CNBC By David Mercer, Associated Press Writer
May 7, 2009. Chicago, Illinois. USA. Pete Ostrander and the manufacturer he works for took a hard look at the auto industry four years ago, and neither liked what they saw.
Automakers were pushing vendors like Merrill Technologies Group, where Ostrander works, to cut costs and, with the economic environment in Detroit worsening by the day, the company retooled itself as a supplier to what it believed was an industry with better prospects.
Ostrander, standing in a display booth at one of the wind industry's biggest gatherings, was not alone.
Merrill is among dozens of companies at the American Wind Energy Association conference in Chicago -- which ends Thursday -- that have their traded auto-related business for a niche in wind-power.
"We have seen these indicators for years," Ostrander, an engineer, said of the auto industry. "They needed to clean up their own closets."
With the economy's tailspin, General Motors, Chrysler and Ford have laid off tens of thousands of workers, and Chrysler last week filed for bankruptcy protection. The problems have rippled through a support network that includes thousands of auto parts makers and other suppliers.
According to the Motor Equipment Manufacturers Association, a trade group for auto industry suppliers, more than a third of such companies say in industry polling that they are in deep financial trouble. More than 40 of them entered bankruptcy last year.
"If you walk that floor, what you will see is that many, many companies -- a lot of the small companies -- have come from the automotive supply chain," Don Furman, president of the wind industry organization's board, said at the conference.
AWEA's meeting drew 21,000 people and roughly 1,200 exhibitors.
Sales reps for several of those companies spent the week at a convention booth sponsored by the state of Michigan, ground zero in the auto industry meltdown.
About 700 Michigan manufacturers now do wind-industry work. Most of them either have been -- or in some cases still are -- auto industry suppliers, said Frank Ferro, the international business development manager for the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.
In neighboring Ohio, the state Department of Economic Development can count more than 500 companies it says are active in the wind industry supply chain or entering the business. Most of them are either hedging their bets on their auto industry work or leaving it behind, said Kimberly Gibson, energy adviser to Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland.
"Ohio's been bleeding jobs for the last eight years," she said. "The wind industry gives (manufacturers) a chance to diversify."
The shift to the wind industry was a natural for many, Ferro said. While parts for wind turbines can be much larger, the process of making them is much the same.
That's not to say it's been an easy choice for suppliers.
"How do you ever leave GM? How do you ever leave these customers that were this powerful?" asked Jeff Metts, president of Dowding Machining in Eaton Rapids, Mich. "I think a lot of suppliers struggle with that."
Parent company Dowding Industries began cutting back on the metal stamping and other work it did for the auto industry in 2000 before moving into wind-related work two years ago, Metts said.
Now, about 30 of Dowding Machining's 140 employees do wind-related work. Metts thinks that number will grow substantially.
"I personally feel -- and some people might think I'm nuts -- I think we can employ about 5,000 people in Michigan in this wind industry business," he said, laying out long-term plans for multiple facilities dedicated to wind-turbine production.
Wind-related work still accounts for less than 10 percent of Merrill Technologies' business, Ostrander said.
"But I would expect that's going to ramp up very quickly to potentially something in the neighborhood of 20 percent," he said.
Merrill, based in Saginaw, Mich., has about 400 employees and, even though it's no longer directly connected to the struggling auto industry, that's down from about 450, Ostrander said.
The wind industry is not immune to recession and many manufacturers have announced layoffs in recent months.
But Ostrander said that Merrill is doing relatively well compared to suppliers that still rely heavily on Detroit.
"Some of them are not prepared for this whatsoever," Ostrander said. "It's scary."

