November 18, 2014

Scientific American: Hydrogen May Prove Fuel of the Future

Will the most common molecule in the universe make for pollution-free cars?
By Julia Pyper November 18, 2014

Hyundai Fuel Cell Vehicles Arrive in the US

Humans have harnessed hydrogen for a variety of applications, from blasting rockets into space to making common household products like toothpaste. Now, after decades of development, hydrogen is about to find its way into the family car.

In June, Hyundai Motor Co. began leasing its Tucson Fuel Cell and has pledged to produce 1,000 units globally by 2015. Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. will start sales of their next-generation fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) next year. Yesterday, Toyota released a video showing the Mirai, its first commercial fuel cell car.

Several other automakers are aiming to release fuel cell cars in 2017.

One benefit is that FCVs bring tailpipe emissions down to zero, so tightening auto emission standards will be less of a problem for automakers. Another benefit is that while plug-in electric cars have range limits and time-consuming refueling, FCVs—which use hydrogen to make electricity—will be very familiar to car buyers.

They can be refueled in less than five minutes and boast a 300-mile driving range. For these reasons, several governments and car companies are betting on hydrogen as the clean transportation fuel of the future and one that will ultimately win consumers' favor...
FULL ARTICLE: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/hydrogen-may-prove-fuel-of-the-future/

Related: Hydrogen fuel becomes a practical reality


ITV Presenter Rebecca Broxton walks through the new Honda SolarPark in Swindon, UK

The launch of the UK’s first commercial-scale hydrogen production and refuelling facility powered by solar energy heralds the dawn of an era of true carbon-free fuel.
http://www.shdlogistics.com/news/view/hydrogen-fuel-becomes-a-practical-reality

November 18, 2014

Explained: Why the 2016 Toyota Mirai, Honda FCV Concept, Have CHAdeMO Sockets on Them

November 18, 2014 By Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield

Honda’s Hydrogen FCV Concept- Coming in 2016

Yesterday, Japanese automakers Toyota and Honda both unveiled their latest hydrogen fuel cell sedans, with the official pre-LA Auto Show press events for the production-ready 2016 Toyota Mirai fuel cell sedan and the 2014 Honda FCV Concept car.


Behind the small panel in the upper-left corner of the Toyota Mirai’s trunk is a CHAdeMO DC connector. But what is it for?

On paper, the two cars serve a similar function in the automotive world. Both offer seating for four, a range of around 300 miles per fill of their hydrogen tanks, feature the latest high-pressure, energy dense hydrogen fuel cell stack technology and have similar performance figures. They also both come with something that has many plug-in car fans scratching their heads in disbelief: built-in CHAdeMO DC sockets.


The Toyota Mirai Fuel Cell Sedan can use this CHAdeMO socket to provide emergency power when required.

Usually found on cars like the 2015 Nissan LEAF electric car and 2015 Kia Soul EV, CHAdeMO sockets have traditionally been used to connect fully electric or plug-in hybrid cars to CHAdeMO DC quick charge stations. Designed to refill the car’s battery packs from empty to 80 percent full in around 30 minutes, CHAdeMO DC sockets bypass a car’s on-board charger and pump high current, high voltage power direct into a car’s battery pack...


The Honda Power Exporter Concept features a CHAdeMO plug, which draws power from the Honda FCV Concept and turns it into mains electricity.

The presence of CHAdeMO sockets on both cars also explains why Honda’s Power Generator Concept — a small external inverter unveiled yesterday which is about the same size as a small internal combustion generator — also has a CHAdeMO connector on it. Small and portable, it can draw up to 9 kilowatts form the Honda FCV concept via its CHAdeMO socket to provide emergency power when and wherever it’s needed...

