Hydrogen Economy- Is Any Candidate Talking About It

Just to draw attention to the fact that while we worry about locking up guns, and those who think they need them and while Harper and et al talk about social commentary of the times issues like same-sex marriage; the rest of the World is preparing to move off oil and build their economies on hydrogen.

Where is the Canadian policy on the biggest threat to Canada's future and to Moncton's future on creating an alternative power strategy?

Here's a sample of just this week in the real World. This is the economic development reality and Canada has no alternative energy or hydrogen strategy and it is not on any party's agenda for discussion during this election. Shame.

Both BP and Shell Hydrogen made headlines this week. (December 21-2005)

During a recent hydrogen safety workshop hosted by the California Fuel Cell partnership for Southern California firefighters (earlier post), a representative of Shell Hydrogen outlined plans to sell hydrogen fuel at a Shell gas station in West Los Angeles by the end of 2006.

In the meantime BP opened its second hydrogen station in Singapore.

The second hydrogen refueling facility was officially opened by BP at the one-north technology hub in Portsdown Road. The $1 million facility comes almost one-and-a-half years after the first was launched at a petrol station on Upper East Coast Road.

It might be a good idea if we started asking these pliant candidates seeking our votes in New Brunswick, what their hydrogen economy strategy is for Moncton, for New Brunswick, for Canada.

We need to wake up and ask our Mayors, when the buses are going to be running on hydrogen here.

We need to wake up.

Wakey Wakey, Future is Passing Us By

While I have been steaming about the lack of presence by Greater Moncton in the run up for the 1,200 plus RIM jobs for Halifax, in which Moncton-Dieppe-Riverview did not even rank as an alternative, and the ill-advised internal bickering between Dieppe and Moncton over water rights; the real insult just hit home.

The latest in our collective sleep walking through to the future came this weekend when 21 communities around the World were recognized for their effort in positioning themselves for the emerging telecommunications and electronic life future. Again this region was not on even the long list.

Congratulations to Fredericton because they were included in the list for Canada among 21 global communities that included Sudbury and Burlington, Ontario.

What we should recall when we are blowing this latest asleep at the future switch off condition is that Sudbury came here 10 years ago as a visiting municipal group to see what Moncton was doing to re-invent itself. At the time, Moncton was still recovering from a failed presentation to be chosen as a smart community candidate for Federal money, but had a good news story to tell.......still.

Now Sudbury is racking up the recognition, earlier this year for its pioneering use of bio diesel and the location of a bio-diesel manufacturing plant for their municipal bus fleet and now for their international leadership in creating a portal for municipal services. Now this is forward looking leadership.

And there is Fredericton gaining international recognition for its leadership is preparing for a future by embracing a smart community wireless connection as a platform to at least be a contender for a favorable economic decision.

We need to get off our shopping center rear ends and start embracing the future with a vision, or we will be one retail failure away from being irrelevant to companies looking for a technology smart as well as energetic, future focused community.

Smart Community: Country Population

Adel, Georgia - Involved in wireless broadband deployment to serve a changing community USA 7,500

Burlington, Ontario - Building on five years of history with fixed broadband and leveraging it for economic growth. Canada 164,300

Cleveland, Ohio - Aiming for impressive transformation of former industrial city through its OneCleveland project. USA 461,000

Dubai Internet City - Free trade zone and regional business hub for information technology companies. United Arab Emirates , 5,500

Evora - Using digital technologies to leverage traditional strengths in tourism and food production. Portugal 56,500

Fredericton, New Brunswick - Development leveraging traditional strengths in forestry, agricultural and petroleum trading and creating new technology clusters.
Canada 81,355

Gangnam, Seoul - New high-tech district of South Korea's capital, focusing on e-government and innovative applications. South Korea, 550,0000

Ichikawa - Community near Japan's largest airport with long history of incremental improvements. Japan 466,430

London - Capital of the Great Britain and of the UK government's digital growth strategy.
United Kingdom, 7,500,000

Manchester - Large-scale, six-year regeneration program for industrial city in Britain's heartland. United Kingdom, 56,474

Melbourne, Victoria - Digital Harbor project designed to jump-start economic growth.
Australia, 3,100,000

Monmouth, Illinois - Small farming community with aggressive re-generation program.
USA , 9,841

Nunavut - Newly created Arctic territory developing broadband connectivity to remote regions.
Canada, 30,000

Ottawa-Gatineau, Ontario - Capital region of Canada seeking to build innovation-based economy. Canada, 1,145,454

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - Deploying city-owned wireless broadband network throughout the community. USA 1,414,245

Spanish Fork, Utah - Community that developed its own broadband network and is launching development programs on this foundation. , USA 25,000

Sudbury, Ontario - Developed advanced portal for the delivery of community services.
Canada, 155,000

Taipei - Implementing CyberCity Plan to leapfrog economy into the digital age.
Taiwan, 2,622,472

Tianjin - Developing digital industries and applications to build on success as trade port.
China, 9,800,000

Vasteras - Broadband development led by city to open economy to the globe.
Sweden, 130,000

Waterloo, Ontario - Entrepreneurial community seeking to expand benefits of broadband economy to all citizens. Canada, 110,000

And there you have it.

