NHA Membership News
Seven Companies Join NHA This Year
Seven companies have become new
members of the NHA in 1999. In addition, one member upgraded
from Small Business to the Sustaining Member category. We
welcome our newest members.
Conti Enterprises
Conti Enterprises is a large-scale
contracting company based in Pennsylvania, U.S.A. Conti
specializes in building the infrastructure and concrete
foundations for cogeneration facilities, and won the Westinghouse
Electric Partnership Award for 1991 for this type of work. They
have also done work for Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Corporation
that included constructing a 69,000-kV electrical substation, two
7,000-hp centrifugal compressor motors, and all support equipment
necessary.
Contact: Paul Force, Director,
Energy Services Group, 117 Blackberry Lane, P.O. Box 486,
Evans City, PA 16033, U.S.A. Phone: +1.724.789.9301. Fax:
+1.724.789.9722.
Engineering Advancement Association of Japan (ENAA)
ENAA manages the World Energy
NETwork (WE-NET), a large-scale project which will provide a
comprehensive solution to the global dilemma of producing
and utilizing energy while simultaneously preserving the
environment. The WE-NET project strives to construct a clean
energy network on a worldwide scale. Hydrogen will be produced
by employing various kinds of renewable energies such as hydro,
solar, geothermal, and wind power. The hydrogen produced will
then be transported to and used in high-energy consumption
regions.
The WE-NET project is a comprehensive
plan that spans a 28-year period from 1993-2020. Phase I started
in 1993 with the aim of establishing a wide range of basic
technologies related to hydrogen production, transportation,
storage, and utilization. Phases II and III will focus on
developing pilot-scale plants and then international-scale
systems for actual use.
Contact: Takefumi Aoyama, Manager,
WE-NET Office, CYD Bldg. 1-4-6, Nishi-Shinbashi, 1-Chome,
Minato-Ku, Tokyo 105-0003, Japan. Phone: +81.3.3502.4444.
Fax: +81.3.3502.4964.
General Hydrogen Corporation
General Hydrogen Corp. is a
member of CGI International, LLC, one of the largest independent
manufacturers and distributors of industrial gases in the Eastern
United States. GHC produces bulk gaseous hydrogen sold to both
wholesale and retail markets. GHC’s ICC License allows it to
transport in all 48 states in the continental U.S.; their
sophisticated trucking program includes EDI, Hazmat, and
distribution software in addition to their computer data base.
Its corporate headquarters in Washington, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.,
also serves as the main distribution center, with on-site
acetylene manufacturing and central fill for high-pressure
cylinders of helium, argon, medical and industrial oxygen,
nitrogen mixes, specialty gases, nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide,
breathing air, synthetic breathing air, propylene, and cylinder
propane.
At GHC in Proctor, West Virginia,
U.S.A., a Shimadzu gas chromatograph analyzes hydrogen daily at
the plant, or each trailer can be analyzed by customer request.
Tickets rating the purity of the gas—currently reaching 99.999
percent—are attached to every trailer. The high purity levels
are due to the addition of further catalysts, deoxo units,
scrubbers, and heat exchangers.
CGI International and General Hydrogen
combined employ more than 45 people, over 70 percent of whom have
more than 15 years of industrial gas and welding experience. Their
mission is to create state-of-the-art industrial gas applications,
based on the latest scientific research, that can benefit various
industries, and to provide the customer with responsiveness and
performance.
Contact: Charles Zullo III, President
& CEO, 1215 Henderson Avenue, Washington, PA 15301, U.S.A.
Phone: +1.724.225.8700. Fax: +1.724.225.9958.
Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory
(INEEL)
INEEL recently initiated a hydrogen
technologies program focused on new processes for production and
utilization of hydrogen. Research in hydrogen production technologies
includes plasma thermal conversion of natural gas to hydrogen with
solid carbon as a by-product, a proprietary process for conversion
of natural gas to hydrogen with liquid hydrocarbon by-products and
bioproduction of hydrogen.
