Hydrogen Power Archives – The Green Optimistic

Hydrogen Fuel Cell Flying Car Reaches 400 Miles of Range

Matias Prieto — Mon, 03 Jun 2019 20:04:40 +0000

Massachusetts startup Alaka’i has designed a flying car that the company touts as the “first air mobility vehicle powered by hydrogen fuel cells”. On their promotion video, they announced that this flying car has ten times the power of conventional lithium batteries without compromising on carbon emissions. The hydrogen fuel cells give the five-passenger Skai a maximum […]

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New Hybrid Catalyst Generates Hydrogen from Water More Efficiently

Arsenij Percov — Sun, 29 Jul 2018 20:06:31 +0000

Ripping water apart into hydrogen and oxygen can form the basis of artificial photosynthetic devices. These devices potentially can power homes and businesses, and car manufacturers will be able to start massive production of hydrogen-powered vehicles. However, catalysts for this type of reaction are either effective but expensive and unstable, or are affordable, stable, and […]

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Hydrogen Potential Accounts for 20% of World Carbon Reduction by 2050

Jose Aguilar — Fri, 17 Nov 2017 08:59:29 +0000

BONN, Germany — The gradual utilization of Hydrogen as electrical power, transportation, and heating source would provide for a sizeable 20 percent reduction of carbon emissions by the next 33 years, bringing global warming limit goals into reach, according to a report by the Hydrogen Council early this week. The Hydrogen Council, in progress as of January […]

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Next-Gen Hydrogen Fuel Cells Could Use Graphene-Wrapped Nanocrystals

Guest Contributor — Sat, 16 Sep 2017 07:48:14 +0000

Scientists at the Berkeley National Laboratory have developed a mix of metal nanocrystals wrapped in graphene that may be a huge step in storing hydrogen and may lead to the creation of a new type of fuel cell. Graphene is a thin sheet of carbon that is approximately 200 times stronger than steel and is […]

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German Aerospace Center Creates Largest Artificial Sun Ever!

Nicholas Say — Mon, 27 Mar 2017 13:23:34 +0000

The German town of Juelich has a brand new artificial sun, and it is the most powerful one ever created. The German Aerospace Center has created a grid of 149 xenon short-arc spotlights, and the goal is to simulate the sun’s natural light and make hydrogen. Germany can get pretty dark in the winter months, but […]

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New Nanotech Material Could Solve On-Vehicle Hydrogen Storage Problems

Ece Polat — Mon, 06 Mar 2017 19:53:15 +0000

Scientists from Lawrence Livermore and Sandia National Laboratories developed a hydro-storage system using nanotechnology. This innovative storage system can draw a futuristic picture with hydrogen-powered vehicles. The new technology makes it possible for the hydrogen storage systems to be lightweight and low-pressure. Although these two characteristics are tough to achieve in a hydrogen storage system, a […]

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Modified Four Stroke Engine Can Create Hydrogen From Natural Gas

Nicholas Say — Tue, 21 Feb 2017 17:21:11 +0000

Andrei Fedorov has figured out an amazing new way to use a four stroke engine. With some modifications he and his research team can make 100 year old design into a motor that makes Hydrogen Gas from Natural Gas. Professor Fedorov works at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and the results from a recent study were published […]

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How Toyota Changed Its Mind About Battery Powered Vehicles

Ovidiu Sandru — Tue, 01 Nov 2016 13:11:07 +0000

Toyota, one of the biggest carmakers in the world, has been recently badmouthing lithium battery technology and the companies using it – namely Tesla. They even built an entire media campaign around an alternative to the alternative: hydrogen fuel cells, the distribution infrastructure and storage devices. All those electric car companies were about to fall […]

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Bionic Leaf Turns Light Into Liquid Biofuel

Mila Luleva — Tue, 07 Jun 2016 19:56:42 +0000

Scientists at Harvard developed a bionic leaf that can convert light into biomass more efficiently than nature, and then make biofuel. Artificial photosynthesis has been in the spotlight for quite some time. Typically it is associated with splitting the water molecule into hydrogen and oxygen via some sort of a solar technology. The produced hydrogen […]

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H2 Energy Offers Affordable Hydrogen Generator For Home Use

Mila Luleva — Fri, 01 Apr 2016 11:58:25 +0000

Low-cost hydrogen generator from H2 Energy Renaissance is coming soon to wipe out fossil fuels. It is truly remarkable how clean energy technologies and inventions that seemed like taken from a Sci-Fi movie just 10 years ago, are now on the market and within everyone’s reach. Developments happen fast, with better and more powerful technologies appearing […]

