Fuel Cells

Behind a chain-link fence next to a parking structure at an office park in the San Gabriel Valley sit five softly humming gray boxes that could change the way homes and offices are powered. On Tuesday, the boxes ? each somewhat bigger than an SUV ? will begin generating enough electricity to power about a quarter of the complex, saving the property owner about $500,000 a year in electricity bills. The Energy Servers use fuel-cell technology to create low-emission electricity.

Gym operator LA Fitness International has agreed to expand its headquarters with a 10-year lease at the Michelson office building in Irvine. The Irvine fitness company will expand its offices about 30% with a move into 91,000 square feet at the Michelson, landlord Emmes Realty Services of California said. LA Fitness was founded in 1984 and has grown to be one of the country's largest fitness club chains. In December, the company took over 171 Bally Total Fitness locations in 16 states, including about 40 in Southern California, marking one of the biggest deals by a gym chain in recent years.

Exxon Mobil and General Motors' attempt to portray gasoline fuel cells as a win for the environment and consumers ["Exxon, GM Report Major Fuel-Cell Technology Gain," Aug. 11] is a case of corporate spin. While oil company executives may win, the environment and public health will lose. There is no reason to cram yesterday's fuel into tomorrow's technology. The excitement about fuel cells lies in their ability to provide a zero-emission future; burdening them with gasoline's pollution undermines this promise.

Century City skyscraper Constellation Place, formerly known as MGM Tower, is the first Los Angeles high-rise to be served by electricity-generating fuel cells. Landlord JMB Realty installed two Bloom Energy Servers that will produce 400 kilowatts of power, about one-third of the electricity needed by the 35-story tower. Bloom servers, made by Bloom Energy of Sunnyvale, Calif., are each big enough to occupy an average parking space and contain thousands of Bloom fuel cells - flat, solid ceramic squares made from a sand-like powder - that convert air and fuel into electricity through an electrochemical process.

Boeing Co. will develop an electrically powered airplane to test cleaner technologies for commercial aircraft. A Boeing research center in Madrid will replace the engine of a single-engine airplane with fuel cells and an electric motor able to turn the craft's propeller, the company said. Test flights are set to begin in 2004. Fuel cells, similar to large batteries, make electricity through a chemical process using hydrogen. Under ideal conditions, fuel cells emit only water vapor.

"Fuel Cells: Engines of the Future," a seminar offered through UCI Extension, is scheduled from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. The seminar, which will be held in Social Science Plaza A, Room 1100, will provide updates on the development of fuel cells and potential applications. Cost is $180. Information: (949) 824-5414.

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.

Looking to boost the use of its clean electricity technology, Bay Area firm Bloom Energy is offering businesses an economical way to power their buildings with its fuel cells. The company's so-called Bloom Box energy servers can cost as much as $800,000 each ? an investment too rich for many businesses. Under a new program announced Thursday, customers can skip the hefty upfront cost of buying the units and instead just purchase the power under a 10-year contract with Bloom.

Consumers soon may be able to provide emergency power for their home office equipment with a portable fuel-cell unit to be marketed by Coleman Inc., while General Motors Corp. says it is looking at cellular communications, not cars, as the likely first commercial application of its fuel cell. The auto giant said Nextel Communications Inc.

Eight auto makers that account for the bulk of cars and trucks sold in California will present prototypes of fuel-cell-powered vehicles Wednesday for a three-year experiment leading to what they hope will be commercialization of the nonpolluting vehicles by 2003.

California wants 12 gigawatts of electricity from local clean power sources, such as rooftop solar panels, small wind turbines and fuel cells, by 2020, Gov. Jerry Brown said at a gathering of more than 200 energy experts at UCLA that he convened Monday. Twelve gigawatts is enough to power roughly 3 million homes. But Brown was short on details about the mechanics of reaching that goal. "It's going to take all manner of investment, risk taking and collaboration," he said. At the moment, the state's renewable energy portfolio is laden with large wind and solar farms sprawling over remote deserts and mountains.

An El Segundo company aims to help the nation's busiest seaport complex advance its green technology efforts by providing zero-emission trucks for heavy-duty hauling. Executives from Vision Motor Corp. delivered a heavy-duty hauling truck Friday to one of the port complex's most important cargo haulers, Total Transportation Services Inc. of Rancho Dominguez. The Tyrano class 8 rig looks like any other big rig, but a hydrogen fuel cell powers an electric drive, emitting only water from the tailpipe.

Looking to boost the use of its clean electricity technology, Bay Area firm Bloom Energy is offering businesses an economical way to power their buildings with its fuel cells. The company's so-called Bloom Box energy servers can cost as much as $800,000 each ? an investment too rich for many businesses. Under a new program announced Thursday, customers can skip the hefty upfront cost of buying the units and instead just purchase the power under a 10-year contract with Bloom.

Behind a chain-link fence next to a parking structure at an office park in the San Gabriel Valley sit five softly humming gray boxes that could change the way homes and offices are powered. On Tuesday, the boxes ? each somewhat bigger than an SUV ? will begin generating enough electricity to power about a quarter of the complex, saving the property owner about $500,000 a year in electricity bills. The Energy Servers use fuel-cell technology to create low-emission electricity.

An egg farm just south of Stockton is planning to use methane gas from more than 1 million pounds of poultry waste a week to help power its operations, reducing both its electricity bills and waste disposal costs. The Olivera Egg Ranch in French Camp will install a 1.4-megawatt fuel cell that will produce enough power to run the facility. The system may also help ease relations with neighbors who have sued over noxious ammonia emissions from Olivera's manure lagoons, which the farm currently uses for waste disposal.

19 named in Bluetooth patent suit Wi-Lan Inc., the Canadian owner of patents for wireless technology, sued Irvine-based Broadcom Corp. and 18 other mobile phone and computer makers, claiming they're infringing its Bluetooth patents. The suit, filed in federal court in Marshall, Texas, seeks unspecified damages for the alleged infringement and an order to stop the companies from using the technology. Bluetooth is used to wirelessly transmit data and voice between devices such as computers and phones.

General Motors Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp. are still conducting technical discussions on fuel cells and are negotiating whether to extend the research, Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe said. The companies never had a plan to form a joint venture for fuel cells or vehicles powered by fuel cells, Executive Vice President Masatami Takimoto said. Automakers are working to create vehicles that rely less on gasoline as energy prices rise and governments pass stricter laws controlling emissions.

Widespread use of the hydrogen fuel cells that President Bush has featured in his energy plan may not be as environmentally friendly as many believe. Scientists say the new technology could lead to greater destruction of the ozone layer that protects Earth from cancer-causing ultraviolet rays.

After nine years of research shrouded in secrecy, a Silicon Valley tech firm Wednesday took the wraps off a fuel cell that it says can generate energy by combining air and a wide range of fuels without going through the process of combustion. The firm, Bloom Energy, said the solid oxide fuel cell -- resembling a Polaroid snapshot both in dimension and thickness -- could be a game-changer in the clean technology industry because it can be powered by either fossil fuel or renewable sources in an electro-chemical process that is both cleaner and more reliable than current options.

The Port of Los Angeles, the nation's busiest container port, is negotiating with an alternative-fuel vehicle manufacturer to purchase and evaluate the company's heavy-duty, zero-emission trucks, which use a hydrogen fuel cell hybrid electric power system. The company is Vision Industries Corp. of Florida, doing business as Vision Motor Corp. in California. Vision's research and development facility is in El Segundo and its manufacturing plant is in Whittier, said its president and chief executive, Martin Schuermann.