FuelCellsWorks

Gensler’s winning design, co-created with 4240 Architecture, transforms Chicago’s abandoned Bloomingdale rail line into a three mile long greenhouse and hydrogen generator that provides 10 acres of farm land year round, powers city schools, and creates a beacon for the city.

Current state of Chicago’s abandoned Bloomingdale rail line

Chicago’s Bloomingdale railroad viaduct runs through the city’s heart, connecting neighborhoods, the city’s park system, and the Chicago River. The three-mile long elevated rail line was abandoned in the 1980s and currently sits neglected, overtaken by vegetation, garbage, and debris. It is at once an eyesore as well as a beautiful wilderness set against a dense urban backdrop.

The proposed HYDROGENerator by Gensler in collaboration with 4240 Architecture

“Our city’s challenges are too significant and the Bloomingdale Line’s potential too great for it to be just another park,” said Gensler design director Brian Vitale. “The Bloomingdale Line is worthy of a greater purpose, one that will directly affect people in most need within the city.”

In Gensler’s proposed solution, the greenhouse above produces food while the hydrogen generator below creates electricity to split water molecules into pure Hydrogen and Oxygen. This new fuel cell energy will be used to power nearby Chicago Public Schools, in turn helping the CPS reverse its budget shortfall from last year which resulted in teacher layoffs to offset rising utility bills. Simply put, Hydrogen = Teachers. The excess Hydrogen will be sold to alternative fuel vehicles at depots throughout the line.

As it produces this much needed food and energy, the Hydrogenerator simultaneously releases oxygen as the by-product of photosynthesis and hydrogen production, a truly sustainable loop.

“A highly visible beacon day or night, the Hydrogenerator stands as a symbol for a new paradigm that involves examining abandoned and underused infrastructure for new energy bearing technologies,” said Vitale. “The more local, the more clean the energy, the more stable and healthy the society.”

The Institute of High Temperature Electrochemistry of the Urals Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences has developed a chemical electric power source for Gazprom. It will be used for the cathode corrosion protection of the pipeline system.

In addition to being used on pipelines, the innovation has a great potential in the consumer market. The Institute informed RusBusinessNews that the solid oxide fuel cell technology is based on the electric burning of natural gas and is accompanied by release of energy that can be used for heating of cottages and houses which are remote from central services.

The capacity of a source may vary from 150 to 3,000 Watt. This will be in demand in those regions where there are gas deposits and the construction of power generating capacities is inexpedient. The cell can use spirit, paraffin, or any other flammable fluid which makes it possible to use it as a portable generator.

The manufacturing cost of fuel cells in a laboratory setting amounts to 80 to 100 thousand roubles. Currently the Institute’s management is carrying out negotiations with JSC Chepetsky Mechanical Plant in the town of Glazov on the establishment of batch production which would significantly reduce the cost of the new product.

The Department of Energy has announced funding for 37 ambitious transformational research projects – including one from the University of California Riverside for it’s Alkaline polymer electrolyte fuel cell membrane research. More details here.

University of California, Riverside    $760,705
Riverside, CA    Vehicle Technologies Alkaline polymer electrolyte fuel cell membranes that eliminate the use of expensive catalyst materials. Potential to drastically reduce fuel cell costs and enable their widespread application in building and automotive applications.

Washington DC–The comprehensive approach to advancing transportation and clean energy technologies embodied in the energy spending bill signed by President Obama this week is the best way to assure that the nation ends its dependence on imported fuels and reduces greenhouse gas emissions, three international trade associations said today.

“The FY 2010 Energy & Water Development Appropriation funds a full portfolio of advanced technologies and fuels for power generation and vehicles, including fuel cells, hydrogen, and batteries,” the Electric Drive Transportation Association (EDTA), National Hydrogen Association (NHA) and US Fuel Cell Council (USFCC) said in a joint statement. “Congress and the Administration are wisely investing in all the most promising advanced transportation and low carbon electricity options. All these pathways work cooperatively with renewable and traditional domestic energy sources.”

The bill allocates $311 million to vehicle electrification and advanced combustion systems, $220 million for advanced biofuels and $283 million for hydrogen and fuel cells in all applications.

“While vehicle options may enter the marketplace at different times and serve different early market segments, pursuing the full range of options gives America its best chance overall of meeting its energy security and environmental goals,” the organizations said.  “The National Research Council has recently concluded, in fact, that a successful portfolio approach could reduce passenger car demand for gasoline nearly to zero by 2050 with comparable reductions in emissions.  A multipronged approach will leverage complementary development pathways and accelerate the use of domestic resources.”

“We thank Congress for its tireless work to improve the federal energy budget, especially Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and his Energy and Water Subcommittee, Congressman Steve Israel (D-NY) and the other members of the House Subcommittee, plus the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Caucuses in both chambers,” they said.  “Their leadership and the bipartisan support of their colleagues in Congress were crucial to rebalancing the Administration’s budget request.”

EDTA, NHA and USFCC collectively represent more than 200 companies and organizations.

#  #  #

CONTACT:

NHA: Patrick Serfass, 202-223-5547×366

serfassp@HydrogenAssociation.org

USFCC: Bud DeFlaviis, 202 293 5500 x35

bdeflaviis@usfcc.com

EDTA: Jennifer Watts, 202-408-0774 x306

jwatts@electricdrive.org

About the National Hydrogen Association

The National Hydrogen Association (NHA) is the premier hydrogen trade organization led by over 100 companies dedicated to supporting the transition to hydrogen. Our efforts focus on education and outreach, policy, safety and codes and standards. Since 1989, the NHA has served as a catalyst for information exchange and cooperative projects, and continues to provide the setting for mutual support among industry, research, and government organizations.  Find out more at:  www.HydrogenAssociation.org

About the U.S. Fuel Cell Council

The USFCC is a trade association and voice of the fuel cell industry.  The USFCC is dedicated to fostering the commercialization of fuel cells. Our members include the world’s leading fuel cell developers, manufacturers, suppliers and customers. www.usfcc.com

About the Electric Drive Transportation Association

The Electric Drive Transportation Association (EDTA) is the trade association representing battery, hybrid, plug-in hybrid and fuel cell electric drive technologies and infrastructure. EDTA conducts public policy advocacy, education, industry networking, and international conferences. EDTA’s membership includes automotive and other equipment manufacturers, energy companies, technology developers, component suppliers, and government agencies. www.electricdrive.org

Hydrogen fuel, because its only byproduct is steam, should be the ultimate in green alternatives to fossil fuels, but it hasn’t delivered on its promise yet because of one enormous stumbling block, storage. Now a campus team of chemical engineers has developed a computational model that shows that carbon nanotubes may offer a surprising solution. Results are presented in the current online issue of the journal Applied Physics Letters.

