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Are fuel cells viable?
Fuel Cells


Anuvu Power-X 1.5 kW Fuel Cell
Fuel Cell Turbine Power Plant Passes Tests
JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER TEST DRIVES FUEL CELL CARS
NINE EUROPEAN CITIES TO GET FUEL CELL BUSES
EMERALD PUD DEMONSTRATION FUEL CELL POWERS UTILITY WAREHOUSE DURING OUTAGE
BPA MICROTURBINE DEMONSTRATION TAKES OFF IN WILLAMETTE VALLEY
HIGHWAY TO CELL!
JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER TEST DRIVES FUEL CELL CARS
Fuel Cell Celebrates One Year
Air Powered Car
CSV Biodiesel Technology
Hydrogen Fuel Cells by Krystal Planet
Gasification of Waste
Ethanol in the U.S.


Anuvu Power-X 1.5 kW Fuel Cell

    The Anuvu Power-X 1.5 kW fuel cell is on the market.  The fuel cell stack is among the smallest and lightest weight in the industry and has the robust features that Anuvu has long advocated. Anuvu fuel cell systems are in demand. Most customers desire complete systems (with valves, pumps, tanks, etc.) instead of just fuel cell stacks. Anuvu has developed a system that operates in a fully automated manner, controlling all of the various important parameters behind the scenes. This system is now installed into real world vehicles, and this system is continually being refined  to make it smaller, lighter and less expensive.  Currently it is for use in a variety of vehicles from cars to vans to boats.

    Anuvu appears to be emerging as the leader in fuel cell powered boats. Anuvu won the contract to provide a complete
fuel cell system for a government-funded fuel cell powered boat. That system has been built, tested and installed into the
specially constructed boat. The boat was then launched into the Pacific Ocean where it successfully completed a series of
preliminary tests. The boat is now back in the boat factory for cosmetic trim enhancements and will be back in the water for its official launch later this summer. It is an 18 person water taxi that will be docked on the coast of southern California. Through the experience and attention gained by doing this project, Anuvu has been working with a number of boat agencies on various boat projects in both primary propulsion and auxiliary power.

    Anuvu debuted a novel fuel cell powered car at a recent trade show. Anuvu developed a converted fuel cell powered car
called the Clean Urban Vehicle or CUV. This vehicle is optimized to perform the mission of a typical fleet vehicle sedan. The
Anuvu CUV accomplishes this by using a battery hybrid system that is much more battery intensive than previous fuel cell
vehicles made by automobile manufacturers. With these fuel cells and this approach they have developed a car that costs less than 10% of the cost of current fuel cell cars. As a result, it is now feasible to discuss demonstration fuel cell car fleets with the same budget currently needed for a single fuel cell car.  Anuvu is teaming with an electric vehicle manufacturer to produce and sell fuel cell powered cars and trucks.  This could create a near term market for Anuvu and provide a justification for other agencies to install hydrogen stations.

    For more information, contact Dean Petrich at (877) 713-7858 (toll-free) or email petrich@whidbey.com
 
 

 



