Hydrogen News

Award

The German Hydrogen Association has established the DWV Innovation Award for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells to encourage young scientists in the field. It will be presented to the author of the best university/college graduation or Ph.D. thesis of 2003 that addresses issues in hydrogen or fuel cell technology, or issues in its applications or effects. Work in the humanities or social sciences is eligible as well, such as acceptance studies or studies investigating the societal effects of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies. The award and a prize of 1000 EUR will be presented for the first time at the annual DWV meeting in 2004 and annually afterwards.

The competition is open to anybody who has submitted such a thesis in either German or English at a German university or with the support of a German company, research institute, or public agency. The thesis must have been accepted and rated “Very Good”, “Magna Cum Laude”, or better.

(See our press release No. 6/03 of 21. July 2003)

General Motors

On 2. July General Motors showed in Berlin the „Future of the automobile — fuel cell card from Opel and GM“. The aim was to show that hydrogen and fuel cell cars are not a vision but state of the art and that they could soon circulate on our roads. „GM and Opel have invested more than 1 billion $ to make sure that from 2010 on we will have fuel cell cars which are ready for large serial production“, said Opel board member Klaudia Martini during the event.

The next step towards the zero emission fuel cell car running on hydrogen are practical tests on public roads with the concept car HydroGen3. They will start in Washington D.C. (USA) and Tokyo (Japan) this year. Early 2004 the demonstration project Clean Energy Partnership (CEP) will start in Berlin, with Opel participating. „In Germany and Europe we need now reliable political and legal boundary conditions as well as a stronger support fro the fuel cell technology and the future hydrogen infrastructure“, Klaudia Martini demanded. The next day Hesse's prime minister Koch drove the HydroGen 3 on occasion of the party of the representation of the state of Hesse in Berlin.

But the star of the event was the futuristic study HyWire, which could also be driven (see Nr. 4/02 „Study“). Drive, tanks, and the whole mechanics have disappeared into a 30 cm thick chassis. This allows not only the fitting of any upper part desired, but also the seats can be arranged in a flexibility hitherto unknown. And the pillar between front and back doors is gone. While the car does have a motor it has no motor compartment, because everything is in the floor. The driver is sitting in front of a device similar to a plane stick. Commands are not transmitted by mechanical gears and steel ropes but electronically („drive by wire“). The command pillar can easily be shifted to the right side, and the car can drive in England or Japan.

GM vice president Burns is very optimistic about the development. During an event in the USA he said that it works better than expected. Others would now see this too. The big nut to crack is still hydrogen storage. This requires a coordinated research effort. (Toronto Star, 29. June 2003)

Hong Kong

At the end of this year a hydrogen bus will run in Hong Kong for test purposes. This is a project of Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings Ltd, belonging to Asia's richest businessman Li Ka-shing. The test will run one year, cost about 1.9 M$ and will serve to make Hong Kong the base of a broader hydrogen application. „Hydrogen is the second industrial revolution“, said the company head. The vehicle is a Ford with 41 seats and the fuel storage on the roof.

(Reuters, 11. July 2003)

Wales

A project was started on 11. July at the University of Glamorgan to place Wales in a position to create wealth and employment by taking full advantage of the opportunities presented by the ongoing transition to the hydrogen economy. First Minister Rhodri Morgan said that Wales will become a showcase for the generation of clean energy. The two year project will research the social, economic and technical implications of such a move and deliver a framework through which this can be achieved. Of particular interest is to identify the opportunities for growth in the rural economy through agricultural diversification into hydrogen production.

(Press release of the University of Glamorgan, 11. July 2003; see www.h2wales.org.uk)

Fuel Cells

Ground Breaking

Ground breaking for the building of the „Fuel Cell Education Center Ulm e.V. (WBzU)“ was done on 24. July in Ulm. The building time will be one year. The state of Baden-Wuerttemberg and the federal government support the project. The duration will be 5 years, and the budged is 4.8 million EUR including the building. The new facilities will make it possible to hold seminars, schools, and meetings for up to 140 participants. Additionally there will be laboratories for practical application of theory and a library with media from the fields of energy technology, fuel cells, and hydrogen which will be available also for the public.

Frost resistant

UTC Fuel Cells (UTCFC) and the Japanese Hyundai Motor Co. have agreed on developing jointly a new fuel cell for use in all weather conditions. The fuel cell will work in particular under low temperature conditions. The agreement provides that UTCFC and Hyundai will develop a frost suitable fuel cell together and integrate it in a Hyundai car. By 2004 Hyundai plans to lease the fuel cell to fleet operators.

(Press release of 26. June 2003)

Test Center

European Fuel Cell GmbH inaugurated a development center for fuel cell heating appliances in Hamburg on 14. July. The Federal ministry for economy and labor was represented by state secretary Adamowitsch because it supports the project financially. Also present was Hamburg's environment senator Peter Rehaag. His office supports the activities non-financially, according to a spokesman.