“If this works as we expect, it’s perhaps no longer science fiction to hope for a briefcase-sized hydrogen battery to run a bus or car,” says Chemical Engineering professor Dimitrios Maroudas. “Hydrogen storage has been a huge problem in the energy field for the past 10 years because no one has been able to demonstrate a truly viable storage medium. We’ve shown that it’s possible to achieve hydrogen storage capacity up to 8 percent by weight using carbon nanotubes. This is an outstanding level, higher by 1 percent than the 2010 United States Department of Energy target for on-board hydrogen storage systems,” Maroudas adds. “The method we propose may lead to breaking the bottleneck.”

The computational model strongly lends itself to verification in laboratory experiments, say Maroudas and colleagues, and it provides ample testable hypotheses for future experimental research. “People had been losing faith, but I think our predictions show that hydrogen should be back on the table and in a most promising way. We come up with modeling predictions for technologically relevant problems every day, but this cute model is special,” he notes.

Specifically, Maroudas, his graduate student Andre Muniz and their collaborator M. Meyyappan, chief scientist for exploration technology at the Center for Nanotechnology at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., show that proper arrangement of carbon nanotubes can overcome hydrogen transport limitations in nanotube bundles. It should also prevent ineffective and nonuniform hydrogenation, which is caused by nanotube swelling due to chemisorption of hydrogen atoms on the nanotube walls.

If one were to think of carbon nanotube bundles as something like a toothbrush, one strategy that Maroudas and colleagues recommend for holding hydrogen atoms most efficiently is that the brush arrangement should not be too dense. If it is, when the tubules swell they’ll block efficient passage and diffusion of the hydrogen, Maroudas explains. In addition to an optimal bundle density, further improvement can be achieved by optimizing the individual nanotube configurations to limit their swelling upon hydrogenation.

Following this approach should result in one hydrogen atom being able to chemisorb onto — form a chemical bond with — each carbon atom of the nanotubes, leading to 100 percent (atomically) storage capacity, he adds. This chemisorbed hydrogen, bound to the surface, can then be easily released by applying heat.

Maroudas says, “We propose recipes that will be very easy for others to try, by which carbon nanotubes can be arranged to accomplish practically 100 percent storage atomically, which is nearly 8 percent by weight. You can’t get any greener than hydrogen as fuel, and if the experiments we envision lead to new technology that’s economically viable, that’s as good as it gets.” The work was supported by a National Science Foundation grant and a Fulbright/CAPES scholarship to Muniz.

Pioneering Iceland-Based Company Awarded Autodesk Inventor of the Month for October for Contributions to Fuel-Cell Technology

SAN RAFAEL, Calif– Icelandic Hydrogen used Autodesk Inventor software from Autodesk, Inc. (Nasdaq: ADSK), to design a complete on-board hydrogen energy system that powers the auxiliary engine for one of Iceland’s largest whale-watching vessels, enabling it to generate the electricity on board with clean, sustainable energy rather than oil. For its groundbreaking example of how ships can reduce their environmental impact, the Iceland-based hydrogen fuel cell company has been named the Autodesk Inventor of the Month for October 2009.

Most shipping vessels are propelled exclusively by oil. Since hydrogen can be made from water alone — and water vapor is its only by-product when burned — hydrogen fuel cells represent a more environmentally friendly option than traditional combustion engines.

As part of the SMART-H2 project managed by the public-private company Icelandic New Energy Ltd, Icelandic Hydrogen developed its hydrogen energy system for The Elding — a 130-ton, 150-passenger ship that serves as the flagship vessel for Iceland’s largest whale-watching operation.

“Inventor software was invaluable for testing the strength of the various parts to make sure that they could safely withstand the pressure that would be put on them,” said Hallmar Halldors, chief executive officer of Icelandic Hydrogen. “Digital Prototyping enabled us to fine-tune an accurate 3D model of the energy system before incurring any production costs and without compromising the safety of those involved in the project or on board the ship.”

The Inventor of the Month program recognizes the most innovative design and engineering advancements made by the extensive community using Autodesk Inventor software, which takes users beyond 3D to Digital Prototyping. With Inventor software, users can create a single digital model that gives them the ability to design, visualize and simulate products before they are built to reduce the necessity of constructing physical prototypes.

Icelandic Hydrogen also used AutoCAD Electrical software to create piping and instrumentation diagrams for the hydrogen system, seamlessly switching to Autodesk Inventor software to visualize and analyze the storage tanks, enclosures, tubing and other components.

The company was able to complete the project in just under seven months, helping to bring a viable hydrogen energy system to the open seas without any delay — an important point for a country exploring the possibilities of converting its entire transport system to hydrogen by 2050 and having an economy run only on locally sourced renewable energy.

“Digitally simulating the real-world performance of your product before anything is built saves time and money,” said Robert “Buzz” Kross, senior vice president, Manufacturing Industry Group at Autodesk. “Icelandic Hydrogen exemplifies the ways in which Inventor software helps companies innovate faster and smarter.”

About the Autodesk Inventor of the Month Program

Each month, Autodesk selects an Inventor of the Month from the users of Autodesk Inventor software, which takes manufacturers beyond 3D to Digital Prototyping. Winners are chosen for engineering excellence and groundbreaking innovation. For more information about Autodesk Inventor of the Month, contact IOM@autodesk.com.

About Icelandic Hydrogen

Established in 2007, Icelandic Hydrogen is a leading manufacturer of hydrogen gas generators and a developer of future energy infrastructure solutions within the renewable energy sector. For more information, visit www.iceh2.com.

