Westport and Ford Announce Hydrogen Engine Technology Development
Westport Innovations (WPT.TO) and Ford Motor Company today announced a project to develop and demonstrate an advanced direct injection fuel system for vehicles powered by high-efficiency, high performance engines operating on pure hydrogen. The two-year development program will be divided into two phases. Phase one will define advanced fuel system requirements including the design of fuel injectors. Phase two will incorporate the design and manufacture of new prototype fuel systems. The Government of Canada has contributed $250,000 during phase one.
Hydrogen Stocks More Than Double In 2013: Why The Pros Missed The Ride
Tom Konrad CFA Hydrogen Photo via BigStock If you hadn’t noticed that hydrogen stocks are up an average of 131% so far this year, you’re not alone. Both hydrogen fuel cell stocks and hydrogen fuel systems stocks are up strongly. Plug Power (NASD:PLUG), a maker of hydrogen fuel cell systems for off-road vehicles is up 122% year to date. Ballard Power Systems, Inc. (NASD:BLDP), which makes hydrogen fuel systems for a wide variety of applications is up 133% so far this year, and 149% from its...
Making Hydrogen From Ethanol
by Debra Fiakas CFA Cars powered by fuel cells or batteries are only as clean as the electricity used to produce the power source. Proponents of hydrogen fuel cells argue that fuel cells have an edge over batteries, because hydrogen can ultimately be made cleaner with innovations in hydrogen production. Steam reforming of natural gas is the most common source of hydrogen and for the most part it is still the most cost-effective process for large-scale production of hydrogen. Since ethanol is a renewable resource, the steam reforming of ethanol has been proposed by some as...
Twelve Hydrogen And Fuel Cell Stocks
Tom Konrad CFA While many people think first about hydrogen when they think of fuel cells, fuel cells are not limited to hydrogen. They are a set of related technologies, many of which can generate electricity from a number of hydrocarbon fuels rather than hydrogen. I limited my recent post on the rapid rise of hydrogen stocks to just US-listed companies involved in the production and use of hydrogen, leaving out foreign stocks and other fuel cell technologies for brevity. In my research for that article, however, I came across fully ten publicly traded companies involved with...
Hydrogen is a long-term story… and that’s exactly why I like QuestAir Tech
Ballard Power Systems (NASDAQ:BLDP or TSE:BLD) was arguably the first high-profile alternative energy story to hit North American markets since the oil shock of the 1970s, at a time when investors knew much less about the promises and pitfalls of fuel cells and the so-called “hydrogen economy��? than they do today. It was also an era of general euphoria about anything tech and Ballard got caught into it all. But today I will not focus on Ballard - I’m only giving this example to highlight the fact that the idea of hydrogen powering our whole economy cleanly and renewably...
Hydrogenics Awarded Contract to Supply Hydrogen Generators to China’s Largest Energy Companies
Hydrogenics Corp (HYGS) announced that it has received orders to supply electrolysis-based hydrogen generator plants to two of China's largest energy companies. China Electric Power Energy Group and China National Power have each purchased a HySTAT-A Hydrogen Plant, capable of producing 10 Nm3/h of high purity hydrogen at a pressure of 25 bar. In both cases, the hydrogen produced will be used to cool the generators in a coal-fired power plant. Delivery of both orders is expected to take place in 2006.
Equitex Completes Acquisition of Hydrogen Power, Inc.
Equitex, Inc. (EQTX) announced today that it has completed the acquisition of Hydrogen Power, Inc. ("HPI") through a newly formed Equitex subsidiary which will be the surviving entity and renamed Hydrogen Power, Inc. HPI is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Equitex which controls all of HPI's licensed intellectual property rights to patented hydrogen generation technology in the United States, South America, Mexico and Canada.
Bush’s State of the Union
"America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world" Thanks to Mr. Bush's state of the union address last night, we should see some nice gains across the board in the Alternative Energy sector. Some of the big winners may be the Ethanol companies like Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) and Pacific Ethanol, Inc. (PEIX). The EnergyStockBlog.com has a nice write up on the potential for ADM. GreenCarCongress.com has a nice summary of the important parts of the speech. In his State of the Union 2006 address, President...
