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Hydrogen fuel-cell cars have received a great deal of attention over the years as a clean alternative to petroleum-based transportation, producing only water for exhaust. Certainly the technology is known. Demonstration vehicles have been produced by several manufacturers and Honda is starting to roll out a fleet of 200 FCX Clarity fuel-cell cars, available for lease to select customers for US $600 per month.

These autos are costing Honda hundreds of thousands of dollars each though, according to Honda's president Takeo Fukui (Wall Street Journal, June 16 2008), and it will take another decade before their cost falls below US $100,000. Although fuel-cell cars remain a long way from providing commercially viable transportation for the vast majority of people, cars are not the only application for fuel cells.

Fuel cells are reaching commercial viability sooner in other applications such as portable electronics, including laptops, cell phones, MP3 players and games, aiming to supplement the ability of batteries to power these mobile devices for extended periods of time. There are a number of reasons why fuel cells may prove more competitive in portable electronics than in cars, including the favorable cost, lifetime requirement and easier distribution in this market.

One of the companies developing fuel-cell technology for portable electronics is Polyfuel, using its proprietary hydrocarbon membrane technology for direct methanol fuel cells. The cost of power for portable electronics, according to Polyfuel president and CEO Jim Balcom, is up to US $10,000 per watt, compared with US $20-50 for autos, making portable electronics a much more attractive market than cars initially.

Tags: fuel cell, fuel cartridges, components, electronics on 2008-07-30 -All Annotations (0) -About

more fromwww.renewableenergyworld.com

A new approach to storing electrical energy can store more energy than gasoline in the same volume, and could help extend the range of electric vehicles. But some experts say other approaches are more practical.

The biggest technological hurdle facing electric vehicles is their range. Even the best rechargeable batteries cannot match the density of energy stored in a fuel tank.

Combining electric power with a combustion engine to make a hybrid electric vehicle sidesteps that problem. But a new take on electrical power storage that is part battery, part chemical fuel cell could ditch gasoline for good.The new design stores energy more densely than petrol, and was conceived by Stuart Licht of the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and colleagues.

Batteries produce electricity from a closed chemical system that is eventually exhausted. Fuel cells use a constant supply of fuel, so they are continually topped up. Licht's cell has features of each.

Its negative electrode, or anode, is made from vanadium boride, which serves double-duty as a fuel too. But unlike the flowing fuel of a fuel cell, the material is held internally, like the anode material of a battery.

The vanadium boride reacts with a constant stream of oxygen, as in a fuel cell, provided by the positive electrode, or cathode. This brings in a supply of air from outside.

Tags: hybrid electric vehicle, rechargable battery, vanadium, components on 2008-07-25 -All Annotations (0) -About

more fromtechnology.newscientist.com

Dwarfed by any of the north African nations, it represents an area slightly smaller than Wales but scientists claimed yesterday it could one day generate enough solar energy to supply all of Europe with clean electricity.\n\nSpeaking at the Euroscience Open Forum in Barcelona, Arnulf Jaeger-Walden of the European commission’s Institute for Energy, said it would require the capture of just 0.3%\n\nThe scientists are calling for the creation of a series of huge solar farms - producing electricity either through photovoltaic cells, or by concentrating the sun’s heat to boil water and drive turbines - as part of a plan to share Europe’s renewable energy resources across the continent.\n\nA new supergrid, transmitting electricity along high voltage direct current cables would allow countries such as the UK and Denmark ultimately to export wind energy at times of surplus supply, as well as import from other green sources such as geothermal power in Iceland.\n\nEnergy losses on DC lines are far lower than on the traditional AC ones, which make transmission of energy over long distances uneconomic.\n\nThe grid proposal, which has won political support from both Nicholas Sarkozy and Gordon Brown, answers the perennial criticism that renewable power will never be economic because the weather is not sufficiently predictable. Its supporters argue that even if the wind is not blowing hard enough in the North Sea, it will be blowing somewhere else in Europe, or the sun will be shining on a solar farm somewhere.\n\n

Tags: solar PV, renewable energy, world's largest, clean electricity, grid, components on 2008-07-25 -All Annotations (0) -About

more fromwww.commondreams.org

Philippine National Oil Company - Alternative Fuels Corportation (PNOC-AFC) and Department of Science and Technology (DOST) recently acquired a set of equipment for a jatropha processing test facility that should be set up in the country by the end of the year.

The equipment include a small-scale jatropha expeller that can process around 120 kilograms of jatropha seeds per hour.

The research project also involves the setting up of a biofuel testing and analytical facility at DOST for laboratory analysis of major parameters needed for the evaluation of biofuels production in the country, PNOC-AFC said in a statement.

PNOC-AFC and DOST signed a memorandum of understanding last March on the joint research and development project. The state-owned alternative fuel company was tasked by the Philippines president to spearhead a nation-wide biofuel initiative last January.

Tags: processing plant, test facility, jatropha, biofuel, components on 2008-07-23 -All Annotations (0) -About

more fromwww.energycurrent.com

As the company continues to expand in both established and emerging electronics manufacturing regions, the electronics group of Henkel announced a new partnership to extend its presence in South Africa, signing on PEM Technologies to represent its line of Loctite brand electronics adhesives in the growing South African region.

Though it is not often considered a major electronics manufacturing locale, South Africa is, in fact, one of the fastest growing regions for certain sectors within the electronics production market. Automotive, military/aerospace and contract manufacturing are all seeing significant growth rates and Henkel anticipates that this will only continue for the foreseeable future.

