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.

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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.

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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.

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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.”

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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!

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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.

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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.”

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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.

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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).

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The Ion Tiger uses a hydrogen-powered fuel cell, which means it emits zero emissions, very little heat and noise (both military and environmental benefits). Using technology pioneered by the automotive industry, principal investigator Dr. Karen Swider-Lyons explains:

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Wilmington, Mass.-based fuel-cell company Lilliputian Systems, which announced it raised $28 million this week, wants to set the record straight.

In October, The Wall Street Journal wrote that the company would be shipping its matchbook-sized fuel cells late this year. But now, the company — which is developing the cells for a range of consumer electronics, including cell phones and laptops — isn’t saying when its products will be commercially available, only that it plans to announce the timing this summer. Does that mean we can expect a delay?

Mouli Ramani, vice president for business development, tells me that’s not the case. When he spoke with the Journal, he was referring to a test-market launch with its partners, not a commercial launch that would make the fuel cells available to the general public, he says. In other words, don’t expect to be able to buy Lilliputian fuel cells at Best Buy this year.

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Skyline Community College in Marin, California is offering a course in solar voltaic installations. Students earn certificates while working in the field encountering real problems. They master skills and concepts in both electrical and construction technology.

The Los Angeles Community College District has created a sustainable energy curriculum, which integrates construction and electrical technology with chemistry, engineering and physics. The goal is to remove their nine campuses from the grid.

The LACCs will teach students to install solar panels that will produce 1-megawatt at each of its campuses. This is sufficient power for the daytime load and enough to produce hydrogen gas by electrolyses for full cells to power the night load.

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A group of students from the University of Michigan have set a new world record for the longest flight ever by a fuel-cell powered plane.

Late last month the team, known as SolarBubbles, flew the $2,500 plane (video) around a field in Milan, Michigan for a total of 10 hours, 15 minutes and 4 seconds - smashing the previous 9 hour record held by a Californian engineering company.

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Indian company Bharat Petroleum has announced plans to bottle purified waste water from the manufacture of hydrogen fuel cells, and sell it at it’s fueling stations across the nation.

In a country plagued by poor water quality and shortages across many regions, the company is keen to exploit high demand for pure bottled water. According to some estimates, as many as 1,600 Indians die every day as a result of water-borne diseases.

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I have Pepperidge Farm to thank for my Goldfish addiction, and now I’d like to thank the company once again for making strides towards sustainability. Earlier today, Pepperidge Farm dedicated the largest fuel cell plant in the United States at its Bloomfield, CT bakery. The 1.2 MW plant will supply 57 percent of the 260,000 square foot facility’s power.

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Hydrogen power is usually associated with vehicles, but a house in the UK is showing that there are a multitude of uses for fuel cells. The grid-connected West Midlands home is powered by hydrogen as part of a £2 million University of Birmingham and Black County Housing Group (BCHG) project.

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Even the most environmentally-conscious among us use batteries containing toxic heavy metals on a daily basis. But a discovery made by chemists at Oxford University could one day lead to cleaner batteries for everyone. The researchers recently discovered that an enzyme produced by fungi growing on rotten wood can be used as a cheap and efficient catalyst in fuel cells.

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