4-8 trucks, today announced its role in a U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) pilot project designed to test an end-to-end clean hydrogen energy cycle. Proterra’s bus will be used as part of the pilot to demonstrate the economic, operational and environmental benefits of fuel cell technology in a full sized transit bus. Led by the Center for Transportation and the Environment (CTE), the pilot project will include all elements of a clean hydrogen energy cycle, from local hydrogen generation to bulk hydrogen storage to hydrogen load in the form of fuel-cell powered forklifts and Proterra’s fuel cell powered bus.

Proterra’s plug-in, battery-electric bus with hydrogen fuel cell range extension will play a key role in the two-year long pilot, and will be used to transport tens of thousands of staff between Ft. Lewis and McChordAir Force Base in Tacoma, Washington. Allowing for significant cost and environmental benefits, Proterra’s revolutionary TerraVoltTMEnergy Storage technology can be completely charged in under 10 minutes, representing a dramatic improvement in the industry.

The project will include the historic testing of an end-to-end clean hydrogren energy cycle, including:
•    A renewable energy supply in the form of recovered waste water treatment plant digester gas,
•    Local hydrogen generation via digester gas cleanup and reformation,
•    Bulk hydrogen storage, transport, and dispensing; and
•    Hydrogen load in the form of 19 fuel cell-powered electric forklifts and Proterra’s 35′ shuttle bus.
Proterra joins highly respected leaders in emerging clean technology for the Ft. Lewis pilot, including Gas Technology Institute, Plug Power, and Air Products and Chemicals. The project is the third in a series of Defense Logistics Agency pilots designed to provide the Department of Defense with the technical and business case data it needs to support its plans for hydrogen infrastructure, enabling the achievement of its Energy Policy Act (EPACT 2005) objectives.

“We are honored to be involved in the Department of Defense pilot at Ft. Lewis, particularly as it will study all elements of a clean hydrogen energy cycle from energy supply and generation to storage, to its ultimate use to power zero emissions transit,” said Jeff Granato, CEO, Proterra. “The lessons learned from this project will not only help the DoD meet its long term environmental and economic demands, it will also provide much needed insights to federal and state governments looking for long-lasting clean energy solutions.”

For more information on the project, please visit: http://www.cte.tv/

About CTE
The Center for Transportation and the Environment (CTE) is a nonprofit, 501 (c)(3) organization that develops technologies and implements solutions to achieve energy and environmental sustainability. Since its founding in 1993, CTE has managed a portfolio of over $110 million in federal, state, and local cost-shared research, development, and demonstration projects involving more than 450 organizations in the advanced transportation technology field. CTE has facilitated and leveraged funding for its projects and initiatives from the U.S. Departments of Defense, Energy, Interior, and Transportation, as well as from the U.S. Army and NASA, among many others. CTE is also nationally recognized for its expertise in the measurement and evaluation of transportation demand management (TDM) programs and manages the Southern Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Coalition (SHFCC) in partnership with the Federal Transit Administration.

About Proterra LLC
Answering the international call for efficient, cost-effective and environmentally responsible transit solutions, Colorado based Proterra has been designing and manufacturing the world’s most efficient zero emission commercial vehicle technologies since 2004. With battery-electric and hybrid buses that are built from the ground-up in Colorado, Proterra has patented clean transit technology solutions for city transit buses through class 4-8 trucks. To learn more about Proterra, please visit: http://www.proterraonline.com.

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan’s Kaori Heat Treatment Co. has secured a new supply contract with a U.S.-based energy systems developer Bloom Energy, which is expected to earn the Taiwan company NT$100 million (US$3.04 million) in revenue this year.

Under the contract signed Wednesday in Taipei between the two enterprises, Kaori will supply hotboxes — a key component of solid-oxide fuel cells (SOFC) — to Bloom Energy. More than 200 units are expected to be shipped by the end of this year.

Bloom Energy is backed by venture capital firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) and New Enterprise Associates (NEA) . It was identified by Business 2.0 Magazine in 2007 as one of 15 companies that “will change the world.”

Headed by K.R. Sridhar, a former aerospace engineering professor who developed a device for the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration to turn carbon dioxide into oxygen on Mars, Bloom Energy is engaged in the development of solid-oxide fuel cells that allow homes to generate their own electricity.

The fuel cells can convert almost any hydrocarbon fuel into electricity without combustion, and the greenhouse gas production is half of that from conventional energy sources.

Kaori Chairman Hans H.S. Han said the contract with Bloom Energy marks his company’s access to the renewable energy market, which has gotten a boost as a result of initiatives by many governments worldwide to encourage the development and use of green energy.

According to Han, Bloom Energy’s products, which will be sold at large retail stores such as Walmart, have a huge global market.

Founded in 1970, Kaori mainly specializes in metal heat treatment processing and the manufacture of metal products. It is currently the sole manufacturer of brazed heat exchangers in Taiwan, and has sales in over 60 countries.

Using technology transferred from Bloom Energy, Kaori has since the second quarter of 2009 launched a new production line for SOFC hotboxes, Han said.

The two sides formally signed the supply contract after the shipments passed quality verification, he added.

Green energy is one of five new industries that are being promoted by the government in Taiwan.

Under a project approved by the Cabinet in April, the government will invest NT$25 billion over the next five years in the development of renewable energy and will subsidize the general installation of energy saving devices.

