A car powered by water might sound like a distant dream, but you can actually buy one today.
It costs $195, measures 3.5 by 7 inches, with a curb weight of 260 grams and is available from a variety of online educational supply stores.
While models such as the HyRunner No. 2050 navigate the hallways of our high schools, major automakers are working steadily on slightly larger versions designed around the same technology--fuel cells.
Cars that chemically convert hydrogen to electricity through fuel cells are already on the road, primarily in California, Germany and Japan, where zero-emission vehicles are the holy grail of environmental achievement.
At the end of 2004, DaimlerChrysler had more than 100 fuel-cell vehicles in service around the world, including buses, vans and the darling of the bunch, the F-Cell Mercedes-Benz. The subcompact car is a version of the Mercedes A-Class sold in Europe as a city car. The F-Cell, which offers surprising acceleration and nearly silent operation, has appeared at recent media events in the United States, aiada.org reported.
"We have demonstrated technical feasibility with our concept vehicles, and we consider fuel cell technology to be the solution for the future," said Andreas Truckenbrodt, head of fuel cell and advanced power train development for DaimlerChrysler. "The next step is what we call, ÕFit for Daily Use.Õ We need to get field experience on the road in daily use to determine how our customers use the vehicles and what their needs are."
At United Parcel Service, a test is under way in California with a fuel-cell version of the Dodge Sprinter to see how it will perform in stop-and-go conditions on a daily basis. The fuel cell, developed by pioneer Ballard Power Systems, is housed in the floor of the vehicle, leaving adequate cargo space for packages. With a range of 155 miles and a top speed of 80 mph, the Sprinter will require fueling from special hydrogen stations.
In future incarnations, fuel-cell vehicles will be able to extract hydrogen from gasoline or even water. But, for now, straight hydrogen, a volatile fuel, is the driver of fuel-cell technology. Unlike other vehicles fueled by natural gas, fuel-cell cars use no internal combustion, just a chemical process.
"The first generation of vehicles will be fueled with compressed hydrogen," Truckenbrodt said. "Reformers to extract hydrogen from other fuels, such as gasoline or methanol, add complexity and reduce the efficiency of fuel cell systems. There is a lot of work to be done on the fuels and infrastructure issues. It is an area where we need a lot of cooperation,"
While DaimlerChrysler is considered to be out front in the fuel-cell race, it is hardly alone. The worldÕs top automakers are all experimenting with the technology.
American Honda recently leased two 2005 Honda FCX fuel cell vehicles to the state of New York, the first state customer for Honda fuel cell technology and the first customer for a fuel cell vehicle in the Northeastern U.S. The FCX is powered by HondaÕs fuel cell stack with the ability to start and operate in sub-freezing temperatures.
General Motors, which introduced its fuel-cell Hy-wire prototype in 2002, is also conquering the cold-weather challenges, using a propulsion system contained in an 11-inch thick chassis that engineers compare to a skateboard. The fuel cell and "drive-by-wire" electronics eliminate not only an internal combustion engine, but steering column and other standard vehicle components.
In a team approach to the fueling-station issues, GM and Shell Oil have announced plans to introduce a fuel cell fleet to New York as part of a demonstration project with the Department of Energy. GM will provide about 40 fuel-cell minivans and SUVs as Shell provides the fueling stations.
Despite all the entrepreneurial energy dedicated to fuel cells, the technology presents some daunting obstacles for transportation. Competent fuel-cell propulsion is about 10 times more expensive than conventional power plants. The technology tends to quit working when temperatures fall below freezing, and the systems are not able to survive for 10,000 miles.

A PetroChina gas station attendant in Beijing returns the nozzle.

China is digging deeper in search of oil, boosting its reserves by at least 25 percent over the past year as part of a strategy to locate new energy sources at home and abroad.
Intensified exploration efforts helped the two biggest oil companies to locate nearly 850 million tons of oil reserves in the course of 2004, the Xinhua news agency said.
This suggests that China's proven oil reserves topped four billion tons at the end of last year, given earlier reports stating the country had 3.2 billion tons by late 2003.
The nation's largest oil producer, China National Petroleum Corp, or CNPC, reported finding 520 million tons of new oil reserves in 2004, while Sinopec, the industry's number two, found 328 million tons, according to Xinhua.
The two companies also discovered a combined 422 billion cubic meters of natural gas last year, Xinhua said.
The report did not state how exploitable the newly-found reserves were.
One of China's top strategic concerns is to find enough energy to fuel its booming economy, which expanded 9.5 percent last year for its fastest growth rate since 1996.
Two-thirds of China's provinces had too little power at the end of last year and energy shortages have been identified as a major bottleneck for the coming months, channelnewsasia.com reported.
Consumption of crude oil in China, already the second-largest user of oil after the United States, will jump to 320 million tons, an 11 percent rise over the 288 million tons used last year, according to predictions.
A net importer of petroleum products since 1993 and of crude oil since 1996, China is reliant on overseas producers for one third of its demand, a share that may rise as Asia's second-largest economy continues to expand.
The voracious demand for energy means China's major oil companies are exploring everywhere from the Tarim Basin in the country's western desert to Bohai Gulf in the east.
But a deliberate government strategy in place since the late 1990s to look for oil overseas has also turned China into a significant player on the global energy scene.
To date, CNPC has signed 48 investment and cooperation contracts overseas with 20 countries in areas as diverse as Africa, Central Asia and Latin America.
Last year, the company obtained the right to 16 million tons of overseas oil, previous reports have said.
CNPC's most high-profile overseas effort last year was its participation in the construction of 1,000-kilometer (625-mile), 700-million-dollar Kazakh oil pipeline with a capacity of transporting 10 million tons of oil annually.
CNPC is also involved in a project to build an oil refinery in Venezuela with a capacity of processing 6.5 million tons a year.
Sinopec was equally active in overseas oil fields last year, getting the right to 100 million tons of reserves, an earlier report in the state media said.

