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Due Process on Dams?

It's no secret that the Bush administration wants to tilt environmental rules to favor business interests. But the Interior Department has recently taken that approach to a new level of brazenness. The issue involves environmental requirements imposed on hydropower companies when dams come up for license renewal — in other words, what steps they must take to protect fish and other natural resources. Under Interior's proposed regulation, hydropower companies would have the exclusive right to appeal to the department's political appointees to try to change or loosen conditions imposed by more junior officials. Others affected by the license renewal — states, Indian tribes, anglers, environmental groups — could respond to the power company's arguments, but they wouldn't have any parallel right to this interim appeal. As technical as this issue sounds, it's of enormous importance to the nation's hydroelectric power companies — and to its rivers. Most of these licenses were granted decades ago, before the advent of modern environmental laws. In the next 15 years, licenses for more than half the country's privately owned dams will come up for renewal. The conditions placed on those licenses will affect fish and wildlife, recreational boaters and Indian tribes, among others. In […]

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NASA Buys Hydrogenics Stack to Test for Potential Uses in Space

Hydrogenics Corporation (Nasdaq: HYGS; TSX: HYG), a designer and manufacturer of hydrogen and fuel cell systems, has sold a light weight 5kW hydrogen/oxygen Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell stack to the NASA Glenn Research Center, which will use it in an experimental closed cycle hydrogen-oxygen regenerative fuel cell. This type of system can be used for energy storage in places where oxygen is not easily available, such as very high altitude, space or underwater environments. NASA will use this stack as part of its research program to understand how the regenerative fuel cell will operate in future aerospace applications. "Our expertise and experience in this range of PEM stacks was an important part of the reason why NASA chose us," said Pierre Rivard, President and CEO of Hydrogenics Corporation. "Hydrogenics has been developing PEM stacks for over eight years and this is a testament to the state of our proprietary technology. This sale has the potential to open the door to other sales of this light weight hydrogen fuel cell technology, particularly for aerospace and underwater applications, where weight is a consideration." This is Hydrogenics' first hydrogen-oxygen PEM stack sale. The stack was designed to be very light, which […]

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Mobion(TM) Technology Named 'Best of What's New' by Popular Science Magazine

MTI MicroFuel Cells Inc. (MTI Micro), the developer of Mobion(TM) cord-free rechargeable portable power technology suitable for handheld electronic devices and a subsidiary of Mechanical Technology Incorporated (Nasdaq: MKTY), has received a 2004 "Best of What's New" Award for its Mobion(TM) Technology in an annual competition conducted by Popular Science. "Best of What's New is the ultimate Popular Science accolade, representing a year's worth of work evaluating thousands of products," said Editor Mark Jannot. "These awards honor innovations that not only impact the way we live today, but change the way we think about the future." One winner in each of the twelve categories is awarded the highest honor, Grand Award, in recognition of products representing a leap over existing technologies. MTI Micro's breakthrough Mobion(TM) micro fuel cell technology was selected as the Grand Award Winner in the General Innovations category. Website: http://www.mtimicrofuelcells.com     

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U.S. States Defy Bush with Carbon Trading Plan

by Saeed Shah Individual US states are putting together a system to cap and trade greenhouse gas emissions, despite the Bush administration's opposition to the Kyoto protocol on global warming. The regional-level initiative, led by the Governor of New York state, George Pataki, aims to be able to announce the details of a scheme by April. Nine north-eastern and mid-Atlantic states are taking part, with other states and some Canadian provinces involved as "observers" in the process. The scheme could even link up with the emissions controls and trading system being established by the European Union next year, allowing emission allowances to be traded across the Atlantic. It is understood that informal talks have taken place between environmental officials of the US states and their European Commission counterparts. The development will prove a major embarrassment to the Bush government, which provoked considerable condemnation in 2001 by pulling out of the 1997 Kyoto climate control treaty. Many believe that the Bush administration had hoped to kill off Kyoto by opposing it. However, the recent decision by Russia to sign up has meant that the treaty has been saved. Some insiders even believe that unilateral action by US states will eventually force […]

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Consensus Agreement on Air Conditioner Efficiency Standards Reached

The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy announced that air conditioner manufacturers and energy efficiency advocates have reached an agreement on consensus federal equipment efficiency standards for air conditioners and heat pumps used. If enacted by federal regulators and Congress, the new standards will prevent the need for 25 new power plants. The current federal standard was established by Congress in 1992 and calls for the most common type of equipment to have an Energy Efficiency Ratio (EER) of 8.9. Under the agreement, the standard for the most common units will rise to 11.2 EER as of January 1, 2010, a 26% improvement in efficiency. In addition, the agreement calls for extending the federal standards program to large package commercial air conditioners and heat pumps (up to 760,000 Btu/hour cooling capacity). The agreement was negotiated over the last eight months by air conditioner manufacturers, represented by their trade association, the Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute (ARI), and by energy efficiency supporters, represented by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), a nonprofit organization. Other signatories to the agreement are 12 air conditioner manufacturers, the California Energy Commission, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Alliance to Save Energy, Northeast Energy […]

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Ohio: Fuel Cell To Feed Power to Local Distribution System

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT), FuelCell Energy, Inc. (Nasdaq: FCEL)and the city of Westerville, Ohio have reached an important milestone, bringing on-line one of the first utility-scale fuel cell power plants in North America that will feed power to consumers from a substation. "As the world leader in distributed power generation, we see a growing need for all of Caterpillar's broad range of power generation products," said Rick Rathe, marketing manager for Caterpillar's Power Systems Marketing Division. "This project represents an important step in the use of stationary fuel cells to provide power to local electrical distribution systems." "This project demonstrates how public-private partnerships can work to bring new and emerging technologies to consumers today," said Herbert T. Nock, FuelCell Energy's senior vice president of marketing and sales." "The state of Ohio and the city of Westerville are showing how Direct FuelCell (DFC) power plants which create hydrogen internally, can be used to bring clean, reliable power to the people of Ohio without waiting for the development of a hydrogen supply infrastructure." This innovative project is a first for the state of Ohio and it was funded in part through Governor Bob Taft's Third Frontier Fuel Cell Initiative, a $103 million […]

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