About Autodesk

Autodesk, Inc., is a world leader in 2D and 3D design, engineering and entertainment software for the manufacturing, building and construction, and media and entertainment markets. Since its introduction of AutoCAD software in 1982, Autodesk continues to develop the broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art software to help customers experience their ideas digitally before they are built. Fortune 100 companies – as well as the last 14 Academy Award winners for Best Visual Effects – use Autodesk software tools to design, visualize and simulate their ideas to save time and money, enhance quality, and foster innovation for competitive advantage. For additional information about Autodesk, visit www.autodesk.com.

An interview with Icelandic Hydrogen is available on the Autodesk YouTube Channel at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wg5kiYsceU.

A major milestone has been reached in bringing a fleet of five hydrogen fuel cell buses to the Capital.

The Olympic Delivery Authority has granted planning permission for a hydrogen refuelling facility to be built in east London.

First, who will operate the five hydrogen buses, were granted the planning permission for the facility to be located at their bus garage on Temple Mills Lane, Leyton.

Work is due to begin early in the New Year and should be complete by summer 2010.

The five hydrogen hybrid fuel cell buses are due to join Transport for London’s (TfL) bus fleet next year operating on route RV1 which runs between Covent Garden and Tower Gateway.

The buses will be refuelled and maintained at the Temple Mills Lane site.

Hydrogen buses will help the Mayor and TfL in their bid to tackle climate change and reduce CO2 in the Capital.

The buses emit nothing but water vapour, helping to improve air quality and traffic noise in the areas they are operating.

Kit Malthouse, Chair of the London Hydrogen Partnership and Deputy Mayor for Policing, said: ‘This is excellent news which secures the arrival of five zero-polluting hydrogen buses on London’s streets next year.

‘With the right refuelling structure, we can expand our use of hydrogen technology to provide cleaner fuel for transport and greener energy to heat homes and businesses.

‘Hydrogen has massive potential to cut carbon emissions and improve air quality in the Capital to enhance Londoners’ quality of life.’

David Brown, Managing Director of Surface Transport, said: ‘The Mayor and TfL are committed to reducing the impact of public transport on the environment.

‘Gaining planning permission for the refuelling station means we are one step closer to operating hydrogen buses in London.’

Adrian Jones, Managing Director of First in London, said: ‘First continually seeks to find ways to reduce carbon emissions in its delivery of transport services.

‘Working in partnership with TfL to operate five hydrogen buses in London should deliver significant improvements and we welcome the planning permission.’

Air Products will supply the hydrogen and refuelling equipment.

They will also provide specialist maintenance equipment.

TfL is also applying for additional funding from the Europe Union to increase the hydrogen bus fleet to eight buses.

· TfL is a member of the Hydrogen Bus Alliance, an international partnership whose members are committed to supporting the continued and rapid development and commercialisation of hydrogen technology in the transport sector

· First submitted a planning application to build hydrogen bus maintenance and refuelling facilities in their bus garage on Temple Mills Lane, Waltham Forest, in August 2008

· First’s bus garage on Temple Mills Lane also houses diesel buses

· There are currently 56 hybrid buses operating in London’s bus fleet. TfL is committed to increasing the number of diesel electric hybrid buses and expects every new bus entering the fleet to be a hybrid from 2012.

MCLEAN, Va. & NEW YORK–Two years after installing one of the cleanest power generating technologies available on its roof high above Avenue of the Americas, one New York hotel is now dissolving food waste with microorganisms to reduce garbage volume. Hilton New York’s innovative approach to eco-stewardship is apparent as it marks its second year using revolutionary UTC Power fuel cell technology by introducing three new initiatives to reduce waste throughout the hotel.

“Hilton New York is an innovator in implementing sound environmental practices, and the work of leaders like them will help New York City meet the ambitious goals in PlaNYC, our long-term vision for a greener, greater New York,” said Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. “Unlike most cities, New York generates the bulk of its emissions from buildings, so greening existing buildings is key to reducing carbon emissions 30 percent by the year 2030.”

Just last week, the hotel was the recipient of the 2008-2009 Environmental Recognition Program – “Green Street” Award by the Avenue of the Americas Association. This new award highlights efforts to adopt environmentally sustainable programs or improvements to the workplace. Hilton New York received the award in the Energy Efficiency / Sustainability Projects category for “Buildings Over 1M Square Feet” in recognition of its energy fuel cell which reduces the hotel’s overall carbon footprint in the community.

As the largest hotel in Manhattan, Hilton New York’s implementation of the fuel cell power system – currently the only fuel cell powering a New York area hotel – represented a huge undertaking in the hospitality industry. The PureCell® system provides electric power and hot water throughout the hotel’s 2,000 rooms, operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week without combustion. The system is nearly three times more energy efficient than the electric grid when used in combined heat and power applications. Since the fuel cell’s installation in October 2007, it has produced approximately 1.75M kilowatts of electricity per year for the hotel for a total of nearly 3.5M kilowatt hours to date. That equates to approximately 6% of the hotel’s consumption.

Supplementing the hotel’s energy needs with fuel cell technology is just one of the ways Hilton New York is helping the city’s environment. The Hilton Hotels brand was one of the first to employ sustainability-focused initiatives now common within the hospitality industry, such as linen and towel reuse programs; paper, bottle and can recycling; and the use of energy-saving light bulbs. Hilton New York demonstrates this leadership again with its recent introduction of the following new leading-edge initiatives to reduce waste throughout the hotel:

• Organic waste decomposition system: To reduce the eight tons of wet garbage – the equivalent of approximately 5,000 meals – produced on average at the hotel each day, Hilton New York catering and operations team members turned to science. The hotel’s new organic waste decomposition system – distributed by New Jersey-based BioHitech America, LLC – located in the hotel’s New York Marketplace restaurant banquet kitchen, enables employees to dispose of table and kitchen scraps into a unit the size of a chest freezer. Microorganisms and water inside the unit break down the food wastes into a disposable liquid that is ultimately returned back to the ecosystem via the existing drainage and sewer system. The digestion process, which has exceeded 100 pounds per hour, eliminates approximately 400 bags of garbage per day.