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First Hydrogen Powered Drone to Monitor the Arctic

Mila Luleva — Fri, 12 Feb 2016 18:27:32 +0000

First ever flight of a drone powered by hydrogen marked the beginning of eco-friendly, long-distance unmanned aerial monitoring. By now everyone has heard of unmanned aerial vehicles, a.k.a. UAVs or drones. Industry giants want to use these to speed up deliveries or monitoring, scientific teams want to use these for automated measurements, and pretty much every […]

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Thailand Home Energy Storage Project Turns Solar Power to Hydrogen

Mila Luleva — Wed, 23 Dec 2015 13:33:41 +0000

Eco-friendly housing development in Thailand stores excess solar power, generated from rooftops, in the form of hydrogen. It is great to see that improvements in solar panel technologies, and drop in commercial prices, have made more and more home owners opt for generating clean solar power. But, energy consumption varies greatly throughout the day (and night) […]

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Australian Company to Ship Hydrogen to Japan as Renewable Energy Source

Annika Tostengard — Fri, 13 Nov 2015 21:44:00 +0000

Australian company Renewable Hydrogen plans to harness solar energy to make hydrogen and “bottle it and ship it to Japan on a true industrial scale”, as executive director Andrew Want told ABC. The process uses solar energy to electrolyze purified seawater, separating hydrogen from oxygen, that then gets converted to ammonia for shipping. The energy […]

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The Solar Cells that Make Hydrogen Gas

Annika Tostengard — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 05:30:13 +0000

Exciting new research demonstrates that solar energy could be used create hydrogen fuel. At the Eindhoven University of Technology, researchers have unveiled a new solar cell prototype that can actually make gas from water by using the electricity from the solar cell to set off a chemical reaction. The team accomplished this feat by shaping the […]

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How the Chinese Tackle Air Pollution With Hydrogen Trains

Annika Tostengard — Mon, 13 Jul 2015 18:52:02 +0000

In China, commuters in Qingdao can now arrive to work on board a bright orange tram that runs entirely on hydrogen and emits only steam. As China’s smog grows more thick, leaders across the country are turning their attention to new green technology. Qingdao is not the only Chinese city with a hydrogen-powered tram system. […]

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A “Green” Beer We Can All Get Behind

Sarah Higman — Sat, 27 Jun 2015 04:54:19 +0000

Looking for your new favorite beer? Look no further, meet the West’s best kept secret Sierra Nevada Beer. Sierra Nevada Beer could be the greenest beer in the world; from start to finish sustainability is the keystone of their production. Let’s start with energy; Sierra Nevada owns one of the largest privately owned solar arrays […]

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Scientists Discover Cheap And Efficient Way To Produce Hydrogen From Rocks

Mila Luleva — Wed, 11 Dec 2013 17:54:10 +0000

French researchers discovered a new method to produce hydrogen much cheaper and more effectively than any other currently known technique. By adding aluminium oxide, the team was able to achieve an acceleration of the natural process of producing the gas from the well-known rock olivine and water. If successfully applied on a global scale, the […]

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Fuel Cell Technology Supplies Power To Al Gore’s New GIM Headquarters

Mila Luleva — Tue, 15 Oct 2013 14:53:04 +0000

Moving from NASA’s space shuttle to crown estate developments in central London, fuel cell technology will soon provide efficient and emission-free energy to one of the largest commercial buildings in the British capital city. The future home of Al Gore‘s sustainable investment company Generation Investment Management, will be fully powered by a fuel cell system, which […]

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Stanford Microbial Battery Stores Electricity Generated From Sewage Water

Mila Luleva — Tue, 17 Sep 2013 14:29:30 +0000

In their search for alternative energy sources, scientists from Stanford University developed a mini power plant device, which uses microbes that are found in sewage systems. The study published in the latest issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows the potential of harvesting the electricity, which is naturally generated as these […]

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New Smartphone App Improves the Hydrogen Fueling Experience

Mila Luleva — Mon, 16 Sep 2013 16:26:33 +0000

Last week, The Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, based in Brussels, was a host of the 5th International Conference on Hydrogen Safety. Various hydrogen technologies were presented by international research teams from all over the world. This year, the organizers aimed at improving public awareness by showing the progress associated with health and […]

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“Green” Hydrogen Fuel From Sunlight, Salts and Ancient Protein

Mila Luleva — Wed, 24 Jul 2013 13:45:12 +0000

Researchers at the US Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory produced completely “green” hydrogen fuel by utilizing light to initiate a catalytic process. The key was to use bacteriorhodopsin, a protein found in ancient desert microorganisms, and combine it with semiconducting titanium dioxide nano-particles. Splitting the water molecules by exposing titanium dioxide nanoparticles to bright […]

