Geoff Ballard, 75; geophysicist expanded use of fuel cells
Geoff Ballard, the Canadian entrepreneur who transformed pollution-free fuel cells from an exotic power source used in the space program to an everyday engine used in industry, buses and, perhaps soon, in cars, died Aug. 2 at Lions Gate Hospital in Vancouver from complications of liver disease. He was 75.
In 1999, Time magazine named Ballard a "Hero of the Planet" for his efforts to reduce pollution in cities by getting fuel cells into cars -- an effort that has borne little fruit yet, but that is receiving renewed emphasis because of the rising price of gasoline.
Ballard's name "will forever be associated with this company's fuel-cell products, which are being deployed as an energy source for applications in a growing number of important global markets," said John Sheridan, president and chief executive of Ballard Power Systems.
A geophysicist by training, Ballard spent the first years of his career working for the U.S. Army, specializing initially in microwave communications and later in ice physics. In the latter role, he studied ways to hide fuel tanks for U.S. bombers in Greenland's ice fields.
When the energy crisis hit the United States in 1974, Ballard was chosen to lead the newly created Federal Energy Conservation Research program.
Stymied by Congress' refusal to provide what he considered adequate funding, he quit and set out on his own, buying a decrepit Arizona motel for $2,000 and turning it into a research laboratory. He initially tried to create a lithium battery that could be used instead of an internal-combustion motor in cars, but that effort led him into bankruptcy.
The company moved to Vancouver when it got a contract to provide a lithium battery for a submarine owned by Canadian industrialist John Horton, who agreed to provide funding for the company.
In 1983, Ballard teamed up with engineer Paul Howard and electrochemist Keith Prater to try to develop fuel cells, getting seed money from the Canadian military.
Conceptually, fuel cells are simple. Hydrogen and oxygen are combined in the presence of a catalyst to produce electricity, with the only waste product being water.
The concept for the technology was developed in the 1830s by British scientist Sir William Grove, but implementation had been slow and fuel cells proved to be either bulky and inefficient or very expensive.
The three entrepreneurs worked tirelessly to improve the efficiency of existing fuel cells and reduce their size and cost.