Fuel Cell Turbine Power Plant Passes Tests
IRVINE, California, March 28, 2002 (ENS)
    The world's first fuel cell gas turbine hybrid power plant is now generating electricity on the campus of the University of California at Irvine.  Linked together in a mini power plant the size of a small house trailer, the world's first combination of a fuel cell and microturbine is being tested at the National Fuel Cell Research Center at the university.
    "This new technology has the potential to alter the landscape of tomorrow's power industry," said Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham. "It offers a preview of the day when more of our electricity will be generated by super clean, high efficiency power units sited near the consumer. Distributed generation could play a key role in strengthening the security and reliability of our power supply, and fuel cell turbine hybrids could help make distributed power a reality."
    Abraham joined Siemens Westinghouse Power Corporation and Southern California Edison in announcing that the advanced generator has passed a key site acceptance test, and the major endurance phase of its test program is underway. The hybrid generator is the latest innovation to emerge from the Energy Department's fossil energy fuel cell program. The system combines a Siemens Westinghouse solid oxide fuel cell with an Ingersoll Rand microturbine.
    Solid oxide fuel cells are electrochemical devices that convert energy in a fuel cell into electricity, much like a battery. Microturbines are small, high speed gas turbines.  In the California unit, the two technologies combine to produce about 190 kilowatts of electricity, enough to power about 200 homes.  The combination is pushing power efficiencies to unprecedented levels, the research team says. Test data show electrical efficiencies of about 53 percent, believed to be a world record for the operation of any fuel cell system on natural gas. Improvements in the technology could raise efficiencies to 60 percent for smaller systems and 70 percent or higher for larger systems, the team believes.
    "In the power industry, efficiency gains of even a few percentage points can make a major economic difference over the life of a generating system," said Richard Rosenblum, senior vice president for transmission and distribution at Southern California Edison, the system's owner and operator.
    Because it operates on an electrochemical process, rather than combustion, the system emits almost none of the air pollutants released by conventional power plants. Its emissions of nitrogen oxide, which can contribute to urban smog, are almost 50 times less than today's average natural gas turbine.


JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER TEST DRIVES FUEL CELL CARS

TOKYO, Japan, December 17, 2001 (ENS) - After test driving four new fuel cell cars, the Prime Minister of Japan has declared fuel cell powered cars important for the energy safety of his country and is encouraging his Cabinet ministers to drive them when they come on the market.

For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/dec2001/2001L-12-17-05.html

 


NINE EUROPEAN CITIES TO GET FUEL CELL BUSES

BRUSSELS, Belgium, December 20, 2001 (ENS) - The famous red double decker buses on the streets of London will soon be joined by zero emissions fuel cell powered buses. London is one of nine European cities wishing to introduce fuel cell powered buses into their public transport systems that have received a funding boost from the European Commission.

For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/dec2001/2001L-12-20-02.html

 



EMERALD PUD DEMONSTRATION FUEL CELL POWERS UTILITY WAREHOUSE DURING OUTAGE
A demonstration fuel cell turned into a real-life emergency power source for Emerald PUD during an early February outage.

The 3-kilowatt-capacity unit supplied electricity for lights, heat and a cable spooler in Emerald's warehouse for about 16 hours Feb. 7 and 8, in the aftermath of ferocious winds that knocked out power to 90 percent of the utility's customers outside Eugene, OR. This type of backup service is touted as a promising application for fuel cells. And for Emerald, it worked as advertised.
    "The best news is here was an opportunity and a need for its use," said Richard Jackson-Gistelli, Emerald's key accounts lead. "We turned it on and it ran, which is what you want these things to do. It proved to be reliable."
    Emerald's 3-KW fuel cell--a methanol-powered proton exchange membrane system from Bend, OR-based IdaTech--is a beta unit in a demonstration venture by Bonneville Power Administration. Although Jackson-Gistelli said fuel cell power remains expensive and not quite ready for entire buildings, Emerald officials nevertheless see promise ahead. "Emerald's always been interested in being ahead of the curve in terms of the future. We think distributed generation, albeit in a
variety of different forms, is definitely going to be a part of tomorrow's utility. You can either embrace it or let it slide you by."

http://www.newsdata.com/enernet/conweb/conweb74.html#cw74-3


BPA MICROTURBINE DEMONSTRATION TAKES OFF IN WILLAMETTE VALLEY
In a distributed generation field test, a new propane-powered microturbine is furnishing electricity for PNGC Power's landfill gas-to-energy project near Corvallis, OR. The 60-kilowatt Capstone microturbine began operating Jan. 16 at the
Coffin Butte Resource Project. "If the test is successful," said PNGC Power on its Web site, "using a propane-powered microturbine to generate electricity on this scale may prove to be a cost-effective, low-emission way for customers in remote locations to have high quality, reliable and environmentally preferred electricity."
    Bonneville Power Administration owns the microturbine as a demonstration venture. Coffin Butte operators, meanwhile, are finding kinks to work out with the unit, and they have many comments on the microturbine's manual.
http://www.newsdata.com/enernet/conweb/conweb74.html#cw74-4

 


    The following article appeared on Page One of  the Sacramento News & Review Jan 12, 2001. A picture covered the entire front page and other photos of President Rex Hodge have been omitted. It is customary for reporters to seek other opinions from large corporations who you can expect will tend to denigrate the efforts of smaller competitors.