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New Fuel Cell With Five Times Less Platinum Developed in Copenhagen

Benji Jerew — Tue, 23 Jul 2013 15:07:06 +0000

Hydrogen fuel cells, which could find applications from vehicles to backup power supplies, suffer from one important drawback – expense. Current mass-produced hydrogen fuel cell catalysts employ a small amount of platinum to sustain the reaction necessary to generate electricity from hydrogen. Most importantly, platinum is non-corroding, which helps the fuel cell last a long […]

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Rust and Sunlight Enabling More Efficient Hydrogen Production

Mila Luleva — Fri, 19 Jul 2013 10:40:03 +0000

Researchers from Switzerland, the US and Israel discovered a new way to efficiently split the water molecule into hydrogen and oxygen using sunlight and small particles of rust. The study published in the latest issue of Nature Materials brings new hopes for cheap and efficient hydrogen production. The small particles, referred to as “champion nanoparticles” of […]

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Fiat Doesn’t Believe in Hydrogen Powered Cars, Advances CNG Option

Ovidiu Sandru — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 09:35:45 +0000

Fiat, one of the oldest automobile manufacturers, has turned its back on hydrogen these days, Autocar reports. They favor CNG instead of hydrogen fuel cells, which they say are still unreliable. After developing three generations of hydrogen-powered cars, Fiat says that it is still too difficult for states to implement a hydrogen infrastructure that can […]

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Mercedes Benz to Ditch Electric/Fuel Cell Vito, Van Chief Says

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 29 May 2013 15:15:55 +0000

Mercedes Benz seems to want to shelve electric vans, be them battery or fuel cell powered. The E-Cell version of their successful Vito van hasn’t had too much success. Volker Mornhinweg, the van division boss told Car and Driver that demand is “virtually nonexistent” and that the company is putting the model into “hibernation mode.” As […]

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Hydrogen Fuel Generation – Breakthrough Catalyst Investigated in India

Benji Jerew — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 15:50:03 +0000

Hydrogen fuel used in hydrogen fuel cells, as a replacement for natural gas, or even in an internal combustion engine, burns clean and emits zero carbon dioxide. This is great news for those concerned about increasing carbon dioxide emissions, but the current-best method for generating hydrogen fuel isn’t very efficient. Electrolysis uses electricity to split […]

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Leftover Ash Generates Hydrogen Gas, We Just Need to Collect It

Benji Jerew — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 19:24:41 +0000

When power plants burn coal, wood or even refuse to generate electricity, the leftover ash generates hydrogen gas, which is why it must be stored outside. Leftover ash from power production often finds its way to landfills or, in some countries, as a construction material. It can’t be stored inside though, because the leftover ash […]

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Hydrogen Fuel Cell Locomotive Gains Ground in Multiple Applications

Benji Jerew — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 20:34:50 +0000

Natural gas becoming more abundant doesn’t necessarily leave the hydrogen fuel cell locomotive without a track forward. More likely, hydrails will continue to grow from small beginnings in 2009. Earlier hydrogen fuel cell locomotive technology lent itself to smaller applications, such as the BNSF Port of Los Angeles HH 1205 locomotive developed in Kansas. The […]

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Gold Nanorods Generate Hydrogen Using Solar Power

Benji Jerew — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 19:56:16 +0000

Gold nanorods, a titanium dioxide filter and platinum were used by researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen fuel cell, in fact, is nothing new, and has been around for nearly one hundred years. The most ideal fuel, hydrogen gas, isn’t freely available in the […]

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London’s Hydrogen Fuel Network Ahead of Its Time

Leigh Hutchens — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 07:01:56 +0000

London is raising the alternative energy stakes with its now fully integrated hydrogen fuel network with the introduction of a 700 bar delivery system. This is required by manufacturers to existing stations. Two brand new hydrogen fuel stations are planned, one of which will be in the center of London. There are also plans to […]

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Bio-Oil Hydrogen Generation Just Needed a More Efficient Process

Benji Jerew — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 22:31:35 +0000

We’ve been watching hydrogen fuel for a while now, and the utilization of hydrogen has seen fairly rapid development, as seen in the decreasing size of fuel cell stacks and increasing efficiency. In fact, by 2015, Toyota, BMW, and others are planning on having at least one hydrogen fuel cell model in production. Of course, […]

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DIYer Retrofits 1983 Mustang to Run on Water (Read: Hydrogen)

