To: Bill Jackson who wrote (9218 ) 3/22/1998 11:58:00 AM From: Phil Jones Read Replies (3) | Respond to
Two interesting articles in the business section of today's Toronto
Sunday Star on Warren Buffett -- one on his investing generally, and
one on his silver purchasing. Sorry I'm not able to post them. In
the latter, Richard Siegel, managing partner at Chilport Proprietary
Research (which will publish a report called Buffett's Silver Lining
on April 6) says: "Scientists are racing to develop the next generation of fuel-cell batteries used to power electric cars, laptop computers, cellular phones, submarines and satellites and one of the most promising is silver-zinc fuel cells". These articles are worth reading if someone can post them.
The silver article mentioned that Buffett is a major shareholder of Gillette Co., parent company of Duracell Batteries. That made me recall
a newspaper clipping of about a month ago. It mentioned that batteries such as those made by Duracell would soon be obsolete because of a new fuel cell, powered by alcohol, that had been developed by Bob Hockaday, a former U.S. Dept. of Energy scientist. After 10 years' research in his basement, Mr. Hockaday has come up with a fuel cell that uses methanol and air and fuel-cell elements that can be printed by the millions on sheets of plastic. Each micro fuel cell, once loaded with 1.5 ounces
of methanol, would last at least 20 years. The weight of such fuel cell is 1/2 that of a
nickel-cadmium battery that provides power for only 1/50 as long. No mention
of silver being needed in the Hockaday article, but it has me wondering. There is mention that "Mr. Hockaday has signed a $1-million deal with a U.S. company that should see his invention in use by next year"(1999).