• Water purification system: Hilton New York has implemented an on-site water purification system created by Natura® Water. The Natura® system connects to the existing water source. The water flows through two different high tech Natura® filters and then sterilizes the water through a prolonged exposure to UV light. Tap water is purified into chilled, high-quality still and sparkling water and served in re-usable glass bottles, available in the hotel’s restaurants and room service. By year’s end, the hotel anticipates that the use of these re-usable bottles will have eliminated approximately 12,000 disposable glass and plastic bottles from daily circulation in the hotel.
• Biodegradable guestroom access key cards: Hilton New York is introducing a new room key made from biodegradable PVC supplied by Guest Access Int’l®, a pioneer in developing green products. Biodegradable key cards are part of the EnviroKeys™ line, a comprehensive program of environmentally friendly alternatives offered by Guest Access Int’l®. The biodegradation process begins when the bioPVC™ film is introduced into a fertile environment allowing the plastic card product to break down in as little as nine months. The hotel estimates that using the new biodegradable key cards will save 250 pounds of plastic from clogging landfills over the next five years.

“Sustainability is now an essential element of our hotel culture. It shapes both our actions as team members and the experiences we provide our guests,” said Conrad Wangeman, General Manager, Hilton New York. “The accomplishments of our 2,000 room hotel are significant and prove that a hotel of any size can provide a premium product while minimizing its impact on the environment.”

The bold steps taken by Hilton New York are part of Hilton Hotels’ global focus on sustainability. The brand is working to reduce energy consumption, CO2 emissions and output of waste by 20 percent and reduce water consumption by 10 percent before 2014.

“One of the biggest challenges for hotels seeking to be eco-centric is to generate a compelling return on investment,” said David Horton, Global Head – Hilton Brand. “We are pleased to share lessons learned at Hilton New York about how sustainable initiatives deliver tremendous benefits for a hotel, its guests, and the environment with our other hotels so that they can be applied across the Hilton brand.”

About UTC Power

UTC Power, a United Technologies Corp. (NYSE:UTX) company, is a world leader in developing and producing fuel cells that generate energy for buildings and for transportation, space and defense applications. With more than 50 years of experience, the company is based in South Windsor, Conn.

Port Edwards village leaders hope a proposed sustainable power plant would serve as a catalyst to thrust central Wisconsin into the spotlight of the nation’s green energy sector.

Officials continue to closely work with engineers from Ballard Power Systems, a Vancouver-based fuel cell producer, to study the feasibility of locating a fuel cell site in Port Edwards.

“A project of this size at this particular application would bring a lot of attention,” said Ethan Brown, Ballard Power’s director of business development. “Ideally, we would like to put a fuel cell plant here and help the state expand its use of sustainable energy.”

The facility would use hydrogen — a byproduct of a chemical process at ERCO Worldwide — to generate electricity for other green businesses and increase energy efficiency. While it would not necessarily add more than a handful of jobs, it would put Port Edwards on the map for the green industry sector, Brown said.

As part of the study, Ballard Power will work with ERCO and village leaders to determine whether such a project would benefit all involved. Currently ERCO uses all its excess hydrogen, either to make hydrochloric acid or to burn in its boilers to offset the price of natural gas, plant manager Geoff Bertin said previously.

Brown presented more details of Ballard Power’s operations to municipal and business leaders during a visit Wednesday to Wisconsin Rapids. He expected to meet today in Madison with staff members from the state’s Office of Energy Independence, which awarded Port Edwards a $50,000 grant in August to help fund the study.

Meanwhile, village leaders continue their efforts to search out parties interested in using the shutdown Domtar paper mill site, and company officials recently became more involved in the conversation, Port Edwards Village Administrator Joe Terry said.

“There has been no more information (about any potential plans for the mill), but they’ve been listening. That’s encouraging,” Terry said.

The village previously contracted with Madison-based consulting firm Vandewalle & Associates to develop a strategy for the possible reuse of the mill site. In working with Ballard Power, that strategy has now moved into the implementation phase.

“We really would like to get this (study) done by the end of the year,” said Peter Bach, an engineer for Ballard Power. “This will be a very cooperative effort that will go back and forth several times before it’s finished.”

CommScope, Inc., a provider of infrastructure solutions for communications networks, announced it will have its fuel cell technology and developments on display in the new Green Pavilion at the SCTE Cable-Tec Expo 2009.

According to CommScope, the Fuel Cell Cabinet utilizes hydrogen-powered fuel cells to provide a DC backup power solution for cable network head-ends and hub equipment. Unlike diesel generators or batteries, the only by-products of hydrogen fuel cells are heat and water. With the highest density integrated fuel cell system available in the market and a cabinet design that is modular, CommScope’s Fuel Cell Cabinet can meet stringent backup power needs and improve system reliability.

“In the cable industry, the trend is well underway to find new ways to improve the reliability and environmental impact of backup power solutions,” said CommScope’s Anil Trehan, CTO, Carrier and Cabinet Solutions. “CommScope is honored that its Fuel Cell Cabinet was recognized by the cable industry as a green solution and worthy of inclusion in the SCTE Green Pavilion.”

The SCTE Cable-Tec Expo takes place through October 30 in Denver, Colorado

One of the most critical requirements for commercial success of SOFC systems is the ability to conduct a large number of start and stop cycles. For the year 2009 staxera had defined an internal development target of 150 thermal cycles.

Previously published results from February 2009 have now been reproduced and further extended up to the target of 150 thermal cycles.  This result is a significant step forward for the development of SOFC stacks and systems, demonstrating robust and reliable operation which is necessary for commercial success.

Details regarding the test procedure were presented at the 216th meeting of the Electrochemical Society (SOFC-XI) in Vienna .

South Korea’s POSCO Power Includes Upfront License Fee of $10 Million and Invests $25 Million in FuelCell Energy Common Stock

By Agnieszka Flak

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Fuel cells can play a big role in plugging Africa’s power deficit in a greener way, with commercialisation seen within a decade, an official at Anglo Platinum (Angloplat) said.

