Leaders of the Fuel Cell Pack

Strictly speaking, fuel cells may not be renewable energy, but they are still of interest.

Leaders of the Fuel Cell Pack

February 17, 2012 - 10:32am

Fuel cell forklifts like the one shown here are used by leading companies across the U.S. as part of their daily business operations. | Energy Department file photo.

Sunita Satyapal

Program Manager, Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Technology Program

What does the report show?

• The 34 companies profiled used more than 250 fuel cells totaling 30+ MW of stationary power -- enough to supply electricity for over 21,000 households.

What do WalMart, Coca-Cola, Sysco, and Whole Foods have in common?

They’re leading the pack when it comes to hydrogen and fuel cells.

The Energy Department’s "Business Case for Fuel Cells 2011" report illustrates how top American companies are using fuel cells in their business operations to advance their sustainability goals, save millions of dollars in electricity costs, and reduce carbon emissions by hundreds of thousands of metric tons per year.

The report profiles 34 companies and highlights how they incorporate fuel cell technologies into their business models. According to the report, in the last year, profiled companies used more than 250 fuel cells totaling 30+ MW of stationary power -- enough to supply electricity for over 21,000 households. In addition, companies in the report purchased or deployed more than 240 fuel cells at telecommunication sites and more than 1,030 fuel cell-powered lift trucks.

Walmart, Coca-Cola, Sysco, and Whole Foods are leading the pack:

·      Walmart -- 6.8 MW for CHP (17 stores) and 70+ forklifts
·      Coca-Cola -- 2.1 MW (4 locations) and 70+ forklifts
·      Sysco Corporation -- 600+ forklifts at several locations, one hundred more on order
·      Whole Foods Market -- 1.2 MW (4 stores) and 60+ forklifts

So how do these companies deploy fuel cell technologies in their daily operations? Many use fuel cells as a cost-saving alternative to power lift trucks in their warehouses and distribution centers. The Department’s analysis of fuel cell-powered lift trucks deployed via the Recovery Act concludes that fuel cells provide eight times lower refueling/recharging labor cost and two times lower net present value of total system cost compared to batteries.

In addition, Combined Heat and Power systems are another attractive application of fuel cell technologies. When fuel cells generate electricity they give off waste heat. In a combined heat and power system, the waste heat is captured for a wide variety of applications, including space heating and hot water.  

You can read more about how fuel cells are beneficially impacting these companies’ bottom line while further promoting the use of clean energy technologies by checking out the report.

Navistar Commitment to Natural Gas

While this news item is not about renewable energy per se, I thought it might be of interest because natural gas is the least detrimental to the environment of the fossil fuels.  We would definitely reduce our carbon footprint if we made greater use of natural gas, and less of diesel.

Navistar Advances Commitment to Natural Gas Through Partnership With Clean Energy

Company Commits to Comprehensive Natural Gas Product Strategy with Broad Range of Medium- and Heavy-Duty Truck Offerings

LISLE, Ill., Feb. 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Navistar, Inc. today announced its launch of a comprehensive natural gas strategy, including integrated natural gas product offerings and a strategic partnership with Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (NASDAQ: CLNE)  that will provide customers with a sustainable, commercially viable solution for adding natural gas powered trucks to their fleets. 

"Natural gas has clearly emerged as the most realistic alternative fuel option for the trucking industry," said Dan Ustian, Navistar chairman, president and CEO.  "Together, Navistar and Clean Energy have come up with a breakthrough program that offers customers a quicker payback on their investment plus added fuel costs savings from day one of operation. When combined with Navistar's industry-leading dealer network and Clean Energy's unmatched fuel distribution system, customers can be confident that bringing natural gas vehicles into their fleets makes good business sense."

"We believe the deployment of new, innovative, heavy-duty natural gas engines by world-class original equipment truck manufacturers like Navistar is accelerating the transition to natural gas fuel as a game-changer for heavy-duty trucking," said Andrew J. Littlefair, Clean Energy President and CEO. "We welcome the opportunity to work with Navistar to bring the benefits of clean, cost-effective, domestically abundant natural gas fuel to the company's trucking customer base."

