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Fuel Cell Technology: The Great Race
September 26, 2003 @ 8:30 PM on WVIZ

They’ve powered NASA Gemini missions to the moon. They can run something as small as a watch or as large as a hospital. And they could help make or break our regional economy. Fuel cells are tiny battery substitutes with a huge market potential. Within the next two decades, fuel cell technology may actually replace the internal combustion engine in automotive manufacturing. If Northeast Ohio emerges as a leader in this budding industry, our region could enjoy a new era of economic growth. If not, local auto-parts manufacturers like the Ford Brook Park engine plant will be decimated. That’s why academic, government, and business leaders have teamed up to push Northeast Ohio to the forefront of fuel cell development. For instance, an $18 million grant from the state has been matched by funds from local industry to build a new fuel cell research center on the campus of Case Western Reserve University. And other fuel cell projects are in the works. Making Change correspondent Cynthia Barnes reports.

Rodger McKain
It’s a thin ceramic sheet that has screen printed on either side, what we call an electrode.

Cynthia Barnes
SofCo President Rodger McKain explains how a fuel cell unique to his company will look and function. In general, a fuel cell is a device that produces electricity by combining hydrogen gas and oxygen. SofCo hopes its version of a fuel cell will be a winner. Based in Alliance, Ohio, the company plans to sell devices that generate auxiliary power, using fuel cells. The objective: to market a fuel cell powered system for recreational vehicles.

Rodger McKain
We expect to have commercial sales in 2005. Now these commercial sales will be sales in demonstrations, it will be given success with these, it will then perhaps be one to two years after that, that we will be in a position to actually have items in the market.

CB
McKain’s company recently received funding through Governor Taft’s Third Frontier Project’s Fuel Cell Initiative – the governor’s three-year, $103 million dollar plan to invest in research, project demonstration, and job creation. Some of that research will take place on the campus of Stark State College of Technology. SOFCo will be the anchor tenant, leading that research and development.

Rodger McKain
Students have the opportunity to see the technology first hand. They have a chance to understand the commercialization process and make their own judgments on it but not from just reading, but from seeing the operations

CB
Some other partners in the Governor’s Third Frontier Fuel Cell Initiative include Case Western Reserve University, Kent State University’s Stark branch, NASA Glenn, and several Ohio companies and universities. Gregory Stoup, Director of the Center for Regional Economic Issues at Case, did a study on the benefits of fuel cell technology in Ohio. He believes bringing industry experts together - like NASA Glenn, universities, and the manufacturing sector - will make Ohio a major player.

Gregory Stoup
If we could bring them together, we could really have a competitive advantage over other states and other regions in fuel cell research and potentially fuel cell manufacturing, and that’s the ultimate goal here, we don’t want to just be the place that does the cutting edge research, we also want to be the place that builds the thing.

CB
Stoup credits NASA for developing fuel cells for the U.S. space program. Now, fuel cells are becoming more instrumental in the automotive industry.

Gregory Stoup
If you put fuel cells in automobiles, you will no longer need the internal combustion engine and consequently you would, it would be very disruptive in terms of current industrial plants throughout Ohio.

CB
Trevor Jones is the founder of BioMec, a medical device company that is exploring fuel cell opportunities in medical technology. He’s also chairman of the Ohio Fuel Cell coalition.

Trevor Jones
Some estimates have said in the transportation sector alone, that is the manufacturing sector, manufacturing trucks and automobiles, we would lose 145,000 jobs in Ohio.

CB
Should fuel cells take off as anticipated, they could power everyday items like cell phones and computers.

Rodger McKain
I think we are in a very exciting time.

CB
SOFCo’s Rodger McKain believes the sky is the limit with fuel cell technology. The partnership with others involved in fuel cell research and development, he adds, will only strengthen northeast Ohio’s economy.

Rodger McKain
I think that combine the user center and the power partnership will bring companies into the state and bring students into the state because they will see that there’s more opportunities in Ohio to be in the fuel cell industry than elsewhere.

CB
Just as another invention years ago, left its mark on the Buckeye State, perhaps fuel cells could do the same.

Trevor Jones
I personally think that fuel cells will be as significant to Ohio as the Wright Brothers were in aviation a 100 years ago.

CB
Only time will tell. But from all indications, Ohio is positioning itself to land an emerging industry that could help reinvent our regional economy. For Making Change, I’m Cynthia Barnes.

Resources:

  • The Ohio Third-Frontier Project
    The state’s web site about the Third Frontier Project, Ohio's largest-ever commitment to expanding Ohio's high-tech research capabilities and promoting start-up companies to build high-paying jobs for generations to come.


  • Case Advanced Power Institute
    CAPI is continuously researching and mapping strategies to harness the potential of fuel cells. Powering anything from airplanes to automobiles, and laptops to commercial buildings, fuel cells have arrived.


  • NASA Glenn Research Center


  • NorTech
    The Northeast Ohio Technology Coalition, or NorTech, is a group of technology and business leaders with a vision to enhance the prosperity of the region through science, technology, and innovation. Nortech's mission is to ensure economic growth and leadership in Northeast Ohio by promoting entrepreneurially based, globally competitive technology development and commercialization.


  • The National Technology Transfer Center (NTTC)
    The National Technology Transfer Center (NTTC) is a full-service technology-management center, providing access to federal technology information, knowledge management and digital learning services, technology assessment, technology marketing, assistance in finding strategic partners, and electronic-business development services. The NTTC fosters relationships with federal clients, showcases technologies and facilitates partnerships between clients and U.S. industry.
  • The Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC)
    The Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC) is the nationwide network of federal laboratories that provides the forum to develop strategies and opportunities for linking the laboratory mission technologies and expertise with the marketplace.
“Making Change: Reinventing Our Economy is produced in partnership with the Center for Regional Economic issues at the Weatherhead School of Management – the dynamic, innovative business school at Case Western Reserve University. Developing the next generation of leaders for businesses in Northeast Ohio and around the world.