HIGHWAY TO CELL!
Rex Hodge and Lyn Cowgill are quietly plotting to change the face of
the American automotive industry. How? Two words: fuel cells.
by COSMO GARVIN
cosmog@newsreview.com

    It seems like an unlikely place to launch a revolution. But in the run-down neighborhood of Alkali Flat, just north of
downtown Sacramento, that's just what former rocket engineer Rex Hodge and his business partner Lyn Cowgill are quietly plotting to do.
    The insurrection will begin here among the neglected Victorian houses, the derelict factory buildings and the abandoned rail yards. The men have begun to rehabilitate a 50,000-square-foot warehouse at 12th and C streets which they plan to move into this spring. The massive two-story brick building was once a brewery, which burned down in the 1960s, and then it was a fish processing plant, which burned down in the 1980s. It was rebuilt again but has remained vacant until today, appearing to be just another dead spot in a dead neighborhood. Soon, however, it will be the headquarters of an ambitious campaign
to radically transform the automobile and greatly reduce its impact on our air.
    Their plan: to build and sell tens of thousands of cars; not just any cars, but cars completely different from anything on the road today-totally re-engineered and powered by pollution-free fuel cells. These cars will run on hydrogen and emit nothing from their tailpipes but pure, drinkable water. The fuel cell has captured the imagination of the auto industry and clean air advocates alike, with its promise of cheap, abundant power and without the noxious emissions that have been the hallmark of the internal combustion engine. No single technology looks as hopeful as the fuel cell for long-term replacement of the gas engine, and the end to our century-long dependence on fossil fuels.
    Hodge and Cowgill started the company Anuvu (pronounced "a new view") in 1996, after Hodge left his job at the rocket manufacturing company Aerojet. While he was there, Hodge worked on rocket engines and later on ways to create smaller fuel cells for aerospace applications. When Aerojet dropped its fuel cell program, Hodge, then only 28 years old, decided he could create a commercially viable fuel cell car. He teamed up with his brother-in-law Cowgill, who had a background in design, and who also serves as the company's marketing arm. Then the two men started recruiting engineering grad students from Hodge's
alma mater, the University of California at Davis.
    While the new building is being finished, the company's offices and shop occupy much smaller buildings next door.
Hodge, a tall, heavyset man, punctuates his sentences with wide, sweeping hand gestures as he gives a tour of the shop. "We have completely designed a vehicle from the ground up," he says, explaining that Anuvu has gone a different path than the major car companies that are also working with fuel cells.
    Whereas the automakers have tried to cram the fuel cell into a car that is designed for the internal combustion engine, Anuvu has taken the opposite approach-starting with their own fuel cell design, and then developing a car around it. The Anuvu design has produced a car much lighter in weight and more aerodynamic. There are fewer moving parts, having done away with not only the engine but its cumbersome transmission system, and replacing it with motors that directly drive each wheel.
    "The big question is, how do you use less energy to propel the car?" Hodge asks, pointing to a large green shell that sits in the middle of the cluttered shop floor. It is a mock-up of the car they are designing, and looks something like a cross between a 1930s roadster and an avocado. At the same time, its teardrop lines-chosen for the best possible aerodynamic shape-give the model a distinctly futuristic appearance.
    At one end of the shop, a couple of employees are hard at work sanding the panels that will ultimately make up the body of the car. The panels are ultra-lightweight carbon fiber, similar to the composite bodies that are used in Formula One racecars. The carbon is about twice as strong as steel but weighs much less. A four-door sedan made from this material could weigh as little as 2,000 pounds, compared to 3,500 to 4,000 for a steel framed car. By light-weighting the car, it's possible to propel it using far less energy. That's just one of the strategies, they say, that will make fuel cell cars a reality in the near future.
    "This is the next frontier. Our plan is to incorporate the fuel cell into the life of the average driver," said Cowgill.
It's a bold claim, considering that the big auto manufacturers have only rolled out a handful of their own prototypes, and say mass production of fuel cell vehicles is still decades away. And there are plenty in the industry who say that what Anuvu is doing amounts to no more than a few smart people tinkering around in their garage.
    Is their futuristic-looking fuel cell car a fantasy? Can a small Sacramento company with 20 employees do what the biggest auto companies in the world, with their armies of engineers and billions of dollars, cannot?
    "Yes, we actually plan to sell these cars," answers Cowgill, grinning.