Benji Jerew — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 17:18:35 +0000

Since the beginning of time, there have always been Do-It-Yourself-ers, and sometimes all it takes is a great idea from a backyard inventor to make a great thing even better. Alternative fuels are no different, and some of the ideas on alternative fuels have come from such backyard labs. Case in point, Chris “The Doc” […]

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Nanosize Silicon Found to Generate Hydrogen Efficiently

Benji Jerew — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 07:33:26 +0000

The science of nanotechnology, specifically nanomaterials, has grown by leaps and bounds in the last decade, and scientists are discovering more material characteristics than they ever could have before, just examining macromaterials. For example, when silicon [Si] oxidizes with water [H2O], it gives off hydrogen gas [H2], leaving a layer of silicon dioxide [SiO2]. While […]

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“Green” Blonde Walks Into Library. See What She’s Up To!

Benji Jerew — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 21:11:08 +0000

Advertising catches your attention, and hopefully holds on long enough to make a point. A humorous advertisement, by the Clean Energy Partnership [CEP], takes a little look at what it’s like trying to find your favorite book as quietly as possible. The point? Hydrogen fuel cell [HFC] vehicles, and by extension, electric vehicles [EV], are […]

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Alternative Energy Sources May Reduce the Gulf States’ Reliability on Fossil Fuels

Leigh Hutchens — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 06:41:31 +0000

The Gulf desert states are some of the largest greenhouse gas polluters in the world. Fossil fuels are consumed at record speed thanks to desalination, large-scale construction projects, and widespread air conditioner use. Projects fueled by the gas and oil industry also contribute to large scale fossil fuel consumption. To add insult to injury, Saudi […]

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Rotating Detonation Engines Could Replace Turbines in US Navy

Benji Jerew — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 18:46:23 +0000

The gas-turbine engine, or jet engine, isn’t only found on jets, but in other applications as well. The US Navy doesn’t only use turbines for their fighter jets, but also as generators on their ships. As the Navy moves to all-electric propulsion, they still need some kind of electrical generator. Turbines are well-suited for development […]

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Hydrogen-Producing Enzyme Allows for Efficient Green Energy Storage

Mila Luleva — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 11:08:55 +0000

The environment of the catalytic site acts as a reservoir within a hydrogen-producing enzyme, making the production of hydrogen for renewable energy much more efficient. This is the conclusion scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion (MPI CEC) and the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) reached through a detailed spectroscopic investigation published in the […]

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FCS Alsterwasser: The First Ship Powered by Hydrogen Fuel Cells

Mila Luleva — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 17:22:25 +0000

FCS Alsterwasser, the first ship entirely powered by hydrogen fuel cells developed by Alster-Touristik GmbH in 2009, has been operating on inner city waterways in Hamburg Germany. It can hold up to 100 passengers and has worked for more than 1,900 hours. The hydrogen fuel cells generate approximately 100 kilowatts of electricity and have proven […]

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Hydrogen Vehicles: The Dream Lives On

Benji Jerew — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 21:09:29 +0000

Hydrogen [H2] as a power source has been under on-and-off development and use in various sectors since the 1900s, but has its own special considerations when it comes to storage and use. The high reactivity of H2 makes it an excellent fuel, but also difficult to store and deliver. Combustion of H2 also produces no […]

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Experimental Hydrogen Fuel Cell Train Built by Birmingham Researchers

Ovidiu Sandru — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 18:28:52 +0000

An experimental train built by University of Birmingham researchers for the IMechE Railway Challenge is setting an example for how a hydrogen fuel cell-powered locomotive can carry 4 tons for a distance of 2.7 kilometers on 5000 liters of low-pressure hydrogen. The fuel cell train is not proving anything new here – electric trains already […]

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Caltech Researcher Improves Heat-Driven Hydrogen Production Technology

Ovidiu Sandru — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 19:36:15 +0000

Usually, to get hydrogen, the first method that you think of is the electrolysis of water. However, this is not the most efficient way to get the precious energy-carrying gas, and as hydrogen cars will slowly emerge on the market it will need production efficiency, not only the mere fact that it works. So far, […]

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Argonne Researchers Splitting Water 10 Times Faster With New Metallic Compound

Mike Sandru — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 19:05:01 +0000

Due to its storage capacity, hydrogen has an enormous potential in the clean energy industry. Unfortunately, it is very hard to “master”: only setting apart single atoms costs a fortune! Luckily for us, researchers at the Argonne National Laboratory succeeded in splitting hydrogen molecules ten times faster, which is a lot cleaner and less expensive […]

