Europe's only public hydrogen filling station for the time being was dedicated on 12. January by Hamburg's mayor Ortwin Runde in the Hanse city. The six vehicles to be supplied there are property of important companies from Hamburg. Coordination is done by Hamburg Hydrogen Agency Ltd., a subsidiary of Hamburg Hydrogen Society. The message from participants was that the Senate emphatically promoted the project, for example by its influence on companies belonging to the city. Public funding, however, was not used for it. (See the report on HEW's website and our press release 1/99)

Until now the hydrogen comes from conventional sources. In the next phase it will be delivered from Iceland, where it is generated from emission-free hydropower by means of electrolysis.

Probably in April of this year a similar installation will be opened on Munich airport where liquid hydrogen will be available as well. Of course, compressed gas as in Hamburg will also be delivered.

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For Royal Dutch/Shell and Deutsche Shell AG the participation in the filling station project at Hamburg is just the first step towards the hydrogen future. Board member Vahrenholt called hydrogen the "most important energy carrier of the 21st century". It will replace oil and natural gas in the long term. It would be important for Shell to be present in the hydrogen technology already at an early stage.

The company expects that until 2050 up to 50 % of the energy will come from renewable sources as wind, sun, and water. Half of it will have to be converted to hydrogen to store and transport the energy.

Shell expects that hydrogen production from renewable energies will at first not be enough to keep pace with the development of the market. Therefore it would be necessary to use conventional means for hydrogen production transitionally to a greater extent. (See press release)

On 8. February Royal Dutch/Shell has named Donald Huberts as chairman of the new company Shell Hydrogen BV. It shall make use of the great options associated with fuel cell commercialization. Key projects will be announced during this year.

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The first "hydrogen economy" of the world will be created on the north atlantic island. A joint venture called "Icelandic Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Company Ltd." was founded on 17. February at Reykjavik. Half of the capital of 1 M$ is held by the Icelandic consortium Vistorka hf. (EcoEnergy Ltd.), the other at equal shares by DaimlerChrysler, Norsk Hydro, and Royal Dutch/ Shell. The new company will investigate various applications for hydrogen fuel cells and hydrogen carriers. A first substantial project might be the use of buses running on hydrogen in Reykjavik. Furthermore the great Icelandic fishing fleet is a candidate because it accounts for about 30 % of the Icelandic oil imports. In the long run the whole public and private transport will be transferred to hydrogen produced on the basis of renewable primary energies.

Iceland has an abundance of renewable energies, namely geothermal heat and hydropower. They cover 67 % of the primary energy demand and 95 % of the consumption of stationary installations, but could so far not be used for the transport and traffic sector. The move towards hydrogen is intended to change this, and additionally it will contribute to the protection of climate. (See Hydrogen Mirror 3/98 "Iceland")

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The already traditional joint presentation on hydrogen technology and fuel cells will be held for the fifth time this year. The probably most appealing exhibit will be a London taxi which the anglo-belgian company Zevco has fitted with a hydrogen tank, alkaline fuel cell, and electric motor. In Hanover it will be used as VIP shuttle.

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A hydride storage permitting a weight saving of 50 % is said to have been developed at the Japanese Kogakuin University (Tokyo). Storage with the fluoridated material would be much faster than in conventional hydrides (in only about 2 minutes) and at room temperature and under less than 10 bar pressure. The dimensions of the laboratory sample are 60x30x6 cm, it weighs 28 kg and takes 3,5 std m³ of hydrogen.

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With the beginning of the new year the French Air Liquide S.A. has taken over from the British BOC group the latter's gas business in Germany and the Benelux countries. The agreement has a value of 315 MDM. Among Air Liquide's property is now also the about 240 km long hydrogen pipeline network in NW Germany. (See press release)

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Saxony's deputy environment and agriculture minister Dr. Dieter Reinfried on 4. February awarded the winners in the contest for ideas "Innovative heat supply for Zwick's settlement in the ecological model city of Taucha". All prices were given to proposals with fuel cells as key elements. Reinfried during the award ceremony appealed to other cities to follow Taucha's example.

Among the 42 entries those of HEW Contract from Hamburg and of the engineering company Jochen Döhler from Leipzig jointly scored first. Both intend to build a district heating station with a phosphoric acid fuel cell to provide the basic load of heat and electricity. A special award was given to Planungsgruppe M+M which has proposed a decentral supply of 6 flats each by means of the novel solid oxide cells by the Swiss company Sulzer Hexis. (See our press release 2/99)

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The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) at Freiburg has developed a low voltage transformer which can convert DC voltages from 0.7 V and above to output voltages between 12 and 350 V at efficiencies of 85 % and more. ISE says that the device could be particularly interesting for fuel cell systems because fuel cell can deliver high currencies, but only voltages until about 0.7 V due to physical reasons. (See press release)

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BMW will now fit its hydrogen cars with fuel cells — but not for propulsion. The cells shall supply energy for the car electronics and other devices, according to a release of 26. February from Munich. The fuel comes from the liquid hydrogen tank. "In the long term we want to use the fuel cell battery in vehicles with a conventional combustion engine", said BMW engineer Joachim Tachtler. The battery will among other things permit operate great power consumers as air condition environmentally appropriate when the vehicle is not running. "It will no longer be necessary to keep the motor running." The aim is to let the battery live as long as the vehicle.