_______________________

The auto giants have, of course, done some tinkering of their own with the fuel cell and its application in cars. Most of the big companies have rolled out a limited number of very expensive prototypes. Of course it is far too early to spot many of these vehicles on the road, but the SN&R caught up with one of Honda's prototypes, and went for a test ride at a demonstration facility in West Sacramento. Honda's experimental fuel cell vehicle, the FCX-V3, is built on the same platform used for their battery electric cars, and might easily be mistaken for one. One tell-tale sign would be the steam coming from the car's tailpipe. That's pure water vapor. It is not as long as most cars and has sort of a snub-nosed shape. But the cab rides a bit higher off the ground, giving the vehicle an appearance not unlike a metallic flea.
    Riding in the FCX-V3, you notice very little vibration, the only real noise being that of the wheels on the pavement and the hum of an on-board air compressor. Behind the back seat rests a tank of hydrogen gas to fuel the cell. Under the front hood are the electric motor and the drive system. There is no growl if you punch the accelerator, no lurch if you absentmindedly let your foot slip from the clutch at a stoplight. None of the usual excitement of driving at all. Tucked invisibly in a long black box underneath the cab of the car, the fuel cell silently does its job, producing about 60 kilowatts,
the equivalent of 85 horsepower, as the FCX-V3 tools around the Port of Sacramento.
    Of course, any tooling around in the FCX-V3 is done under careful supervision, followed by a mini-van full of technicians who are there to make sure nothing happens to the multi-million dollar prototype. One engineer is at the wheel, another technician in the back seat, hunched over a laptop monitoring the performance of the fuel cell system. When a reporter asks to drive, engineer Shiro Matsuo politely shakes his head no. When asked just how much the car costs, Matsuo again
shakes his head. He will just say "millions." Much of the expense comes from the fuel cell itself, which can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. But Matsuo said mass production would bring the cost of fuel cells down, one day low enough to
compete with the gasoline engine.
    As exotic as the fuel cell may seem, it is remarkably simple when compared to the internal combustion engine. One of the most elegant machines ever invented, the fuel cell has no moving parts, is tremendously efficient, and it runs off the most ubiquitous substance in the universe: hydrogen. All of the stars in this and every other galaxy are composed of hydrogen, including our own sun. On earth, most of the hydrogen is contained in water, and water covers the globe. Hydrogen is also the simplest chemical element, its atom containing just two parts: a single proton for a nucleus, and a single electron.
    The heart of the fuel cell is what is called a Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM). The membrane acts as a sort of sieve, which allows the proton of a hydrogen atom to pass through, but not the electron. Because the proton has a positive charge on one side of the barrier, and the electron a negative charge on the other, the potential for an electrical current is created. The stranded electrons then travel through a small wire around the membrane, creating the electrical current, which can then be used to drive an electric motor or be stored. On the other side of the membrane, the protons and electrons are reunited and then combine with oxygen, which is pumped in from the other direction, to form water (H2O).
    Each fuel cell, measuring about 10 inches by 10 inches, and not much thicker than a sheet of notebook paper, produces slightly less than one volt of electricity. The cells are stacked, side-by-side, up to 200 cells in a series, to achieve the number of volts desired. This fuel cell "stack," anywhere from two to three feet long, can provide enough energy to drive a car.
    The fuel cell creates three byproducts: water, electricity and a small amount of heat. As such, it is far more benign than even the cleanest gasoline engines, including the hybrid gas-electric cars that have been developed by some automakers. Because of the fuel cell's simplicity, and its potential to produce absolutely clean power, it is thought of as a magic bullet.
Actually, the fuel cell was invented back in 1839 by British inventor Sir William Grove, but had no practical application until the 1960s, when NASA began developing fuel cells for use in the Gemini space missions. At that time, fuel cells were too large and not powerful enough to run a car.
