ENERGIES... week of October 29, 2000 (Special Extended Edition)
INTRODUCING FUEL CELL VEHICLES. Regardless of the type of technology
that may end up someday under the hood of your car, the row of hurdles
automobile manufacturers must leap to replace the 100-plus year old
internal combustion engine is long:
-- Overall vehicle performance must meet or exceed that of today's
cars to satisfy consumer expectations.
-- The technology must be durable, be able to run 100,000 miles or
more without a major mechanical or motor repair.
-- The vehicles must be tested for crashworthiness and meet safety
standards for operation and fueling.
-- Vehicles must operate in a variety of adverse weather and climate
conditions.
-- Replacement parts must be manufactured and distributed.
-- Mechanics, both at the dealerships and independent garages, must
be trained.
-- Infrastructure must be built to support new types of fuels and
refueling methods.
-- The companies must be willing to invest in tooling and facilities
to build the new technology in order to eventually put millions of these
vehicles on the road each year world-wide.
-- If fossil fuels continue to be the major source of fuel, even the
source of hydrogen or methanol, world supplies of natural gas, for
example, have to be determined for decades into the future, perhaps for
the next 100 years.
-- Environmentally, gross vehicle emissions, as well as upstream
emissions from the processing of fuel or generating electric power, must
be accounted for. This accounting must take into consideration the
growing world fleet of vehicles and the increasing number of miles
driven.
-- Taxpayers are likely to share some of the burden of the
introduction of the new technology. How much are they willing to pay?
Technical and engineering hurdles for the possibility of fuel cell
vehicles are to be confronted as auto manufacturers begin to work
together at the newly opened California Fuel Cell Partnership
Headquarters in Sacramento, California. The facility is considered a
base of operations for Partnership members - 18 in all - to test
vehicles, refueling, and expand public awareness of fuel cell vehicles.
Reporting for duty at the grand opening were 14 vehicles from seven
automobile and bus manufacturers. Ballard fuel cells are common in eight
cars from Ford, DaimlerChrysler, Nissan and Honda. Three Ballard powered
buses from DaimlerChrysler and Xcellsis Fuel Cell Engines are now in
attendance. Hyundai's Sante Fe Sport Utility Vehicle is there powered by
its fuel cell from International Fuel Cells and Enova Systems.
Volkswagen arrived with a fuel cell powered Bora, known as the Jetta in
the U.S.
Visit the California Fuel Cell Partnership at
http://www.fuelcellpartnership.org/, Ballard at http://www.ballard.com/,
International Fuel Cells at http://www.internationalfuelcells.com/ ,
Enova Systems at http://www.enovasystems.com/ .
QUESTIONS ANSWERED. In your opinion, what fuel will most likely be
used in the near term in fuel cell transportation applications? Will
hybrid vehicles be an interim step to fuel cell vehicles or a long term
technology?
These are two of the many questions answered in the new, free 80
page report - Future Wheels: Interviews with 42 Global Experts on the
Future of Fuel Cells for Transportation, Fuel Cell Infrastructure and a
Fuel Cell Primer. The report is offered by the Northeast Advanced
Vehicle Consortium (NAVC) and includes a status report on fuel cell
technology and infrastructure. Download the PDF file at
http://www.navc.org.
WIND POWER - ONLINE. American Electric Power (AEP) and TXU Electric
and Gas have announced a new 130 megawatt windpower project in West
Texas, and you can watch it happen - start to finish - on the Internet.
The Trent Mesa Project will get underway in November with the
installation of 87 turbines and will be supplying power by August 2001.
AEP will develop, own, operate and maintain the Project. The company
expects more than 515 million kilowatt hours of electricity to be
generated at the site each year, enough power for 30,000 homes. The
Trent Mesa site could theoretically support 200-250 turbines. TXU has
signed an agreement with AEP to purchase power from Trent Mesa for at
least 10 years. The special website for Trent Mesa is at
http://www.trentmesa.com.
WASTE BIO-POWER. Until now the U.S. Forestry Service working in the
Lake Tahoe Basin has been collecting and burning downed wood as a way to
prevent forest fires.
Now Go-Green.com will put that waste wood to work as biofuel to
generate electricity to sell to California customers under the Tahoe
Green Power product name. Go-Green's Tahoe Green Power Program is
responsible for transporting the fallen wood to a clean-burn power
plant. The Program is meant to eliminate the open air burning of the
wood which has been adding to air and water pollution in the Basin.
The U.S. Government will be establishing a new research lab at the
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to find new ways to turn
agricultural waste, fallen timber, even paper into fuel and electricity.
Scientists at the National Bioenergy Center will study the conversion of
waste such as corn stalks and rice straw into ethanol, or farm waste
into a burnable gas for power generation.
Visit Go-Green at http://www.Go-Green.com/ , the NREL at
http://www.nrel.gov/ .
ADDING MARKET APPEAL TO SOLAR. Simplify solar installations and the
clean power source becomes ever more attractive in the marketplace
AstroPower's SunUPS(tm) and SunLine(tm) solar systems have been
approved by the Florida Photovoltaic Buildings Program of the Florida
Solar Energy Center (FSEC). Approval means that utilities and other
Program partners can receive rebate funds from the State of Florida for
installations of the packaged solar systems.
Approval was no small feat. Both systems had to be designed to
endure the corrosive salt air environment of Florida as well as tropical
storm force winds. Making the system easier to install, the SunUPS
system includes all mounting hardware, wiring, electronics and
batteries. SunLine is the same system without batteries. Both are
available up to 5 kilowatts.
Siemens Solar is offering a new series of solar modules aimed at
making installation less expensive. Its SP130 (130 watt), SP140 (140
watt) and SP150 (140 watt) monocrystalline modules are light enough for
one person to carry and install. Larger competing products often need a
crane to hoist to a roof top. The new line is designed for grid
connected and large industrial applications.
Visit AstroPower at http://www.astropower.com/, Siemens Solar at
http://www.siemenssolar.com/ .
NEW! NEW! NEW! at the Green Energy News website...
-- Leading Fuel Cell Innovator Metallic Power Raises $18 Million In
Latest Round Of Venture Funding - New Investment to Finance Continuing
Product and Market Development
Visit Green Energy News on the Web at http://www.nrglink.com/ . For
free ENERGIES subscription contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] Copyright
Green Energy News Inc. 11/4/00 vol.5 no.31
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