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Lovins' Five Steps to a Hydrogen Economy: How to Get From Here to There

One of the persistent questions about replacing our dependence on fossil fuels with a reliance on hydrogen is how to make the transition. Energy visionary Amory Lovins lays out a scenario to accomplish that shift in manageable steps.1. Install fuel cells as power sources in buildings where uninterrupted electric power is crucial, such as hospitals and data centers. The fuel cells would run on hydrogen extracted (or “reformed”) from natural gas, which is already supplied to the buildings.2. Next, sell cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells to companies based at those buildings. The same natural gas reformers that supply hydrogen to the building’s fuel cells would also provide hydrogen for the auto fleet. When the cars are parked at the building, they can earn back much of their cost by serving as electric generators and selling power to the grid.3. As reformers enter mass production, they come down in price, and can be installed at filling stations which are on the natural gas mains. This would create a widespread network of places where hydrogen is available.4. Once the demand for hydrogen grows to a certain threshold, different sources will begin to compete with each other for the market: renewable or […]

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Multinationals Take Up Global CSR ReportingResults of the 2003 Benchmark Survey

Material World, highlights the findings of the fourth Benchmark Survey of Global Environmental and Social Reporting (the 2003 Survey). The research project evaluates global reporting among the 100 largest companies in the world. The concept results from the simple proposition that global economic actors have global environmental and social impacts and should be encouraged to produce global, as opposed to national, environmental and social reports. The report examines leaders and best practices of the most sophisticated reporters, identifies the leading companies, sectors and issues that the leaders are reporting on. This years Survey reports many different topics including geographical trends and non-reporters, progress towards integrated sustainability reporting, and building trust through independent assurance. The 2003 Benchmark Survey found that 75% of reporting companies are now reporting on efforts to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and other climate change mitigation activities. For the second survey running the Computers and Electronics sector has topped the list in Greenhouse Gas reporting and Climate Change mitigation, with 80% of companies reporting in this area. This year the scope of the Benchmark Survey was expanded to include climate change mitigation activities as well as reporting on GHG emissions. An additional category on mobile sources of […]

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Weekly Clean Energy Roundup:June 4, 2003

*News and Events Hawaiian Efforts Support Renewables, Efficiency, Fuel Cells New One-Megawatt Solar Installations Online on Both Coasts New Minnesota Law Supports Renewables, Requires Xcel Energy to Boost Funds and Install 300 Megawatts of Wind Power Iowa Utilities Propose a Wind-Powered Energy Storage Plant Efficiency Vermont Wins Award for Excellence in Government FutureTruck Competition Now Underway Near Detroit*Site NewsCenter for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy*Energy Connections California Power Outlook Positive Despite First Power Alert ———————————————————————-NEWS AND EVENTS———————————————————————-Hawaiian Efforts Support Renewables, Efficiency, Fuel CellsRecent public and private efforts to advance renewable energy, energy efficiency, and fuel cells in Hawaii — including plans to spend up to $10 million in support of renewable power projects — are giving the state a new prominence in the clean energy arena. The Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) is involved in many of these actions, including low-interest loans and rebates for solar hot water systems in Honolulu and the opening of the Hawaii Fuel Cell Test Facility, also in Honolulu. And in late May, HECO announced that its subsidiary, Renewable Hawaii, Inc., is requesting proposals forrenewable energy projects on the island of Oahu. The company has approval to invest up to $10 million in grid-connected power projects […]

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