    Fuel cells remained the province of the aerospace industry until the 1990s when a Canadian company called Ballard Power Systems made a technical breakthrough that dramatically increased the power to volume ratio, and developed fuel cells that could fit under the hood of a car. While most of the technical problems with the fuel cell itself have been worked out, there are still major obstacles to using it for everyday transportation. One big problem with hydrogen is the space it takes up in a car. Hydrogen is a very light gas and easily expands. Therefore, even a small amount takes up a lot of storage
room. In most of the fuel cell vehicles developed so far, the hydrogen storage tank takes up all the room where you would normally have a trunk, and still only provides enough fuel to travel about 100 miles.
    The other problem, in the near term at least, is that there is no hydrogen infrastructure to speak of. Whereas the massive network of gasoline filling stations is well established, converting even a portion of that network to a hydrogen system could be a very long and expensive process. Hodge and Cowgill say they have solved the problem of hydrogen storage. Their lightweight design means less fuel is needed on-board. And they are working on a system that would allow drivers to generate their own hydrogen at home.
    The big automakers and energy companies are working on their own solutions, but say it will take years to work out.
Many of the bigger companies have entered into the California Fuel Cell Partnership, which is headquartered in West Sacramento. It is an alliance of nearly all of the major automakers, several oil companies including Shell and British Petroleum, the major fuel cell companies including Ballard and its subsidiary XCellis, and a couple of state agencies, most notably the California Air Resources Board. The partnership is a way for individual car companies to share information, and then work with the energy companies and fuel cell companies on specific prototypes. The facility itself serves as a sort of combination test facility and public relations nerve center.
    Collectively, the companies will produce and demonstrate about 50 fuel cell passenger vehicles by the year 2003, although some companies have plans to produce more cars outside of this collaborative arrangement. There are also plans to build about 20 buses by that time. But nearly all of the companies agree that mass production and everyday use of these dream cars is decades away.
    "It could be 10, 25, 100 years. Nobody knows," said Ford spokesperson Brendan Prebo.
    The facility opened with great media fanfare last fall, but has been mostly quiet since then. One of the first things a visitor notices is that the whole facility is plastered with corporate logos. The offices are mostly empty now, but each office door proudly displays the crests of Ford, Nissan, Honda, Daimler-Chrysler and others. According to Partnership communications director Joe Irvin, Anuvu approached the group early on, but were not invited to join because they are a somewhat unknown quantity. Cowgill, however, said that they weren't interested in membership because they had already
developed their own plan for tackling the fuel cell car. He still believes that Anuvu can work with the partnership in the future.
    Inside the main lobby are elaborate displays, illustrating the workings of the fuel cell. There are a lot of pictures of smiling
bureaucrats and CEOs, and a video station that plays a whole range of clips covering everything from the history of the partnership to the issue of hydrogen safety. In short, there's a lot of promotional hoopla, a lot of optimism on display, but very few cars. Irvin explains that most of the limited number of cars are on tour, or back at their corporate headquarters being worked on. He says you will see more of the rare vehicles as the project ramps up. But beyond 2003, there are no solid plans for the partnership.
    That is the year of reckoning for the major automakers to produce a certain number of Zero Emissions Vehicles (ZEVs) under the California's Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate. Irvin said the companies would then assess whether to continue the partnership, or strike out on their own. Publicly, the automakers are sending a mixed message. They say they are very enthusiastic about fuel cells, but only someday-not today, not too soon.
    "I think what the automakers are doing is hedging their bets," said Roland Hwang, a transportation expert with the Natural Resources Defense Council, a national environmental organization. On the one hand, whoever brings fuel cell vehicles to market first will have a big edge on their competitors. On the other, most are understandably reluctant to completely overhaul their companies to produce a radically different product. Hwang said that most companies are probably trying to keep themselves in the fuel cell game without getting too far out front and risking millions of dollars. "Hell, why should they? Ford for example is making 10 [thousand] or 15,000 dollars."