While Moncton cannot win every sector or be dominant everywhere, we do at least need to have a some day smart community strategy to at least keep place.

Meanwhile the best and brightest in Dieppe and Moncton are locked in re-arranging the deckchairs of economic development by squabbling and eyeing each other's utility expenditures.

The sin of it all is the mindless pursuit of water rights to once again solve yesterday's problem.

This should be unacceptable to the leadership of these communities.

Dieppe Focused on Wrong Way Water Benefits

Here's the problem for Dieppe, and Moncton, and for much of New Brunswick.

We are energy captives and hostages to an outdated technology of fossil fuel for energy that means we are going to limit our future by not acting smart now.

While local political leadership, particularly in Dieppe where they have had a remarkable run of successes and strong leadership on most every economic development issue, they are arguing over water sources and pass through costs for the drinking water quality solution that Moncton rammed through under then Mayor Brian Murphy.

Dieppe for the moment is arguing with Moncton over the cost for drinking water treatment while the rest of the world is embracing new methods of green energy around hydrogen. Dieppe is threatening by deed to create its own drinking water well supply and finance yet another multi million dollar water treatment plant to secure its own Made-in-Dieppe water source supply for residents and industry.

Industry that is entirely dependent on the cost of energy that are not easy solutions and are costly. Hence the world's emerging enthusiasm for hydrogen as a fuel source.

Neither Dieppe nor Moncton has a hydrogen future strategy.

Hydrogen as a fuel is among many methods of conversion developed from water.


To see a real smart economic development model, pick up this month's Walrus Magazine and read about Iceland's embracing a hydrogen fuel based economy, sans dependence on oil prices and supply/demand metrics.

Where the rest of the world is studying how to condense and convert water into a source of hydrogen as a fuel source for production of electrical energy charge; Dieppe and to some extent Moncton by default, are haggling over a domestic budget issue. The focus of both community's economic leadership should be on hydrogen and how to get on the right side of this new industry.

About hydrogen power this is known.

Using hydrogen has no side effects of enhancing, or increasing global warming. It appears to only have great benefits. See Benefits of Hydrogen Power

Meanwhile we have a needless pitched battle among municipal leaders who are taking their eye off the ball in order to practice one up manship. To much testerone and too little hydrogen economy thinking. We cannot afford this needless bickering.

Dieppe is apparently smarting from paying a per unit consumption premium for treated pure quality drinking water from Moncton's Turtle Creek reservoir. As a result by locating new wells in a small rural hamlet of Lakeville, the now booming Dieppe is attempting to impair, if not imperil, the southeast region's rural water table by drilling new higher capacity wells for a Made-in-Dieppe water source supply.

The price may be the same or even higher, but at least it will not benefit Moncton, or so goes the apparent reasoning.

This kind of three headed thinking among all communities over policing costs and shared utilities is going to assure us last place in the economic development race for new projects. Try driving through the now amalgamated Halifax Regional Municipality and see what unification of purpose looks like, ten years after the fact.

Meanwhile, back in the drive though old Shediac Road hamlet of rural Local Service District area of Lakeville, there is no effective champion for their resident's concerns to be voiced. Anyone know who their MLA is and does he or she have an opinion that is Not-Made-In Fredericton?

The fact that no one has shut down the Dieppe municipal approach in Fredericton with prejudice or outrage is in itself a signal that everyone hopes that the normal fatigue that residents face when trying to unite against something will allow this to slip through.

Individuals standing alone and with a provincial government that is not used to saying no to either Moncton or Dieppe as municipalities is a wicked hill to climb. The water divining technicians, which are Dieppe hired consultants of an engineering type are promising abundant water for all based on their best geological computer modeling of the water table underground, which is engineering-speak for their best guesstimates based on quantum physics, their client's stated preferences, and their best human interpretation of nature's current water flow estimates.

Watch out Lakeville, there are new wells coming for area residents that go deeper than the current ones that are paid for by individual home owners. Homeowners may find that new and deeper wells have to be dug as Dieppe siphons off millions of gallons of available fresh water

So from a technical point of view, Lakeville, with its natural water aquifer is now the source of envy and lust-for-acquisition by the normally adaptive political leadership of Greater Dieppe.