Angloplat, the world’s top producer of the precious metal, launched a demonstration fuel cell plant in South Africa’s Limpopo province to produce 200 kilowatts of electricity by converting coal-bed methane (CBM) gas into hydrogen.

Anthea Bath, head of market development and research, said Angloplat’s interest in fuel cells lay in their potential to boost demand for platinum, used as a catalyst in the cells.

She said the company hoped to use the site to prove the technology’s viability for a continent where millions of people are still in the dark and governments battle in the face of billions of dollars required to boost supply and build networks.

“Fuel cells are a unique opportunity for Africa … they are modular in nature, you can put them in a remote area, they can run on or off grid, they can run on (various) feed sources,” she told Reuters in an interview.

A fuel cell is an electrochemical device that combines hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity and heat. Various feed sources, such as methane and natural gas, can be reformed into hydrogen to run it.

Bath said that even though fuel cells were used in Europe and the United States in buildings, schools, telecoms towers and hospitals, they still needed to gain worldwide acceptance, especially in Africa.

“There are a lot of aspects that need to be improved before fuel cells can be adopted fully, but in terms of the technology, it’s on the crest of commercialisation,” she said.

Angloplat bought the second-hand demonstration unit from United Technologies’ UTC Power and invested about 10 million rand in the project so far, a first of its kind in Sub-Saharan Africa, Bath said.

Despite the high upfront capital needs, the maintenance costs for the plant, monitored remotely and with no moving parts, are low.

“On a total cost basis, fuel cells are going to be competitive with existing technologies,” Bath said.

AngloPlat is working closely with the government to develop skills centres around the country to promote fuel cells as a viable technology for the country and beyond.

“We might not be the ones making them, but we would like to see companies making them for the local market … there are economic, environmental and social benefits to looking at fuel cells,” she said.

Murali Arikara Appointed to Executive Vice President Emerging Markets

Intelligent Energy, the clean power systems company, today announced that it has appointed Murali Arikara as its Executive Vice President for Emerging Markets. Previously Head of US Operations, Arikara will now be responsible for leading the development of business strategies that will help Intelligent Energy achieve its long term objectives for business growth and global expansion.

Increased consumer spending and infrastructure investment are fuelling growth in many emerging economies, such as China, Brazil, Russia and India, making this an ideal time for business expansion. Working alongside senior executives within the organization, Arikara will play a central role in managing Intelligent Energy’s broad portfolio of business, whilst strengthening its efforts to enter such exciting new markets.

“Emerging markets present exciting opportunities for the deployment of our clean power technologies, and the interest we have already received from potential partners is very encouraging,” said Arikara.  “I am excited at having this opportunity to extend Intelligent Energy’s business into these extremely important and rapidly growing markets.”

Prior to joining Intelligent Energy as VP of Business Development in early 2008, Arikara was a founder of fuel cell provider, Jadoo Power, and served in various technical and executive leadership roles. In 2006, he won the prestigious Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award for Northern California.

“The success Murali has already brought to the company in the United States together with his understanding of global emerging markets, made him the outstanding choice for this role,” explained Dr Henri Winand, CEO of Intelligent Energy. “Emerging markets boast some of the fastest growing economies in recent years and demand for efficient, clean and robust power systems such as those provided by Intelligent Energy continue to increase at pace. This appointment is a clear statement of our intent to develop business partnerships and extend the commercial roll-out of Intelligent Energy’s clean power systems across these regions and on to a truly global level.”

Murali Arikara, new EVP Emerging Markets for Intelligent Energy

About Intelligent Energy
Intelligent Energy is a clean power systems company, with a range of leading fuel cell and hydrogen generation technologies. The company is focused on the provision of cleaner power and low carbon technologies. Intelligent Energy partners with leading companies globally, in the transportation, oil and gas, aerospace, defence, distributed generation and portable power markets. Current partners and customers include Scottish & Southern Energy plc with whom the company has formed a joint venture to commercialise fuel cell combined heat and power (CHP) systems, and The Suzuki Motor Corporation. Intelligent Energy’s successes in recent years include the development of the world’s first hydrogen fuel cell motorbike and supplying the fuel cell system to Boeing which powered the world’s first manned fuel cell aircraft. The company also recently supplied Airbus with a multi-functional fuel cell auxiliary power unit (APU) aimed at on-board power and other loads in future commercial airliners.

Point Lookout, NY, Grand Opening of One of the First Hydrogen Fuel  Cell Station

Duration : 0:8:30

Point Lookout Hydrogen Station

“We regard it as very positive that Powercell will gain an additional strong financial owner. This will enable us to be a long-term partner in heavy industrial development projects,” says Per Wassén, Chairman of Powercell Sweden AB and Investment Director at Volvo Technology Transfer.

Fouriertransform’s investment will be made by a directed share issue, i.e. money is injected directly into the company in exchange for new shares. Through Volvo Technology Transfer, AB Volvo will remain as the largest owner of Powercell Sweden AB, with more than 40 percent of the shares. The other owners are OCAS, Midroc New Technology and Fouriertransform.

“We have come to know the enterprise and the people behind it, and are looking forward to a trustful cooperation. We are convinced that this is a good investment for the industry, with potential for high profitability, says Hans Golteus, Acting CEO of Fouriertransform.

As recently as the beginning of July, the major companies Midroc and OCAS, along with the Swedish Energy Agency and Volvo Technology Transfer, made a joint investment of SEK 200 M in Powercell Sweden AB in Göteborg. An investment which will generate 100 new jobs in Göteborg over the next three years.

“We are busy staffing the company and have received more than 1,000 highly qualified applicants for our advertised jobs,” says Per Wassén, who also reveals the location of Powercell Sweden’s new premises.

“All resources, from management, marketing and sales to development, production, purchasing and the laboratory will be collected under one roof, close to the abutment of the Älvsborg Bridge on Hisingen in Göteborg. This will make Powercell the largest fuel cell plant in northern Europe,” says Per Wassén.