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DaimlerChrysler AG was able to reduce weight and volume of the methanol system for the Necar by 40 %. The whole system is so coming closer to the maturity necessary for serial production, according to a release in December. The presentation of Necar 5 will probably be in December 1999. It will be a model with a methanol tank and a reformer the components of which will have been made so much smaller that two persons will be able to sit on the back seats.

US president Clinton visited the DaimlerChrysler presentation at the Detroit Motor Show at the beginning of January and showed himself interested in the current status of fuel cell technology, as he did also with the other manufacturers. Chrysler showed a concept study with fuel cell engine called "Jeep Commander" which might start test operation at the end of 1999.

Ford has fitted one of the fuel cells from the partnership with Ballard in a medium class car on the basis of a Ford Taurus and presented the result on 6. January 1999 also in Detroit. Studies show that hydrogen has safety advantages in comparison to conventional fuels, the company says. Additionally, it would be compatible with gasoline in terms of costs if it would be produced by small reformers or electrolysers for up to 100 vehicles. Such concepts would reduce the demand for capital for the start phase of hydrogen technology and also permit more flexible use of the vehicles.

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The American Methanol Institute has presented a market introduction study for fuel cell cars with methanol tank. At least 2 million vehicles are expected for 2010, more than 35 million for 2020. The diversity of the methods to produce methanol would ensure both the availability and the environmental compatibility of the fuel.

About 750 out of 2500 t of wood on board of the freighter "Pallas", which ran ashore off Amrum in October, have been brought to the "Secondary Raw Material Center" (SVZ) at Schwarze Pumpe (Brandenburg). The charred and sea-water soaked wood will be gasified and converted to electricity, heat, and methanol.

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Natural disasters have caused an economical damage of more than 90 G$ in 1998, according to the annual report of Munich Re. This is the highest sum after 1995 (earthquake at Kobe) and more than in the whole 80s. The number of incidents was 700, which is also unusually high. The report says about the reasons: "The conspicuous peak of extreme atmospherical events can be taken as an indication that the global warming leads to a considerable increase of the danger of natural disasters in many regions of the earth. The last years in Europe show: the warmer the winters, the stronger the gales." A further progress of anthropogenic climate change will by nature cause natural events more and more extreme, and subsequently rising disaster damages. 85 % of the damage and 90 % of the payments of the insurances in 1998 were associated to either storms or floods. (See press release)

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We might have to get used to avalanche winters as the one which is now coming to its end. The climate expert Christian Schoenwiese from Frankfurt said that the greenhouse effect causes a trend to more precipitation and higher temperatures in winter. Snow fall could be "extreme" in some years. Higher temperatures would cause thawing processes in higher layers; the snow masses would start gliding and set avalanches in motion even when the slope is not very steep. (See no. 5/98 "The Alps in the Greenhouse")

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Andreas Troge, president of the Federal Environment Agency, has called the greenhouse effect the most urgent environmental problem. The heating of the atmosphere could make the gulf stream stop within the next 30 or 50 years. Our winters would then be as cold as those in the parts of USA and Canada on the same latitude. This might happen abruptly.

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The tax incentives for natural gas as fuel will remain until the end of 2009. The plan had been to abolish them at the end of next year. Christoph Huss, commissioned by the board of BMW AG, which is offering natural gas vehicles for years, called the natural gas vehicle an important step on the way to the future hydrogen car.

Hessen's first liquefied natural gas filling station has been commissioned on 13. January by Frankfurter Entsorgungs- und Service GmbH, which is also responsible for the city waste disposal. 14 out of 400 vehicles will now be converted to this fuel. 27 are already running on compressed natural gas. The natural gas filling station was designed and built by Messer Griesheim which is also doing the supply.

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The Social Democratic environment expert Michael Mueller sees Germany as the possible pioneer for a modern energy supply based on hydrogen on the one hand and on the other producing electricity efficiently, compatible with the environment and to a growing extent regeneratively. The energy input for the chain as a whole, however, would have to be reduced drastically.

Federal Minister for Economy Werner Mueller said during an SPD event at Detmold, the fuel cell could become "of prime interest". The vision he developed: "Imaging that every household had a fuel cell as great as a refrigerator in the basement which produces electricity and heat."

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President Clinton called global heating "our most fateful new challenge" in his message on the state of the Union on 19. January. The heat waves, floods, and storms of last year would be a more indication of what future generations would have to endure if nothing would happen now. The federal government will reserve 4.05 G$ for countermeasures for the fiscal year 2000 (starts 1. October 1999), about 1 G$ more than for the last fiscal year.

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Two gas cylinders of about 6 m length complete with equipment and accessories have been found in the industrial estate of Hoechst near Frankfurt during demolition works. They were from the 30s, when Farbwerke Hoechst supplied hydrogen to the dirigibles on the Rhein-Main airport. Between 1935 and 1937 this was done by means of cylinder as the ones now found which were carried by lorry or train. Then a direct pipeline was made by means of which up to 180.000 std m³ per month were delivered. After the Lakehurst accident commercial airship operation in Germany came to its end. There was no further use for the two cylinders, and they fell into complete oblivion until recently. They will be displayed in the Zeppelin Museum at Zeppelinheim near the airport.

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