Montpelier--Vermont researchers are developing technologies that could shorten the world’s path to the Hydrogen Economy.

That was the message recently delivered by JMAR’s Bob Selzer and UVM Professor Walter Varhue to Vermont legislators as they wrapped up three weeks of presentations on climate change. The series of talks was designed to help legislators formulate legislative initiatives to cut Vermont’s contribution to CO2 emissions and increase the state’s energy independence and security.

Lt. Governor Brian Dubie invited Selzer and Varhue to talk to legislators about their research, in the only presentation addressing the promise of hydrogen as a fuel – and an abundant, free, and non-polluting alternative to fossil fuels and foreign oil.

Dubie said, “At the world’s leading environmental trade show last year, I drove a car powered by a hydrogen fuel cell. It drove and performed like a normal car -- yet it produced no pollution and it emitted no greenhouse gases. You could literally breathe fumes from the exhaust pipe. The car’s one big drawback was that its fuel cell engine cost more than $700,000 to produce! A South Burlington company, JMAR Technologies, is currently working to bring costs down.”

Speaking to legislators, JMAR’s Bob Selzer, the company’s Senior VP for Technology, described his researchers’ novel approach. Located in South Burlington, JMAR Technologies (http://www.jmar.com) is a nanotechnology company that is building equipment that can make hydrogen a viable energy alternative and an economical reality.

Selzer explained it this way: “Hydrogen fuel cells have been used effectively as far back as the Apollo space program. The problem is not so much with knowing how to build an efficient hydrogen fuel cell, but with building the fuel cell at a price that we can all afford, with producing hydrogen gas (H2) in large quantities and at low cost, and with transporting, storing and distributing it as efficiently as the oil industry distributes gasoline.”

JMAR is collaborating with UVM on nano-materials designed to make the resulting fuel cells weigh less, cost less to produce, store more energy, and deliver the power that today’s drivers demand.

Dr. Walter Varhue holds a Ph.D in engineering physics and is a professor of electrical engineering at UVM’s College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences (http://www.uvm.edu/~cems/).

Lt. Governor Dubie explained, “Professor Varhue’s research project could revolutionize hydrogen fuel production. In simplest terms, the project proposes to produce semiconductor materials capable of absorbing energy from the sun that can then directly produce hydrogen from ordinary water. The new semiconductors would be similar to those currently used at IBM to make integrated circuits.”

Varhue added, “The emergence of nanotechnology science and engineering carries great potential to solve the challenges of photo-enhanced splitting of water to produce hydrogen cleanly and efficiently.”

As Selzer noted, “JMAR is also supporting Professor Varhue in his efforts to develop the unique materials critical for generating H2 using solar energy.” Varhue calls his material Yttria Stabilized Zirconia or YSZ.

JMAR is also developing the equipment and the technology for the low-cost manufacture of the catalytic membrane needed for burning the H2 in fuel cells.

Dubie said, “These two efforts are important steps being taken, right here in Vermont, to realize hydrogen as a viable alternative to carbon based fuels. Exciting advances in energy science and technology are emerging daily, advances that will someday solve the world’s current energy challenges -- and some of the most exciting work is happening here at home. It’s a great story we need to share with all Vermonters – especially our school children and college students, who will lead the next generation of problem-solvers and peacemakers. Walter Varhue and Bob Selzer, and the great Vermont R&D community they represent, constitute a huge asset to our state, an asset we should recognize and utilize.”