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Non-Tech : Lunn Industries (LUNN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Pilot who wrote (1348)	10/22/1997 7:33:00 AM
From: Chartgod	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1436

Pilot... I think this is what you are talking about... ======================================================= Tuesday October 21 5:45 PM EDT Fuel cell breakthrough reported WASHINGTON, Oct. 21 _ A public-private research team has reported the successful application of fuel cell technology to automobiles using gasoline, predicting its use in low-pollution cars by 2005. Energy Secretary Federico Pena and representatives of private industry said successful tests last week should clear the way for prototype automobiles, which get double the gas mileage of current vehicles, within two years. Gary Mittleman, president and chief executive officer of Plug Power of Latham, N.Y., one of the partners in the project, said: ''This breakthrough is a major step toward the advancement of zero-emission vehicles.'' The technology of fuel cells dates back to 1839, when British scientist Sir William Grove discovered that combining hydrogen and oxygen in the presence of a conductor produces electricity, with water vaper as its only waste. But while fuel cells have been used for decades by NASA, they have been too large and expensive for widespread commercial use. Sizes and prices, however, have been dropping rapidly with technological improvements. Researchers seeking applications for fuel cells in the automotive world, however, still faced the even larger problem of generating and supplying huge amounts of hydrogen. The breakthrough reported today creates an automobile that takes gasoline and extracts the hydrogen necessary to power the fuel cells. The idea is considered a ''bridge technology'' that would allow the introduction of fuel cells with existing worldwide networks of gasoline stations. Plug Power has been working with Arthur D. Little of Cambridge, Mass. , to develop the technology under a $15 million Energy Department contract. A leader in fuel cell technology, Ballard Power Systems of Vancouver, Canada, already has developed a prototype vehicle, in which its fuel cells are powered by methanol. Both Ballard and the Energy Department team said they hoped to begin producing cars by 2005. _-