“Recently, we have seen major manufacturers in automotive and in military/aerospace either transfer production from Europe to South Africa or set up additional, dedicated South African production sites,” comments Richard Boyle, Regional Technical Service Manager for Henkel. “And, growth in the contract manufacturing sector--particularly for telecom, IT and entertainment products--is even more rapid and represents the largest area of expansion for Henkel,” Boyle continues. “Establishing a partnership with a strong regional distributor like PEM Technologies is critical to our strategy for growth in this promising region.”

PEM Technologies has been selling to the electronics production sector for over ten years and has a dominant presence in the South African manufacturing community. Steve Eglinton, Managing Director of PEM, is confident the company’s relationship with Henkel will only serve to further enable customers’ competitiveness. “Without question, Loctite is the leading brand of adhesives for electronics manufacturing and we are very enthusiastic about
representing Henkel materials throughout South Africa,” says Eglinton. “Henkel’s philosophy of supporting the customer through top-notch applications expertise, technical service and materials-based productivity enhancing tools is completely in line with PE

Tags: electronics, copper, components, military, aerospace, South, Africa on 2008-07-22 -All Annotations (0) -About

more fromwww.emasiamag.com

Steel prices are expected to reach £1000 a tonne by the end of the year, according to a survey carried out by the Federation of Environmental Trade Associations among a hundred member companies of the Association of Ductwork Contractors & Allied Services — a rise of 50% in just 12 months. The survey also found that while prices had risen by about 20% since December, they were expected to soar by over 30% in the following six months. There is also no sign of when the upward trend will peak.

Paul Roxburgh of ADCAS, says, ‘This is a problem that affects the whole industry, and one that requires a collective response.

‘We will be working with our colleagues in the contracting sector to make sure that there’s a realistic approach to increased costs — particularly in the context of long-term fixed-price contracts.’

ADCAS is also to boost its efforts to boost efficiency, such as encouraging the use of only standard sizes for spiral ductwork and components.

Tags: steel, components, HVAC, trade, associations, contracts on 2008-07-21 -All Annotations (0) -About

more fromwww.modbs.co.uk

Why is it US sports cars are always given the most macho of names. Ford Mustang, AC Cobra and Dodge Viper are just a small selection. One that’s new to Greenbang is the Ronn Scorpion.

The Texas based manufacturer has come up with a new way to improve the efficiency of a petrol engine using hydrogen. Whilst adding hydrogen to fuel isn’t new, generating it from water whilst you’re driving is. According to the online publication Inventor Sport:

The Ronn Motor Company has developed a ‘hydrogen on demand system’. Electricity from the vehicles alternator is sent to a tank of water. The energy fractures the molecules and causes Hydrogen to be released. It is then sent straight into the cylinder where it is combusted.

“This means that as we’re driving down the road, we’re producing hydrogen in real time, and blending it with gasoline at a ratio of 30 to 40 percent,” says Ronn Maxwell, CEO of Ronn Motor Company. “We are still using gasoline, but we’re gonna be using 40 percent less,” Maxwell said. “The hydrogen cleans up the emissions. It actually consumes carbon. It’s not the perfect car, not electric, but it is something that’ll work right now.”

The technology is impressive and the Scorpion’s makers are claiming a 30 to 50 per cent improved efficiency over the stock 3.5 litre, 280hp Acura VTech engine. At $150,000 (£75,000) it’s $41,000 more than the fully electric Tesla sports car. Maxwell plans to produce 200 units this year and within 5 years increasing to 500 units.

Greenbang is really excited, however, about how this technology could be used by a manufacturer such as Porsche, which can often get much better performance than the American muscle cars using smaller, beautifully engineered engines

Tags: Automotive, hydrogen, components, copper, fuel on 2008-07-15 -All Annotations (0) -About

more fromwww.greenbang.com

In that magical year for electric cars – 2010 – Tesla plans to have a 5-passenger electric Sedan out and on the road. The Model S is to have a 225 mile range on a single charge, not too shabby! But as is the case with Tesla vehicles, buyers had better have padded wallets as the price is expected to be around $60,000, and likely higher as the release date approaches.

The announcement came on Monday at a press conference attended by California’s governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has a $100,000 Tesla Roadster on order – a not surprising considering his infatuation with powerful cars. We’ll leave the analysis open on that…

The Model S is to be built in California, thanks to some incentives given by the state, including tax exemptions on manufacturing equipment and qualification for grants and special employee training programs. It’s pretty impressive to have California vying for your business, so we have high hopes that the new Tesla will meet expectations, despite the fact that there are few expectations on the car as of yet – the design and specs are still under wraps. We’ll keep updating as more info makes its way to the surface.

Tags: Automotive, electric, car, 2010, components on 2008-07-15 -All Annotations (0) -About

more fromwww.ecogeek.org

It looks like Volkswagen is having quite a month, first entering into a plug-in hybrid partnership with the German government and now announcing plans to produce a diesel hybrid concept good for 235 MPG!

The vehicle will be a limited-edition passenger car, expected to arrive in 2010. The electric motor is likely to be married to on-liter clean-burning diesel. VW claims that together the two propulsion systems will achieve fuel economy of one liter per 100 km (or 235 MPG).

According to Technoride, the new diesel-hybrid is the 2.0 version of the 2002 640-pound concept, which "seated just two people in tandem (one behind the other), and included a jetfighter-style canopy door and rear view cameras in place of less-aerodynamic side mirrors."

Tags: Automotive, fuel, efficiency, components on 2008-07-15 -All Annotations (0) -About

more fromwww.goodcleantech.com