 


JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER TEST DRIVES FUEL CELL CARS

TOKYO, Japan, December 17, 2001 (ENS) - After test driving four new fuel cell cars, the Prime Minister of Japan has declared fuel cell powered cars important for the energy safety of his country and is encouraging his Cabinet ministers to drive them when they come on the market.

For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/dec2001/2001L-12-17-05.html

 



Air Powered Car
http://positivenews.org.uk/cgi/zyview.pl/D=articles/V=story/R=1253

    The first air powered cars will be rolling off the production lines in France later this year. Other countries including Spain, Italy, Portugal, Switzerland, Australia, South Africa and Mexico are hoping to start making the cars in 2005. (...) Since the air car was presented in Spain in 2001, the technology and the concept have improved considerably. The engine is now driven only by compressed air obtained from cylinders installed in the vehicle. Improvements made to the 25 horsepower engine mean that the car will run for up to 200 km. It will also travel at 110 km per hour on motorways and recharge will take only take three to four minutes at service stations that supply compressed air. Negotiations are under way to ensure that existing service stations will provide this service.

 


Fuel cell celebrates one year
(September 23, 2004)
http://www.uaf.edu/univrel/media/FY05/021.html

Fairbanks, Alaska-The University of Alaska Fairbanks and Fuel Cell Technologies of Kingston, Ontario, have announced that the five-kilowatt solid oxide fuel cell installed in Fairbanks has successfully passed the one-year field operational mark. UAF has been testing fuel cell systems, which convert natural gas to grid-compatible AC electricity, for more than six years. Fuel cells promise highly reliable and efficient small-scale systems for remote power applications that may mean a significant reduction in both fuel consumption and CO2 production. Since system lifetime and reliability are major issues preventing deployment of these systems in remote areas, the one-year mark represents a significant milestone for solid oxide fuel cell systems toward proving that the technology is coming of age.The unit has operated for 8,700 hours and provided 24,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity to the Fairbanks Natural Gas facility. That, together with an average of two kilowatt-hours of generated heat, brings the total system efficiency to 70 percent, a significant efficiency gain when compared to current systems of similar size, such as small diesel generators, which operate at about 25 percent electrical efficiency. The fuel cell functioned 91.5 percent of the time over the past year, a significant number as the U.S. Department of Defense, a potential user of the fuel cell, requires a minimum-and rarely achieved-90 percent efficiency.

 



CSV Biodiesel Technology

My name is Don Dunajski. I, along with my partners, Kevin Hasey(Winnipeg), and Cliff Dunajski(Victoria), are the exclusive distributors for Dove Biotech Limited. We are introducing to North America, the latest in biodiesel processing, our patented CSV Biodiesel Technology. After 40 years of research, and in house manufacturing, Dove Biotech developed this process, and we offer it  to you. The CSV process is faster, more efficient, and provides lower total ownership costs than any system presently in use in the world today. For information you may call (204) 256-3830, or request information from our web site www.biofuelsystem.com We look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely;
Don Dunajski
ddunajski@shaw.ca

 


Hydrogen Power
http://www.angels-nest.org/

 


Krystal Planet Announces 1st sales of Hydrogen Fuel Cells
http://www.krystal-planet.com/deanp

