Tokyo Gas and Panasonic to Launch New Improved "Ene-Farm" Home Fuel Cell with World-Highest Power Generation Efficiency at More Affordable Price (09/02/11)

Tokyo Gas and Panasonic have jointly developed a new model of their "Ene-Farm" home fuel cell, which is to go on sale from April 1st 2011.

Made by Panasonic and sold by Tokyo Gas, the fuel cell co-generation systems generate electricity thanks a chemical reaction between oxygen in the atmosphere and hydrogen extracted from city gas.

Electricity is generated and used in the same place, making the fuel cell eco-friendly, resulting in primary energy consumption to be reduced by roughly 35 per cent and CO2 emissions by close to half.

It is thought the new fuel cell will cut utility bills for homeowners by over £375 a year.

Japan sees overseas mkt for home fuel-cell boilers (09/02/11)

Panasonic expects Japan to begin exporting its energy-efficient, electricity-generating home boilers overseas by 2015.

Boosted by government support, Japan is well ahead of other countries in developing fuel cells for use in home boilers.

Since their launch in 2009, around 10,000 of these boilers have been installed in the country, cutting electricity bills by up to 30 per cent.

"We'd like to take them abroad around 2015," Takashi Iwasa, engineering group manager at Panasonic said.

Plug Power Helps Open Hydrogen Industrial Park With Genco and Kimberly-Clark Corporation (10/02/11)

Kimberly-Clark is using 25 new Toyota electric lift trucks powered by Plug Power Inc's GenDrive fuel cell technology at its distribution centred in Graniteville, South Carolina.

Plug Power said the trucks can help Kimberly-Clark to cut emissions by 90 per cent, adding that the GenDrive technology boosts productivity as material handling equipment runs longer at full speed.

Reducing operational costs associated with lost time in manpower means return on investment for some customer's fuel cell purchases can be realised immediately, the company explained.

Linde to Feature Hydrogen Fueling Technologies for Commercial Fuel Cell Vehicles at Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Conference (10/02/11)
Linde North America showcased the commercial effectiveness of its next generation hydrogen fuel cell technologies at the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Association conference.

"The Ionic Compressor is a step-change in the area of hydrogen fuelling," said Mike Beckman, head of the Linde North America's alternative energy team.

"It is a high-efficiency, high-throughput, low-maintenance and low-noise compression solution to allow fast and safe filling of vehicles,” he added ahead of the event.

He also highlighted the Linde MF-90 high performance containerized compressor system, which was first developed and marketed in Europe.

Ballard Fuel Cell Modules To Power Fleet of Clean Energy Transit Buses in Norway (15/02/11)

Ballard Power Systems has entered into a contract to supply fuel power modules to power five zero-carbon hydrogen fuel cell buses in Norway.

Belgian coach maker Van Hool NV will use the company's FCveolicty(R) fuel cell module on the buses that will go in service around Oslo.

"This contract is a further sign of the growth potential that clean fuel cell power has in the larger global transit bus marketplace, as transit agencies implement environmental improvements," said Michael Goldstein, Ballard's chief commercial officer.

Acta and MES to Target Recreational Vehicle Market (16/02/11)

Swiss fuel cell maker MES has entered into a joint agreement with Italian company Acta to launch portable fuel cell generators for recreational vehicles.

The companies expect to sell between 500 and 1,000 of the units, which will have a capacity of between 250W and 500W and offer around four hours runtime at maximum output.

Other units featuring filters will be produced to power electric onboard motors for boats.

NREL Teams with Industry to Validate Methanol Fuel Cell Technology (18/02/11)

The US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is collaborating with Oorja Protonics on a two-year project to deploy and demonstrate methanol fuel cells for power pallet jacks.

Seventy-five direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) packs will power material handling lifts at warehouses operated by Unified Grocers, Earp Distribution and Testa Produce.

The lifts will use renewable bio-methanol, which is an organically-derived fuel made from crude glycerin resulting from vegetable oil and animal fat processing.

"The deployment project offers a significant opportunity to increase the number of commercially available DMFC systems, expand practical user operating experiences, and validate the performance of the systems using real-world data," explained NREL project manager Todd Ramsden.

Ballard Confirms Bleach Plant Installation (22/02/11)

K2 Pure Solutions is to install a fuel cell power generator at its bleach plant in Pittsburg, California, after finalising an agreement with Ballard Power Systems.

The CLEARgen fuel cell system will use hydrogen produced as a by-product at the bleach plant to meet some of the plant's electricity demand and is expected to be operational in the second half of 2012.

Horizon, Pilus on bioreactors to produce renewable hydrogen from waste for fuel cells (23/02/11)
Ohio-based Pilus Energy has agreed a strategic relationship to combine its renewable hydrogen production platform with Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies' hydrogen fuel cells.

The deal will see Singapore-based Horizon integrate its PEM fuel cells with Pilus Energy's renewable hydrogen platform to deliver solution to generate clean power cheaply.

"Our goal is to offer complete fuel cell power solutions to our clients, which also means creating hydrogen fuel supply solutions," said Taras Wankewycz, founder and chief marketing officer of Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies.

Nuvera Receives Second Order for Fuel Cell Forklifts (23/02/11)

The US Defense Logistics Agency has placed a follow-up order for 18 new fuel cell units from Nuvera Fuel Cells.

Coming after an initial order of 20, the additional PowerEdge RL25 fuel cell units will supplement those already in place at the Susquehanna Defense Distribution Supply Depot, which is the largest of its kind in the US.

Kia Motors intends to join the Clean Energy Partnership to promote Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles in Germany (25/02/11)

Kia Motors has agreed a deal with members of the Clean Energy Partnership (CEP) to help promote Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles.

The car maker intends to join the partnership later this year as part of its place to commercialise its fuel cell vehicles.

“With Kia coming on board, the CEP would gain another strong partner from the automotive industry. We believe this can advance the commercialisation of fuel cell vehicles,” said Patrick Schnell, the partnership's chairman.

Mercedes-benz Eco Cars Poised for Star Studded Awards Week (24/02/11)

Mercedes-Benz has being playing its part in the annual awards season, with stars turning up at red carpet events like the Oscars in the car maker's eco vehicles.

One event, the Hollywood Dominos 4th Annual Gala, gave people a chance to get a good look at one of the limited number of Zero Emission B-Class Hydrogen Fuel Cell vehicles that are now available for lease in California.

The car is essentially an electric car that is powered by compressed hydrogen, which gets the equivalent fuel mileage of 86.6 miles per gallon with a range of up to 240 miles.

It can be re-fuelled in roughly three minutes and produces water as the only emission.

Mercedes-Benz F-Cell World Drive Makes Its Way Across America (07/03/11)
The Mercedes-Benz F-CELL World Drive began the second leg of its world tour with three neon green B-Class F-CELL vehicles on February 25th.

After racking up around 4,600 miles in the US and Canada alone, the fuel cell vehicles will head to Australia for the next leg of their tour.

While highlighting the potential for fuel cell vehicles, the challenge also reveals gaps in the US hydrogen infrastructure.

By the end of the US leg of the tour, the B-Class F-CELL vehicles will have been refuelled around 35 times, but only once will have been at a public hydrogen filling station, Mercedes-Benz notes. 

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