ENERGIES... week of June 10, 2001
THE GENERAL SPEAKS. Today there are 700 million cars and trucks on
the road worldwide - and more everyday. By 2010 General Motors would
like to see 100,000 of those powered by GM-built hydrogen fuel cells.
More than just perfecting the vehicle technology by then, a hydrogen
fueling infrastructure must be built. GM has signed a 25 year agreement
with General Hydrogen to engineer such a system. Under the agreement a
prototype refueling infrastructure will be ready for testing by 2005.
The companies will work together during the next 25 years to further
develop hydrogen storage methods, fuel cell vehicle refueling techniques
and related technologies. The road to a worldwide fleet of hydrogen fuel
cell vehicles will be long one, according to this plan.
GM has purchased a 15-16 percent share in General Hydrogen, as well
as a 20 percent share of QUANTUM Technologies to develop hydrogen
storage tanks for vehicles. General Hydrogen's Chairman is Geoffrey
Ballard who founded Ballard Power Systems in 1979. Visit General
Hydrogen at http://www.generalhydrogen.com and QUANTUM at
http://www.qtww.com/ .
BOUNTIFUL, BEAUTIFUL WASTEWATER. For as long as fresh water comes
out of the tap, waste water will go down the drain. But wastewater, too,
can be a source of reliable, renewable energy.
The Pump Energy Recovery Project (PERP), at the City of San Diego's
Point Loma wastewater treatment facility, is now online adding 1.35
megawatts of new electricity to California's stressed power supplies.
Through a hydroelectric turbine PERP captures the energy of flowing,
treated wastewater as it drops 90 feet from the cliffside plant on its
way to be discharged underwater 4.5 miles from shore.
Not to let that other source of wastewater energy go unused, Point
Loma also has a Gas Utilization Facility (GUF) which captures methane
gas from wastewater digesters and uses it to fuel gas turbines that
produce 4.5 megawatts of power.
Henwood Energy Services helped make the necessary improvements to
make to PERP operable. The system ran for only 24 hours when completed
in 1989 before being shut down for technical problems. It's been idle
until now. Visit Point Loma at http://www.sannet.gov/mwwd , and Henwood
at http://www.henwoodenergy.com/ .
WESTINGHOUSE VS EDISON. When the world began wiring for electricity
more than century ago, a battle - sometimes personal - for the most
appropriate technologies ensued between inventor Thomas Edison and
industrialist George Westinghouse. Edison wanted localized power plants
generating DC power - distributed generation. Westinghouse wanted
monopolistic companies with huge powerplants to supply thousands of
customers - the utilities. Guess who won - at least then?
Now a version of the Edison vision seems to be taking hold with many
companies deciding it makes more sense to generate their own than to buy
it. And to that, yet another version of the vision seems to be emerging
- the Energy Web.
Like the Internet where information and commerce flows continuously,
an Energy Web would allow people to tap into it for power when needed or
sell excess electricity back to it. Wired Magazine, recognizing the
connection between power generation and our evermore wired world, has
featured the Energy Web concept in the July edition. The in-depth
article can be found at
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/9.07/juice.html .
ELECTRIC BUS TOURIST ATTRACTION. The city of Anaheim, California has
taken delivery of 10 all-electric 32-seat buses from Ebus. The 22-foot
shuttle buses - The Anaheim Resort Transit Fleet - will be to used
carry passengers within the Anaheim Resort (tm) to destinations such as
Disneyland, Downtown Disney, Disney's California Adventure, the
Convention Center and area hotels.
The buses are fully handicapped-accessible and can travel up to 100
miles per charge on Nickel Cadmium batteries with a top speed of 40
miles per hour. Visit Ebus at http://www.ebus.com/.
WORLD WIND WATCH. Germany thinks it can replace three-fifths of its
nuclear power with wind energy by 2030. Offshore wind development would
be key to this plan and the Federal Environment Ministry would like to
plant 40 turbines offshore by 2004. Details for this development have
not been finalized.
Windpower made up 2 percent - 10 billion kilowatt hours - of
Germany's power needs last year. Environment ministers want to see that
figure rise to 110 billion kilowatt hours in three decades. Watch the
Ministry at http://www.bmu.de/ for further developments.
NEW! NEW! NEW! at the Green Energy News website...
-- President Bush Comes Up Empty on Climate Change Policy
-- Agile Exceeds Expectation On Efficiency Testing Milestone For Arrow
Fuel Cell Electronics
-- USDA Agency Wins White House Award for Biodiesel Use
-- Installation Begins on the Nation s Largest Rooftop Solar Electric
System
Send ENERGIES to a friend or colleague. Visit Green Energy News on
the Web at http://www.nrglink.com/ . For free ENERGIES subscription
contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] Copyright Green Energy News Inc. 6/16/01
vol.6 no.11
Biofuel at Journey to Forever:
http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html
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