    (Lenexa, Kansas, October 7, 2005) – Krystal Planet Corporation, an ENERGY STAR Partner, announces today the sale of its 3rd hydrogen fuel cell in as many months. This marks a critical milestone for the launch this fall of the world’s 1st turnkey home hydrogen solution: the Krystal Hydrogen System(SM). It also establishes Krystal Planet as one of the few marketers of fuel cells to residential customers and brings The Freedom Plan(SM) closer to reality, which can convert
America to 100% clean renewable energy in 10 years. Using hydrogen gas, a fuel cell produces clean, safe electricity with no combustion or fumes and pure water and some heat as its only by-products. The Krystal Hydrogen System(SM) utilizes clean solar and wind energy to produce hydrogen on site from water. It produces enough renewable energy to power 100% of a typical energy efficient home plus makes enough extra hydrogen to power up to two vehicles (nearly any vehicle can be easily converted to burn hydrogen in its existing internal combustion engine). The company reports receiving over 70 serious inquiries already, some from celebrities, and expects to sell 50 systems in 2006 and over 200 in 2007.
    “Although initially the market for our Krystal Hydrogen System(SM) will be early adopters with the financial wherewithal to purchase the system, those who do will be able to enjoy true energy independence,” says Troy Helming, founder and CEO. “The system will initially retail for $150,000, which is often less than the cost of the cars sitting in a customer’s driveway. But this investment will protect its owner from rising and volatile energy costs and has an expected life of 30-50 years
depending on location.”
    Krystal Planet’s recent sales of hydrogen-powered fuel cells provide needed experience and establish a sales track record for a primary component of the Krystal Hydrogen System(SM). The sales also establish Krystal Planet as one of the only marketers of fuel cells to residential customers. Hydrogen as a fuel makes the most sense when it is produced from water and not from natural gas, and as long as the electricity used by the electrolyzer comes from renewable energy instead of ‘dirty’ power from the electric grid which creates pollution at fossil-fired power plants. Local production of hydrogen using wind, solar, biomass or geothermal energy solves the chicken-andegg problem of converting infrastructure to support this pollution-free fuel. “Imagine the bragging rights when a customer takes their home 'off-grid’ and converts their vehicles to run on hydrogen made at home. How can you put a value on never having to worry about gas prices or utility blackouts again?” asks Senior Director Jeff Eagle. And for anyone wondering about hydrogen’s safety, consider that gasoline vapor is actually 27 times more explosive than hydrogen.
    Although the solution is not for everyone, the Krystal Hydrogen System(SM) is a giant step forward in solving America’s energy crisis. And, like all other technology, costs of the system should drop over time to be affordable by mainstream Americans. “With sales of about 5,000 systems per year,” says Helming, “the cost is projected to be $300 per month when financed using a home equity line.” About Krystal Planet Corporation Krystal Planet Corporation, a Krystal Energy company, is a leading international retailer of clean power and energy-saving products. Using highly effective grass-roots marketing, consumers are taught how to ‘Krystalize’ their homes and vehicles, saving an average of up to $150 per month or more on gasoline and utility bills while reducing pollution. America’s 1st national network of energy efficiency experts offers wind, solar, hydrogen fuel cell and proprietary energy saving products. Examples include the Green Machine (one-time installation of a patented fuel catalyst that improves fuel economy by 10-20% for nearly any vehicle), Krystal Hydrogen System (the world’s 1st turnkey home hydrogen system), FutureWindSM (a certified Green Power Certificate that can be tax deductible and helps build new utility-scale wind turbines), and the
Home Energy Review (the 1st residential energy-savings consultation offered nationwide, which focuses on comprehensive energy savings potential, return on investment and environmental impact). The $1,199 Gold Package cuts the energy consumption of the average household by $150 per month (assuming gasoline prices of $2.25 per gallon), or $1,800 per year and a return on investment of 150%. This equates to $9,000 in savings over five years assuming energy prices
were to remain at 2004 levels over that time.
    All Krystal Planet products include a contribution to The Freedom Plan (as described in The Clean Power Revolution: How America can save 20 Trillion Dollars by 2025) which can convert America to 100% clean renewable energy in 10 years. Krystal Planet is headquartered in Lenexa, Kansas (a suburb of Kansas City). Krystal Planet’s customers have helped eliminate nearly 4 Million pounds of greenhouse gases since Earth Day 2004. An online catalog and a one-minute video describing the company are on the web at http:// www.krystal-planet.com/deanp.


