Green Energy News | August 5, 2001

August 5, 2001 – Vol.6 No.19

ENERGIES... week of August 5, 2001

FUEL CELLS FROM GENERAL MOTORS. Before you plan on a fuel cell for your car please try one out in your home first, says General Motors.

The company has developed a stationary fuel cell aimed, eventually, at home and small business markets. Operating on hydrogen extracted from natural gas, the 5.3 kilowatt unit has capacity to power an average house with enough left over to recharge an electric car, for example. GM chose natural gas because the large network of pipelines into homes and businesses is already in place. The company has no definite plans for market introduction for the home fuel cell, but it could happen in four years or so.

GM has also introduced the world’s first gasoline-fed fuel cell vehicle. The converted Chevy S-10 should get up to 50 percent better fuel economy than a stock internal combustion engined (ICE) version, according to the company. Start-up time (a stumbling block for fuel cell vehicles with an on-board reformer such as this truck) has been reduced to 3 minutes from 15 minutes or more in other vehicles. The S-10’s fuel cell puts out 25 kilowatts or about 33 horsepower. GM claims it will focus on gasoline-fueled fuel cell vehicles until a hydrogen infrastructure is built.

BETTER ICE ECONOMY. General Motors has also said it plans to be the first company to sell a million fuel cell vehicles - though it doesn’t say what kind. A million might seem like a large number, but with roughly 200 million vehicles on the road in the U.S alone (and growing) these fuel cell vehicles would rarely be seen, nor make a dent in reducing air pollution, greenhouse gases, or dependence on imported oil. However a million vehicles would be a good starting place. Other manufacturers too are planning to produce fuel cell vehicles which will add to the size of the fleet.

But what’s needed almost immediately - if that were possible - is a major improvement to the internal combustion engine - an improvement that could be adapted to all new vehicles coming off the assembly line a few years hence - tens of millions of cars. One possible improvement is the addition of direct in-cylinder fuel injection to the venerable ICE.

Orbital Engine has been testing its Orbital Combustion Process (OCP) direct injection technology on an unspecified U.S.-built, four-cylinder car. The results after only 8 weeks? Twelve percent better fuel economy using the U.S. Federal test cycle, and the car meets stringent ULEV II emission standards. The company predicts fuel economy savings can reach 20 percent with refinements and further toxic emissions cuts could be made by introducing low sulfur fuels to the U.S. market. Visit Orbital at http://www.orbeng.com.au/ .

OFFBEAT TECHNOLOGY - GEOTHERMAL POWER. Never dismiss, shrug-off or ignore the unusual in the energy business. (If the original is not a blockbuster, world-changing idea, there may be a seed of another good idea buried in the out-of-step technology.)

Houston, Texas based engineering company, ESOR Consulting Engineers, has come forth with a new technology for tapping geothermal energy - the Power Tube. Invented by Doyle Brewington the technology uses iso-pentane instead of water to be injected into the earths crust. The iso-pentane boils, thus vaporizes, by the earth’s heat and powers a turbine generator (similar to a steam turbine) at the surface. Since iso-pentane boils at a lower temperature than water, bore holes don’t have to be drilled as deep to find the high temperatures ordinarily needed with geothermal power. Relatively shallow - 2200 feet - drilling would reduce cost of the installation. A 10 megawatt Power Tube is estimated to cost $1.5 - $3.5 million. The foot print of each Power Tube would be as small as 100 square meters and the power plant would rise only 85 feet into the air.

Brewington and ESOR are focusing on markets in the developing countries for Power Tube and are preparing to build a $15 million prototype.

WORLD WIND WATCH. To help bring wind power to Illinois the U.S. Department of Energy, through the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), has developed a wind resource map of central and northern portions of the state. According to NREL researchers, there are sufficient wind resources in these areas to support 3000 - 9000 megawatts of peak power capacity - enough power for up to 2 million homes. Already under development or in the planning stages are 80 - 100 megawatts of new wind power in the state.

The U.S Department of Energy, NREL and others will also host the Illinois Wind Workshop on November 27, 2001 in Lisle, Illinois to discuss steps consumers, power companies and wind energy companies can take to bring wind energy to the central U.S. state.

Depending on the outcome of a new survey now underway, the southern portion of New England could become the next hotbed of activity in U.S. wind power development. The Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust Fund, the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund and Northeast Utilities have commissioned Truewind Solutions to study the area and develop a map of optimal sites for wind power development.

Already offshore wind power south of Cape Cod is being proposed (see ENERGIES week of July 29, 2001). Visit Truewind at http://www.truewind.com/ .

AEROMAG Corporation of Prescott Valley, Arizona, sister company to small wind turbine distributor AEROMAX, has joined forces with the Qingdao Wind Energy Generation Equipment Works of Shangdong Province in China to manufacture AEROMAG’s LAKOTA turbine. With finished turbines to be sold in China and the U.S. as well as any interested market, the LAKOTA is the first product of the joint venture with other, larger models expected to follow. Visit AEROMAG or AEROMAX at http://www.aeromag.com/ .

Western Victoria, Australia could see a 75 megawatt wind farm developed by Pacific Hydro Ltd. To be built on the Challicum Hills at Buangor, between Beaufort and Ararat, the 50 turbine facility needs approval of the Ararat City Council and others before construction can begin. Pacific Hydro is still undergoing an approval process for its planned Portland Wind Energy Project. Visit Pacific Hydro at http://www.pacifichydro.com.au/ .

The Irish Sea could be home to an offshore power plant fueled by natural gas and the wind. Instead of building an undersea pipeline to deliver recovered natural gas to the mainland, Eclipse Energy Company and Rolls Royce Power Ventures want to build the natural gas fueled power plant offshore at the site of the gas recovery operation but deliver electricity by cable to the shore. That cable, once installed, could also be used to deliver electric power generated by wind turbines in the area to shore-side markets. By sharing the cable, the cost of installing wind turbines would be reduced. The proposed project would be approximately 6 miles from Barrow-in-Furness.