Automaker unveils stationary generator that could power homes and businesses
This could be the start of something good for the entire world who have been held hostage (by raising oil pices at will time and time again) by a few oil producing countries.
This statement is especially good for Silicon Valley --- home to AMAT and the rest of the Chip Industry: ---
"It would help the situation in California. It could be used to power the White House," Larry Burns, GM vice president of research and development and planning, said Tuesday."
TRAVERSE CITY, Michigan, Aug 07, 2001 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- General
Motors Corp. on Tuesday unveiled a stationary power generator that could be used
to provide energy for homes and businesses.
The generator would use the same fuel cell technology automakers are developing
in hopes of producing pollution-free vehicles.
"It would help the situation in California. It could be used to power the White
House," Larry Burns, GM vice president of research and development and planning,
said Tuesday.
The generator GM is testing extracts hydrogen from either natural gas, methane
or gasoline. The hydrogen then is mixed with oxygen from the air and the fuel
cell converts it to electricity.
Burns said natural gas is ideal for home applications of the stationary units
since many homes already are hooked up to natural gas service and an
infrastructure of pipelines delivering the fuel now exists.
The company envisions dozens of homes or businesses being powered by one fuel
cell generator, which also could be used to recharge the batteries of electric
vehicles.
Burns said the units could produce and store hydrogen that may be used during
peak power periods to generate electricity.
"It changes the game," said David Cole, director of the Center for Automotive
Research. "It makes sense for the next step in the technology to be power
generation."
Cole said the key would be to make the units cost-effective. GM said it does not
yet have a price or a timetable for making the stationary units available.
Other automakers say they are not interested in developing the same technology.
"We're a car company, we're not interested in producing stationary units," Ford
spokeswoman Robin Schultz said.
"We'd rather use it to develop fuel cell vehicles," said Carol Honeycutt, a
spokeswoman for the Chrysler Group of DaimlerChrysler AG.
GM also announced a major step in the development of fuel cell-powered vehicles
with the unveiling of the first gasoline fuel processor for fuel cell
propulsion.
The Gen III processor, mounted on a Chevrolet S-10 pickup truck, extracts
hydrogen from gasoline, creating electric power much the same as the stationary
units, with the added benefit of powering a vehicle.
GM claims the Gen III, when combined with the fuel cell stack, has the potential
to obtain 40 percent overall energy efficiency - about 50 percent more efficient
than a conventional internal combustion engine.
It is considered an incremental step in the technology since gasoline-fed fuel
cell vehicles are not pollution-free, as are fuel cell vehicles fed with pure
hydrogen.
"A fuel cell S-10 is great, but they've spent so much time telling Congress they
can't raise fuel efficiency, and now, today they're saying they can," Ann
Mesnikoff, a lobbyist for the Sierra Club in Washington, said.
GM says it will begin driving demonstrations of the gasoline-fed fuel cell
powered pickup truck early next year, but they would not be widely available
until "mid-decade."
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