Full Article: https://transportevolved.com/2014/11/18/explained-2016-toyota-mirai-honda-fcv-concept-chademo-sockets/

To see how serious Toyota is about a Hydrogen future here is the Mirai Launch Press Conference in Tokyo Recorded Live on November 18, 2014
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/toyota-en
(Translation provided)

Akio Toyoda, President of Toyota Motor Corp. introduces Toyota's "Mirai" Fuel Cell Sedan



Related: Future hydrogen fueling station delivers power or hydrogen

(Nanowerk News) The pilot hydrogen storage and production facility that EPFL has built in Martigny (VS), France had a public open house yesterday. It was an opportunity to get a glimpse into the fueling stations of the future.

“Fill it up with hydrogen, please!”

In just a few years, this request won’t be a fictional one. The clean vehicles we occasionally see on the roads will increasingly become the norm...
http://www.nanowerk.com/news2/green/newsid=38102.php

November 14, 2014

Bibendum 2014: ITM Power wants to make nearly free hydrogen. No, really

Electrolyzers, Natural Gas And Grid Balancing Are The Keys

Sebastian Blanco | Green Autoblog.com | Nov 14, 2014

There's a problem that need solving when it comes to renewable energy. Where do you put it when it's not needed? Graham Cooley, CEO of ITM Power, has what he says is the best answer: you turn it into hydrogen. Speaking at the 2014 Michelin Challenge Bibendum in Chengdu, China this week, Cooley explained how ITM's electrolyzer system, when connected to the electric grid and the local natural gas pipeline, can basically get you zero-cost hydrogen fuel for your fuel cell vehicle. It's not a completely new idea, but here's how it works.



Cooley started by noting that the UK has tremendous wind power potential, especially in the north, in Ireland and Scotland. Cooley said it was, "the richest wind resource in Europe, which would be fantastic if we could harness it properly." That's a catch, though: the grid doesn't have enough storage capacity to hold on to a lot of renewable energy if it happens to be generated when you don't need it. If it's windy when people are sleeping, for example, the energy is likely to be wasted. Some utilities have plans to use giant battery banks, especially those that have served time in plug-in vehicles, to store this electricity, but ITM thinks its hydrogen electrolyzers are a better solution for the massive amounts of power that a city or national grid needs. "There's a threshold that you get to, which is about 20 percent by capacity by renewable power," Cooley said, after which "you start to turn down considerable amounts of that power." The UK hit that threshold last year,



That makes storing or using that temperamental wind energy the better choice.
The reason for it is a little complicated, but stay with us. Let's say that you're a utility and your total grid capacity includes 20 percent wind power. One day, everyone is using all of your electricity, and then all of a sudden, the wind starts raging and you'd like to send your customers that emissions-free power instead of burning your fossil fuels. To do that, you have two options: you can quickly reduce your fossil fuel power generation by 20 percent, or you can find a way to store that wind energy for the future. Slowing down and then restarting giant coal- or oil-fired generators can take 12 or 6 hours, respectively – and shutting down a nuclear plant can take up to 48 hours – so those aren't reasonable options. Thus, storing or using all that temperamental wind energy becomes the better choice, at least over the short term.

As stated, you could save the energy for later use in big battery packs, but Cooley and ITM Power say that their hydrogen electrolyzers offer a far superior solution because of something called grid balancing, which is the obligation by the transmission operator to achieve 50 Hz on average every hour. Grid balancing "is about frequency and it's about balancing the supply side with the demand side," Cooley said. Different countries require different outputs (in the US, it is 60 Hz; in China and the UK, 50 Hz), so the following numbers aren't applicable everywhere, but we'll let Cooley explain it from here and you'll get the gist (Wikipedia can also explain it)...