A fuel cell can be compared with a small battery that operates on hydrogen gas. During a chemical reaction, the hydrogen gas is converted to electricity with no other waste but water. To resolve the issue of hydrogen gas accessibility, Powercell will initially produce hydrogen gas from such existing fuels as biofuel and gasoline or diesel. Compared with normal diesel or gasoline-operated electrical aggregates, Powercell’s product will generate considerably less carbon dioxide emissions, and no emissions whatsoever of particles, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides. The fuel cells are also more efficient, smaller and more silent.

Powercell Sweden’s product has been developed by Volvo Technology for more than 15 years and is based on two patented components: a fuel converter (reformer) and a PEM fuel cell – the type of fuel cell most often used in transport applications. The fuel converter produces hydrogen gas from bio fuels such as ethanol, DME (Dimethyl ether), biogas, methanol and biodiesel, but also from regular diesel or gasoline.

Examples of application areas include electrical aggregates for households, trucks, boats, radio masts at remote locations and electrical hybrid vehicles.

Fouriertransform AB (FTAB) is a venture capital company, established and owned by the Swedish State for investments in companies in the automotive industry. FTAB has a commercial mission, and its investments shall generate market return in the long term.

Powercell Sweden AB develops and distributes advanced fuel cell systems for the transport industry and selective high technology markets. The company was founded in 2008 as a subsidiary to Volvo Technology Transfer. The technology behind Powercell’s fuel cells has been developed within the Volvo Group’s company Volvo Technology.
Volvo Technology Transfer is a subsidiary of the Volvo Group. Volvo Technology Transfer develops and supports new business that is relevant to the Volvo Group. This comprises investing in companies and projects that are of strategic, technical and commercial interest.

Midroc New Technology, a part of Midroc Europe, develops and invests in future technologies within Clean Tech and BioMed. Midroc is owned by Mohammed H. Al-Amoudi who among other companies owns Preem Petroleum, Swedish Petroleum Exploration and Västra Hamnen Funds.

OCAS is an advanced market-driven material research centre based in Belgium. OCAS’ investment in Powercell Sweden AB was taken up by the investment fund Finindus. OCAS will support Powercell Sweden with the development and optimizing of materials and their implementations.

The Swedish Energy Agency operates in various sectors of society to create conditions for an efficient and sustainable energy use and a cost-effective Swedish energy supply.

AMHERST, Mass. – Hydrogen fuel, because its only byproduct is steam, should be the ultimate in green alternatives to fossil fuels, but it hasn’t delivered on its promise yet because of one enormous stumbling block, storage. Now a team of chemical engineers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has developed a computational model that shows that carbon nanotubes may offer a surprising solution. Results are presented in the current online issue of the journal, Applied Physics Letters.

“If this works as we expect, it’s perhaps no longer science fiction to hope for a briefcase-sized hydrogen battery to run a bus or car,” says UMass Amherst chemical engineering professor Dimitrios Maroudas. “Hydrogen storage has been a huge problem in the energy field for the past 10 years because no one has been able to demonstrate a truly viable storage medium. We’ve shown that it’s possible to achieve hydrogen storage capacity up to 8 percent by weight using carbon nanotubes. This is an outstanding level, higher by 1 percent than the 2010 United States Department of Energy target for on-board hydrogen storage systems,” Maroudas adds. “The method we propose may lead to breaking the bottleneck.”

The UMass Amherst computational model strongly lends itself to verification in laboratory experiments, say Maroudas and colleagues, and it provides ample testable hypotheses for future experimental research. “People had been losing faith, but I think our predictions show that hydrogen should be back on the table and in a most promising way. We come up with modeling predictions for technologically relevant problems every day, but this cute model is special,” he notes.

Specifically, Maroudas, his graduate student Andre Muniz and their collaborator M. Meyyappan, chief scientist for exploration technology at the Center for Nanotechnology at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., show that proper arrangement of carbon nanotubes can overcome hydrogen transport limitations in nanotube bundles. It should also prevent ineffective and nonuniform hydrogenation, which is caused by nanotube swelling due to chemisorption of hydrogen atoms on the nanotube walls.

If one were to think of carbon nanotube bundles as something like a toothbrush, one strategy that Maroudas and colleagues recommend for holding hydrogen atoms most efficiently is that the brush arrangement should not be too dense. If it is, when the tubules swell they’ll block efficient passage and diffusion of the hydrogen, Maroudas explains. In addition to an optimal bundle density, further improvement can be achieved by optimizing the individual nanotube configurations to limit their swelling upon hydrogenation.

Following this approach should result in one hydrogen atom being able to chemisorb onto—form a chemical bond with—each carbon atom of the nanotubes, leading to 100 percent (atomically) storage capacity, he adds. This chemisorbed hydrogen, bound to the surface, can then be easily released by applying heat.

Maroudas says, “We propose recipes that will be very easy for others to try, by which carbon nanotubes can be arranged to accomplish practically 100 percent storage atomically, which is nearly 8 percent by weight. You can’t get any greener than hydrogen as fuel, and if the experiments we envision lead to new technology that’s economically viable, that’s as good as it gets.” This work was supported by a National Science Foundation grant and a Fulbright/CAPES scholarship to Muniz.

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA – The Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games got a little greener today with the launch of the zero emission Chevrolet Equinox fuel cell demonstration fleet that will operate in Vancouver until the end of the Games.

Four Equinox fuel cell vehicles are on the ground today and ready for test drives, with another four expected in the coming weeks. The fleet will transport a wide array of people, including the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) representatives, media, athletes, government representatives and everyday Vancouver drivers, to experience the benefits of hydrogen fuel cells and to see just how far GM’s fuel cell research has advanced.

“With the only emissions being wisps of water vapour, these vehicles are a perfect match for VANOC’s sustainability goals and they nicely complement the broad range of fuel efficient technologies featured in the vehicle fleet we have supplied for the 2010 Games.” said Matt Crossley, GM Canada’s director of engineering. “We are genuinely excited to allow the people of British Columbia experience this viable green technology first-hand.”

“We are fortunate to have found a partner in GM Canada who shares in our values of sustainability, creativity and excellence,” said John Furlong, VANOC CEO. “VANOC is very proud to use the spotlight of the Games to highlight the cutting edge “clean” technology of these impressive hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.”