It will also provide NT$20 billion for research and development of green energy technologies, which is expected in turn to draw NT$200 billion in private investment in the industry.

The project will target fields such as solar energy, light emitting diode (LED) lighting, wind power, biomass fuel, hydrogen power, fuel cells, electric vehicles, energy information and communication technology.

Park Superintendent Cindy Orlando has announced the Federal Transit Authority awarded Hawaii Volcanoes National Park a research and development grant of $989,000 to test the feasibility and performance of a hybrid battery/hydrogen fueled shuttle system.

“Hawaii Volcanoes is a Climate Friendly Park,” Orlando said. “It’s exciting to pilot a project that will reduce petroleum use and promote renewable energy.”

The park is committed to three climate friendly strategies: reduce fuel use and Green House Gas emissions; increase climate change education efforts; and develop ways to adapt to climate change.

“The project meets all three strategies,” Orlando said.

“This hydrogen shuttle bus project is an exemplary demonstration of the benefits of renewable energy that will not only reduce carbon emissions and fuel costs but also help protect the park’s fragile resources,” Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said.  “I commend Hawaii Volcanoes National Park Superintendent Cindy Orlando and NPS Pacific West Regional Director Jon Jarvis for their leadership on this inter-governmental initiative.”

Both a World Heritage Site and International Biosphere Reserve, Hawaii Volcanoes serves over two million visitors annually. Miles of scenic roadway and many pullouts were constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s and 1940s. These historic features are easily overwhelmed by the number and size of today’s cars and buses.

“A hydrogen-powered shuttle system will help protect the landscape and soundscape, enhancing the park experience for both visitors and Native Hawaiian cultural practitioners,” Orlando said.

Research garnered from this project will contribute to development of hydrogen technology and infrastructure in the state and support the transition of the island of Hawaii to an economy less dependent on imported fossil fuels. It will also help the park and its partners educate residents and visitors to the value of renewable energy and quiet, clean alternative transportation.

The park will collaborate with several partners on the project including

the state, Hawaii Natural Energy Institute, Hawaii Center for Advancement of Transportation Technologies, Department of Defense, Kilauea Military Camp, Hawaiian Electric Company, Department of Energy, and the Federal Transit Authority.

The test program will run for two years. Total contributions by the National Park Service and its partners to the complete hydrogen-powered shuttle program will total $2.4 million.

BOTHELL, Wash., July 8, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — NEAH Power Systems, Inc. (OTCBB:NPWS), the Company developing fuel cells for the military and portable electronic devices, announced today that it has achieved yet another major breakthrough with the demonstration of an air based fuel cell for aerobic applications. This system, when fully developed, is expected to have higher energy density than any incumbent direct methanol anaerobic fuel cell available today, and could enable NEAH to pursue various additional consumer markets.

“This technology is differentiated in performance and architecture,” said Dr. Chris D’Couto, NEAH’s President and Chief Executive Officer, “in that it combines NEAH’s unique liquid electrolyte and 3D silicon electrode technology, with the manifold inherent benefits in cost and manufacturability of integrated circuit manufacturing, with proton conduction membrane for proton conduction and gas liquid separation. In so doing, NEAH has created the first hybrid electrolyte fuel cell achieving gains over either liquid or solid electrolyte technology. Our micro fuel cells may eventually replace batteries for most uses.”

On June 25th 2009, NEAH revealed it had successfully tested an anaerobic (or non-air breathing) direct methanol fuel cell which was primarily funded by the Office of Naval Research.

About NEAH Power

NEAH Power Systems, Inc. (NPWS) is developing long-lasting, efficient and safe power solutions for the military and for portable electronic devices. NEAH uses a unique, patented, silicon-based design for its micro fuel cells that enable higher power densities, lower cost and compact form-factors. The company’s micro fuel cell system can run in aerobic and anaerobic modes.

The Board of PolyFuel has requested that trading of the Company’s shares be suspended with immediate effect.

The Board of PolyFuel has previously announced that it was seeking additional sources of capital to help fund the completion of the Company’s technology and product development and to achieve commercial introduction. Equity capital for AIM listed development stage companies is very difficult to raise in the current economic environment. Although PolyFuel has made significant technical progress toward the goal of incorporating fuel cell technology into consumer electronics applications, and is widely considered a world leader in this field, unfortunately, despite much effort the Company has been unable to secure its critical next financing round.

Given the circumstances the Board continues to explore various strategic alternatives, including the possible sale of the Company or certain of its operations or assets, failing which the Board is of the opinion that it should take steps in the near term to wind down the business in an orderly fashion.

Recently, PolyFuel announced two pending U.S. Department of Energy (”DOE”) program awards. These two awards, totaling US$5,000,000, would provide funding to offset the continued development costs of the Company’s non-stop power technology. PolyFuel has developed a prototype fuel cell power supply that is fully integrated with a Lenovo ThinkPad notebook PC and that delivers 10 hours of continuous runtime at similar volume but 30% lower weight compared to a lithium ion battery. The Company believes its technology represents a significant advancement for the portable power market and is the leading technology available to the industry today.

PolyFuel’s non-stop power technology is based on the Company’s patented and patent pending hydrocarbon-based fuel cell membrane, and on its novel membrane electrode assembly and fuel cell system designs. Together these enable a significant simplification in the design of a fuel cell system, and corresponding reduction in system size and weight compared to conventional fuel cell and battery technologies.

A further announcement will be made as soon as possible.