Source: Ford Motor Company
Brentwood, Essex. England. May 7, 2009 - Ford's latest low carbon cars are leading the industry at reducing CO2 levels according to environmental website Clean Green Cars.
Clean Green Cars analysed latest CO2 data for this year's new car sales in the UK and found that Ford was best at reducing CO2 output - which is directly linked to improved fuel consumption.
The news is thanks to Ford's newest fuel-efficient models, the Fiesta and Ka, which together increased their share of the new car market by two percentage points in January to March over the same 2008 period.
Ford Fiesta ECOnetic, on sale in January, became the UK's greenest family car according to Clean Green Cars (www.cleangreencars.co.uk), with emissions of 98g/km (equivalent to 76.3mpg) exempting the car from road tax. The new Ford Ka range delivers low CO2 output from 112g/km (67.3mpg).
The number of new Ford cars sold in the first quarter of this year will emit 10,000 fewer tonnes of CO2 on an annualised basis. This was calculated using the blue oval's average improvement of 9.6g CO2/km multiplied by average annual UK mileage and then by the number of Fords sold in the period.
Jay Nagley, Clean Green Cars publisher, said: "New car carbon dioxide emissions are falling at an unprecedented rate and Ford is more than playing its part. Until last year, car CO2 output had been falling at less than two per cent a year. Now real gains are being made with advanced technology, as demonstrated by Ford's ECOnetic range, offering ground-breaking levels of fuel economy and CO2."
Nigel Sharp, Ford Britain managing director, said: "Clean Green Cars' analysis, based on the actual cars being bought, shows what is being achieved rather than what could be done by cars which may not be available, desirable or affordable.
Ford continues to offer vehicles relevant to customer and environmental needs."

Source: Fuel Cell Today
May 5, 2009. Versa Power Systems Inc. plans to build a plant to manufacture fuel cells with up to 10 kilowatt power capacity. Versa specialises solid oxide fuel cells which operate at 1,300° to 1,800° F.

Source: Fuel Cell Today
May 5, 2009. Protonex Technology Corporation has decided to defer the 2009 launch of its M250-B product into the U.S. recreational vehicle (RV) market to focus resources on the military version of the vehicle, the M250-CX.  According to the firm's strategic updates, the following contributed to the decision:
The company is seeing a substantial increase in funding opportunities with the U.S. Military for the development, testing and acquisition of high performance portable power sources.  A good portion of this multi-year funding is associated with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and could result in: 1) significant incremental demand for the Company's M250-CX system and its other military products, 2) additional funding for existing Protonex programs, or 3) new funding opportunities for the Company.
The poor global economy has severely impacted the RV market in the United States; sales of new RVs, used RVs, and RV accessories are significantly down and are expected to remain weak for the balance of 2009.  Selling a new, high-value power system like the M250-B into the current RV market is expected to be challenging and offers less near term potential than alternative opportunities. 
The current development, testing and certification schedules would result in a mid-summer M250-B availability date for general consumers.  This date falls in the middle of the RV season - a relatively slow period for sales of RVs and accessories.
While the global economy and the RV market are down this year, both have the potential to improve considerably over time and make a 2010 launch of the M250-B product more attractive for the Company. 
The company is planning significant cost reductions for the current M250-B platform, including several opportunities enabled by recently developed technologies.  Pursuing these cost reductions in 2009, rather than at a later date, would allow the Company to launch and market the M250-B product in 2010 with lower sale prices, stronger margins, and a higher probability of success.

Source: Fuel Cell Today
April 29, 2009. Eneos CellTech has announced that it has completed a plant for mass-producing Ene Farm fuel cell co-generation systems for home use. According to Fuel Cell Works, the new plant will be built in the Gunma Factory site of Sanyo Electric. Production has already started using a partial area of the plant. It will be capable of producing 10,000 units per year by 2010 and will ramp up to 40,000 units per year by 2015.
The company estimates that it will be able to produce approximately 150,000 units from 2009 to 2015. The co-generation system offers the superb functionality of fuel cells in a compact and easy to use form, and can even provide you with hot water from the heat it generates producing power.
This amazing energy system is the ENE-FARM household-use fuel cell co-generation system.