MORE: http://green.autoblog.com/2014/11/14/bibendum-2014-itm-power-make-free-hydrogen/

Related: Hydrogen fuel becomes a practical reality.
"The launch of the UK’s first commercial-scale hydrogen production and refuelling facility powered by solar energy heralds the dawn of an era of true carbon-free fuel."

http://www.shdlogistics.com/news/view/hydrogen-fuel-becomes-a-practical-reality

Hydrogen energy storage: power ramp-up at the MYRTE test platform.
"Since 1/2012, this platform has connected photovoltaic solar panels to a hydrogen-based storage system. By joining the power grid, this provides a solution to the problem of intermittency & makes it one of the rare installations.." http://www.pennenergy.com/articles/pennenergy/2014/05/hydrogen-energy-storage-power-ramp-up-at-the-myrte-test-platform.html

Siemens plans electrolyzer system to store wind power as hydrogen.
The system, equipped with an electrolyzer from Siemens, will convert surplus electricity from wind farms to hydrogen. The hydrogen will then be stored locally in tankers or fed directly into the natural gas grid or used for fuel cell vehicles. http://www.elp.com/articles/2014/05/siemens-plans-electrolyzer-system-to-store-wind-power-as-hydrogen.html

Green Hydrogen facility opens at Berlin airport, with first refueling of a fuel cell Electric Vehicle.
"The operating principle is based on applying hydrogen as an energy source produced using wind power and solar energy. Initially the electricity required will be provided by a nearby wind park."
http://www.renewableenergyfocus.com/view/38624/green-hydrogen-facility-opens-at-berlin-airport-with-first-refueling-of-fuel-cell-vehicle/

The US (who went to the moon on Fuel Cells) could have led this energy revolution, instead it can sit back and watch the rest of the world. When it's not bombing and invading other countries. Nice work, Boomers.

November 14, 2014

.

John Kerry insane?

Kerry To Host Henry Kissinger, Foreign Affairs Experts As Syria Deal Looms

Kerry is scheduled to meet one-on-one with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger Wednesday afternoon, and address a meeting of the 25-member Foreign Affairs Policy Board Wednesday morning.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/11/kerry-syria_n_3903888.html




Henry Kissinger, pondering where to pull off the next Coup d'etat

November 11, 2014

MTSU Professor Drives Cross-Country On Chicken Fat Fuel (If It Doesn’t Freeze)

by Emily Siner November 11, 2014

MTSU professor Cliff Ricketts stands next to the 1981 Volkswagen Rabbit pickup truck he will drive from Key West, FL., to Seattle, WA., from Nov. 6 to 13. Credit: MTSU News and Media Relations

...The good news is that 66-year-old Cliff Ricketts is getting 40 miles per gallon so far on what is essentially chicken fat. The bad news? “This fuel does not like cold weather, so we’re making all kinds of plans,” he says.

He’s driving northwest in a 1981 Volkswagen Rabbit pickup with 15 five-gallon cans of fuel in the truck’s bed. He hopes to keep them from freezing with an electric blanket.

But this isn’t his first cross-country experience. Last year, Ricketts drove a car running on solar power and hydrogen from water. The year before, it was hydrogen and ethanol. He says he wants America to stop importing oil, and that motivates his research.

“It’s helping the economy, it’s helping the environment, and I think it’s making strides toward world peace,” he says...MORE
http://nashvillepublicradio.org/blog/2014/11/11/mtsu-professor-drives-cross-country-chicken-fat-fuel-doesnt-freeze/

Related: Car drives across country on Hemp Fuel in 2001




Hemp car was an alternative-fuel project car that utilized hemp biodiesel for fuel. Industrial hemp would be an economical fuel if hemp were legal to cultivate in the United States. Industrial hemp has no psychoactive properties and is not a drug. Hemp Car demonstrates the concept of hemp fuels on a national level and promotes the reformation of current law.

The car toured America, with stops in Canada, frequenting alternative-energy, environmental, and hemp-legalization events. The car departed from Washington D.C. on July 4, 2001 and returned home on October 2, 2001. The car generated publicity, emphasizing the utility of industrial hemp to modern society. We provided the public with information about biofuels, hemp, their uses, and current American laws. We established a world distance record for a vehicle utilizing hemp for fuel: 10,000 miles.

