Mahindra & Mahindra, one of India’s largest automakers, has announced that it is currently working on developing new hydrogen fuel cells for future models of its vehicles. The automaker has officially opened its new fuel cell research and development facility in Chennai, India, called the Mahindra Research Valley.

http://www.hydrogenfuelnews.com/mahindra-mahindra-announced-hydrogen-fuel-cell-research-center-in-india/853133/

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Apple $ 1 billion data center in Maiden, North Carolina, will have a 20 MW solar installation, located on 100 acres which will supply 42 million kWh of renewable energy each year. Apple is also building a 5 MW fuel cell installation adjacent to the data center, which will be powered by 100% biogas and provide more than 40 million kWh of baseload renewable energy annually.

The facility has already earned the LEED Platinum certification. The data centre’s chilled water storage system is designed to improve chiller efficiency by transferring 10,400 kWh of electricity consumption from peak to off-peak hours every day. Outside air is funneled into the building at night and during cool-weather hours. Use of outside air and the water storage system allows the chillers to be turned off more than 75% of the time.

The data centre also boosts white cool-roof to reflect sun, high-efficiency LED lighting equipped with motion sensors, and power distributed at higher voltages to increase efficiency by reducing power loss.

http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/intelligent-energy/apple-reveals-details-on-solar-powered-data-center/13294

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The advanced fuel cell could eliminate range anxiety and make electric cars more practical, while keeping carbon-dioxide emissions low.
Researchers at the University of Maryland have developed new electrolyte materials and have changed the cell’s design to make it far more compact and generate 10 times more power than a conventional one. They have also reduced the operational temperature. This will reduce the costs greatly, while changing the results dramatically.
The fuel cells currently operate at 650 degrees Celsius. The team hopes to bring it down to 350 degrees. With low operational temperatures and smaller size, the cell needs lesser insulation materials which will reduce the cost. The researchers have also modified the solid electrolyte material at the core of the fuel cell, and the use of multi-layered electrolytes has increased the power output further.

http://www.technologyreview.in/energy/39203/page1/

in Fuel Cells Batteries for Electric Vehicles

Toyota's FCV-R is a sizable sedan which runs on a hydrogen fuel cell power plant which Toyota claims can propel the car for 430 miles between hydrogen fillups.

http://www.treehugger.com/slideshows/cars/2011-tokyo-motor-show-exclusive-innovative-green-concept-cars/?campaign=daily_nl

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Want Fuel Cells? Think Outside the Hydrogen Tank :: University Communications Newsdesk, University of Maryland - http://www.newsdesk.umd.edu/uniini/release.cfm?ArticleID=2557

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Berkeley Lab to Build Cost Model for Fuel Cells « Berkeley Lab News Center - http://newscenter.lbl.gov/feature-stories/2011/11/01/cost-model-for-fuel-cells/

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An interesting article from Distributed Energy magazine discusses a methane gas-fed fuel cell power unit developed by diesel and gas engine maker Wartsila. According to the article, the Finnish company’s WFC20 is the first solid oxide fuel cell unit run on methane rich landfill gas.

http://www.greenpatentblog.com/2010/03/28/wartsila-and-topsoe-make-methane-into-energy-with-first-landfill-gas-fuel-cell-unit/

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Panasonic Opens European Residential Fuel Cell R&D Center

Panasonic launched the Panasonic Fuel Cell Development Office Europe (PFCOE) in Langen, Germany. The facility, situated in Panasonic's European R&D center in Germany (PRDCG), will focus on developing residential fuel cells for the European market in close collaboration with leading European utility companies.

Panasonic has been developing residential fuel cells micro CHP (combined heat and power system) since 1999 and launched the world's first system, the ENE FARM, in May 2009 in Japan.

http://energystoragetrends.blogspot.com/2011/07/panasonic-opens-european-residential.html

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Ballard to Supply 10,000 Fuel Cells to India - Ballard Power Systems announced it has signed a deal to supply 10,000 fuel cells to wireless telecom base stations in India. The Vancouver-based company plans to sell the cells -- 1,000 in 2009 and 9,000 in 2010 -- to a new joint venture between IdaTech, which makes fuel-cell systems, and the Acme Group, which sells green-energy and energy-efficiency systems to telecom companies and others. - http://www.thestreet.com/story/10441914/1/ballard-to-supply-10000-fuel-cells-to-india.html

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There could be a platinum scarcity - Platinum is used in fuel cells. Most platinum is produced in South Africa and Russia. If platinum turns out to be an essential component in fuel cells, there could be a squeeze on its supply -

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An excellent review of the fuel cells industry - http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/Year-End-Reflections-on-Fuel-Cells-2010/

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Fuel cells with sthg other than H2 - There is ongoing research for fuel cells that can pack something other than H2 - methanol, for instance -

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Coal a source for fuel cells - Because H2 is produced when coal is gasified, coal may become an important source of fuel for fuel cells. A process called mild gasification, which uses lower temperatures and pressures than normal, may produce substances that can be processed into high value industrial raw material and heat -

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Horizon Releases Palm-Sized Fuel Cell Power Plant

A single cartridge placed in Horizon's MiniPAK works on any electronic device that needs up to 3W of power - that includes cell phones, MP3 players, and GPS devices. Some more technical details: the MiniPAK offers both an air-breathing fuel cell and a "solid-state" hydrogen storage unit, and the device's DC power output is 2.5W (5V, 400mA).

To view it : http://inhabitat.com/horizon-releases-palm-sized-fuel-cell-power-plant/

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Hydrogen energy web and WWW - Hydrogen energy web will be akin to the WWW? Where distributed power generation using fuel cells will rule...according to one school of thought -

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Building in US installing fuel cells - Even large commercial buildings in the US are installing fuel cells -

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Stationary fuel cells for home power plants - Ballard Power Systems of Burnaby, British Columbia and Ply Power of Latham, New York have both launched ambitious marketing plans to outfit commercial business and homes with stationary fuel cell power plants -

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Virgina Tech wins EcoCAR competition with E85-fueled extended-range electric vehicle

Late last night, students from Virginia Tech University got wind that their E85-burning extended-range electric Equinox was named the overall champ of EcoCAR: The NeXt Challenge.

Throughout the three-year-long competition, the Virginia Tech team hit incremental goals that boosted the vehicle's fuel efficiency to 81.9 miles per gallon gasoline equivalent, or approximately 70 percent better than the stock General Motors-donor vehicle, positioning them ahead of the pack.
Grabbing second place was Ohio State University, which also used an E85-fueled extended-range EV powertrain. Ohio State fielded a vehicle that was "well balanced in all aspects of consumer acceptability, fuel economy and acceleration categories.
The University of Waterloo took third place with a hydrogen fuel cell plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. Working with this extremely complex powertrain proved challenging and the team from Canada was the only one that ran a fuel cell vehicle in all the dynamic events during the EcoCAR finals.

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Benz says 100,000 fuel cell cars by end of decade - Daimler Benz says it will have 100,000 fuel cell powered cars by 2010 -

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Fuel cell vehicles generation capacity - 200 million fuel cell vehicles has 4 tmies the generating capacity of the entire US power grid -

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