I suggest that anyone truly interested in where hydrogen is going to
come from in the developing Hydrogen Economy read the Department of
Energy's National Hydrogen Energy Vision document located on their
Hydrogen, Fuel Cell & Infrastructure Technology Program web site;
http://www.eere.energy.gov/hydrogenandfuelcells/.

One current program that is being employed in California is the zero
emission well to wheel program. There is a bus line in California
operating under this program using wind turbine energy with
electrolyzer hydrogen generation. Mobile eletrolyzers are amiable to
communities with that do early adoption of the Hydrogen Economy.

The National Hydrogen Energy Vision document recommends early
adopters the Hydrogen Economy to use steam reforming and oxygen
reduction of hydrocarbons with progression towards cleaner renewable
energy. The question with hydrogen from hydrocarbons is not if or
how much CO2 emissions occur but where they occur. With hydrogen
generated from hydrocarbons the CO2 emission only occur at the
generation plant where as with the hydrocarbon engine the CO2 occurs
where ever the engine is.

If you live in an non-attainment area, with a hydrocarbon engine your
polluting right in the area. But if operate on hydrogen, the
hydrogen generation and the emissions can be located outside the non-
attainment area. In addition the CO2 can be captured and sequestered
at the hydrogen generation plant, something that would be hard to do
on a car.

Personally I don't see a hydrogen verses hybrid issue. I see
hydrogen and hybrids to be a very good marriage, perhaps better than
hydrocarbons and hybrids.

Hydrogen is coming on strong. The Hydrogen Economy gets closer every
day. Here is an article to give you an idea how close (originally
posted as One Million Hydrogen Cars in US by 2007);

HOUSTON--March 13, 2003--Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial
Information Resources Incorporated; Houston, Texas). All key players
are on board with the push to see hydrogen/hybrid cars on the
highways in big numbers as soon as possible. Governments, auto
manufacturers, fuel companies, industrial gas companies, fuel cell
companies, and a broad based range of technical service providers are
all busy integrating products and services to support the push to
hydrogen power.

Encouraging the positive manufacturing activity is the willingness of
institutions, municipalities, and transport utility clients to
welcome the prospects of clean and efficient hydrogen and hybrid
produced power as soon as it is commercially available. This full
acceptance of the hydrogen-based future for the auto industry
gathered pace and swept in over the last twelve months with
unpredictable vigor. Every day brings news of new technological,
breakthroughs, successful technological applications tests and moves
by the industry majors.

In a recent report on the use of hydrogen for petrochemicals,
renewable energy and agricultural chemicals, Business Communications
of Connecticut said that total U.S. hydrogen demand will increase to
14.45 trillion cubic feet (tcf) in 2007 from 10.96 tcf in 2002,
representing an average annual growth rate of 5.7%.

The BCC report also forecast that more than one million hydrogen
vehicles would be operating in the U.S. through 2007, increasing the
hydrogen market for renewable energy production.

Latest in the welter of major auto manufacturer announcements is that
of GM being given the first ever approval to drive a liquid hydrogen
fueled vehicle on Japan's public roads. HydroGen 3, GM's 400
kilometer range vehicle, also received the first ever approval for a
liquid hydrogen storage system for vehicle use from the High Pressure
Gas Safety Institute of Japan. GM has both liquid and compressed
hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in its testing fleet and is exploring
several options in hydrogen storage, including liquid, compressed and
various hydrides. GM has also successfully tested a 700 bar
(10,000PSI) vehicle hydrogen storage system that extends the range of
the HydroGen 3 by up to 70% when compared to the equivalent 5,000 PSI
system.

Fedex will be using HydroGen 3 on regular delivery routes and
providing GM support engineers with full feedback. The vehicle has a
top speed of 160 kph and stores up to 4.6 kilograms of liquid
hydrogen at -253C onboard. The fuel cell has been incorporated into a
single module and the need for a peak power buffer battery has been
eliminated.

Air Products and Chemicals (NYSE:APD) (Allentown, Pennsylvania)
recently put on a show in Washington promoting a range of hydrogen
refueling techniques and products. Among the items on show was the
mobile hydrogen fueler that is mounted to a trailer to allow for
vehicle fueling at a customer's site. This is designed to bridge the
hydrogen fueling infrastructure gap which will exist until a full
service network of hydrogen equipped gas stations can be brought
online. The system is monitored remotely to ensure 24 hour a day
fueling availability. The unit contains stored hydrogen from an
external source so there is no fixed capacity to potentially limit
the number of vehicles to be filled. Customers are given operational
and fueler safety training by the supplier.

Stuart Energy Systems (TSX:HHO)(Mississauga, Ontario) has sold a
hydrogen energy station (HES) to Skydraft, a company which supplies
natural gas fuel to the entire bus fleet of the city of Malmo in
Sweden. The HES unit generates, compresses, and dispenses hydrogen
and can also dispense a blend of hydrogen and natural gas to the bus
fleet. Adding hydrogen to natural gas reduces tailpipe emissions. The
blending dispenser will allow mixes from 100% pure hydrogen through
to 100% natural gas which will enable full evaluation of the mixes.
The HES to be installed at Skydraft in the second half of 2003
consists of a water electrolysis-based hydrogen generation,
compression, storage and gas/hydrogen dispenser and will produce
about 80 kg of pure hydrogen per day.

Norsk Hydro (NYSE:NHY) (Oslo, Norway) reports that their new filling
station 'hydrogen electrolyzer' will use an electric charge to
extract hydrogen from water to power FCV (fuel cell vehicles). The
company is a participant in the eleven-partner European Union joint
venture, Icelandic New Energy, to make Iceland into the
first 'hydrogen economy' and to be fossil fuel free by 2030. The
Norsk Hydro electrolyzer station will be installed in the Icelandic
capital, Reykjavik, in April and will fuel DaimlerChrysler passenger
buses with a range of 200 kilometers. The system will give car sized
FCVs a range of about 400 kilometers which is about the range
obtained now with a gas tank fill up. Buses will carry 40 kilos of
hydrogen and cars will need about five kilos. Filling stations will
need to supply 5-kilowatt hours of electricity to process the water
which is about what it takes the kitchen stove to cook dinner.

The electrolyzers are produced at the company's factory at Notodden
west of Oslo and the Icelandic filling station project will cost $7.7
million. A second filling station will be shipped to Hamburg, Germany
in May.

The above items are samples from the feverish flow of hydrogen power
applications that appears to have attained the speed of development
and innovation hitherto associated only with the microchip industry.

Industrialinfo.com (IIR) is the leading provider of global industrial
market research. We specialize in helping companies develop
information solutions to maximize their sales and marketing efforts.
For more information on trends and upcoming construction activities
for international energy markets as well as other industrial sectors
send inquiries to energygroup@i... or visit us online
at www.industrialinfo.com or www.iirenergy.com.


Dan Berndt