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Hydrogenics Partners With Purolator in Their 'Greening the Fleet' Program

Initiative Includes Deployment of Fuel Cell Hybrid Delivery Truck and Hydrogen Refueling System Purolator Courier Ltd. a Canadian courier company has contracted with Hydrogenics Corporation (Nasdaq: HYGS; TSX: HYG), a designer and manufacturer of hydrogen and fuel cell systems, to develop and deploy a fuel cell hybrid delivery van and an on-site hydrogen refueling system as part of their "Greening the Fleet" initiative. During this two-year initiative, Hydrogenics will develop a fuel cell/battery electric propulsion system that will be integrated into a hybrid-electric Vehicle produced by Azure Dynamics. Purolator will use the vehicles in its delivery fleet. Hydrogenics will also develop and commission a PEM hydrogen generation and refueling system using its proprietary PEM electrolysis technology, which generates hydrogen from water using renewable energy, such as wind power. This refueling station will be located at one of Purolator's depots in the Greater Toronto Area, where it will potentially become one part in Toronto's emerging hydrogen refueling infrastructure. "Fleet applications such as this represent an early-adopting market for fuel cells primarily because fleets typically return daily to a central depot where an appliance can easily refuel them," explains Pierre Rivard, President and CEO. "What's unique about this contract is that Hydrogenics' […]

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International Alliance Forms to Promote Renewable Energy

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities, the Carbon Trust (UK) and the Clean Energy Group (US) today signed a Statement of Intent and Principles to launch the Low Carbon Technology Alliance – an innovative international, multi-party effort to accelerate low carbon technology deployment by closing the "collaborative gap" among practitioners who are using public investment programs. The Statement of Intent and Principles establishes the framework for dialogue among the three founding organizations. It is anticipated that other organizations will join in coming months. To date, there is not only little sharing of key information among local and regional governments, public funders, companies and NGOs in Europe, the United States and Canada, there is virtually no sharing of knowledge among European, United States and Canadian institutions that are working on key technology implementation mechanisms. The only information that is shared is usually among national governments at a broad policy level. Low carbon or clean energy technologies and deployment programs covered in the agreement include: energy production from solar, wind, hydro, biomass, ocean thermal, tidal and wave, fuel cells, and related energy storage and conversion technologies, in addition to energy efficiency applications and green building design. "The Kyoto Protocol is now forcing governments, […]

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Europe Publishes Its First Pollution Register

Europe's first industrial pollution register has been issued, representing a "landmark event" in public provision of environmental information, in the words of European Environment Agency chief Jacqueline McGlade. Speaking at the register's launch in Copenhagen on Monday, European Commission official Paul McAleavey said the data would be translated into all 11 official EU languages following initial feedback. Satellite images showing the location of industrial facilities would be upgraded, he added. Danish Environment Minister Hans Christian Schmidt and Bjrn Stigson of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development also gave the European Pollutant Emission Register (EPER) a strong welcome. They both emphasized how enhanced information serves as a spur to action by companies to reduce emissions. EPER should combine well with product ecolabeling and corporate environmental management certification schemes, Schmidt stressed. Alain Perroy, chief of EU chemicals industry association CEFIC, sounded a cautionary note. Limitations on the use of EPER data should be recognized, he said. The register presents possible threats to both confidentiality and competitiveness, he insisted, and industry should have a right to comment on published figures. Based on reports from the 15 EU governments plus Norway, which is not an EU member state, the first edition reports releases […]

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Genetically Engineered DNA Found in Traditional U.S. Crops

Scientists have found DNA from genetically engineered crops in traditional varieties of three major U.S. food crops that have no history of genetic engineering. The study released Monday by the Union of Concerned Scientists suggests this contamination is pervasive and the U.S. based research group warns that regulators are failing to address an issue that could have stark economic, environmental and public health consequences. "This study shatters the presumption that at least one portion of the seed supply – that for traditional varieties of crops – is truly free of genetically engineered elements," said Dr. Margaret Mellon, a microbiologist with the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and lead author of the new study. "There is no reason to believe that the contamination of the seed supply is limited to what we found," Mellon said. "The door to the seed supply is wide open." The research group purchased six traditional varieties of canola, corn and soybeans from commercial distributors and sent the seeds for testing at two independent commercial laboratories. The labs tested for specific sequences of DNA that have been introduced by genetic engineering, varieties that are currently grown on U.S. farms. One lab detected DNA in half of the […]

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Prior Informed Consent for Chemical Imports Now the Law

Some 70,000 different chemicals are available on the market today, and around 1,500 new ones are introduced every year, presenting a major challenge to many developing governments that must attempt to monitor and manage these potentially dangerous substances. As of Monday, they have a new tool. The Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade became international law Monday, and is now legally binding on its members. The Convention establishes the principle that export of a chemical covered by the Convention can only take place with the prior informed consent of the importing party. Jointly supported by the United Nations agencies responsible for the environment as well as food and agriculture, the Rotterdam Convention enables countries to decide which potentially hazardous chemicals they want to import and to exclude those they cannot manage safely. Where trade is permitted, requirements for labeling and providing information on potential health and environmental effects will promote the safer use of chemicals. "This treaty will enable developing countries to avoid many of the mistakes made in the richer countries, where the misuse of chemicals and pesticides has too often harmed or killed people and damaged […]

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