Originally published June 30 2005
Science television show will feature hydrogen and fuel cell development
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Bill Nye, the "Science Guy," will feature several new shows about hydrogen power and the new research on the fuel cell.
Ken Stroh, a scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, will be one of four featured scientists in a television program on transportation that will air on Friday afternoon.
Part of a new public television series hosted by the "Science Guy," Bill Nye, the half-hour Eyes of Nye program focuses on transportation issues and solutions.
"He asked why the fuel cell research was important, and I told him the goal was to provide people with clean and abundant energy on the planet, regardless of where they lived," Stroh said.
Fuel cells are like self-charging batteries, using a catalyst to produce electricity and heat from oxygen and water as long as the fuel lasts.
The question of clean energy has become increasingly important, as pollution from transportation in the U.S. now exceeds pollution from factories and big industry, a point the program makes.
He said progress has been made at LANL on the durability issue and that the continuing effort is on lowering costs and improving materials.
The first wave of hybrid cars that use both gasoline and electric storage devices, he said, has complicated the question of fuel cells, by increasing the efficiency of the old technology.
"We have more funding now than we ever had," said Stroh, adding that the hydrogen project will ultimately depend on whether there is enough political will to stick with the effort.
LANL researchers Mahlon S. Wilson, who is still on staff, and Ian Raistrick, made the key breakthrough in the late '80s that reduced the use of costly platinum in fuel cells by a factor of 20.
Subsequent research has involved a variant of that technology, while researchers look for the next breakthrough.
Stroh's joke was, "How do you make a small fortune in fuel cells?"
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