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DOE NEWS:

HYDROGEN: “DAMMIT, DO IT” - IS BATTLE CRY AT DOE H2/FUEL CELL ADVISORY PANEL MEETING
CRYSTAL CITY, VA – “H Two, Dammit, Do it!” This was unarguably the most colorful, vocal expression of frustration with the glacially slow pace of hydrogen and fuel cells entering the energy marketplace uttered at the two-day meeting of the Energy Department’s Hydrogen and Fuel Technical Advisory Committee (HTAC) here last month.

WHITE PAPER OUTLINES APOLLO-SIZE SOLAR PLAN FOR EUROPE, MIDDLE EAST, NORTH AFRICA
BRUSSELS – A loose coalition of 60 international scientists, public servants and specialists is proposing a giant plan for tapping solar power in the sunbelt regions of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa that they say could be launched in seven years with a startup cost of Euro 10 billion ($14.65 billion).

DOE NEWS:

CONGRESS PASSES, BUSH SIGNS ENERGY & OMNIBUS BILLS WITH SIZEABLE ALTERNATIVE ENERGY FUNDING
WASHINGTON, DC – Alternative and renewable energies did pretty well in two major pieces of legislation - the massive $555 billion Omnibus spending bill and the new Energy bill which merely authorizes future spending but does not provide any actual funds - that moved through Congress just before Christmas.

BUS DESIGNERS, FUEL CELL DEVELOPER UNVEIL NEW TRIBRID - TRIPLE HYBRID - FUEL CELL SYSTEMS
ANAHEIM, CA/PUCHHEIM, GERMANY – There’s a new word in the international vocabulary of transportation hybrid fuel cell technology: The tribrid, or triple hybrid.

FAST FORWARD: FUTUREGEN CLEAN COAL POWER PLANT

NREL TEAM IS WIRING TOGETHER ENZYMES VIA NANOTUBES AS POSSIBLE FUEL CELL CATALYSTS
GOLDEN, CO - Precious metal catalysts, essential for producing hydrogen by splitting water and recombining it in fuel cells with oxygen for electricity production, may pose yet another bottleneck in future energy supply scenarios by being both relatively scarce and increasingly expensive. Platinum, for instance, needed in minuscule amounts to make fuel cells run, has almost quintupled from an average of $361 per ounce in the first half of 1999 to $1,521 at the end of 2007, according to precious metal market data published on the Internet.

HYUNDAI’S FUEL CELL TUCSON SWEEPS BIBENDUM ENVIRONMENTAL CATEGORIES
SHANGHAI – Hydrogen and fuel cell vehicles all scored top ratings in CO2 emissions in the 2007 Michelin Challenge Bibendum in the environmental part of this eco-competition here, with one of Hyundai’s entries sweeping all four environmental tests.

BOOK REVIEW: SMELLING LAND: THE HYDROGEN DEFENSE AGAINST CLIMATE CATASTROPHE
Smelling Land opens with an eighteenth century seafaring tale of a cabin boy who repeatedly warns his captain to change course, claiming he can smell land nearby. The boy is first ignored, then hanged for his insolence, upon which the ship promptly runs aground. David Sanborn Scott’s new book uses the idea of smelling land while at sea as a metaphor for looking at familiar things from a new perspective, an act that brings with it both opportunity and danger. Scott’s mission in Smelling Land is to deconstruct our relationship with energy down to its most basic principles, then use these principles to weave his detailed vision of a clean and sustainable energy future. As he does so, he tells the story of energy in a sweeping, literary manner reminiscent of books like Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel.

BRIEFLY NOTED: PRESIDENTIAL CLIMATE ACTION PLAN
A team of experts and former and current public officials, including former U.S. Sen. Gary Hart (D-CO), have launched a detailed action plan for the next president to assert leadership on global warming within 100 days.

BRIEFLY NOTED: SOLAR STEAM STORAGE
In what’s described as a technological First, scientists at the German Aerospace Research Center (DLR) have managed for the first time to operate an efficient storage system for solar-generated steam.

BRIEFLY NOTED: SF AIRPORT HYTHANE SHUTTLE BUSES
San Francisco International Airport plans to convert 14 shuttle buses to hythane fuel, a mixture of 20% hydrogen and 80% natural gas.

BRIEFLY NOTED: FUEL CELL LAKE STEAMER
Keel-laying ceremonies last month marked the beginning of construction of what’s described as the world’s first fuel cell-powered lake “steamer”.

BRIEFLY NOTED: BRUCE POWER LOOKS AT HYDROGEN
Bruce Power, the Ontario-based utility which operates Canada’s largest nuclear plant, will study the potential of converting off-peak nuclear electricity generated by new nuclear power plants it plans to build in the Peace Country region of northwestern Alberta.

BRIEFLY NOTED: MORE HYDROGEN STATIONS
More Hydrogen Fueling Stations.

BRIEFLY NOTED: PNNL'S SULPHUR-FREE PORTABLE SOFC
DoE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has designed and built a portable 5 kW solid oxide fuel cell with integrated sulfur removal and fuel reforming that can directly use JP-8 or other commercially available liquid fuels such as diesel, biodiesel, gasoline.

BRIEFLY NOTED: U-MASS CHEMICAL BONDING CENTER
The University of Massachusetts Amherst has launched a new Fueling the Future Chemical Bonding Center.

BRIEFLY NOTED: DEMAND FOR NONREACTIVE BOP PARTS
The demand for non-reactive components for fuel cell balance of plant systems is expected to climb to $326 million by 2012.

EVENTS
A “Military Energy Alternatives” conference will be held Jan 8-10, 2008 at the Sheraton Hotel, Crystal City, VA.

TRANSITIONS
Milliken, Davis, Benicewicz, Romig, von Branconi, Bode, Drnevich

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