http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/fuelcell/ en-us Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:16:52 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2469124/posts Carbon nanotubes are wrapped in TNA © Nature Materials A fundamentally new type of power generation may be on the horizon thanks to researchers in the US and Korea who have created a nanotube 'fuse' that harnesses the energy from chemical reactions. The device converts chemical energy into electrical energy, yet is so small compared with traditional batteries that it opens the door to applications such as floating sensors or new fuel cells. Carbon nanotubes are known to have unusually high thermal conductivity because of a streamlined way in which packets of heat energy, known as phonons, can travel through... Chemistry World http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2469124/posts#comment Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:16:52 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2458486/posts Set to be unveiled today, the much anticipated Bloom Box—a residential "power plant" about the size of a mini-fridge—could provide cheap, environmentally friendly electricity to U.S. households within ten years, according to Bloom Energy, the company behind the fuel cell based invention. But what, besides its hype, makes the Bloom Box special? Could it really revolutionize how we power our homes? And do Bloom Energy patents point to a secret killer app? In an interview with CBS TV's 60 Minutes Sunday night, K.R. Sridhar, CEO of Bloom Energy, said that, for one thing, the Bloom Box fuel cell system is... National Geographic News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2458486/posts#comment Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:54:13 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2457464/posts As our Larry Dignan notes, last night’s 60 Minutes featured a piece launching the latest over-hyped energy breakthrough — the Bloom Box. While inventor K.R. Sridhar was still being coy with CBS, the device appears to be a fuel cell, composed mainly of a ceramic and custom inks (probably containing zirconium), that can produce electricity from any hydrocarbon feedstock at high efficiency. (The picture is by Thomas Hawk, from Flickr. The man on the left is legendary Silicon Valley venture capitalist John Doerr.) The official launch is not until Wednesday, but this has not slowed the speculation, or the skepticism.... smart planet http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2457464/posts#comment Tue, 23 Feb 2010 15:40:06 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2456760/posts Fuel cell box powered by secretive tech, many questions remainIt's a shiny box with a whole lot of mystery that's receiving a whole lot of attention this week.  The "Bloom Box" a roughly cubic structure has already been embraced by eBay, Google, Staples, FedEx, and Walmart, which extol its savings.  But is the new box the solution to all of mankind energy problems or a snake oil remedy for the world's fossil fuel habit? In an exclusive interview on the CBS television program 60 Minutes, company K.R. Sridhar, CEO of Bloom Energy, gave the public a tantalizing first peak at the secret alternative energy... Daily Tech http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2456760/posts#comment Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:17:57 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2456450/posts CBS) For the past year and a half, several large California corporations have been secretly testing the "Bloom Box," a potentially revolutionary fuel-cell system. Confirming this for the first time, several of the companies report this system is a more efficient, clean, and cost effective way to get electricity than off the power grid. Lesley Stahl and "60 Minutes" cameras get the first look inside the secretive California company, just days before the Bloom Energy official launch, scheduled for next Wednesday (Feb. 24). Stahl's report will be broadcast this Sunday, Feb. 21, at 7 p.m. ET/PT. John Donahoe, CEO of... KTVA http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2456450/posts#comment Mon, 22 Feb 2010 02:32:56 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2434638/posts Following the general trend observed in the low-temperature fuel cell research to replace Pt/C catalysts by less costly and more durable compounds, as already exemplified in Pragma’s September Science Note, promising new results point to titanium dioxide. Current polymer electrolyte fuel cells use platinum and platinum-based alloys supported on nanoporous carbon as electrodes. However, during the duty cycles of repeated start-ups and shut-downs, the fuel cell undergoes high potentials that lead to carbon and Pt degradation processes. In order to maximize catalyst utilization in the electrodes, Pt nanoparticles have been downsized to 2-3 nm. Thermodynamic size effects make them less... Pragma Industries http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2434638/posts#comment Fri, 22 Jan 2010 13:28:40 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2404285/posts In the boardroom at Bloom Energy, a single picture hangs on the wall: a satellite image of the world at night. Clusters of bright lights mark the industrial centers, and thin white lines trace connecting passageways such as the U.S. Interstate System and the Trans-Siberian Railroad. In between, huge swaths lie in shadow. Standing almost reverently before the image, K. R. Sridhar, the CEO of Bloom, points to the dark areas—places where electricity isn’t accessible or reliable. “This is my motivation for everything,” he says. To improve the lot of the more than 2 billion people living in those dark... The Atlantic http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2404285/posts#comment Thu, 10 Dec 2009 03:39:05 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2403589/posts CANTON — Two area companies — one already here and another being lured with incentives — received tax breaks from the state Department of Development on Monday. Job Creation Tax credits were approved for Medline Industries and Rolls-Royce Fuel Cell Systems by the state Tax Credit Authority. If it locates here, Medline would receive a 40 percent, 5-year tax credit for the creation of $873,600 in payroll. As part of the tax-credit agreement, Medline has to maintain operations in Canton for at least eight years. Rolls-Royce will receive a 60 percent, 10-year tax credit for creating $3.74 million in additional... Canton Repository