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Wachsman's Fuel Cell Can Transform Various Fuels Into Electricity – Not Only Hydrogen

Ovidiu Sandru — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 17:18:36 +0000

A new fuel cell that uses not only pure hydrogen to generate electricity has been discovered by Eric Wachsman, an engineering professor at the University of Maryland. It could be used in applications ranging from laptops to powering entire buildings, emitting only a fraction of the pollution today’s fuel-burning engines do. We’ve been used to […]

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Hydrogen-Generating Hybrid Solar System Invented by Duke University Researcher

Mike Sandru — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 19:29:46 +0000

Everyone knows photovoltaic cells are used to convert sunlight into electricity. Nico Hotz, a Duke University engineer has come up with a novel hybrid system that, according to him, could generate hydrogen by using sunlight. Instead of a standard solar-powered system, Nico Hotz proposes a hybrid option in which sunlight heats a combination of methanol […]

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Catalonian Researchers Develop World's First RC Car That Runs on Recycled Soda Cans

Mike Sandru — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 19:44:01 +0000

We now get to witness the world's first remote-controlled car running on soda cans, roughly speaking, brought to us by Aleix Lovet and Xavier Saluena from the Catalonia Polytechnic Institute.

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California Supplementing Their Hydrogen Refueling Stations

Mike Sandru — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 09:48:22 +0000

The California Energy Commission (CEC) is betting its money on the hydrogen trend and by all appearances, it won't be a waste: codes, standards and tests to make it possible for hydrogen to be commercialized as retail fuel. But most important of all, it will build three more hydrogen refueling stations.

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Hyundai Blue2 – Hydrogen Fuel Cell Concept Vehicle Unveiled in Seoul

Mike Sandru — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 18:22:27 +0000

Going green is a direction every major car maker has to approach at some point. It's just that for Hyundai it's more of a "going blue" trend than it is green: its new hydrogen fuel concept vehicle presented on this week's Seoul auto show is called ÃƒÂ¢€Ã…â€œBlue2ÃƒÂ¢€ and it reads "Blue Squared."

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New Polymer Material Can Store Hydrogen More Effectively

Ovidiu Sandru — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 18:49:20 +0000

A new type of container for hydrogen gas has been developed by a team of Lawrence Berkeley Lab researchers. The inventors say it can store much more hydrogen than older versions, like pressurized tanks or those storing the gas inside some kinds of metallic molecular chains.

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NTU Scientists Use Artificial Leaves Technology to Split Water and Generate Hydrogen

Mike Sandru — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 21:22:15 +0000

A team of researchers at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) have recently set up a new laboratory (the first in Asia) that will be used to convert water into hydrogen fuel. As the scientists said, the development of this technology may reduce the cost of using solar power to the same price as using conventional energy sources.

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Netherlands' First Public Hydrogen Fueling Station Officially Opened

Mike Sandru — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 16:16:37 +0000

The gas station also has a small-scale factory for converting the gas into hydrogen, which is stored in compressed form. The hydrogen fuel is fed through a special hose, just like ordinary LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) and then converted in energy by means of fuel cell technology in the cars.

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Volvo Tests Petrol-Powered Fuel Cells For Extending EV Range

Ovidiu Sandru — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 07:19:19 +0000

Volvo has been testing lately their newest innovation in the field of electric cars - an electric car range extender based on a hydrogen fuel cell powered by liquid organic fuels, such as petrol. In collaboration with Powercell Sweden AB, Volvo's range extender could take the EV for up to 250 kilometers more and at the same time only emit minute carbon dioxide quantities.

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Photocatalyst Used For Hydrogen Generation Awarded by University of Queensland

Mike Sandru — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 18:35:26 +0000

This year's UQ Foundation Research Excellence Award, consisting in $85,000 UQ, was won by Dr Yong Wang, from UQ's School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering. Dr Wang will dedicate his research to develop powerful photocatalysts that increase the efficiency of hydrogen production.

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Purification of Hydrogen Extracted from CNG Made More Efficient With New Dispersed Platinum Catalyst

Ovidiu Sandru — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 10:13:02 +0000

A consortium involving three universities has devised an atomically dispersed platinum catalyst that could be of use in future hydrogen production systems. Maria Flytzani-Stephanopoulos from Tufts University and Manos Mavrikakis from the University of Wisconsin-Madison published their research in today's Science journal.

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Hydrogen Tank Exploded in Green Fuel Station. Is The Technology Safe Enough for Cars?