Gasification of Waste

    My County's Waste management has learned about gasification of waste. There is a lot of hydrogen in human solid waste.  It is possible to extract it.  The same method used to separate hydrogen from hydrocarbon fuels for fuel cells will work on pulverized waste being fed into a fuel cell.  However, steam electrical generators now reach 60% efficiency.  Fuel Cell efficiency is a hard thing to get ahold of.  It is potentially high, but they currently measure it in terms of INCREASE in efficiency instead of overall efficiency.
    Here is my most recent discovery.  I have designed a means to combine pulverized cellulose with methane and with elemental hydrogen to form liquid hydrocarbon.  The methane can come from any source available, coal methane (natural gas) or biomethane.  The hydrogen can come from solar.  Using methane as the bulk catalyst, only a little pure hydrogen will be necessary.  Pressurized methane combined with pulverized cellulose and small amounts of hydrogen will cause the following condition.
    Cellulose is a long chain sugar.  Shortening the hydrocarbon chain will cause a tendency to liquify.  Once liquid hydrocarbon is created, precise formation of hydrocarbon fuel can be done.  Because this process will be chemical, we do not have to worry about forming hydrocarbons toxic to life.  Gasoline is toxic to life.  Pressurized Methane is a catalyst all by itself.  The pressure is equivalent of heat.  Pressure will have to be maintained or the methane will not penetrate all of the cellulose.  A vacuum should probably be formed first, to evacuate all useless gas.  Hydrogen will assist in reaction.  It is highly reactive.  This catalyst, eventhough it depletes, becomes part of the final fuel and thus is well used.  Ultimately, the reaction will stabilize according to the number of carbon atoms to the number of hydrogen atoms.  However, in order to get the hydrogen to penetrate, more hydrogen may have to be present than will create this final optimum balance between hydrogen and carbon.
    I propose that we accept whatever fuel results.  Using the minimum methane and hydrogen to get complete reaction from pulverized cellulose, will create a stable length carbon chain.  I do not think that length of chain will be below pentane, which is a liquid at gas tank pressure.    It is not practical to make methane from waste and then try to use the remaining cellulose to combine it with methane.  I have measured the ash content of human waste, via heating over an open fire.  It is quite high.
    This experiment is non-toxic and simple to do.  It can be done without the elemental hydrogen to start with.  It is possible that the pressurized methane will be sufficient as a catalyst.    Storage of hydrogen to be used in pure form is touchy.  It is more caustic than concentrated Sulfuric Acid.  Hydrogen batteries have been developed.  I think it is wise to use SOME hydrogen eventually, just to get in on the hydrogen economy.  Hydrogen will certainly substitute for methane.

Sincerely,
Glenn_Ellwood_Rabenold

 


THE THINGS THEY DIDN'T TELL YOU ABOUT ETHANOL
In the wake of ever-escalating gasoline prices, the ethanol craze has officially taken hold. Congress has approved $5.7 billion in federal tax credits to support the ethanol market, in addition to the $10 billion U.S. corn farmers annually receive in subsidies. While the corn-industry-lobbying-machine has President Bush predicting ethanol will replace gasoline, the science behind corn-based ethanol seems to suggest this alternative fuel may be more about politics than an actual solution. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, it takes the equivalent of three barrels of oil to create four barrels of corn-based ethanol. Couple that with the fact that ethanol gets lower miles per gallon than gasoline, and the corn-based solution begins to show its true colors. But other nations are demonstrating that plant-based ethanol fuels can help meet our energy needs. Brazil makes ethanol from sugar-cane, which is almost eight times more energy efficient to produce than the US corn-based fuel. Crops with high cellulose or sugar content that can be easily grown in the U.S., such as sugar beets, hemp or switch grass, make much more efficient fuels. But, in the U.S., where special interests, not the public seem to govern federal policy, it appears the immediate future of U.S. automotive fuel is going to the highest bidder: genetically engineered corn. Learn more: http://www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_461.cfm

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