Dieppe in terms of economic development initiatives and community drive appears to be the new Moncton. The Moncton miracle of a decade or two ago. Dieppe has the apparent drive and verve on its side and appears to be well coordinated in its efforts. Its the apple of everyone's strudel, even gaining compliments from international business and media organizations for its vivaciousness as a municipality.

But I think both communities are blind siding one another and the Walrus article and the press release below are the best example of what I mean.

While in the rest of the world, Canadian companies like Ballard Power Systems- the world leader in hydrogen fuel power systems for automotive and stationary power plants, is attempting to drive innovation in conversion of natural elements including water into hydrogen and through fuel process conversion back to neutral water; Dieppe is focused on fixing problem that appears to be not broke.

If Dieppe is unhappy at the Made-in-Moncton price for water purification, it should upload the problem onto the Premier's desk to appoint an ombudsmen to review the cost of the project and the financing and provide a financial solution that repays Moncton taxpayers for funding the solution as a capital borrowing item and assign a value for Dieppe's share. Problem solved.

This would allow both sides to get on with real economic development initiatives. Leadership by the Premier, who at times is still a sitting member for Moncton East would allow both communities and a re-energized provincial government to focus on attracting a hydrogen based development company to our industrial parks to create products that will have increasing demand for products from around the world.

And here's an example of what happens when you create a center of excellence in hydrogen production in 1984- at about the same time the then new Moncton was re-inverting itself for the future; Ballard was raising money to create a hydrogen fuel cell for creating energy and power systems.

Read the company's profile in a recent book on Ballard Power by Tom Koppel

Today this company leads the World, has major car companies as investors while still losing money for shareholders.

However, the ideas and technical expertise are literally dripping out of the company.

Who has the focus on the future ?

Consider this announcement just out of North Vancouver from a bunch of bright lights who left Ballard to focus on a power niche.

Angstrom Power Breaks Record for Energy Density in Micro Hydrogen Fuel Cells
Publication Date:16-December-2005 11:05 AM US Eastern Timezone Source:FuelCellWorks

Vancouver, BC --Angstrom Power, a leader in micro hydrogen™ systems for portable power, announced today that it has achieved a record in energy density and power for a micro hydrogen™ fuel cell.

Angstrom has demonstrated a fuel cell system that provides 3 Watts peak power and 1 Watt average power with an energy density of over 300Whr/l in a 25cc form factor. This all-inclusive system includes fuel cell, fuel storage, power conditioning and peak power energy storage.

The Angstrom micro hydrogen™ fuel cell system operates passively and requires no pumps, valves or heaters. Startup is instant, requiring no assistance from any auxiliary battery.

The system can operate as a complete standalone power source for portable electronics and is suitable for integration into a variety of portable devices, including two-way radios, handheld scanners and lighting.

According to Dr Ged McLean, founder and Chief Technology Officer of Angstrom Power, “this achievement is only the starting point towards even higher energy densities within smaller form factors that will power cell phones and other handheld digital devices and builds on our vision of providing micro hydrogen™ fuel cells that are better than batteries.”

Angstrom Power’s innovative micro hydrogen™ systems are currently available in a number of portable devices such as flashlights, bike lights and power modules, intended for real-world demonstration projects.

About Angstrom Power Inc. Based in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Angstrom develops and commercializes micro hydrogen™ technology which enables high energy density power sources in small form factors suitable for portable devices, handheld electronics, lighting and battery replacement applications. Angstrom presently offers micro hydrogen™ technologies and products for demonstration, evaluation and integration purposes.

Founded in 2001, Angstrom has over forty patents and patents pending.

To learn more visit http://www.angstrompower.com/.

We Be Joining the Energy Producers in 2006

There is interesting news out of Houston, Texas in the last 24 hours.

The gas field- that would be natural gas from what appears to be a fertile find just outside Sussex, - is going to be connected to the pipeline exporting our energy to Boston markets from Sable Island's offshore deposits, with some leakage off to Enbridge here in New Brunswick for us domestics.

The next time you are travelling from Saint John to Moncton as you come over the hill heading east looking over the Town of Sussex, look way up towards the eastern horizon and there you will see the magic of natural gas production, which is the flame shooting 30-40 feet in the air is the blow burn fire flame.

This my friends is the faint hope we have in New Brunswick of having a horse in the global energy sweepstakes horserace.

Now its not that I am sore about having something to export, but while most New Brunswickers struggle with the inefficiencies of electical baseboard heating, our domestic natural gas which is the most efficient fuel to heat conversion process as a base consumer cost is going south.

That leaves us captive to oil furnaces and electrical power generation, which is the least efficient method of heating a space ever invented by engineers who saw electrical energy as having no cost when developed over 45 years ago as a cheap and effective method of tricking home owners into putting more money in carpeted floors, instead of the more costly and efficient radiant heating distribution system.