http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2403589/posts#comment Wed, 9 Dec 2009 12:14:15 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2324464/posts Bacteria can be used to turn dirty salt water into electricity and drinkable water, according to new research from scientists at Penn State University and Tsinghua University. The research presents a new spin on microbial fuel cells, which have been used in the past to produce electricity or store it as hydrogen or methane gas. Discovery News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2324464/posts#comment Wed, 26 Aug 2009 01:20:44 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2258133/posts Companies, States Vie for $2.4 Billion in Funding Aimed at Turning U.S. Into Top Maker of Fuel Cells for Electric Cars The Obama administration has set off a gold rush to power new environmentally friendly cars. In one of the government's biggest efforts at shaping industrial policy, the Energy Department has been soliciting applications for $2.4 billion in funding aimed at turning the U.S. into a battery-manufacturing powerhouse. At the deadline last week, the department said it had received 165 applications. Companies vying for the federal money include General Motors Corp., Dow Chemical Co., Johnson Controls Inc. and A123 Systems,... The Wall Street Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2258133/posts#comment Tue, 26 May 2009 03:15:27 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2251409/posts Unlike blinged-out rap stars dripping with platinum chains, fuel cell designers try to scrimp on the precious metal. Researchers have now come up with a new way to make do with less platinum and get even better performance from fuel cells. The finding, which appears online May 14 in Science, may provide a much-needed price chop for clean, efficient fuel cell technology. Fuel cells generate energy through chemical reactions between hydrogen and oxygen, emitting only water as waste. But the high cost of the materials needed to make these reactions happen — in particular, platinum — has prevented fuel cell... Science News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2251409/posts#comment Fri, 15 May 2009 08:59:45 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2141383/posts Laptop, cell phone and iPod owners, tired of having their devices run out of charge after a few hours, have been patiently waiting for the next portable power source to arrive. Tiny fuel cells, powered by combustible liquids or gasses, have long been touted as the eventual solution. Potentially, they could power a laptop for days between refills. But fuel cells have perennially remained a year or two away from reaching the market as companies have worked on making them small, cheap and long-lasting while making sure they don’t overheat. The U.S. government removed a key roadblock this year when... AP via Houston Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2141383/posts#comment Tue, 2 Dec 2008 13:30:58 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2056745/posts In 2003 President Bush announced a $1.2 billion initiative to make fuel cells commercially viable over a 16-year period. Five years later, a new report issued by the National Research Council says that fuel cells are still at least 15 years away from being commercially feasible. The release says that despite “impressive progress toward commercialization,” some $200 billion is needed over the next decade and half — $55 billion from the government and $145 billion from the private sector. The report says that in the short term, fuel efficiency and biofuel research would be a more cost-effective way to reduce... earth2tech.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2056745/posts#comment Tue, 5 Aug 2008 12:53:24 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2056245/posts New studies with different fuel cell catalysts show promising results As the automotive industry is betting that hydrogen can become the fuel of the future, technology is taking steps to bring that hope closer to reality. Three papers being published by the journal Science promise to fill some of the most significant gaps in what could someday be an environmentally friendly cycle of hydrogen production and consumption. --snip-- Platinum is also commonly used on the consumption side, in the fuel cells that turn hydrogen back into water and produce electric currents. In Science‘s August 1 issue, researchers at Monash University... Science News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2056245/posts#comment Mon, 4 Aug 2008 15:37:07 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2055219/posts Washington, Aug 1 : Researchers at the MIT have found a new way to store solar power, a major breakthrough in the search to use the sun and serve the Earth's energy needs in a clean and sustainable way. Every hour, the sun pours down enough radiation to serve the Earth's energy needs for a year. The trouble is to store that energy cheaply and use it whenever needed. Daniel Nocera and Matthew Kanan of the Massachussets Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a process that will use the sun's energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen gases. Later,... NEWKERALA.COM http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2055219/posts#comment Sat, 2 Aug 2008 02:52:39 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2055040/posts Who wouldn’t like the idea of a fuel cell car running on clean, pure hydrogen, the universe’s most plentiful element? Its byproduct is sparkling, drinkable water, with none of that pesky pollution spewing out the tailpipe. And then if there's any energy left over when you're done driving, why, you could use that car's fuel cell to power your house! We can get rid of gasoline! And fuel cells, hey, they use those in spacecraft, don't they? This is some modern stuff, and at first glance, hydrogen appears to be a viable solution to all our energy problems. Well,... dvice.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2055040/posts#comment Fri, 1 Aug 2008 19:29:29 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2054837/posts It has long been the Holy Grail of environmental scientists, but researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are confident they have found an inexpensive way of producing hydrogen from water, paving the way for the widespread adoption of zero carbon fuel cells capable of powering buildings and cars. The technique is similar to the way photosynthesis works in plants and is based on a new catalyst that can split water at room temperature to create hydrogen and oxygen. The catalyst consists of cobalt metal, phosphate and an electrode that is placed into water. When electricity runs through the... www.businessgreen.