By 2030 or 2040 Iceland will be the first hydrogen economy of the world. President Grímsson mentioned his country's potential of renewable energies (hydropower, geothermal) on 31. August in Hannover. A company called Icelandic New Energy makes plans for the transition from fossil (imported) fuels to hydrogen produced domestically and in a renewable way as fuel for cars and fishing boats. The power for this is available from hydropower. Industry minister Valgerdur Sverrisdottir told the HYFORUM 2000 in Munich (see below): „Providing hydrogen from renewable energy and using hydrogen as fuel is one objective of our energy policy."

(See „Iceland“ in No. 5/99)

More than 600 Experts from all over the world attended the „HYFORUM 2000“ held from 11. to 14. September in Munich and discussed the political and economical aspects of hydrogen technology. The ideas are much clearer today than only a few years ago. Here a few quotes from the speeches.

Germany's federal minister for economical affairs, Werner Mueller: „I am confident that the energy carrier hydrogen will prevail, initially as an additive to fossil energies. ... Due to the problems and long time periods associated with this it is important and necessary to start the introduction of hydrogen as energy carrier as early as today. ... A success of the fuel cell could lead to a revolutionary change of the structure of energy supply.“ Introducing a hydrogen infrastructure is not a fundamental problem in his eyes.

Otto Wiesheu, Bavarian minister for economy: In the past we were told that it would take 30 to 50 years for hydrogen to have success [see No. 1/00 „Nanostorage“ and 4/98 „Answer“]. These comments have been silenced. We see a very dynamical development. Bavaria will continue to promote hydrogen technologies.

Walter Heuer (DaimlerChrysler) and Christoph Huss (BMW), speaking for the Transport Energy Strategy: Transport Energy Strategy (TES) aims at selecting a fuel for additional introduction in traffic until the end of 2000 as well as to develop a concept and a strategy for the introduction of a new infrastructure.

Peter Knoedel, head of BP Germany: Hydrogen will mainly be the business of the oil and gas companies.

Joachim Milberg, head of BMW: The prime topic of the near future will be the introduction of a hydrogen infrastructure. No matter whether we work with combustion engines or fuel cells, in this matter we must act jointly.

Kazuo Tomita, Toyota: Hydrogen is the ultimate fuel for fuel cell cars. Toyota plans the production of a small series of fuel cell cars for 2003. ... A decision on a fuel [in Japan] might be made until ... November 2000.

DaimlerChrysler head Juergen Schrempp will present the Necar 5 on 7. November in Berlin. Federal Chancellor Schroeder will attend the presentation.

The fuel cell bus built by MAN which had been presented on the „Fuel cell day“ of the Bavarian minister for economy is running since 23. October in regular service for six months in Nuremberg and the nearby cities Erlangen and Fuerth. Aside from MAN Nutzfahrzeuge and the transport utilities of Nuremberg and Erlangen Siemens (fuel cell) and Linde (gas system, filling station) are involved; Ludwig-Boelkow-Systemtechnik was coordinator. The cost was 6.5 MEuro, of which the Bavarian ministry for economy is funding one half.

(VAG press release of 19. October 2000; see No. 3/00 „Bavaria“)

The Californian company Impco Technologies has developed a pressure vessel for hydrogen gas which permits a load factor of 11,3 % under 350 bar. This is said to be the highest value ever found.

(Press release of 12. September)

The experimental vehicle „HydroGen 1“ based on the Opel Zafira was the pace car for the marathon runs of both men and women during the Olympic Games in Sydney. Not surprisingly it reached the goal first both times. Afterwards it went to Beijing and was presented with great success to numerous journalists from various countries of Eastern Asia.

The California Fuel Cell Project will open its facilities in the state capital Sacramento on 1. November with a big event. General Motors and Toyota have joined the project.

