As I type this, a UPS beeps furiously behind me, and the growl of half-a-dozen diesel generators is audible down the street. I’m in Leh, a city nestled in a Himalayan valley surrounded by 6,000-metre / 20,000-foot peaks, the fast-growing capital of India’s northernmost territory Ladakh. It’s clearly outgrown its electrical capacity; power cuts hit several times a day.
Power generation is a deeply unsexy but profoundly important subject in the developing world. Technology is busily transforming lives all around the globe as you read this, but the dearth of reliable electricity is a massive obstacle even in major cities, much less faraway villages.
People do find various imperfect and ingenious ways to cope. → Read More
Hyundai plans to reveal their rather fetching Blue2 (pronounced “Blue square”) hydrogen fuel cell concept later this week at the Seoul Motor Show. We haven’t been seeing many hydrogen-powered cars lately — most of the ongoing eco-craze involves electric cars. Nonetheless, hydrogen-powered cars are considered to be the industry’s endgame, and the “liberator” for polluting vehicles. Exciting stuff. → Read More
Fuel cells are still on their way into the mainstream, but we’re getting there, slowly. Case in point: the AF-M3000 [JP], a mini fuel cell that just requires users to add water to get it to work. What’s interesting is that Kyoto-based Aquafairy has developed the device specifically for use with smartphones. → Read More
We’ve been hearing about using fuel cells as batteries since fuel cells existed. So far, nothing too interesting has come out. But if you’re interested in getting in on the tech early, check out the Powertrekk. The Powertrekk is a fuel cell and rechargeable battery in one. Similar to those portable battery chargers, the Powertrekk can charge your devices over USB from energy stored either in the fuel cell or the battery. The battery also acts a buffer between the fuel cell and your device.
Check out the video to see how it works. → Read More
The news has become muted regarding <a href="fuel cells and their future role in energy supply in recent years, but it seems we’re getting there step by step: Panasonic today said that it has developed a new type of home-use fuel cell [press release in English], which is more efficient and cheaper than its existing solutions. → Read More
In a move that could be torn from the playbook of SolarCity, Bloom Energy introduced a financing service today called Bloom Electrons that could popularize its solid oxide fuel cells, and make clean energy more accessible to the owners and operators of commercial and institutional buildings.
Through Bloom Electrons, power-consumers commit to a 10-year contract and set rate for fuel — for now, that means natural gas provided by California-based Bloom partners including PG&E. Then, Bloom Energy installs their system (the Bloom Box, a.k.a. energy server) on the customer’s site, though the customer doesn’t pay for it up-front… → Read More
Fuel cells are on their way into the mainstream, even though the commercially available models are still pretty pricey. But there are companies like Kyoto-based Aquafairy [JP], for example, preparing affordable fuel cells, too. Their four new fuel cells are intended to make gadget fans in particular happy: the micro FC Stick (0.8W), the FC-Stick (2W), the FC-Cube (3W) and the FC-Cube Dual (6W). → Read More
After eight years of operating in quasi-stealth, Bloom Energy came out with a bang today at an event in Silicon Valley attended by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Colin Powell, Larry Page, John Doerr, and executives from eBay, Walmart, Coca-Cola, and FedEx. All of the big-name companies, including Google, are beta customers of Bloom’s distributed energy fuel cell technology (which was the subject of a 60 Minutes profile on Sunday and various other stories since then).
Doerr, the Kleiner Perkins VC who backed both Bloom and Google, said today: “This Is Like The Google IPO.” Except without the IPO part. Doerr was referring to the fact that, like Google, Bloom has kept its business close to its vest until it actually could show some progress in terms of customers and products. Five Bloom energy boxes about the size of a parking space each now provide 15 percent of the power at eBay’s campus. Walmart is testing the boxes in two locations where it is carrying 60 to 80 percent of the energy load of an entire store. Google co-founder Larry Page calls the technology a “very big deal” and looks forward to the day that it can expand the number of Bloom boxes Google uses to the point where it can power one of its data centers. → Read More
I’ve never really had a problem with my Rebel’s battery life — in fact, it’s excellent. I guess that’s no reason to stop trying to improve it, however, and Canon is working on doing just that. Of course, they’re not an energy research company. But MTI Micro is, and they just happened to announce a deal with a “global Japanese developer of digital cameras” to create a fuel cell solution for “new multi-functional consumer devices.” Hmm. How could these two events be related? I don’t know if I can figure this mystery out! Where’s Encyclopedia Brown when you need him? → Read More
I hate batteries, but I love fuel cells. At some point in the near future the technology will do as promised, giving us hours of clean energy for our portable gear. Sadly, they’re still too big to be practical, but Sony’s working on the problem, and has this nifty palm-sized fuel cell to show for it. It’s a methanol-based unit, and can provide up to 14 hours of charge for a portable device. Now, it’s unclear if that’s “standby” or “active” use, but it’s still pretty impressive. Fuel cells should start hitting gear around 2010 if the technology keeps progressing at this rate, with affordable and practical uses about a year later. → Read More
[photopress:lifecar.jpg,full,center] A hydrogen-powered sports car will be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show that begins on Thursday that’s expected to go from 0-60 mph in seven seconds. (It tops out at about 90 mph.) The car, called the Lifecar and based on the Morgan Aero-8 (look at me, talking like I know anything about cars), has a range of 250 miles. It’s being touted as a “green” sports car. Because, you know, you driving around in one green car (or using other green products) will offset the amount of CO2 being pumped into the atmosphere by China et al. To be fair, the car is quite the technological feat. It’s powered by several hydrogen fuel cells that generate 22 kilowatts, or around one-fifth of what a conventional engine produces. The main purpose of the car was to develop one with as large a range as possible. Clearly a proof of concept, there’s still no way to easily refuel the Lifecar. The car also lacks a stereo and airbags. It looks good, though. Green sports car set for launch [BBC News] → Read More
Ready to power your iPod with clean, delicious hydrogen? I got a chance to see Horizon fuel cell technologies up close yesterday and I’m pleased to report that soon we all will be using our pent up atoms to power iPods, toy cars, and unmanned assault vehicles. Most of the cells are fairly bulky but they showed a small cell using a hydrogen canister the size of a AA battery that they designed for cellphones as well as a powerful 40W cell that can power an emergency light. They talked about a few potential products coming out down the road — nothing concrete — but they did mention emergency gear and construction tools that used fuel cells. They’re starting slow — no fuel cell cars, just yet — but they’re slowly ramping up and getting ready for some serious applications. → Read More
Presumably the first two images you see in this video are the battery and some sugar and presumably you Sony or whoever made this video has no taste in music. Regardless, looks like it could be a useful addition to the future battery arsenal and it presumably won’t explode like most Sony batteries. HAR! via Engadget → Read More
Mobile Magazine reports that Discovery has gotten some video of those ENV fuel cell bikes in action. The bikes are notable for its emission neutral technology that emits only water. It’s cool, but ultimately just a masturbatory diversion. Hydrogen fuel cells are too costly and too uncommon to possibly hope to meet the demands of consumers anytime soon. But check out the video for some hot color coordinated hydrogen bike action. ENV fuel cell bike caught in action [Mobile Mag] → Read More
Jadoo Power Systems announced today that it has received a contract to develop advanced fuel canisters for use with hydrogen fuel cells. Using a proprietary digital interface technology called N-Stor, the new canisters can utilize a chemical hydride derived from ammonia borane. This process drastically reduces the weight of the new canisters, making it ideal for space objectives. Jadoo → Read More