By leveraging the company's existing integrated vehicle and powertrain platforms, Navistar will offer the broadest range of Class 6 through Class 8 CNG-/LNG-powered vehicles in the category. Clean Energy will provide a comprehensive CNG/LNG fueling solution to meet customer demands and aid in bringing new customers into the natural gas market.

Navistar and Clean Energy will work closely with the company's commercial truck dealers and fleet customers on the deployment of natural gas powered trucks and a natural gas distribution support system. Together, the companies will demonstrate how a natural gas integrated vehicle offering with the right distribution and fueling solution can be integrated into a fleet's operations to reduce costs and drive efficiencies. The strategic partnership will help accelerate the adoption of natural gas technologies by making it easier for customers to invest in the new technology, including incentives aimed at neutralizing the cost difference for the diesel fuel equivalent for those who purchase at least 1,000 diesel gallon equivalents of natural gas fuel each month.

Clean Energy Distribution Support

Clean Energy, the leading provider of natural gas fuel for transportation in North America, recently unveiled a route plan for the first phase of 150 new liquefied natural gas (LNG) fueling stations for America's Natural Gas Highway (ANGH). The company has identified 98 locations and anticipates having 70 stations open by the end of 2012 in 33 states.

Many of the fueling stations will be co-located at Pilot-Flying J Travel Centers already serving goods movement trucking through an exclusive agreement with Pilot to build, own and operate natural gas fueling facilities at agreed-upon travel centers. Pilot-Flying J is the nation's largest truck-stop operator with more than 550 retail properties in 47 states.

"The deployment of new, innovative, heavy-duty natural gas engines by world-class original equipment truck manufacturers like Navistar is accelerating the transition to natural gas fuel as a game-changer for heavy-duty trucking. We welcome the opportunity to work with Navistar to bring the benefits of clean, cost-effective, domestically-abundant natural gas fuel to its trucking customers," said James Harger, Chief Marketing Officer, Clean Energy.        

Navistar's Product Offerings

Navistar will leverage its existing commercial truck and engine platforms to offer the broadest portfolio of integrated products for the natural gas market. The company will continue to offer International DuraStar® and WorkStar® vocational trucks with its natural gas powered MaxxForce® DT, developed in conjunction with Emissions Solutions Incorporated (ESI) of McKinney.

To meet the growing demands of the regional haul and class 7/8 vocational market Navistar will offer the Cummins-Westport ISL-G, in the International® TranStar and WorkStar. Additionally, Navistar will enter into a phase II developmental agreement with Clean Air Power Ltd. on the International ProStar, WorkStar and PayStar vocational trucks, powered by a diesel pilot injection LNG MaxxForce 13-liter engine.

"One of the major obstacles in customer transition to natural gas has been the lack of a gas powered range of engines designed to meet the multiple requirements without compromise," said Jim Hebe, Navistar senior vice president, North America Sales Operations. "Navistar—with its extended range of truck engines—is uniquely able to leverage engine platforms into the industry's broadest range of natural gas trucks. When the MaxxForce 13L is introduced in mid-2013, customers will have a capable range of natural engines and trucks, from 7.6 liter to 13 liter with horsepower ranging from 200 to 450."

Summary Facts: What makes Navistar, Clean Energy Alliance Unique?

• Product Portfolio
  • Navistar offers the broadest truck and engine offering Class 6 thru Class 8
• Availability/Distribution
  • Commitment to support on-highway fueling requirements through Pilot/Flying J
  • Capabilities to provide customer specific fueling stations
  • Partnering with Navistar dealers and Idealease to meet on-site fueling needs
• Affordability of Technology
  • Navistar is committed to provide CNG/LNG offerings that provide payback within range of customer expectations
  • Through our partnership, Clean Energy and Navistar are offering an incentive program (Fuel and Truck) that will mitigate or equalize the cost of vehicle with diesel equivalent
• Economic Model makes CNG/LNG a viable fuel without incentives
  • Clean Energy will guarantee fuel prices at a significant reduction from diesel for the term of 5 years
  • Government subsidies and incentives not required to make the economic model work
• Support
  • Navistar offers the broadest coverage in North America, nearly 800 outlets
  • Providing facility training and building requirements
  • Providing sales and service training for dealership technicians and sales staff