Earnings Roundup: Metals Prices Boost Covanta and Umicore
By Tom Konrad, Ph.D., CFA
You don’t have to own mining companies to benefit from rising metals prices.
This is a roundup of first quarter earnings notes shared with my Patreon supporters over the last week. Waste to energy operator Covanta and specialty metals recycler Umicore are both benefiting from skyrocketing metals prices.
Just as renewable energy and energy efficiency stocks have long shown that investors don’t have to own fossil fuel companies to benefit from rising prices of fossil fuels, recyclers like Covanta and Umicore are showing that you don’t have to own environmentally damaging mining companies to benefit from rising...
Maxwell Technologies Provides Ultracapacitors for General Hydrogen
Maxwell Technologies (MXWL) announced that General Hydrogen Corporation, a leading developer of hydrogen fuel cell-based power systems for electric forklifts, has placed a 200,000 unit, three-year, purchase order for BOOSTCAP® ultracapacitors to enhance performance and energy management in its Hydricity® Pack technology. The purchase order is part of a strategic supply agreement through which General Hydrogen will source ultracapacitors exclusively from Maxwell and receive strategic pricing if volume thresholds specified in the purchase order are reached.
Penn State Titania Nanotube Arrays Harness Solar Energy
Penn State researchers are finding new ways to harness the power of the sun using highly-ordered arrays of titania nanotubes for hydrogen production and increased solar cell efficiency.
PEM Fuel Cells – Hoping to Challenge Internal Combustion
The first article in this series introduced the two prominent types of hydrogen fuel cells - alkaline fuel cells (ALKFCs) and proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). Fuel cells are devices that convert stored hydrogen into usable energy, and constitute an essential part of the hydrogen economy. Subsequent articles shall focus on various characteristics of these two cells.
The graph above shows the power costs ($/kW) of PEMFCs and ALKFCs as the technology has advanced over time. In other words, they show the initial capital cost for every 1 kW of fuel cell capacity (note that this axis is in the...
Hydrogenics: Will Hydrogen Skeptics Be Blown Away?
The hydrogen technology developer Hydrogenics Corporation (HYGS: Nasdaq) is taking on wind energy. The company’s fuel cell power systems for stand-by and site power sources, hydrogen generators for industrial situations, and energy storage and fuel solutions for fleet owners. Hydrogen has gained in popularity because it is a zero-emission fuel source when burned with oxygen. The energy efficiency of hydrogen as a transportation fuel is also enticing. An electric motor powered by hydrogen fuel cell is two to three times more efficient than an internal combustion engine running on gasoline.
Hydrogen is not without its critics. One of the criticisms is that hydrogen is not entirely a carbon-neutral...
Alkaline Electrolyzers – The Future needs a Metamorphosis
by Ishaan Goel
The second article in this series on water electrolyzers focused on polymer electrolyte membrane electrolyzers (PEMEs). PEMEs have increasingly captured the interest of industry over recent years, due to favorable technical characteristics. Despite this, the global electrolyzer market today is dominated by a much older model - alkaline electrolyzers (ALKEs). (For details of how both electrolyzers work, refer to the first article in the series).
The graph above shows the investment costs ($/kW) of ALKEs and PEMEs as the technology has advanced over time. In other words, they show the initial capital cost for every 1 kW of...
There’s Hydrogen In That There Biogas
I don’t suppose that anyone actually dreams of hydrogen, but in the bio-economy there just isn’t quite enough of it and we read about it and sometimes think about it so much that we might as well be dreaming about it.
For those newer to the field, one of the problems of using biomass to make a fuel is that a carbohydrate contains around 53% oxygen by weight and needs about 16% more hydrogen that it contains to make a hydrocarbon fuel. That’s one of the reasons that biofuels are often esters (such as biodiesel) or alcohols (such as ethanol),...
Hydrogenics Receives $3.3 Million Order for On-site Hydrogen Generation Plant from Major Energy Company
Hydrogenics Corp (HYGS) announced it was awarded a contract, valued at approximately $3.3 million, to supply a HySTAT(TM)-A Hydrogen Plant to a major North American oil and gas refinery for installation in 2007. The high purity hydrogen generated by the HySTAT-A Hydrogen Plant will be used by the refinery to reduce the sulfur content in diesel fuel in compliance with EPA regulations.