Ovidiu Sandru — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 17:30:26 +0000

Hydrogen, the most clean fuel in the universe, has been seen with skepticism by many. Although bad events involving exploded hydrogen tanks are rare, Monroe County's (NY) hydrogen station on Scottsville Road experienced the explosion of two tanks filled with hydrogen.

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Scientists Discover How to Extract Hydrogen From Waste Vegetable Oils

Ovidiu Sandru — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:59:31 +0000

Waste vegetable oils have previously been used to fuel older diesel engines, but until now nobody succeeded to extract the hydrogen in them and to sequester the carbon dioxide with cheap and affordable technologies. Leeds University scientists have broken the ice and discovered an energy efficient method of extracting both hydrogen and carbon dioxide from otherwise disposable vegetable oils.

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70 Mumbai Buses Running on Hydrogen Mixed With CNG by End of 2010

Ovidiu Sandru — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 20:05:25 +0000

India's largest bus manufacturer, Ashok Leyland, is going to implement a 6-liter engine that will run on clean natural gas (CNG) enriched with hydrogen, making it the first bus powered by an internal combustion engine aided by hydrogen.

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New Catalyst for Electrolysis Reduces Costs by 97% and Increases Hydrogen Production Fourfold

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 19 May 2010 18:30:18 +0000

Hydrogen, the cleanest energy storage in the Universe, is most of the time associated with high costs, although it is extracted from water, which is the cheapest yet the most precious element to life. Extracting hydrogen from water is done through a method called electrolysis, but doing electrolysis efficiently requires the usage of catalysts such as platinum, which is very expensive.

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Daniel Nocera Coming Back With Better Material for Splitting Water

Ovidiu Sandru — Fri, 14 May 2010 13:32:29 +0000

Daniel Nocera, a face we see more and more often on the stage of alternative energy, along with postdoctoral researcher Mircea Dinca and graduate student Yogesh Surendranath, discovered a material that can work efficiently and sustainably as an oxygen electrode for Nocera’s wider research in water splitting by using electricity. This subject has caught a […]

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Hopes for Solar-Powered Hydrogen by New Virus-Based Artificial Photosynthesis System

Ovidiu Sandru — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 16:52:34 +0000

A team of researchers from the MIT, led by Professor Angela Belcher, used a modified virus as a biological scaffold for assembling the nanoscale components needed to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The bacterial virus is called "M13", and it's said to be harmless.

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On-Demand Hydrogen Production System for Commercial Use Released

Ovidiu Sandru — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 13:07:55 +0000

eHydrogen Solutions, a company specialized in the development of on-demand hydrogen power stations, issued a press release announcing that they launched the "H2-Reactor Development Project". The H2-Reactor uses water as the hydrogen source, is self-contained and has an alloy of aluminum or magnesium as the reactive material (to get the hydrogen out of the oxygen bond).

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Zinc Oxide Crystal Acting as Piezoelectric Material To Get Hydrogen From Water

Ovidiu Sandru — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 14:18:51 +0000

A team of researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison have just discovered that crystals of zinc oxide, if submerged, absorb its vibrations and act like a piezoelectric material, developing areas of strong negative and positive charges.

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Energy-Efficient Way to Produce Hydrogen from Noise and Vibrations

Mike Sandru — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 13:18:31 +0000

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have found a new way to produce hydrogen by using ambient noise to turn water into usable hydrogen fuel. The process harvests small amounts of waste energy in the form of stray vibrations and noise from the environment to break the chemical bonds in water and generate hydrogen and oxygen.

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Aquafairy's New Range of Cheap Fuel Cells for Portable Electronic Devices

Mike Sandru — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 20:20:52 +0000

Today, the commercially available devices powered by fuel cells are still pretty pricey. But Kyoto-based Aquafairy has presented a new range of affordable fuel cells for portable electronic devices.

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Scientists Develop a Quantum-Dot Process to Split Water and Generate Hydrogen

Cristi — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 19:16:57 +0000

Fuel cells can be used in various applications such as spacecraft, remote weather stations, large parks, rural locations, military applications and automotive industry. Fuel cells have hydrogen as the base element for their power.

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Daniel Nocera's Sun Catalytix Receives $7.1 Million for Developing Photosynthesis System

Cristi — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:47:27 +0000

Daniel G. Nocera of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is the inventor of the most important solar energy system of the century. His 2007 designed system is able to create cheap solar energy based on the photosynthesis process.

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Hydrogen On-Demand System Boosts Van Mileage by 94%

Ovidiu Sandru — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 08:45:06 +0000

This man (a retired school teacher) says he applied what many others on the internet describe as "on-board hydrogen generation", with a couple of jars, some electrodes and potassium hydroxide.