About Navistar

Navistar International Corporation (NYSE: NAV) is a holding company whose subsidiaries and affiliates produce International® brand commercial and military trucks, MaxxForce® brand diesel engines, IC Bus™ brand school and commercial buses, Monaco® RV brands of recreational vehicles, and Workhorse® brand chassis for motor homes and step vans. The company also provides truck and diesel engine service parts. Another affiliate offers financing services. Additional information is available at www.Navistar.com/newsroom.


About Clean Energy

Clean Energy (Nasdaq: CLNE) is the largest provider of natural gas fuel for transportation in North America and a global leader in the expanding natural gas vehicle market. It has operations in CNG and LNG vehicle fueling, construction and operation of CNG and LNG fueling stations, biomethane production, vehicle conversion and compressor technology. Today, Clean Energy fuels more than 25,000 vehicles at 273 strategic locations across the United States and Canada with a broad customer base in the refuse, transit, trucking, shuttle, taxi, airport and municipal fleet markets. Clean Energy del Peru, a joint venture, fuels vehicles and provides CNG to commercial customers in Peru. We own (70%) and operate a landfill gas facility in Dallas, Texas, that produces renewable natural gas, or biomethane, for delivery in the nation's gas pipeline network, and we plan to build a second facility in Michigan. We own and operate LNG production plants in Willis, Texas and Boron, Calif. with combined capacity of 260,000 LNG gallons per day and that are designed to expand to 340,000 LNG gallons per day as demand increases. NorthStar, a wholly owned subsidiary, is the recognized leader in LNG/LCNG (liquefied to compressed natural gas) fueling system technologies and station construction and operations. BAF Technologies, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary, is a leading provider of natural gas vehicle systems and conversions for taxis, vans, pick-up trucks and shuttle buses. IMW Industries, Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary based in Canada, is a leading supplier of compressed natural gas equipment for vehicle fueling and industrial applications with more than 1,200 installations in 24 countries. For more information, visit www.cleanenergyfuels.com

Energy Dept. & Volvo Build More Efficient Trucks & Mfg. Plants

News release from the U.S. Department of Energy:

Energy Department, Volvo Partnership Builds More Efficient Trucks and Manufacturing Plants

January 27, 2012 

Washington, D.C. –Today, Acting Under Secretary of Energy Arun Majumdar joined with North Carolina Congressman Howard Coble (NC-6) to tour the Volvo Group’s truck headquarters in Greensboro, North Carolina, and highlight the blueprint for an America built to last laid out by President Obama in his State of the Union address earlier this week. The Department of Energy is partnering with companies like the Volvo Group to help harness American ingenuity to commercialize and deploy cutting-edge trucking technologies that will help boost the competitiveness of the U.S. auto and manufacturing industry, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and create jobs for American workers.

“Earlier this week in his State of the Union address, President Obama outlined a blueprint for a stronger American economy based on a resurgence in American manufacturing and innovations in the way we use energy,” said Dr. Majumdar. “Companies like the Volvo Group that are pursuing energy efficiency in their operations, putting Americans to work, and building more fuel-efficient vehicles underscore how investments in clean energy technology are helping to secure America’s future economic prosperity.”

In partnership with the Energy Department, the Volvo Group is helping to lead the industry to advance innovative clean energy vehicle technologies and energy-efficient manufacturing. Through the Department’s SuperTruck program, the Volvo Group was awarded $19 million – which the company is matching dollar for dollar – to improve the efficiency of heavy-duty vehicles like the Mack and Volvo Trucks. Volvo Group has also embraced manufacturing efficiency as part of the DOE’s Better Buildings, Better Plants Program, pledging to reduce the energy intensity of its manufacturing plants with assistance and guidance from the Energy Department. These steps to become more energy-efficient will reduce operating costs at the facility, improving the competitiveness of the company’s products and manufacturing plants.