A network of hemp activists provided us with the hemp oil at planned intervals throughout the country. Funding, sponsorships, and networking were necessary for Hemp Car to succeed. We give great thanks to all of the activists and concerned citizens who made Hempcar possible.
http://hempcar.org/



The PetroDollar seems to be the main rea$on the US is not energy independent.

November 10, 2014

Honda goes renewable with fuel cell forklifts

10 November 2014

A research effort involving Briggs Equipment and Honda has seen the development a hydrogen fuel cell-powered truck that relies entirely on renewable energy sources.

The new system developed at Honda's Swindon manufacturing facility generates hydrogen from solar power via an on-site electrolyser, ensuring that energy inputs are all clean and renewable with zero emissions...

...Close said: "The benefits are clear. Gone are the big lead-acid batteries and their need for space, replacement and maintenance. Maintenance alone is around one-and-a-half times lower. Productivity is also clearly a plus factor, allowing cost benefits to begin to stack up.

"There is also the potential to replace diesel engines and avoid an ever tightening legislative determination to bear down on NOx and particulate emissions, plus the potential price and supply volatility of hydrocarbons fuels."
MORE: http://www.logisticsmanager.com/Articles/22837/Honda+goes+renewable+with+fuel+cell+forklifts.html

Related: Hydrogen fuel becomes a practical reality
Nov 03, 2014 by Peter MacLeod


ITV Presenter Rebecca Broxton walks through Honda's new SolarPark in Swindon, UK

The launch of the UK’s first commercial-scale hydrogen production and refuelling facility powered by solar energy heralds the dawn of an era of true carbon-free fuel.

The gas will be generated at Honda UK's manufacturing plant in Swindon at the rate of 20 tonnes per year using a process called solar hydrolysis, whereby Hydrogen will be produced from water using the heat of the sun, and used initially to power a pair of forklifts, a fleet of commercial vehicles, and an education centre situated alongside the filling station...MORE
http://www.shdlogistics.com/news/view/hydrogen-fuel-becomes-a-practical-reality

November 10, 2014

Microsoft, FuelCell Energy, and Siemens build a zero-carbon data center in Wyoming

HydrogenFuelNews.com 10 November 2014

Microsoft has built a new, zero-carbon data center in Cheyenne, Wyoming, with the help of Siemens and FuelCell Energy. The companies built the data center to accommodate Microsoft’s growing data storage and management needs, but also to showcase how such facilities can be completely powered by renewable energy. Data centers are notoriously energy hungry, requiring large quantities of electrical power in order to remain operational for extended periods of time. Biogas fuel cells will be able to satisfy the energy needs of the data center

In the past, many had believed that renewable energy would not be enough to meet the needs of data centers. Now, however, that is no longer the case, thanks to advancements that have been made in the clean technology space. The new data center is equipped with a biogas fuel cell system, which produces 300 kilowatts of electrical power. The biogas that is used by the fuel cell system is supplied by a nearby gas production facility located in Dry Creek. The data center will be using 200 kilowatts of the electricity produced by the fuel cell system, with the remainder being delivered to a wastewater treatment facility...

...Fuel cells are becoming a popular solution to the energy needs of data centers. Microsoft has been using these energy systems more frequently in order to reduce the reliance of its data centers on fossil-fuels, making these facilities more environmentally friendly. In the coming years, fuel cells are likely to become yet more common energy solutions in the technology field, especially as more companies embrace clean energy...

