Green Energy News | December 24, 2000

December 24, 2000 – Vol.5 No.39

ENERGIES... week of December 24, 2000

2000 REVIEW / 2001 OUTLOOK. The last year of the second millennium - the strict mathematical one - proved promising for the future of green energy for the planet. But the first year of the new millennium may prove, at least in the U.S., challenging.

In 2000 new wind power projects were announced almost weekly for someplace on the globe. Many were in the U.S. The future of wind power is so promising here that wind turbine leader Vestas announced its intention to build a factory in Colorado. Smiles in the industry also brought in the possibility of a new major competitor. ABB announced plans to enter the wind power business with its high-voltage Windformer technology. Windformer can offer the remote placement of windfarms, even out-of-sight, over-the-horizon offshore installations. The company claims that a 3 megawatt Windformer will be online in Sweden by the end of the new year. There is now so much interest in wind power worldwide we can expect a similar year of growth for 01.

The green vehicle sector got a major boost this year when the California Air Resources Board stuck to its guns and told the big automakers selling cars in the state that 10 percent of sales by 2003 must be zero-emission - this means electric vehicles.

California is like a country in itself. A successful EV market there would mean success elsewhere. But automakers don’t think they can bring costs down and consumer interest up enough to sell that many EV’s. The automakers are pinning their green car hopes on hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, but those won’t be ready for mass production in time. However, 2000 saw a growing interest in neighborhood electric vehicles (NEV’s). These street-legal personal mobility vehicles, with a little marketing, could find many homes in California’s sunny climes as a second car. Ford has its own TH!NK neighbor and DaimlerChrysler has purchased successful NEV maker Global Electric Motorcars (GEM). Both companies may have the state-nation in mind and could begin heavy NEV marketing there in 2001.

2000 was also the year Toyota’s hybrid-electric car began to appear in U.S. automobile showrooms. It continues to be a pleasure to see both Honda’s Insight and Toyota’s Prius cruising the byways or parked, dirty with winter grime, in a mall parking lots alongside not-so-efficient cars and SUV’s. Toyota has already designed an even more efficient version of the Prius, and Honda’s hybrid technology will soon be available in the popular Civic.

For the deployment of cleaner and more efficient transit vehicles New York City should get an award. With more than 300 hybrid electric buses now in service or on order, the Big Apple could be creating a real market for hybrid transit buses. BAE SYSTEMS and Orion Bus are supplying the buses to the city transit authority.

In the fuel cell sector, the California Fuel Cell Partnership opened the doors to its test, demonstration and headquarters facility in Sacramento, California as a first attempt to introduce business, industry and individuals to the possibility fuel cell vehicles. While many eyeballs are looking at this possibility, real progress was in made 2000 on the development and commercialization of fuel cells for stationary use. Many designs operating on a variety of fuels - even cow manure for Tor Energy’s solid oxide fuel cell - are being developed.

Metal-air fuel cells - call them refuelable batteries or semi-fuel cells if you like - also gained interest in 2000. There are now at least five firms developing this technology. One, EVonyx, which is developing metal-air fuel cells for both stationary and mobile power, sent a zinc-air powered car on a 600 mile journey from outside New York City to Detroit without refueling or recharging. The car, a converted Honda Insight, went almost a third of the way before a mechanical problem ended the trip. A distance record for this type of car was still set however. Expect more from EVonyx in 2001.

The new year could be more exciting energy-wise than the last. The newly appointed U.S. president is clearly pro fossil fuels. OPEC is stronger now than in many years and has learned how to control output and thus price at the pump. Some already see a repeat this Spring of last year’s gasoline price hikes. Power deregulation in California has been - in short - a disaster. And global warming and the need to cut back on the burning of fossil fuels has become a common topic of discussion.

As the word energy is likely to appear in headline news frequently in 2001, players in the growing Green Energy Industry - those companies and organizations involved in the development and commercialization of clean, renewable and efficient energy technologies - should make it clear that they can jump in and provide an alternative to the status quo. The first year of the third millennium should be the year they make themselves known, make themselves heard, and prove to politicians, business, industry, and most importantly consumers, that a change can be made. The industry must prove that a change would not be economically damaging, but in contrary would provide new opportunities, stability and security - along with clean air and reduced greenhouse gas emissions - in both industrial nations and the developing world.

Search ABB for Windformer at http://www.abb.com/ ,visit Vestas at http://www.vestas.com/ , the Air Resources Board at http://www.arb.ca.gov/ , TH!NK at http://www.thinkmobility.com/ , GEM at http://www.gemcar.com/ , the California Fuel Cell Partnership at http://www.fuelcellpartnership.org/ , EVonyx at http://www.evonyx.com/ and stay updated with automobile development in Japan through the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association at http://www.jama.org/ .