Del.....I agree with you, but there will be multiple baby steps taken and BILLIONS of dollars spent before this hydrogen distribution infrastructure is ultimately realized. Without question, on board hydrogen reforming using a widely available low-sulfur liquid hydrocarbon (like gasoline, diesel or petrol) will initially be necessary if fuel cell vehicles are to have a chance of achieving commercial success.
ENER is a great company as will be Hydrogen Burner Technologies (just announced an IPO) and the future IPO planned for International Fuel Cells (see below). What happens within the next 10 years, though? I have reason to believe that the interim fuel of the near future WON'T be either methanol or methane (natural gas). If so, who will be the winners and losers in this race?
United Technologies Expects Power Sales of $4 Bln in 2010
By Rachel Layne
New York, Sept. 20 (Bloomberg) -- United Technologies Corp., the supplier of fuel cells to NASA for the space shuttle, expects sales of power generation equipment to rise more than 10-fold in the next decade to $4 billion a year.
As much of two-thirds of the amount will come from the company's fuel cell business, said George David, chief executive. Fuel cells use hydrogen to produce electricity, and emit only water vapor. Industrial turbines will account for most of this year's $300 million in projected power-generation sales.
Expectations that stricter environmental standards will lead automakers and power companies to use fuel cells has spurred further development. Fuel cells are less polluting than either conventional power plants or internal combustion engines.
United Technologies doesn't have immediate plans to sell shares to the public in its International Fuel Cells business. The unit, which is more than 40 years old, competes with startup developers such as Plug Power Inc., whose shares have risen significantly in the past year.
``It becomes a stock market valuation game,'' David said. ``We need to run the business from a somewhat longer-term perspective.''
United Technologies, based in Hartford, Connecticut, said yesterday that it will demonstrate the world's first gasoline-powered fuel cell with the U.S. Department of Energy.
The development could hasten the acceptance of the now- experimental kind of fuel cell in cars and trucks. Hydrogen is expensive to produce, though, and isn't widely available. A fuel cell that extracts hydrogen from gasoline would accelerate the device's spread by allowing motorists to fuel up at existing gas stations, analysts have said.
The company also formed joint ventures with a unit of Royal Dutch/Shell Group and with Toshiba Corp. to develop and market fuel cells and their components. Other agreements may follow, David said.
``I wouldn't be adverse to an auto industry partner,'' he said. ``We've had conversations with a number of people it hasn't been the right time, the right circumstance.''
Shares of United Technologies fell 1.81 to 60.75 on the New York Stock Exchange. They've risen 4.9 percent in the past year. |
