The world’s largest fuel cell built by Ballard Power Systems will be moving to the Eastlake Plant of Ohio-based FirstEnergy Corp. The world’s biggest hydrogen fuel cell is rated at 1 megawatt and is called ClearGen, which is a utility scale generator.

This will be a multi-year demonstration of the zero emissions capability of this stationary fuel cell located approximately 44 miles north of Akron, Ohio. The purpose of the fuel cell is to provide peak energy to homes and businesses cleanly especially during hot summer months when homeowners and businesses alike are running air conditioning, lights and other machines and appliances that are a drain to electricity supplies.

Peak energy for a power company is also the time where most pollution is generated by either coal or natural gas. So, having this utility scale hydrogen fuel cell supplying power to the peak load for the utility company will do double duty in cutting emissions.

Look more an increasing number of stationary utility scale hydrogen fuel cells to be coming onto the market in the near future.

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If you want to talk about a car that is full of crap then let’s talk about the Bio-Bug by Geneco. The makers claim the converted VW Bug runs of methane biogas that comes from the local UK waste-water treatment plants.

Right on the side of the car it says, “Powered By Your Waste” and what this means is when 70 people flush their toilets, this is enough to power this Beetle Juice bug for around 10,000 miles (of course if there were a way to hook the human hiney up to the gas tank directly from flatulence to tank this would be even better).

The British 2-liter 114 mph gas bomb will take advantage of just a little of the 18 million cubic meters of biogas produced locally each year. Now many people have yearned to have a car run on water for years.

In addition, there have been countless jokes about cars being able to run on human gas. The reasoning is that if college students can drink beer and light their farts on fire, then why can we not power an automobile this way as well?

Well, the Bio-Bug has turned a crappy little Beetle into a crap-eating biogas Bug that ironically put out few tailpipe emissions, being cleaner than a gasoline or diesel power car or truck. So, this little gas bomb helps recycle human waste while putting very little pollution into the air.

I know that I sound like I’m full of crap but you can read the article I’ve linked to for yourself.

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The X Prize Foundation has leaked a few details about the Oil Cleanup X Challenge to help solve the impact from the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico. More details will be announced this Thursday at the National Press Club in Washington DC.

The X Prize Foundation will be calling all scientists, engineers and others to put their creative minds to work to solve the devastation caused by the oil spill. In the past a large cash award has been offered for the efforts.

In the recent past I’ve talked about the $10 million Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize that is still ongoing that will make an award to the vehicle that is able to achieve 100 mpge (miles per gallon equivalent) and that people will want to buy.

In 2004, the X Prize Foundation awarded Burt Rutan the $10 million Ansari X prize for flying the first space vehicle into low earth orbit, thereby launching the space tourism industry. The Oil Cleanup X Challenge will put the brightest eco minds to work with a cash incentive in order to solve this nation’s largest ecological disaster to date.

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Some people have theorized that the Hydrogen Economy would start in the small electronics marketplace and Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies has now done its part to make sure this dream is coming true.

The Horizon MiniPak is a portable, reusable electronics charger that is based upon hydrogen technology. One simply inserts a HydroStik cartridge into the MiniPak and in a moment, the light comes on and the device is ready to dispense electricity through a USB connection to any device that uses this connection.

This means that laptops, cell phones, digital cameras and the like can all be run off the MiniPak. And like a battery, when the HydroStik runs dry, you simply pop in a new one. For the environmentalists who want to go the extra mile to save on energy, Horizon has also introduced the HydroFill home personal hydrogen station.

Horizon is calling this “disruptive technology” and if you watch the video, you’ll see why. The Horizon MiniPak will compete directly with the myriad of batteries on the market that don’t have as long of life and are not nearly as versatile.

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Okay, there is something wonderful and tragic about technology at the same time. Sometimes I know that ignorance is bliss. Other times enlightenment is bliss. Many times I wish I could turn it off and on like a light switch.

Since the BP oil spill in the Gulf Coast region has been such a huge environmental disaster and will be for months and likely years to come, PBS thought that a little technology was needed to document the spill.

So, PBS came up with this Gulf Oil Tracker widget that tells how many estimated gallons are leaked at any given moment. It is both outrageous and hypnotic at the same time. The oil industry is like the antithesis to green technology.

Yet, we need high tech to keep the oil barons in check and to protect our environment the best that we can. The BP Gulf Oil spill is just further evidence that we need to put more resources towards green technology now.

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