General Motors and Honda are teaming up to mass produce an advanced hydrogen fuel cell system in the auto industry’s first manufacturing joint venture. Fuel Cell System Manufacturing, LLC will operate within GM’s existing battery pack manufacturing facility site in Brownstown, Michigan, south of Detroit. Mass production of fuel cell systems is expected to begin around 2020 and create nearly …
NREL Scientists Discover Bacteria to Biofuels Breakthrough
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have discovered a metabolic pathway that take up CO2 and is then capable of breaking down and fermenting cellulosic biomass to produce biofuels, hydrogen and hydrocarbons. The specific bacteria is Clostridium thermocellum and is among the most efficient bacteria in directly converting cellulosic materials into hydrogen and hydrocarbons …
Celebrate National Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Day
Saturday, October 8, 2016 is National Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Day. The event was created to raise awareness of clean energy technologies that are available now, including fuel cell powered vehicles. October 8 (10.08) was selected in reference to the atomic weight of hydrogen (1.008). The Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Association (FCHEA) along with its members, industry organizations, and …
HCATT Sponsors Waste-to-Energy Demo
A waste-to-energy demonstration has kicked off on the campus of the Hawaii Air National Guard (HIANG). Sponsored by the High Technology Development Corporation’s (HTDC) Hawaii Center for Advanced Transportation Technologies (HCATT) the $6.8 million project showcases the efficacy of converting 10 tons of waste per day to electricity to generate a net 200 to 300 kW of baseload power using …
Researchers Release Hydrogen from Tough Biomass
Researchers from Georgia Tech have figured out how to release hydrogen from even the toughest sources of biomass. This article from Chemistry World says Yulin Deng and his team at the university developed a low-temperature electrolytic technology that can crack even molecules like lignin and cellulose, eliminating the need to use fossil fuels to release clean-burning hydrogen. The process takes …
IU Researchers Create Hydrogen Biofuels
Indiana University researchers have developed a highly efficient biomaterial that catalyzes the formation of hydrogen by splitting H2O and creating hydrogen and oxygen. The resulting fuel can be used to power vehicles that essentially run on water. According to the research team, a modified enzyme gains strength from being protected within the protein shell — or “capsid” — of a …
USDA Funds 544 REAP Projects
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has awarded 544 renewable energy and energy efficiency projects more than $6.7 million as part of the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP). USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack made the announcement at the Snake River Brewing Company, in Jackson, Wyoming. The company received a $13,810 REAP grant to install a solar panel to generate energy …
Air Products Debuts Solar-Powered Fueling Station
Air Products has inaugurated India’s first solar-powered renewable fueling station in an event this week that included chief guest Shri Piyush Goyal, Union Minister for Power, Coal, and New and Renewable Energy, along with Shri Upendra Tripathy, Secretary, Minister of New and Renewable Energy. With the addition of this SmartFuel station, Air Products now has three hydrogen fueling stations operating in …
Va Tech Scientists Turning Corn Husks into Hydrogen
Scientists at Virginia Tech have found a way to get hydrogen from corn husks. This article from Yahoo says the husks and stalks are not only a plentiful feedstock for the potential car fuel, but they’re cheap, too. “We have demonstrated the most important step toward a hydrogen economy — producing distributed and affordable green hydrogen from local biomass resources,” …
EIA Reports Renewable Energy Sees Gain
Net electrical generation from non-hydro renewable energy sources increased by 10.9 percent over the previous year (2013), according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latest “Electric Power Monthly“. The solar contribution to net electrical generation more than doubled (102.8%) while wind grew by 8.3 percent, biomass by 5.7 percent, and geothermal by 5.4 percent. Comparatively speaking, nuclear power and …