The Chevrolet Fuel Cell Equinox is Canadian engineered and manufactured and became part of the world’s largest consumer fuel cell demonstration fleet. Launched in November of 2007 in three U.S. cities, the fleet is comprised of 115 Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell vehicles. More than 5,000 consumer drives have occurred since the launch, racking up over 1.7 million kilometres of gasoline and tailpipe pollution-free driving, saving more than 189,000 litres of gasoline.

As a National Partner, GM Canada’s commitment to the 2010 Winter Games includes the contribution of an extensive fleet of environmentally friendly vehicles. The fleet will include over 4,600 fuel efficient sedans, passenger vans, SUVs and trucks from Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac and more than 30 percent of these will have advanced green technologies.

These include on-road technologies like hybrid systems, flex fuel capability and active fuel management systems that make GM vehicles serious contributors to reduced fuel consumption and CO2 emissions, and ultimately, a perfect fit for use by Games’ organizers and volunteers leading up to and during the 2010 Winter Games.

GM’s commitment will also include the addition of two Chevrolet Volts in February. The Volt is Chevrolet’s extended range electric vehicle that can travel up to 65km on a single charge before its range extending generator kicks in providing energy to power the car.

GM Canada has a longstanding history of supporting amateur athletics and developing athletes of all levels across the country. GM Canada is a National Partner of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and Official Sponsor of the Canadian Olympic Team competing through 2012, providing over 4,600 vehicles to the Games. Over 30% of the fleet have advanced technologies that reduce fuel consumption and emissions, including a fleet of eight Chevrolet Equinox fuel cell vehicles. GM’s efforts to promote zero emission vehicles and the hydrogen highway has resulted in VANOC awarding GM Canada with a sustainability star as part of the sustainability recognition program associated with the 2010 Winter Games.

Brunnthal- SFC Smart Fuel Cell AG, technology and market leader for mobile and off-grid power solutions based on fuel cells, presents the new EFOY Pro 2200 fuel cell – the highest-power energy solution for professional users of off-grid industrial applications.

The EFOY Pro 2200 provides reliable, maintenance-free power generation for off-grid industrial systems: from security cameras, measurement and early warning sensors to traffic control systems. With 38 percent more power than the EFOY Pro 1600 and a charging capacity of 2200 Wh per day, the EFOY Pro 2200 provides the highest degree of efficiency and autonomy for professional applications far from the power grid. The increased output of the EFOY Pro 2200 enhances the range of EFOY Pro Fuel Cell applications, even allowing operation of devices that require a higher degree of output. Like all other products in the EFOY Pro Series, the EFOY Pro 2200 offers maximum flexibility and can be installed in numerous off-grid applications. The fuel cells can also be seamlessly combined with other energy sources, such as solar panels. Power supply can be managed remotely through text messaging or via computer.

“By launching our EFOY Pro 2200, we are responding to strong demand in remote power applications. The EFOY Pro 2200 fuel cell generator offers 38 % more power in exactly the same package as before. By offering this high-performance power solution, users get even higher autonomy for demanding off-grid devices – at more attractive energy cost”, says Dr. Peter Podesser, CEO of SFC Smart Fuel Cell AG.

The EFOY Pro Series is available immediately throughout Europe in four different models: EFOY Pro 600, EFOY Pro 1200, EFOY Pro 1600 and EFOY Pro 2200, with a charging capacity from 600 to 2200 watt hours per day, that are used depending on the energy requirements of the application. EFOY Pro Series Fuel Cells obtain their fuel from EFOY fuel cartridges, which deliver week-long autonomous energy, depending on their size (5, 10, 28 liters). The fuel cartridges are available at more than 1,400 sales points in Europe.

Visit www.sfc.com and www.efoy.com for more information.

About SFC Smart Fuel Cell AG

SFC Smart Fuel Cell AG (www.sfc.com) is market leader in fuel cell technologies for mobile and off-grid power applications serving the leisure, industrial and defense markets.  As one of Germany’s technology pioneers, SFC has won numerous innovation awards.  SFC has alliances with leading companies in a wide range of industries.  Unlike most other fuel cell manufacturers, who are in the research and development phase or run subsidized demonstration projects, SFC has shipped more than 15,000 fully commercial products to industrial and private end users for more than five years, and has created a convenient fuel cartridge supply infrastructure. SFC is DIN ISO 9001:2000 certified. SFC is based in Brunnthal, Germany, and has a sales and technical service office in the U.S.

Achievement of major milestone towards commercializing clean alternative to engine generators

ACAL Energy has achieved record levels of power output from its kilowatt-scale fuel cell system using its patented liquid cathode technology, FlowCath®. Peak power levels of 1.5kW have been achieved from the hydrogen-fuelled laboratory-scale system. Fuel cell systems utilizing FlowCath ultimately will be a clean and economically sensible alternative to diesel and gasoline engines in stationary power generation and transport applications.

The kilowatt-scale demonstrator will be the basis for a technology evaluation kit for supply to OEM partners during 2010 to enable them to design Flowcath® into their products. ACAL Energy’s business strategy is to provide FlowCath® to fuel cell system manufacturers in the form of a stack and supporting mechanical elements, as well as the proprietary chemical solutions.

Commenting on the latest achievement, Dr S B Cha, Chief Executive Officer of ACAL Energy said: “We are very pleased with the performance of our kilowatt-scale demonstration system. It is achieving significantly higher levels of power output than originally designed. This is further credit to our very talented team of engineers and scientists. We remain confident that Flowcath® will enable clean fuel cells to succeed internal combustion engines in many applications”.

WASHINGTON – Soldiers carry a heavy load, with basic body armor alone weighing about 45 pounds, not to mention firearms, ammunition, radio equipment, food and other tools they may need for a mission.

The Army Research Laboratory’s Electrochemistry Branch in the Sensors and Electron Devices Directorate is working to lighten their load by creating fuel cells that are lighter and more efficient and durable than existing batteries.

