In my last post, I opined that the United States was at risk of losing its share of the global fuel cell market to Germany, South Korea, Japan, and perhaps China. Unfortunately, this is a story that the United States knows all too well. For example, in solar and wind, the United States had an early advantage, only to see its leadership position fade away to Europe and China.
fuel cell
The Solar Bus Stop and Hydrogen Bus: Green Solutions for Public Transport
A couple of initiatives related to public transport involving solar power and hydrogen fuel bring alternative energy to commuters in two different cities.
Solar Bus Shelter
The City of Corona in California has installed solar bus shelters connected to the grid, writes Energy Boom. They feature
U.S. researchers have used a combination of enzymes that consume cellulose from non-food products to produce a high-quality hydrogen gas, a potential breakthrough in efforts to use biofuels to power hydrogen fuel cells. Scientists at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the University of Georgia combined 14
Denmark, like, Germany, her neighbor to the south, is a country that takes renewable energy seriously. The wind energy industry alone in Denmark is booming with companies like Vestas and Siemens Wind Power both having production facilities and bases of operation on Danish soil. Denmark’s own wind based energy also grows exponentially each year leaving
Methane is one of the most harmful of all the greenhouse gasses, but new research could be the secret to harnessing this energy for common electronics.
Electrochemical fuel cells have always been viewed as a clean source of power, but using them in any other setting than the laboratory has been hindered by their high cost, reliability issues, and temperature.
A new utility-scale fuel cell system that could potentially power more than 600 homes and produce one megawatt of electricity, is being tested by FirstEnergy and Ballard Power Systems at the former’s Eastlake plant in Ohio.
Fuel cell cars, though sometimes criticized by automobile manufacturers for their cost, continue to reach for their place in a world that is moving towards a green vehicle revolution. Though the cost issue is a minor point to be concerned about, one of the biggest obstacles preventing fuel cell cars from taking hold is the lack of hydrogen fueling stations in various parts of the world.
Ah, Hawaii. Often have I written about the renewable energy innovations they have underway across the island chain and the new projects they have in the works. This time, however, I get to write about what Hawaii plans to do to bring green transportation to their shores. A power utility company on the island of Oahu and General Motors are partnering up to create
Bloom Energy Servers to provide 30% of Adobe HQ’s electricity.
Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) and Bloom Energy Corporation announced Tuesday they had completed the installation of the largest commercial Bloom Energy fuel cell array to date.
Emefcy, a microbial fuel cell startup based in Caesarea, Israel, has raised $5 million at a company value of more than $10 million, post-money.
UK investment fund Pond Venture Partners led the round, joined by current Emefcy investors Israel Cleantech Ventures Funds and Plan B Ventures, according to Globes and IVC Online.
Emefcy, co-founded by serial entrepreneurs Eytan Levy and Ronen Shechter, is developing the MEGAWATTER™ technology. This technology produces low cost electricity (at $0.10/kWhr) and hydrogen in a bio-electro-chemical process from wastewater treatment by leveraging Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) technology.
Israeli fuel cell start-up EnStorage Ltd. has raised $15 million in a Series B financing round.
U.S. private equity fund Warburg Pincus led the round, and was joined by all of EnStorage’s current investors, including Greylock Partners, Canaan Partners, Siemens TTB, and Wellington Partners, according to a report in “Globes“.
EnStorage was founded in 2007 by VP R&D Dr. Arnon Blum, Chief Scientific Officer Prof. Emanuel Peled of Tel Aviv University, Chairman Nachman Shelef, and former CEO Eran Yarkoni.
Bloom Energy has unveiled its long-awaited and much-hyped fuel cell technology, which it says can convert natural gas into electricity through an electrochemical process that reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent and at a price competitive with far-dirtier coal-fired electricity.
With California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in attendance, Bloom co-founder and chief executive K.R. Sridhar unveiled his Bloom Energy Server at the Silicon Valley headquarters of one of its first customers, eBay.
Taking up no more room than a parking space and looking like a large refrigerator, the servers (at left) — which cost roughly $750,000 — convert natural gas or another fuel into electricity by creating an electrochemical process on a series of small, stacked disks.
Many cleantech companies and industry groups are rethinking traditional patent strategies and forming new ones that I call “open patent strategies.” Open patent strategies use patent resources to both protect proprietary innovation and keep new technical domains clear for adoption and use of new technologies.