DoE News: Renewable H2 & Manufacturing R&D are Cut from DoE ‘09 Hydrogen Budget Request WASHINGTON, DC – There’s bad news, and there’s more bad news, and then there’s a bit of good news. That would be one way of describing the Energy Department’s proposed 2009 budget request for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), DoE’s Grand Central for hydrogen and fuel cell research and development.
H2 Could Cut Europe’s Oil Use 40%, Says Study; Germany Starts Nat’l H2 Organization BRUSSELS/BERLIN - A new European Union-funded study says launching hydrogen as fuel could reduce European oil consumption by 40% by 2050, and the German government last month gave the green light to the country’s new national hydrogen organization NOW.
National Hydrogen Association Launches “H2 and You” Education Drive WASHINGTON, DC - First announced a little less than a year ago, the National Hydrogen Association’s Hydrogen Education Foundation has launched a nationwide campaign to educate the public about hydrogen.
Briefly Noted: "Science" Biofuel Papers Two significant papers published back-to-back last month in “Science” underscored strongly, if indirectly, the case for hydrogen as carbon-free chemical fuel. They cast significant doubt on the usefulness of biofuels in combating global heating and concluded these may be as much or more of a greenhouse gas menace as today’s gasoline and diesel.
Briefly Noted: MTI MicroFuel Cells MTI MicroFuel Cells, Albany, NY unveiled this functional new direct methanol fuel cell-powered prototype handgrip for extended operations for digital single-lens reflex cameras at the 4th International Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Expo in Tokyo last month.
Briefly Noted: Hybrid Vehicles Paper A long academically-oriented paper published late last year in Europe casts doubt on whether the current interest in hybrid vehicles will survive in the long run.
Briefly Noted: Airbus Moves Airbus which a couple of decades ago was making waves by promoting liquid hydrogen as aviation fuel with its “Cryoplane” concept.
Briefly Noted: Quantum Hydrogen Hybrid Sales Irvine, CA-based Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide, Inc. says it has received an order for four more Ford Escape Hydrogen Hybrid vehicles from the U.S. Army’s Tank Automotive Research Development and Engineering Center.
Briefly Noted: Linde Group The Linde Group, Germany’s leading industrial gas company based in Munich, has signed a contract with German chemical manufacturer BASF to build a large hydrogen plant for BASF’s facility in Ludwigshafen.
Events The “Washington International Renewable Energy Conference” (WIREC), coordinated by the U.S. State Department with other Federal departments and agencies, will be March 4-6 at the Washington Convention Center, Washington, DC.
CORRECTION The last issue published in February carried the wrong date: It should have been February 2008 (not 2007, as printed). Apologies to librarians and others concerned with keeping track of issues and dates.