Dr. Majumdar and Congressman Coble were hosted by Dennis Slagle, Executive Vice President of Volvo Group Trucks Sales & Marketing - Americas, on the tour of the Volvo Group’s Technical Center, which is in the midst of an $8 million expansion.

The Volvo Group’s award was one of four Energy Department-sponsored SuperTruck development projects, which focus on increasing the fuel efficiency of Class 8 trucks – better known as 18-wheelers – by 50 percent.  To achieve this goal, companies like the Volvo Group are developing and improving vehicle technologies in engine efficiency, aerodynamics, waste heat recovery,  and hybridization, among other approaches.  Through the SuperTruck program, the Energy Department expects fuel economy increases from 6.5 miles per gallon to 9.75 miles per gallon – saving long-haul truckers more than $15,000 per truck per year in fuel costs.

Class 8 trucks represent only 4 percent of the on-road vehicles in America, but are responsible for almost 20 percent of the country’s on-road fuel consumption.  Implementation of SuperTruck technologies will not only lessen the nation’s dependence on petroleum, but also improve the global competitiveness of U.S. truck manufacturers.

While Volvo is building more efficient vehicles, the company is also improving the energy efficiency of the manufacturing plants that make them. In December 2009, the company joined the Department of Energy’s Save Energy Now LEADER initiative, now known as the Better Buildings, Better Plants Program, to begin an ambitious effort to significantly reduce the energy intensity of its operations as a way to increase competitiveness. Since then, Volvo’s New River Valley plant, located in Dublin, Virginia, has implemented a range of measures with guidance from the Department’s technical experts that reduced its energy intensity by almost 30 percent in just one year. Embracing energy efficiency measures helped Volvo cut costs and keep operations—and jobs—for its truck manufacturing business here in the United States.

Volvo Truck Corporation is one of the leading heavy truck and engine manufacturers in the world. Volvo Trucks manufactures a line of Class 8 trucks, and is known as a major innovator in the heavy-vehicle industry, selling products in more than 180 markets worldwide.

New Fuel Economy Rules Win Broad Support

Excerpt from January 18 New York Times article with the above title.

Not everyone is so enthused about the new mileage standards.  See the January 10 post.

New Fuel Economy Rules Win Broad Support

By NICK BUNKLEY

DETROIT — Writing new regulations that will require cars and trucks to have significantly higher fuel economy by 2025 prompted years of fighting among automakers, environmentalists, regulators and consumer groups.

But now that the standards have been proposed, nearly everyone involved in the process is on board with the results, as a public hearing held Tuesday in Detroit showed.

More than 90 people who spoke throughout the day asserted that the stricter fuel economy requirements would create jobs, reduce oil consumption, create cleaner air and save drivers money, all while helping automakers increase their profits.

“We’re celebrating something that has taken a long time to reach,” said Representative John D. Dingell, a Michigan Democrat who helped quash previous efforts to impose higher mileage standards. “There appears to be no significant opposition amongst responsible persons.”

The National Automobile Dealers Association, however, did speak out against the idea of setting requirements for vehicles made more than a decade from now until more is known about the strength of consumer demand for more fuel-efficient vehicles.

Don Chalmers, a Ford dealer in New Mexico and the group’s government relations chairman, said he worried that vehicles would become too expensive for some consumers to afford. “Before rushing headlong into a set of new mandates aimed at doubling today’s fleet fuel economy, we need to understand better the potential ramifications,” Mr. Chalmers said. “If our customers do not purchase these products, we all lose.”

The proposed new standards call for automakers to increase the average, unadjusted fuel-economy rating of their vehicles to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025, up from about 27 miles per gallon today. Because of the way testing is done, the 2025 requirement correlates to a window-sticker rating of about 36 miles per gallon, according to the automotive information Web site Edmunds.com, or roughly what Toyota’s tiny new Scion iQ car achieves today.

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