New materials for low-pressure hydrogen
storage are under investigation. A systems/engineering and risk
assessment on the use of hydrogen for distributed power systems and
transportation applications is underway in order to identify critical
research needs. An integrated hydrogen production/purification/fuel
cell demonstration is planned.
Contact: Raymond Anderson, Project Manager,
P.O. Box 1625, MS 2110, Idaho Falls, ID 83415-2110, U.S.A. Phone:
+1.208.526.1623. Fax: +1.208.526.9822.
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
The Los Angeles Department of Water and
Power (LADWP) is a multifaceted utility that provides many varied
services to the people of Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.. Among
these is a continuing effort to reduce pollution in the greater
metropolitan area.
Currently there is a Solar Rooftop
Electricity Program in effect that produces “green” power from
nonpolluting solar energy, thereby reducing smog and greenhouse
gas emissions.
These efforts, along with the ongoing
development of alternative energy resources such as geothermal and
fuel cells, and the continuation of energy-efficiency and
conservation programs, will do more than reduce emissions which
contribute to smog. The LADWP became the first municipal utility
in the nation to announce an ambitious carbon dioxide reduction
plan when, more than two years ago, it pledged to cut its carbon
dioxide emissions by 10 percent by the year 2000, and 20 percent
by 2010.
The LADWP actively promotes the use
of electric vehicles (EVs) as part of its electric transportation
program, and is working to prepare the city to welcome large
numbers of electric vehicles. EVs are the only vehicles which
currently meet a zero-emission standard and the LADWP’s efforts
are crucial to building consumer confidence in the user-friendliness
of EVs. Through extensive involvement in developing the infrastructure
systems (including charging stations) to support EVs, the LADWP hopes
to make Los Angeles one of the first “electric-vehicle-ready” cities
in the nation.
Contact: Scott Briasco, Electric
Transportation Manager, P.O. Box 51111, Los Angeles, CA 90051-0100,
U.S.A. Phone: +1.213.367.0239. Fax: +1.213.367.0248.
Sentech, Inc.
Sentech, Inc., is an energy and
environmental management consulting firm. The team at Sentech
provides analytical and support services to the U.S. Department of
Energy (DOE) and also works within the private sector in the U.S.
and overseas to develop alternative energy projects. Their interest
in hydrogen includes promoting its benefits to commercial, business,
and lay audiences.
Currently, Sentech is working with the
Agency for International Development, conducting an in-depth market
assessment for the use of fuel cells to displace fossil-fueled power
plants in the Philippines. In a contract with the National Renewable
Energy Laboratory (NREL), they assisted the Hydrogen Technical
Advisory Panel in drafting its report to Congress.
Contact: Jonathan W. Hurwitch, Senior
Vice President, 4733 Bethesda Avenue, Suite 608, Bethesda, MD 20814,
U.S.A. Phone: +1.301.654.7224. Fax: +1.301.654.7832.
SunLine Transit Agency
SunLine Transit Agency is the regional
public transit provider for the Coachella Valley in Southern,
California, U.S.A. Five years ago, SunLine was the first U.S.
transit agency to convert 100% to the alternate fuel of compressed
natural gas (CNG).
Hydrogen fuel cells are the next step
for SunLine. Over the next two years, the fleet will include two
hythane buses and one PEM fuel cell bus. SunLine will also be
working with Coval H2 to convert an electric transit bus to a hybrid
with the installation of a PEM fuel cell as a range extender. A
hydrogen generation facility will be constructed at SunLine with
technical help from NHA members Clean Air Now and Schatz Energy
Research Center. By combining solar and wind energy sources, this
facility will produce commercial quantities of hydrogen to be
dispensed and stored on-site. This work will be done with the
collaboration of the U.S. Department of Energy under their concept
for commercializing hydrogen for the marketplace.
Contact: Richard Cromwell, III,
General Manager, 32-505 Harry Oliver Trail, Thousand Palms, CA
92276-3501, U.S.A. Phone: +1. 760.343.3456. Fax: +1.760.343.3845.
©1999. All Rights Reserved. A Publication of
the National Hydrogen Association.
This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
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