MORE: http://www.hydrogenfuelnews.com/new-microsoft-data-center-powered-fuel-cells/8520228/

Related: Video and Photo Slideshow of Microsoft's new Fuel Cell Data center
http://inr.synapticdigital.com/siemens/cheyennedatacenter/

Microsoft’s Biogas-Powered Data Plant Opens in Wyoming

Published on Nov 7, 2014

November 7, 2014

Stan Beattie

http://noliesradio.org/archives/91227
This show was broadcast November 6, 2014

November 6, 2014

Operator of Silk Road 2.0 Website Charged in Manhattan Federal Court

U.S. Attorney’s Office November 06, 2014



Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, George Venizelos, the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), and Peter Edge, Executive Associate Director of Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”), announced today the arrest of BLAKE BENTHALL, a/k/a “Defcon,” in connection with his operation and ownership of the Silk Road 2.0 website, a hidden website designed to enable its users to buy and sell illegal drugs and other unlawful goods and services anonymously and beyond the reach of law enforcement. BENTHALL was arrested yesterday in San Francisco, California. He will be presented later today in federal court in San Francisco before Magistrate Judge Jaqueline Scott Corley.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: “As alleged, Blake Benthall attempted to resurrect Silk Road, a secret website that law enforcement seized last year, by running Silk Road 2.0, a nearly identical criminal enterprise. Let’s be clear—this Silk Road, in whatever form, is the road to prison. Those looking to follow in the footsteps of alleged cybercriminals should understand that we will return as many times as necessary to shut down noxious online criminal bazaars. We don’t get tired.”

FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge George Venizelos said: “It’s been more than a year since the FBI made an arrest of the administrator of the black-market bazaar, Silk Road, and here we stand again, announcing the arrest of the creator and operator of Silk Road 2.0. Following a very close business model to the first, as alleged, Blake Benthall ran a website on the Tor network facilitating supposedly anonymous deals of drugs and illegal services generating millions of dollars in monthly sales. Benthall should have known that those who hide behind the keyboard will ultimately be found. The FBI worked with law enforcement partners here and abroad on this case and will continue to investigate and bring to prosecution those who seek to run similar black markets online.”...

...BENTHALL, 26, of San Francisco, California, is charged with one count of conspiring to commit narcotics trafficking, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison and a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison; one count of conspiring to commit computer hacking, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison; one count of conspiring to traffic in fraudulent identification documents, which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison; and one count of money laundering conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. The maximum potential sentences are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge.
More http://www.fbi.gov/newyork/press-releases/2014/operator-of-silk-road-2.0-website-charged-in-manhattan-federal-court

November 6, 2014

Hydrogen Power is the Future, says University Researcher

David Godsall Nov 06, 2014

Hyundai ix35 Fuel Cell Vehicle in London

Cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells will challenge the dominance of petrol and diesel cars in Britain in the near future, according to a Loughborough University researcher...

...Michael Whiteley- a student in Loughborough’s Department of Aeronautical and Automotive Engineering and a member of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Doctoral Training Centre for Hydrogen Fuel Cells and their Applications - is researching fuel cell degradation and has just secured funding to build what is thought to be the only test rig of its kind in the UK...

...“Fifty PhD students have been funded in the last four years through the Doctoral Training Centre in fuel cells between Loughborough, Nottingham and Birmingham universities. “A further fifty PhD students will be funded over the next four years in a new DTC that includes two universities in London...

...Michael says petrol stations could be adapted and even make their own hydrogen on site like in Japan. And if they use renewables to create the electricity, the hydrogen would be 100 per cent green...
MORE: http://www.loughboroughecho.net/lifestyle/motoring/loughborough-university-research-into-hydrogen-8046098

RELATED: Hydrogen fuel becomes a practical reality


ITV Presenter Rebecca Broxton at Honda's new Solar Hydrogen facility in Swindon, UK

The launch of the UK’s first commercial-scale hydrogen production and refuelling facility powered by solar energy heralds the dawn of an era of true carbon-free fuel.

The gas will be generated at Honda UK's manufacturing plant in Swindon at the rate of 20 tonnes per year using a process called solar hydrolysis, whereby Hydrogen will be produced from water using the heat of the sun, and used initially to power a pair of forklifts, a fleet of commercial vehicles, and an education centre situated alongside the filling station...
http://www.shdlogistics.com/news/view/hydrogen-fuel-becomes-a-practical-reality