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South Korea's First Trash-Powered Hydrogen Plant Running by 2010

Cristi — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 07:10:42 +0000

South Korea is taking their first steps towards hydrogen production. Government has signed a memorandum of agreement with oil refiner SK Energy and SK Engineering & Construction to build the world's first trash-powered hydrogen station. Both companies are subsidiaries of South Korean conglomerate SK Group. The plant will be able to extract hydrogen from methane emitted by landfills.

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Florida Harvesting the Gulf Stream for Electricity and Hydrogen

Cristi — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 05:20:35 +0000

Florida's needs of electricity have made scientists think about never energy solutions. The needs of 4-7 million homes are so big that conventional energy would be too expensive and pollutant to still be used.

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Unexpected Discovery Brings Three Times More Solar Power

Ovidiu Sandru — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 19:52:28 +0000

Sometimes, what we get is not what we expect - at all. For example, a team of scientists from Northeastern University and from NIST discovered by mistake how to produce more solar power by using the residue of a process used to build arrays of titania nanotubes. Now, physorg.com interprets this invention through the perspective of better hydrogen production, but improving the solar power capturing ability gives a lot more useful applications than only that of hydrogen production.

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New Method for Splitting Water Passively with Heat and Light

Ovidiu Sandru — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 09:47:44 +0000

Prof. David Milstein, and his colleagues from the Weizmann Institute, the Organic Chemistry Department, demonstrated a new way of generating hydrogen and oxygen, through a series of steps that involve applying heat, light, and a special catalyst.

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New Method for Extracting Hydrogen from Green Algae

Cristi — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 17:24:25 +0000

Analyzing a single-celled green alga, researchers have found a fermentation process which was not known before that can revolution hydrogen production. Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, a soil or fresh water single-celled alga, produces its own energy by fermentation when it has no source of oxygen.

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Experiment Shows Desalination Plants Could Produce Hydrogen

Ovidiu Sandru — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 19:41:25 +0000

As the world's potable water resources thin each year, scientists strive to decypher ways to use the immense amounts of water that abound the oceans and seas, and to make them drinkable. All that desalination process consumes energy resources, and that makes water more expensive to produce and drink in some parts of the world.

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Sugar Cube-Sized Solid Oxide Fuel Cell

Mike Sandru — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 07:20:11 +0000

The world's smallest solid-oxide fuel cell(SOFC), as small as sugar cube, was recently developed by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST). The sugar cube-sized SOFC is is operable at 550°C.

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World's Largest Fuel Cell Town is Built in Japan

Cristi — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 20:58:45 +0000

The ÃƒÂ¢€Ã…â€œFukuoka Hydrogen Town" project could be the beginning of what organizers say will be the largest hydrogen-powered city in the world.

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Aberdeen Researchers to Find Low-Temp Fuel Cell Solutions

Ovidiu Sandru — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 13:25:49 +0000

Current hydrogen fuel cells work at temperatures for up to 100°C for PEM types, and up to 300°C for SAFC (solid acid). The problem with these, although I don't agree with their developmental direction, is that they don't tolerate carbon very easily, and pure hydrogen is very hard to obtain from carbon-rich sources, such as methane or petrol.

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World's First Hydrogen Fuel Cell Powered Tractor

Mike Sandru — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 08:36:09 +0000

In February, at the French SIMA show, NEW Holland will launch the world's first hydrogen fuel cell powered tractor, named NH2. The company has not revealed the full details, what we know for sure is that the diesel engine has been replaced by a fuel cell and the vehicle's only emission is water.

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Sleekest Hydrogen Powered Sportscar: Honda FC Sport

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 19:52:24 +0000

Though some blogs take it as a surprise, it's not something new coming from Honda: their vision of a sportscar powered entirely by a hydrogen fuel cell... not surprisingly, the same that's into their FCX Clarity, released this summer.

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Hydrogen to be Produced Cheaply With 19th Century Invention

Ovidiu Sandru — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 19:51:14 +0000

G.D. Botto, an Italian inventor and physicist, performing experiments on a technique for hydrogen generation, has discovered that a chain of iron and platinum wires, wrapped around a wooden stick and alternately connected as thermocouples, can be used to convert a temperature difference into an electric voltage.

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H2GO: Run Your Car On Water & Gasoline System Unveiled at SEMA 2008

Ovidiu Sandru — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 10:27:10 +0000

For whoever laughed at those inventions and inventors claiming that they run their cars on hydrogen, or improve their mileage using hydrogen generated on-board their cars, here's a piece of news that's going to raise an eyebrow.

