Fuel Cells – Will WE Know About Them By 2010?

“Don’t wait for the crash (2010)
Get off now!
Invest in oil-free transport – fuel cells, trains, bicycles.”

This ad in Aduki pdf p 19 magazine, placed by Australian Ethical Investment and Superannuation, is the first reference I have seen to fuel cells in Oz.
Have YOU heard or seen anything about fuel cells or a hydrogen economy?

Here’s some more fuel cell info:

Brynne Ward from the US non-profit Breakthrough Technologies Institute emailed us about our Hydrogen Highway article with up to the minute fuel cell info. The Institute runs Fuel Cells 2000, an education and outreach organization based in Washington, DC, that promotes the commercialization of fuel cells and the hydrogen infrastructure.

The website www.fuelcells.org/ has answers to some of the questions asked about hydrogen and fuel cells and they also have two databases of interest:

• a catalogue of all U.S. state activity – installations, vehicle demonstrations, hydrogen fueling stations
• all policy, tax incentives and initiatives and another detailing worldwide stationary fuel cell installations.

Fuel Cell Vehicle Alliance Australia (FCVAA)

On googling ‘fuel cells in Australia’ I found this site. It seems there is a fair bit of activity out of NSW and WA.

The FCVAA project is designed to get the message out to all states and territories and to work with organisations like the California Fuel Cell Partnership program. It wants to:

• partner with the Planet Ark Environmental Foundation for a really good communication program;
• bring in a limited number of the ENV hydrogen fuel cell powered motorbikes from June 2007.

The London Hydrogen Partnership

A current project is the London Schools Hydrogen Challenge, an interactive educational science program targetting 11 to 14 years olds. The Challenge will run from September 2007, until the Grand Final in June 2008, and is open to all secondary schools in London.

I am now wondering HOW would an electric bike powered by a fuel cell differ from one powered by one of the batteries listed on the Suitable Transport website?

• Sealed Lead Acid (SLA)
• Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMh)
• Lithium Ion or Lithium Polymer (Li or LiPo).

I suspect these batteries may not be as efficient and when disposed of would have far ‘nastier’ components impacting on the environment??