Direct & current

AUGUST 2002

"WIND IS THE PLANET'S FASTEST GROWING ENERGY SOURCE," according to SKF's Evolution magazine, which points out that wind was the energy success story of the 1990's and that global growth has boomed to bring industrial capacity from 2,000 megawatts in 1990 to more than 20,000 megawatts by mid-2001. In Denmark, growth is predicted to continue for another decade at 20% a year.

IS DEFLATION RETURNING? The last time U.S. economic growth declined, according to the Department of Commerce, was the second quarter of 1961. Last October, there was a decline in wholesale prices (1.4%). The Consumer Price Index rose only 0.3%, and the Department of Commerce's quarterly assessment of economic growth showed an annualized decline of 0.4% in prices during the third quarter. A Pittsburgh investment firm, Legend Financial, says that, as bad as inflation is, deflation could turn out a lot worse.

OBESITY AND THE RESULTANT SURGE IN DIABETES, a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease and a leading cause of blindness, kidney failure, and amputations, is of growing concern, not only in the U.S. but throughout the world. The 30-nation Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development says obesity in the U.S. has doubled in the past 10 years to 26% of the population. The rate is also growing in other countries. In the last decade, obesity has increased 20.8% in Australia, 14% in Britain, and 9.6% in France.

A FUEL CELL COGENERATION UNIT is being evaluated in a municipal wastewater treatment facility in Fukuoka, Japan, a joint project of Fuel Cell Energy, Inc., Danbury, Conn., and Asian Marubeni Corp. A 250 kW fuel cell power plant will be installed in early 2003 in a two-year program to evaluate fuel cell technology. The unit will use the methane-like digester gas produced from the processing of municipal effluent. The thermal output of the fuel cell will be used by a digester that treats incoming wastewater.

CALLED "THE AUTOMOBILE OF THE FUTURE," the "Hypercar," a vehicle powered by hydrogen fuel cells, is currently in the working prototype stage at its plant in Basalt, Colo., near the Rocky Mountain Institute, whose chairman, Amory Lovins, also heads Hypercar, Inc. The vehicle burns fuel at 68 miles per gallon with an operating range of 600 miles. Says Lovins: "Cars like this will be widely available in five years, dominant in 10 years, and the old car industry will be toast in 20 years."

AUTO BUYERS ALSO ARE SEEING FUEL CELLS' POTENTIAL, according to researchers J.D Power and Associates. Its study of 5,000 new car buyers showed a majority would consider buying hybrid (gasoline and fuel cells) vehicles. The Electric Vehicle Association says that nearly 20,000 hybrid electric cars were sold last year. Toyota currently has more than 100,000 hybrid vehicles on the road worldwide, according to NASA Tech Briefs.

Copyright Barks Publications Aug 2002
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