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Blacklight`s Free Energy Device Finally Verified by Rowan University

Ovidiu Sandru — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 09:56:13 +0000

As far as I know from 7th grade, hydrogen is the only chemical element that has only one electron spinning around the nucleus. It seems, though things are going to change here, since a medical doctor from New Jersey has discovered a different reality on it. The company Randell Mills founded is called Blacklight Power, and it has been written all over the internet about it a few months ago, when they firstly announced their "free energy" device discovery.

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Trametes Versicolor Fungi Could Make Fuel Cells Cheaper

Ovidiu Sandru — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 10:29:43 +0000

Fungi grown on rotten wood could one day be harvested and genetically engineered for providing future fuel cells with an alternative to the platinum that they nowadays have inside, playing the role of a catalyst.

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The Ultimate Hydrogen Storage – Made of Corncobs!

Ovidiu Sandru — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 07:01:03 +0000

One thing is to be noted here: one gram of carbon made from corncobs has its molecular internal surface equal to a football field, plus it has been proved that boron doping will further increase this capacity in great amounts.

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Scientists Making Hydrogen Efficiently from Water Steam

Ovidiu Sandru — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 09:03:08 +0000

Trying to make hydrogen a viable fuel, economically and energetically, a team of researchers from Idaho National Laboratory splits water steam into hydrogen and oxygen using electrolysis, but from steam, and at a high temperature.

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Fuel Cell Powered Wheelchair by Mitsubishi

Ovidiu Sandru — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 17:56:40 +0000

From now on, the people with motion disabilities will go green. Mitsubishi Gas Chemical exhibited last week a fuel cell power unit suited for small applications, such as powering an electric wheelchair. It has the size of a microwave oven, weighs 22 kg, and outputs 300W.

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Hydrogen Produced by Mimicking Photosynthesis

Ovidiu Sandru — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 21:01:20 +0000

MIT researchers found out a way to create energy by mimicking the photosynthesis process that green plants acquire their energy from. Prof. Daniel G. Nocera and former MIT graduate student Alan F. Heyduk invented a hydrogen-producing compound. They also use a catalyst and small amounts of light.

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Michael Strizki`s Solar/Hydrogen/Geothermal Powered House – Amazing!

Ovidiu Sandru — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 06:59:10 +0000

Michael Strizki's house is the most low impact house I've ever seen. He lives his life off-grid, because his home system feature solar panels, 10 hydrogen tanks filled with the excess energy from the solar panels, with the hydrogen taken out of water, and a 15 year-old geothermal system, that covered its price 8 times since it was installed.

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Video: Jack Nicholson Drives Hydrogen Car in 1978!

Ovidiu Sandru — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 19:49:08 +0000

This video is a clip from a 1978 CBC News, showing Jack Nicholson driving a hydrogen powered car. The concept existed since then, the hydrogen was packed in high pressure tanks, and the engine's timing (top dead center) was retarded a bit (probably 8 degrees, it's a common value). And, as extra value, the hydrogen was obtained from solar power, through some solar panels, cutting edge tech at that time.

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Home Made Hydrogen for Your Car

Ovidiu Sandru — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 20:31:20 +0000

A British company, ITM, has invented a device that does electrolysis and splits water into hydrogen. They even modified a Ford Focus to run on the hydrogen they make(basically no big deal, just a few adjustments to the top dead center of the pistons and a little chip tricking on the exhaust).

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Breakthrough Discovery for Stationary Industrial Fuel Cells – Faster Startups

Ovidiu Sandru — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 08:25:28 +0000

In their search to make better fuel cells, a research team from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), in collaboration with the University of Liverpool, has discovered a new structure that moves oxygen ions through the cell at substantially lower temperatures than previously thought possible.

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Fuel Cell Laptop Battery from Russia

Ovidiu Sandru — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 21:34:56 +0000

The Russian scientists invented a laptop battery that lasts 10 hours on a consumption of 20W. The battery represents in fact a fuel cell created using nanotechnologies. According to the scientists led by Lev Trusov, by the end of 2009 fuel cells will be launched into production with 10 thousand monthly units. The project has […]

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Hydrogen From Water – 3 Production Methods

Ovidiu Sandru — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 21:26:54 +0000

Getting hydrogen from water is one of today’s hottest and fastest-evolving areas in the renewable energy world. The basic methods for hydrogen production, though, have remained the same at their core, and everything is now innovated around the same old principles. 1. Electrolysis Electrolysis is the technical name for using electricity to split water into its constituent elements, […]

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