As our natural gas resources goes south at 20 mph hour through the pipeline, any hope of energy independence and domestic home heating or industry production costs are carried along with it, as are the cost savings of heating our economic dungeons with natural gas.

True, there are certain places you can get connected to natural gas, but it is a form of geographical lottery if your land plot happens to be near a transmission line. In a former time in New Brunswick when governments worked on behalf of creating a universal equality and access to advantages; their would be a pipeline extension program that allows every part of New Brunswick to choose natural gas as a heating and energy production cost efficiency.

Here's the scoop on the new development in bringing New Brunswick into the field of being an energy producer. The real upside is that having access to natural gas keeps the production cost of the Sussex potash plant in line with global price demands for the commodity resource.

Here's the press release announcement- watch this one, it could be big in the future.

New Brunswick field due link to M&NE gas line

By OGJ editorsHOUSTON, Dec. 12 -- The McCully gas field, where six wells underwent a battery of nine frac jobs in October and November, is now sufficiently productive to justify a connection to the Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline system to New England, said the operator, Corridor Resources Inc., Halifax.

Corridor Resources plans to meet with its 50-50 partner, Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan, early in 2006 to map strategy toward applying to the New Brunswick government and Public Utilities Board for approvals to build gathering lines, a gas plant, and a 30-mile connection to M&NE.

McCully, with more than 1 tcf of gas in place in the Mississippian Hiram Brook formation near Sussex, NB, has been producing 2 MMcfd of gas to a local market through two wells since April 2003. All 12 wells have encountered gas.

A 13th well is drilling now, and more wells likely will be drilled and treated by the time production begins as early as the end of 2006, Corridor said.

Frac fluids remained to be recovered at several wells, but flow rates ranged as high as 5.7 MMcfd of gas at the O-66 well at the end of test flow periods after frac. The rates were much improved from pre-frac rates, Corridor said.

The company said it will reserve sufficient quantities of gas for present and future requirements of PCS and any other competitive markets in the Sussex and Havelock areas.

Except for the first two wells, McCully will represent New Brunswick's first modern sustained hydrocarbon production.

It will be the first production since Stoney Creek oil and gas field ceased operation in 1991. Another operator is attempting to return Stoney Creek field to production (OGJ Online, Oct. 6, 2005).

Airport is Big Business for Halifax...Heads Up Moncton

An interesting press release went out over the wire and was largely ignored in the local Moncton media and I think that it is an important read.

We are used to hearing a strong performance story from our Greater Moncton International Airport and that is all well and good, but the one airport strategy for Nova Scotia continues to show why the fragmented approach of New Brunswick is costing us dearly in image and potential for economic development focus.

The Halifax International Airport Authority (HIAA) has released the results of a new economic impact study that calculates the total provincial economic benefit of Halifax International Airport and its aviation community at $1.135 billion for the year 2004.

Conducted by SGE Acres, the study also reports that since operational transfer of the airport from the federal government, HIAA and airport tenants have contributed over $95 million in renovation and new construction impacts, generating some 1,345 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs.

And the airport continues to play a major role in tourism as a gateway to Nova Scotia, with tourists accessing the province via the airport generating $368 million in tourism-related spending.

The report concludes that Halifax International Airport represents a major economic, fiscal and employment generator for the Halifax Regional Municipality and Nova Scotia. Eleanor Humphries, president & CEO for HIAA, commented:

• “The airport continues to make a significant contribution to both Halifax Regional Municipality and the Nova Scotia economy, in spite of the challenges that have come our way.” She continues:
• “As an aviation community, we have been able to respond and adapt our strategies to continue to grow our businesses and diversify under changing circumstances.”
• The study also shows that Halifax International Airport has achieved consistent growth over the past 15 years, resulting in a 43 per cent increase in total gross output for the provincial economy and a 59 per cent increase in employment since 1989.
• A key area of growth has been in aerospace activities by tenants that are not directly impacted by the economic challenges facing air carriers.

In 2004, the report calculates a wage and salary impact of $364 million, a retail sales tax impact of $19 million, and a personal income tax impact of $53 million. The direct employment created by the airport was 5,490 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs - close to the population of the town of Kentville.

As well, the report attributes a total of 11,910 FTE jobs to the airport, which equals 2.7 per cent of Nova Scotia's total employment, with IMP Group, Air Canada, and Air Canada Jazz employing 2,767 FTE staff or over 50 per cent of the airport's direct employment.

IMP Group is the largest employer with 1,400 FTE employees. There are over 20 major commercial and industrial tenants leasing airport land.

These are big numbers and help illustrate what the Moncton Airport Authority plus the two others and the assorted other landing fields go through in trying to compete in this field.