Los Angeles, California. USA. April 18, 2009. Numerous celebrities, filmmakers and VIP guests attending the World Premiere of the new Disneynature film, EARTH, at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood are arriving at the event today without using any gasoline. They will be driven to the festivities in Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell vehicles, which are powered by hydrogen and leave a carbon footprint of zero. In the last 15 months, about 33,750 gallons of gasoline have been saved by using these vehicles.
The Walt Disney Company is an important participant in Chevy's Project Driveway program - the largest endeavour ever to put fuel cell vehicles on real roads -the vehicles are zero emissions and petroleum free. Disney joined Project Driveway to help GM gain an understanding of how companies can use fuel cell vehicles. With Disney's help, GM has done what no other company has done… logged 675,000 miles of driving with fuel cells.
According to Chevrolet Vice President and General Manager Ed Peper, the Chevrolet/Disney relationship is an important alliance between two forward-thinking companies.
"These fuel cells are effectively the cleanest vehicles on the planet, and people who use them are showcasing the fact that the technology is viable,"
Peper says. "Disney's participation is key in Project Driveway, and making these vehicles available to VIP guests for the EARTH premiere is an exciting opportunity for us."
Narrated by James Earl Jones, "EARTH" tells the story of three animal families and their amazing journeys across the planet we call home. The epic adventure captures some of the most intimate moments of our planet's wildest and most elusive creatures. The film opens in theatres nationwide on Earth Day, April 22.
Disneynature will celebrate the premiere film, EARTH, by planting a tree in honour of every moviegoer who sees the film in its opening week.
Commenting on the announcement, Mark Zoradi, president, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Group, said, "Our new Disneynature label was created to give moviegoers an entertaining and informative look at the planet they call home and the wildlife that inhabits it, and our debut film, 'EARTH,' tells a captivating story using some of the most incredible images ever put on the big screen. We are proud to take part in Chevy's Project Driveway program, and to be taking positive steps for the environment by using Chevrolet's advanced fuel cell vehicles at the World Premiere of 'EARTH.'"
The Project Driveway program began in Oct, 2007 and will run through the end of 2010. Project Driveway puts Equinox electric vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel cells into the hands of drivers to gain real world experience and learning. More than 4,000 individuals have driven the fuel cell Equinox; either in short drives at media programs or special events, or as part of longer loan. "The vehicles are performing very well and Project Driveway participants love them," Peper says. "This program is an important part of Chevy's 'fuel solutions' strategy."
Prior to Project Driveway, no one has ever put 100+ fuel cell vehicles on the road. The program is mainly in the U.S., although some vehicles were sent to Europe and Asia. In the U.S., the vehicles are being placed with media, public policy leaders, business partners, celebrities and "regular" customers who have raised their hands via the internet.
Drivers generally have the vehicles for two months, although some placements, such as those with business partners like Disney, run for the entire program.
The vehicles are production Chevrolet Equinoxes, outfitted with GM's fourth-generation fuel cell propulsion system. They meet all applicable U.S. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, and are equipped with a long list of safety and convenience features.
About Chevrolet
Chevrolet is one of America's most well-known and successful automotive brands.
With the largest dealer network in the United States, Chevy is a leader in fuel efficient products ranging from "Gas-Friendly to Gas-Free" vehicles. The Chevrolet brand offers more vehicles that get more than 30 mpg any other manufacturer, and has nearly 3 million flexible fuel vehicles on the road. This year, Chevrolet introduced the Malibu and Tahoe hybrids, and the world's first full-sized hybrid pick up truck.
About Disneynature EARTH
Disneynature is a brand new film label, building on the rich legacy of Walt Disney's groundbreaking Academy Award ®-winning "True-Life Adventures" series, bringing new stories of the natural world around us to the motion picture screen as never before.
The first film in the Disneynature series, EARTH, narrated by James Earl Jones, tells the remarkable story of three animal families--polar bears, elephants, and whales--as they make their amazing journeys across the planet we all call home. EARTH combines rare action, unimaginable scale and impossible locations by capturing the most intimate moments of our planet's wildest and most elusive creatures. Directors Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield, the acclaimed creative team behind the Emmy Award ®-winning series "Planet Earth," combine forces again to bring this epic adventure to the big screen, starting Earth Day, April 22.