Tuesday August 7 7:48 AM ET

GM Unveils Hydrogen Fuel Cell

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (Reuters) - General Motors Corp., the world's largest automaker, on Tuesday unveiled a hydrogen fuel cell that it said could be the answer to burgeoning demand for electricity in homes and businesses worldwide.

GM described the fuel cell as a clean, quiet, ultra-efficient power generator that could serve as a reliable backup for housing developments, businesses and hospitals at risk of losing power because of blackouts.

Larry Burns, GM's vice president for research and development and planning, said the fuel cell, which runs on natural gas, could also make many U.S. homes or small businesses virtually independent of the electric-power grid. Fuel cells, already seen as the most likely successor to the gas-guzzling internal combustion engine, produce electric power from hydrogen and oxygen without combustion.

GM said it had not yet made any business decisions based on the development of its stationary fuel cell. But Burns said several companies have offered to cooperate in commercial applications of the technology.

``Because most homes are heated with natural gas,'' he said, ''we have devised a way to extract hydrogen from natural gas for home and business applications.

``We think this will be the predominant fuel for home and business applications, and would be an easy transition for consumers,'' Burns said, speaking on the sidelines of the auto industry's annual Management Briefing Seminars in this pine-fringed northwest Michigan resort.

GM, which along with other automakers hopes to begin mass production of fuel cells for the auto industry by around 2008, has set a goal of becoming the first automaker to sell 1 million fuel cell vehicles.

There are still obstacles to practical use of the technology, however, including handling and storage of hydrogen, which is far more volatile than gasoline. In the meantime, production of fuel cells in smaller volumes, for use outside the auto business, could help pave the way toward wider public acceptance and industrial expertise about issues such as durability and manufacturing.

``Fuel cells are an emerging technology, with the potential for widespread application,'' Burns said.

Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler AG are among other automakers, partnering in their case with Vancouver-based Ballard Power Systems, that are already gearing up to produce fuel cell products for uses outside the auto industry.

-- Anonymous, August 07, 2001

Answers

Mass productino of fuel cell cars by 2008, give the technology a year or two to settle down, and I'm right on schedule! By then I'll prolly be ready to trade in my 2001 Honda Insight.

As far as tapping of residential natural gas to produce electricity, I wonder how this affects overall natural gas demand. It's one thing if it means fewer natural gas generators are built, quite another if it would have been supplied by an alternate fuel. Still, I like the idea.

-- Anonymous, August 07, 2001

This is a step in the right direction. Natural gas is plentiful, worldwide, and according to Dr. Gold it is being newly created every day as a result of natural processes within the earth. Not decomposition of organic materials, but actually a part of the hydrocarbon chain like oil and coal that is naturally welling up from deep below us as a result of heat, pressure, and combining of hydrogen and carbon within the earth's mantle.

Production of fuel cells could also start to move us all away from the lock that the worldwide petroleum "barons" have on us. And that includes (forgive me) the Bush family and their deep ties to that sector of the energy industry. Which is why Dubya is pushing so hard right now for drilling in the Alaska wildlife preserve. He could be pushing for more natural gas supply, right here in the US, or fuel cells, etc, but he is not. No real wealth for his buddies in that.

Actually, from what I read that is leaking out of other scientific reports, we *should* be pushing for zero-point energy technology which offers all the electric we could dream of at almost no cost at all. Of course that would devastate the present energy cartels and change the world in ways that are unpredictable. In the end there will be no other choice, but don't expect the present powers-that-be to willingly close their doors on oil, coal, or natural gas.

-- Anonymous, August 07, 2001

There are still obstacles to practical use of the technology, however, including handling and storage of hydrogen, which is far more volatile than gasoline.

I don't like the sound of that. But we should be able to figure it out before anyone [us!] gets hurt, right?

-- Anonymous, August 07, 2001