ENERGY INITIATIVES

YOUTH OF THE WORLD TEAM UP ON HYDROGEN INNOVATIONS

Fuel Cell Store (www.fuelcellstore.com), a leading international online retailer of fuel cell products and organizer of the 2007 International Youth Fuel Cell Competition (IYFCC), announced the winners of the 2007 IYFCC. The competition held October 15-17, 2007 in conjunction with the 2007 Fuel Cell Seminar & Exposition in San Antonio, Texas, featured seven teams that represented Germany, India, Japan, and the United States. This is an invitational, international competition with each country permitted to field up to three teams. The host city may also provide a team in addition to the country teams. Students between the ages of 14-18 on October 10, 2007 and currently enrolled in a secondary level school or institution were eligible for this year’s competition. Teams are invited by national sponsors who are involved in the fuel cell industry. Each team consists of two students and those students must compete in all three elements of 2007 IYFCC — the Academic Bowl, the Fuel Cell Lift Competition, and the Fuel Cell Model Car Competition.

These main events tested participants on technical knowledge of fuel cell technologies.

The Fuel Cell Lift Competition challenged participants to build a model fuel cell powered fork lift; and the Fuel Cell Model Car Competition challenged participants to build and race a model fuel cell car.

The winner of the Academic Bowl was Team 3, from India, comprised of Ashwinderjit Kaur Bhatti and Avneet Kaur Narang.

The winner of the Fuel Cell Lift Competition was Team 1, from the United States, Erica Von Stein and Paul Rosenberger. In the Lift Competition, the load can be anything the contestant chooses. The work of moving the lift forward and lifting the load must both be powered by a fuel cell. No power sources other than the fuel cells qualify. In the Fuel Cell Model Car Competition students are challenged to design a car and evaluated on speed (with each car will have three time speed races); engineering and hydrogen storage capabilities; and artistic design. The winner of the Fuel Cell Model Car Race Competition was the team from Germany Manuel Kochen and Moritz Greif.

Other winners from the 2007 IYFCC include:

• The Engineering Design Award for Model Fuel Cell Car —Team Germany (Manuel Kochen and Moritz Greif)
• The Engineering Award for Fuel Cell Lift — Team Germany (Manuel Kochen and Moritz Greif)
• The Ovonics Hydrogen Storage Award for Innovative Hydrogen Storage Design — Teams 1, 2, and 3 of India combined (Supreet Kapoor and Jasleen Kaur Brar, Gursimran Singh Bawa and Ruskin Singh Bhasin, Ashwinderjit Kaur Bhatti and Avneet Kaur Narang).

“The 2007 International Youth Fuel Cell Competition was a huge success as participants from across the world gathered this week to showcase their knowledge and application of hydrogen fuel cell technology,” said Kay Larson, Director, IYFCC. “As fuel cells have immediate commercial applicability with lift trucks and heavy materials handling, the IYFCC fork lift competition tasked participants to overcome the same challenges that are being faced by the major fuel cell manufacturers today. As the major international fuel cell competition, the IYFCC fosters students across the world to critically think about and apply cutting edge alternative energy technologies and highlights the emerging role that fuel cells can and will have for our immediate future.”

Japan — Takuya Kageyama and Shunsuke Tanabe; Team 2 of the United States — Nick Phillips and Patrick Fenelon; Team 1 of India (Supreet Kapoor and Jasleen Kaur Brar), and Team 2 of India (Gursimran Singh Bawa and Ruskin Singh Bhasin). Corporate sponsors included Fuelcellstore.com, ECOtality, H-Tec, Moubic, PixyJack Press, Arno Evers, CAT Lift Trucks, Florida Solar Energy Store.