MTU and RWE

RWE, one of Germany's biggest energy companies, joins the fuel cell activities of the Daimler daughter MTU Friedrichshafen. RWE Fuel Cells, belonging to the RWE group, buys a share of 25.1 % of MTU CFC Solutions GmbH, a formerly 100 % daughter of MTU Friedrichshafen. The sum was said to be between 10 and 100 million EUR. MTU develops molten carbonate fuel cells on the basis of the „Hot Module“ principle and has now nine of them in the test phase worldwide, with five others soon to follow (see below). Both companies expect that the share of distributed small power stations on the power generation will rise during the years to come. MTU's part in the cooperation is technology, RWE's the market access.

Meanwhile another „Hot Module“ was started on 8. July in the county hospital of Gruenstadt (Rhineland-Palatinate). Power is provided for the internal grid, even if the public grid fails, and kitchen and air condition are supplied with heat and cold. 14 such plants are now installed, with nine running in test mode. They achieve total efficiencies of more than 90 %, of which almost 50 % are electrical; modern gas motors of the same size achieve 41 %, minus the losses for the conversion from mechanical to electrical energy. The fuel cells are so clean that what they generate is no „waste gas“ according to the rules, but only „waste air“. All this is associated with 30 % less CO2 generation than in normal power stations. The initiation of a serial production is planned for 2006.

(Press release of 9. July 2003)

Energy and Climate

Coal subsidies

Maintaining coal subsidies is economically and ecologically dangerous. According to a press release of the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) subsidies of about 82.000 EUR were necessary in 2001 for every job in coal mining. Shifting them to things like solar thermal power, biomass, or energetic face-lifting of buildings would create additional jobs and decrease the CO2 emissions which are dangerous for climate. „There is no justification for coal subsidies. Decreasing them would take a load from the environment and help the employment, in particular if the money would be used for lowering taxes and ecological restructuring of the economy,“ said UBA president Andreas Troge.

(UBA press release 14/03 of 3. July 2003)

Emissions

CO2 emissions associated with energy have increased in 2002 by 3 % in comparison with the year before. This is the result of a paper published by Ludwig-Boelkow-Systemtechnik (LBST) and Germanwatch. Most western industrial countries have made little or no progress in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions since 1990. „Official forecasts for the highly industrialized countries result in a rise of 17 % for 2010 in comparison with 2000,“ commented Dr. Manfred Treber (Germanwatch).

The carbon intensity (CO2 release per unit consumed energy) has also increased during the last two years — probably due to increased use of coal because of the high oil price. This holds also for the greatest greenhouse gas producer of the world, the USA. „It is a shame that the country with the highest per capita emission of greenhouse gases anyway the coal consumption rises as well,“ says Treber. China, in contrast, even reduced its consumption of coal, its most important fuel, during the last years.

(Joint press release of 14. July; see the whole paper under www.germanwatch.org/rio/apbpst03.htm)

Blackout

A great part of the northeast of the USA and of southeast Canada suffered a power grid failure on 14. August. The area affected extended from New York to Detroit and more and included also Toronto and Ottawa in Canada. For most customers the supply was not reestablished before the morning of the 16.

The event shows a structural weakness of the large grids powered by a few large central power stations. Former DoE head Richardson said that the USA are an important superpower with a grid like a country of the Third World, which is extremely vulnerable against attacks. Renewable energy specialists used the great blackout to point out the advantages of distributed generation which would be one feature of renewable energies. The electrolyzer company Stuart in Toronto used its small zero-emission hydrogen power station to keep computers, lifts, safety systems, and emergency lighting operating. (Stuart press release of 18. August 2003)

Politics

London

A committee of a London council has stopped, at least for the moment, the plans for a hydrogen filling station serving three buses of the CUTE project. The station was to be integrated into an existing BP station in Romford (East London). While the council officials had approved the planning the council itself rejected them on the basis of safety concerns. BP spokesmen said that their company has thousands of LPG filling stations, and hydrogen is not that different. The project itself, or its London part, appears not to be at risk. The participants think about an appeal or another site. But the development will certainly mean a delay.

(Fuel Cell Today, 18. July 2003)

Obituary

Ludwig Boelkow

Dr. Ludwig Boelkow, DWV co-founder, died on 25. July 2003 at home in Gruenwald near Munich, aged 91. Ludwig Boelkow was born in 1912 at Schwerin (Mecklenburg, Germany) and made a great career in German aerospace and transport technology. He was seen as the prototype of the inventor and engineer and received numerous awards.

Earlier than many others he saw that there are limits to growth and that alternatives to the traditional processes must be found, in particular in the field of energy. So after retiring from business he founded the Ludwig Boelkow Foundation and the L-B-Systemtechnik GmbH. The latter and he himself were among the founders of DWV in 1996. His motto was always: „Only with long-term thinking, in periods far beyond our own lifetime and certainly beyond our professional life, can we follow our responsibility for the generations to come after us.“

(See our press release No. 7/03 of 28. July 2003)

What else we have found ...

Eat your car

Ford recently presented an ecologically valuable car called „Model U“. It goes without saying that it is running on hydrogen (combustion engine with four cylinders). The foam padding of the seats was made on soy basis. The inner lining of the baggage compartment is made from soy as well. The foldable roof is made from corn and can be recycled organically, the motor lubricant was generated from rapeseed. No details were disclosed about the origin of the hydrogen. Unfortunately the new materials probably have not such a good taste as the raw materials.

Remark: Not bad at all, but the true eco-car should feed on worms, drink water and get at least one small car during its normal lifetime.