(Press release of 16. October)

The city utility of Neubrandenburg, located in the North Eastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, plans the first ecological filling station of the region. At this time they are trying to set up a technical concept and to find a site and partners. The station will dispense electricity, hydrogen, natural gas, and fuel from rape seed oil, a combination so far unique in Germany. If everything runs according to the plan operation could start in 2001.

(Nordkurier, 21. October 2000)

Norway investigates the feasibility of building within three or four years a ferry running on hydrogen. The ferries which serve today the country's rugged coast are responsible a considerable part of the CO₂ and NO_x emissions. But the technology could also be exported.

The fuel cell in the basement is at hand, but the plumber down the street does not know about it. Four small or medium enterprises from the region of Aachen, one large enterprise (Vaillant), the regional utility, the city administration of Herzogenrath (near Aachen), the chamber of handicrafts and the College of Engineering of Aachen are going to change this by trying new methods of cooperation, qualification, and education. State minister of economy Schwanhold considers this as an „important contribution“ to the promotion of small and medium enterprises in North Rhine-Westphalia and on 8. September honored it with an award.

The DaimlerChrysler subsidiary MTU Friedrichshafen will develop a fuel cell for the propulsion of ships and trains. Company head Rolf A. Hanssen announced on 26. September that it is intended to take up the serial production as early as 2004. It will be a PEM cell, based on the experience of the carmakers in the group.

(MTU press release of 26. September 2000)

Ballard has delivered another stationary PEM plant at 250 kW to Elektra Birseck (Switzerland), a major Swiss utility. The plant will undergo a test program in the building of the company seat Basel.

(Ballard press release of 5. September 2000)

The Hanau based dmc² AG will extend the facilities for fuel cell related production from 750 to 6000 m². The USA activities will be extended. Company head Gumrich mentioned the decision in California to uphold the strict exhaust regulations as one reason for the decision.

(Press release of 18. October 2000)

FuelCell Energy, Inc., maker of molten carbonate fuel cells, has made an alliance with Enron North America, a subsidiary of the major US utility Enron Corp. Enron has acquired 5 M$ of FuelCell Energy and assets on 1,3 M$ more. A similar agreement was made between Enron and Dais-Analytic Corp. Dais works mainly on PEM cells for the low power regime (house energy plants) and is supplier of the stacks of the plants installed by Hamburg Gas Consult in Germany.

(FuelCell Energy press release of 2. October 2000; Dais press release of 18. October 2000)

The Award of the German Gas Industry was presented on 29. September in Berlin. Under the heading „Innovation award for future oriented natural gas applications“ a house energy supply system based on a PEM cell was honored; the ZSW Ulm and the Fraunhofer-Institute for Solar Energy Systems are involved. Another laureate is the world's first molten carbonate fuel cell under the responsibility of a customer, a project of MTU Friedrichshafen and the Bielefeld city utility (see No. 6/99 „Bielefeld“).

„Fuel Cells Canada“ has been founded in Vancouver to support companies working in this field in Canada. FCC will try to get financial and other support from state and business, design demonstration projects, disseminate information, and contribute in standardization in order to secure Canada's leading position in the field.

(Press release of 12. October 2000)

of „England“ in No. 4/00: The system uses not hydrogen and oxygen, but two liquid electrolytes which are kept in separate tanks.

The oil prices will rise further. In all production areas except the Middle East the production has passed the peak. Getting hold of the rest is becoming more and more difficult, and thus more expensive. There is no more room for an appreciable increase of the production rate. In about 15 years the same will be the case in the Gulf states. This are the conclusions drawn by Joerg Schindler and Werner Zittel (Ludwig-Bölkow-Systemtechnik GmbH) in a study made by them for the Research Committee of the German federal parliament which they presented on 20. October in Berlin.

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has unanimously voted for keeping upright the regulations for the introduction of ZEV (Zero Emission Vehicles). This means that by 2003 at least 10 % of new cars must be completely or almost free of emissions.