Cynthia Lundgren, chief of the directorate at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., described the benefits of fuel cell technology during an Oct. 21 webcast of “Armed with Science: Research and Applications for the Modern Military” on Pentagon Web radio.

The new fuel cells will help soldiers by lessening the number of batteries they carry for missions lasting longer than 24 hours, Lundgren explained.

Depending on their role in the battalion, some soldiers may carry up to 35 pounds of batteries with them for a 72-hour mission, she said. She’d like to see that weight reduced to 12 pounds.

“We’d like to reduce the weight a soldier carries by a third to a half,” she said.

Fuel cells use a chemical reaction between air and a fuel to create energy, which in turn is harnessed as electricity. Hydrogen is the most commonly used chemical fuel, but because it’s very reactive, it can be dangerous to carry around. It’s also difficult to create and make available for soldiers’ use.

“Hydrogen is a pretty energy-dense fuel, but it’s a gas, so it has to be condensed … and it’s not very convenient,” Lundgren said. “Logistically, it’s not a very friendly fuel. And carrying hydrogen-gas bottles around isn’t exactly something soldiers want to do.”

Lundgren is trying to find fuel chemicals that will have an efficient electrochemical reaction with as few safety issues as possible for its carriers.

“If a lithium-ion battery is punctured, lithium is incredibly reactive and will react with moisture in the air,” she said. “Anybody who’s seen or heard of battery fires from laptops will appreciate that. We’re trying to make those batteries last longer, be lighter and be safer.”

Lundgren’s team has been testing fuel cells using propane and simple alcohols like methanol to act as power sources for mobile, portable equipment. Fuel cells are being built and designed to handle power usage as high as megawatts — the kind of power needed for a large vehicle like a submarine or aircraft carrier — and as low as microwatts.

Their primary focus with higher wattage cells right now is allowing for “silent watch,” when a vehicle can be turned off but the electronics can still run at full power. Fuel cells providing this capability generally run from 10 to 40 kilowatts, but the Army requires JP8, a jet fuel, to be used to reduce the logistics burden to supply the fuel.

“Small, portable fuel cells … run pretty much like a battery [the fuel is prepackaged and can be exchanged like a battery],” she said. “But once you get over a kilowatt, it becomes harder to sustain logistically.

“Part of our reformation research is how to convert JP8 into a fuel that a fuel cell can use,” she continued. “This is mostly geared for auxiliary power units …. The efficiency of [a fuel cell] is much higher than the vehicle using its own fuel in an internal combustion engine, and it allows for silent watch.”

Soldiers and researchers are testing new ideas, ideally giving warfighters a lighter load to carry and greater operational capacity in the field, whether it’s powering a small navigational tool or allowing them to silently run unmanned vehicles.

An abundant greenhouse gas could someday help clean up the earth.

Converting methane to liquid methanol could produce clean, low-cost fuel and prevent the potent greenhouse gas from entering the atmosphere. Exploiting methane in this way could also produce a hydrogen source for fuel cells and yield other industrial applications. The key to taming methane, and synthesizing it in the laboratory, rests in identifying the starter link in methane’s armor chain of hydrocarbons.

A National Science Foundation grant is supporting a novel approach using laser light to convert methane into methanol. Roger Dube, research professor at Rochester Institute of Technology’s Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science, won the $79,000 exploratory research award to apply optical catalytic conversion to the problem. Dube will use finely tuned laser light, not heat, to reduce the barrier to reaction in methane and to create longer chain molecules or fuels. The process works without the need for heat or a catalytic surface. This is important because heat consumes some of the fuel stock and decreases overall conversion efficient. Catalysts get dirty and have to be replaced or cleaned, both expensive and time-consuming propositions.

“Successful photo-catalysis of methane would theoretically produce clean fuels and remove methane gas that otherwise would simply be released into the atmosphere,” Dube says. “If successful, the technology could have broad impact in other fields of chemistry.”

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, methane—the odorless component of natural gas—remains in the atmosphere for approximately nine to 15 years. To make matters worse, methane beats carbon dioxide in efficiently trapping heat in the atmosphere. Sources of the gas range from the expected—such as cattle, coal mining and natural gas and petroleum production—to the somewhat unexpected practice of rice cultivation. Methane has ample natural and human-caused sources and is a byproduct of wetlands, wildfires, permafrost, landfills, agricultural applications, coal mining, stationary and mobile combustion, wastewater treatment and certain industrial processes.

“Unfortunately, almost half of the proven reserve of methane is ‘stranded,’” Dube says. “Access to the natural gas is effectively blocked by terrain and the economies of converting natural gas to liquid for efficient transport. A compact, high-gain process is needed that would convert methane gas to a room temperature liquid, such as diesel, and be sufficiently portable to enable access to stranded gas.”

with other types of alternative energy, such as solar and bio-mass? “Lots of other near-term technologies are great because they reduce pollution and petroleum dependence but they don’t fully eliminate either. Renewables, such as wind and biomass, coupled with hydrogen fuel cells are a sustainable combination.

Although South Africa has come a long way in terms of developing hydrogen and fuel cell technologies, the country had to speed up its research and manufacturers had to buy into the development of these technologies at an early stage, Hydrogen South Africa (HySA) Systems Centre for Systems Integration and Validation head Dr Oystein Ulleberg suggested.

He noted that by speeding up research, the country, which had vast national resources, could become a global player and major exporter of this technology.

A seminar to be hosted by HySA Systems in Cape Town on November 2 and November 3, would deal with topics surrounding the manufacturing of materials and components for hydrogen fuel cell technology (HFCT) and applications of HFCT into near-term niche markets, with a focus on uninterruptible power systems and utility vehicles.

“The seminar will provide an opportunity for interested parties, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to attend and participate,” said Ulleberg.

Four international and four local speakers, including Dr Margaret Wohlfahrt-Mehrens, from Germany, Mikael Sloth, from Denmark, and Dr Sakib Khan, from South Africa, would make presentations at the seminar.

HySA Systems is part of a 15-year research, development and innovation programme, sponsored by the Department of Science and Technology. Its purpose is to perform technology validation and system integration in three key areas relevant to hydrogen and fuel cell technologies.