As opposed to an annual crop like corn, wood could offer a year-round source of ethanol, and still supply a feedstock for biomass thermal energy, or co-fired plants.

Corn is the usual feedstock for producing ethanol in the U.S, but wood could open up the growing market to states outside of the Midwest. Researchers at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) say they have invented a method for removing energy-rich sugars from wood, a process that could help develop agricultural feedstocks for ethanol production, and increase profits for New York's and other states' pulp and paper industries.
The process developed at ESF is the work of Dr. Thomas E. Amidon, chair of the college's Faculty of Paper Science and Engineering. It could help the economically significant pulp and paper industry develop more efficient and sustainable biorefineries.
"We know our sources of fossil fuel aren't going to last forever," Amidon said. "This will allow us to substitute a sustainable energy source: wood."
During the last few years, Amidon collaborated with students, ranging from a home-schooled high school student to ESF doctoral candidates, to devise a new and subtler method for separating wood into its basic components, solaraccess.com reported.
Chief among those components is cellulose, the polysaccharide (sugar) that is the single strongest, most widely used component of woody plants. In the context of a paper mill, cellulose becomes pulp for use in making paper. The second largest component of hardwood trees is the polysaccharide xylan, which is primarily dissolved in the pulping process.
The real value in that sugar, Amidon said, was never exploited. Once fermented, the sugar xylan can produce ethanol, which can be used in cars instead of, or in combination with, traditional gasoline.
Although the energy factor is the focus of attention now, there is a second benefit to the process as the nation steps up its development of alternative fuel sources.
In addition to extracting sugar from the wood, scientists can separate out the wood's acetic acid, which is used primarily in manufacturing. A major use of acetic acid is the manufacturing of polyvinyl acetate, a plastic used in many aspects of home construction and many other consumer products.
The commercial value of acetic acid is nearly three times that of ethanol: 45 cents per pound as opposed to 18 cents per pound.
One of the advantages to the process, according to Amidon, is that is does not use any harsh chemicals.
Ordinary wood chips are mixed with water and heated at high temperatures for a specified length of time.
That time can be shortened if the chips are first subjected to biopulping, a process that allows natural wood-decaying fungi to munch through the lignin that binds the cellulose in the wood.
That process is also the subject of research at ESF.
"Water is the solvent we use," Amidon said. "It's my preferred solvent because if it gets loose in the world it's just water and the world knows how to deal with it."
The watery solution that remains after the chips are removed is then forced through a membrane that separates the sugars from the water.
The acetic acid is removed the same way.
"The trees are here and they can provide year-round employment," Amidon said. "You can also extract these components from grasses, but grasses go dormant in the winter and they're difficult and expensive to store for use in a year-round process. And trees are dense.
They can be shipped and stored economically, and they are more efficient energy collectors than annual crops. After the desired components are extracted, the residue can be burned or gasified for combined heat and power uses."
The work, while still in the testing phase, has received support from International Paper, the world's largest paper company, and from Lyonsdale Biomass, a wood-fueled energy producer.
Representatives of both companies stated in letters of support that they believe the process "has significant promise of increasing the profitability" of their operations. International Paper has indicated it is a willing partner in exploring technology transfer in the biorefinery work.
Lyonsdale has expressed interest in what the company calls "the potential positive impact" of the process on the company's ability to convert woody materials to energy.

In a novel blending of listed architecture rescue and modern technology, Manchester's tallest building, the CIS Tower, is to be fitted with solar panels, converting it into Europe's highest solar-powered generator.
Three sides of the building's service tower will be clad in photovoltaic panels capable of generating 180MW hours/year--enough to power 1,000 desktop PCs or make nine million cups of tea. Construction has started with a view to begin installing the panels by August, and the project should be completed in December.
The 25-storey, Grade II listed building is over 40 years old and the service tower, which is clad in 14 million mosaic tiles, needs maintenance work to stop the tiles from becoming detached.
Andrew Simpson, head of the project for the building's owner CIS, explained that these tiles will be stabilized with concrete and then held in place by wire mesh. The solar panels, each containing seven modules, will then be placed over the mesh and mounted to a frame fixed to the tower. Manufactured by Sharp in Japan, the panels have been designed to match the shape of the tower, e4engineering.com reported.
Simpson said that ensuring the tiles were not removed was critical to being granted permission to carry out the renovation. 'As a Grade II listed building, the sustainability angle was the key in securing consent,' he said.
He acknowledged that at a cost of £5.5m--plus an £885,000 grant from the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) and a further £175,000 from the DTI--the project is more expensive than other methods, but he believes this is offset by environmental benefits and public acceptance.
'As this is a Grade II listed building, to change its appearance without there being a benefit would obviously be objectionable to others,' he said. So the panels provide an opportunity to restore the tower to its original state.
'Although we are delighted to be producing green electricity through our building, the other reason for doing this is that it's the most sustainable way of recladding the building,' said Simpson.
While some may question the idea of the effectiveness of solar panels in the north of England, the panels will produce electricity in overcast conditions. So even if it were raining, the panels would generate electricity, which would be transferred to direct current in the building.
It's thought that the development, one of 17 solar projects currently receiving £1.4m of government funding, may signal a change in the function of similar buildings, replacing functionless cladding with solar cladding.
A similar scheme is planned for King's Meadow House in Reading, the Thames regional headquarters for the Environment Agency. The funding will enable the installation of 176 solar-powered modules to be fitted to the east and south sides of the house, forming two curved arrays.
'We very much hope the CIS Tower will be a demonstration project to show other organizations that it is possible to gain green electricity on a large scale,' said Simpson.