Trucking is among the most important, yet polluting parts of our environment. Everything everywhere was delivered by a truck, unless you live on a farm. A necessary evil, if you will. Getting truckers on board with the green movement will play an integral part in the widespread acceptance of alternative fuel vehicles. To do that, you’ve got to hit them in the wallet.
Towards that end, last week Vision Industries, with the help of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, unveiled a short haul, hydrogen-powered truck dubbed the Tyrano.
By Andrew Williams •
October 19, 2009
In an unexpected U-turn, the U.S. Senate has agreed to continue to back research for the next generation of hydrogen cars - funding that the Obama administration had earlier proposed to cut.
The move came last Thursday as Senate members voted to commit $187 million to hydrogen research, almost as much as was promised before the indecision.
By Zachary Shahan •
October 15, 2009
UK company AFC Energy claims to have developed fuel cell technology that can “generate and export electricity to a grid as efficiently as traditional electrodes.”
AFC tested its alkaline-based technology in Germany recently and found that its efficiency matched that of traditional platinum-based electrodes that cost more. This high efficiency moves the company one step closer to full-scale production of its fuel cell technology.
By Andrew Williams •
September 14, 2009
Germany has launched an exciting new plan to establish a national hydrogen fuel network, which could be fully operational as early as 2015.
On behalf of the German government, the transport minister Wolfgang Tiefensee has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with eight industrial partners to set up the H2 mobility scheme. High profile participants include Daimler, EnBW, Linde, OMV, Shell, Total, Vattenfall and the NOW GmbH National Organisation Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology.
Speaking about the groundbreaking plan, the first of its kind anywhere in the world, Tiefensee said, “Our aim is to continue consistent and systematic promotion of electromobility based on batteries and fuel cells. Today we can see that Germany is setting the pace when it comes to hydrogen and fuel cell technology. We are aiming at establishing the nationwide supply with hydrogen in Germany at around 2015 in order to support the serial-production of fuel cell vehicles.”
By Jerry James Stone •
September 1, 2009
Researchers from the University of Massachusetts Amherst evolved a new strain of the Geobacter microbe that increases power output per cell by 800%.
The hairy mud-loving microbe uses its hairlike filaments–called pili–to produce an electric current from both mud and waste water. The pili are only 5 nanometers in diameter (20,000 times smaller than a human hair); they’re also a thousand times longer than they are wide. But they are strong!
By Zachary Shahan •
August 27, 2009
The economy is down, but here is another sign that green technology may be the way out of our economic dilemma. US clean energy patents hit a record high last quarter.
By Derek Markham •
August 26, 2009
Wegmans Food Markets is the recipient of a $1 million grant from the Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority (PEDA) to install material handling equipment powered by hydrogen fuel cells at its Retail Service Center in Pottsville, Pa.
By Andrew Williams •
August 18, 2009
General Motors has revealed that it is still on-track to bring a hydrogen fuel-cell car to market, within the next three years.
Industry insiders had speculated that the imminent retirement of existing boss Larry Burns would lead to the fuel-cell program being mothballed, but according to new R&D chief Alan Taub, GM will continue with its development of the technology.
“Technology leadership is one of the pillars of the company,” said Taub. “That is going to remain, and it will probably be emphasised as part of the brand of GM.”
By Tina Casey •
July 28, 2009
The world is awash in a glut of crude glycerin, a major byproduct of biodiesel manufacture. The big question is what to do with it all. In the U.S. alone, about 340,000 tons of unrefined glycerin came into the market in 2007. Over half of that came from biodiesel, and those numbers are bound to go up as the market for this alternative fuel grows. Glycerin is used to manufacture soaps, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and many other products, but crude glycerin is an impure form that is unsuitable for many of these purposes. Right now most crude glycerin is simply incinerated, a practice which undermines biodiesel’s potential as a truly sustainable fuel. But all that is about to change.
A New Mexico-based company has announced plans to build what it is calling, the world’s first utility-scale, zero-emissions hydrogen power plant.
Although most-often discussed as a high-efficiency transportation fuel, hydrogen’s role in other sectors of the energy landscape is also making headway. On Wednesday, Jetstream Wind Inc. announced it has broken ground on a new $219 million plant in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico that would use electricity from wind, solar and “other renewable energy sources” to split water into hydrogen and oxygen using a process called electrolysis. The resulting hydrogen would then be burned to spin turbines, similar to those found in natural gas plants.
By Andrew Williams •
July 10, 2009
Earlier this week, the world’s first piloted aircraft powered solely by hydrogen fuel cells, took to the skies above Hamburg Airport, Germany, producing zero carbon dioxide emissions.
The Antares DLR-H2, jointly developed by the German aerospace centre DLR, Lange Aviation, BASF Fuel Cells and Denmark’s Serenergy, has a range of 750km (390nm) and can stay airborne for 5 hours at top flying speeds of about 90kt (170km/h).
According to DLR, a main hurdle was improving fuel cell performance capabilities and efficiency to such an extent that the motor glider could take off using fuel cell power alone. DLR’s Johann-Dietrich told reporters, “This enables us to demonstrate the true potential of this technology.” (see more pictures after the jump).