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2054837/posts#comment Fri, 1 Aug 2008 13:34:26 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2046400/posts Nisshinbo Industries Inc. (TSE:3105) has worked with the Tokyo Institute of Technology to develop the technology to use carbon instead of expensive platinum as the electrode catalyst for fuel cells. The company hopes to have a practical version of the new catalyst ready in fiscal 2009, and will start by commercializing a product for the electrodes of residential fuel cells. Later, it will develop and commercialize a version for automotive fuel cells. Monday, July 14, 2008 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2046400/posts#comment Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:17:07 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2046072/posts Can Hydrogen Cars Reduce America's Oil Dependence? By Daveed Gartenstein-Ross July 8, 2008 In early June, Honda introduced its latest hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicle, the FCX Clarity, to great fanfare. The Clarity’s predecessor was the FCX, which became the first U.S. government-approved fuel cell vehicle in 2002. The Clarity offers a number of advances over the FCX, including a 30% increase in range. The vehicle’s reception is reflected in such publications as Consumer Affairs, which noted that the car seems attractive at a time of high oil prices and ecological awareness: “Here is a vehicle that doesn’t require oil to... Foundation for the Defense of Democracies http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2046072/posts#comment Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:26:14 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2043366/posts A British company is claiming the hydrogen age could be a little closer after it unveiled a major innovation. The new hydrogen refuelling cell in action It has created a home filling station which would solve one of the biggest problems surrounding hydrogen powered cars It claims to have dramatically cut the cost of creating hydrogen and has developed a device the size of a fridge freezer which can fit in your garage and create its own supply of hydrogen. At the moment there are only three hydrogen filling stations in Britain and the cost of fully equiping the country... Sky News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2043366/posts#comment Thu, 10 Jul 2008 12:14:09 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2037266/posts Some cost and durability figures for operating hydrogen fuel-cell powered buses have leaked out, and from them it appears the best thing that can be said is it’s a good thing it’s a demonstration program. To fulfill a California Air Resources Board requirement that operators of large bus fleets participate in a Zero-Emission Bus demonstration program, in 2005 the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority purchased three buses powered by early versions of fuel cells developed by Ballard Power Systems Inc. of Vancouver, Canada. Green Car Journal reports a memo directed to the Santa Clara VTA’s board of directors indicated operating... Edmuds Auto Observer http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2037266/posts#comment Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:47:18 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2034258/posts EAST AMWELL, N.J.—Mike Strizki has not paid an electric, oil or gas bill—nor has he spent a nickel to fill up his Mercury Sable—in nearly two years. Instead, the 51-year-old civil engineer makes all the fuel he needs using a system he built in the capacious garage of his home, which employs photovoltaic (PV) panels to turn sunlight into electricity that is harnessed in turn to extract hydrogen from tap water. Although the device cost $500,000 to construct, and it is unlikely it will ever pay off financially (even with today's skyrocketing oil and gas prices), the civil engineer says... Scientific American http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2034258/posts#comment Sat, 21 Jun 2008 10:28:11 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2030904/posts UTC Power, a United Technologies Corp. company, announced that the New York Power Authority (NYPA) selected the company to supply 12 fuel cells totaling 4.8 megawatts of power for the Freedom Tower and three other new towers under construction at the World Trade Center site in lower Manhattan. Delivery of the PureCell (R) Model 400 fuel cell systems will begin in January of 2009. The systems will together constitute one of the largest fuel cell installations in the world. The Freedom Tower will be owned by the Port Authority of New York, and Towers 2, 3 and 4 will be... http://www.examiner.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2030904/posts#comment Sat, 14 Jun 2008 02:05:10 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2030250/posts SOUTH WINDSOR, Conn. (AP) - A skyscraper planned for the site of the World Trade Center will use an alternative energy source to supply some of the power at the massive complex. UTC Power, a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp., will supply 12 fuel cells totaling 4.8 megawatts for the Freedom Tower and three other buildings at the lower Manhattan site. It's among the largest fuel cell installations in the world, according to UTC Power and the New York Power Authority. The amount of megawatts is equivalent to the power used by up to 4,800 homes, said Michael Saltzman, spokesman... ENR.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2030250/posts#comment Thu, 12 Jun 2008 23:41:17 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2017775/posts SHARP HAS unveiled a high density, 0.3Wcc direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC), which boasts the highest level of power density yet achieved. The diminutive cell volume, whose tiny frame measures 50 x 30 mm, has a longer lifespan than commonly used lithium ion batteries and is well matched for notebooks, mobile equipment and even electronic dictionaries. Sharp showed off the device at the 15th Fuel Cell Symposium in Tokyo. At 0.3Wcc the cell's power density is about seven times more than Sharp’s previous attempt. Fuel cells use energy produced by the chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen, and are claimed... theinquirer.net http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2017775/posts#comment Sun, 18 May 2008 21:03:31 GMT