Ford's boss William Ford declared on 5. October in London: „Longer term, I believe fuel cells will finally end the 100-year reign of the internal combustion engine.“ By the end of 2001 a fleet will take up the test service. The idea that everybody must own an individual car will also vanish in the long run. The manufacturers could offer the cars to the drivers on demand for pay. „The day will come when the notion of car ownership becomes antiquated. If you live in a city, you don't need to own a car.“

The high fuel prices have raised the interest in alternatives. During the parliamentary debate on the German federal budget on 14. September environment minister Trittin said that ecological taxing makes the „Three liter car“ economical and brings the hydrogen car closer. Climate change is the greatest environmental problem facing mankind. Michael Mueller, deputy head of the SPD group, said that the high oil prices are not just temporary. „As a whole, we must move much quicker away from oil and towards the fuel cell“, Mueller said.

Germany's foreign minister Fischer addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations on 14. September and said that global poverty, peacekeeping, and the protection of the environment are the key challenges of mankind. Fischer said: „The third issue, protection of our natural environment, will probably become the crucial issue affecting our planet. ... We must end the squandering of natural resources and switch to renewable energy sources as quickly as possible. ... It must be in the interest of all states to bring about the transition from the oil to the hydrogen age as quickly as possible.“ [Bold print added]

US president Clinton wrote a letter to Daimler-Chrysler's boss Schrempp promising the support of the US government for fuel cell vehicles. The technology is said to offer not only „great potentials for the securing of the energy supply and for being a shield against the dramatic movements of the oil price“, but Clinton sees also the chance to link the business to the „challenges of environmental protection like air pollution and greenhouse effect“.

(Frankfurter Rundschau, 14. September 2000)

The US department of energy hat almost 100 M$ for the promotion of fuel cell projects available in the fiscal year 2001 (started on 1. October). There are 52.7 M$ for stationary applications (10 M$ more than requested by the government!), 41.5 M$ for mobile applications, and 5.5 M$ for fuel cells in buildings.

Germany's federal government uses about 50 MEuro from unexpected earnings due to the sale of advanced telephone licenses for a three-year program supporting mobile and stationary fuel cells. The ministry for economy plans funds for the purchase of fuel cell buses, for the creation of the infrastructure (hydrogen filling stations) in three model cities, and for the market introduction of small power stations as well as for the propulsion of railway trains. The members of the federal parliament would like to spend some more money for hydrogen, not only for fuel cells.

The minister for economy of the state of Lower Saxony thinks that the state of development for the fuel cell in Europe has the same level as in the USA and Japan. Answering a question of two green MPs about the ideas of the state government on the support for hydrogen and fuel cell technology he says further that Volkswagen [located in Lower Saxony] is a member of the California Fuel Cell Project, and the government is up to date because is has representants in the board. In 1998 a project of the utility EWE AG Oldenburg has been supported with a credit of 317 kEuro. And quite generally: „Since there are no [fuel cell] manufacturing companies in Lower Saxony, a specific Lower Saxon initiative for the development of fuel cells is not necessary.“

The state of Baden-Wuerttemberg plans a program of up to 5 MEuro distributed over several years for the promotion of fuel cell demonstration projects. Additional funds will be provided for research and development as well. Research minister Klaus von Trotha said: „A broad application [of the fuel cell] could in the long term cause an ecological turnaround.“

(ISBN 3-935161-04-2) Four volumes, also available separately. Contact: heliocentris Energiesysteme GmbH, Rudower Chaussee 5, 12489 Berlin, Germany; Tel.: (+49-30) 6392-6326, Fax -6329

The Canadian company Xogen Power Inc. has obtained a patent (US 6126794) for an electrolyser which, according to the company, produces hydrogen and oxygen from pure tap water without producing heat and under minimum energy input der (24 V battery is enough). Even the ortho-para-ratio will be controllable in an easy way. Not even bubbles at the electrodes are said to appear.