DOE Issues Funding Opportunity MTI Has Prototype for Handheld GPS Devices Race a Model Car at the Fuel Cell Seminar Lebônê's Biofuel Microbial Fuel Cell Wins Grant General P. X. Kelley Joins Acumentrics' Board AC Transit Procures Systems fo

Ohio House Speaker Jon Husted shared information about sustaining a high level of state government support of the industry. Ohio's Third Frontier program has awarded more than $73 million for fuel cell projects to date. The U.S. Department of Energy has issued a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for up to $130 million over three years to advance the development and use of fuel cells for automotive, stationary, and portable power applications. In addition to seeking proposals for R&D projects in transportation, stationary, and portable power, DOE is also seeking proposals to demonstrate fuel cells in distributed energy systems and to support market transformations that provide real-world operation data. The DOE anticipates making up to 50 awards through this competitive funding opportunity, which is open to industry, universities, and national laboratories. With a minimum 20% private sector cost share for the R&D projects and a minimum 50% applicant cost share for the demonstration projects, the total DOE and private sector investment in advanced hydrogen fuel cell technologies under this funding opportunity may exceed $170 million. Applications are due on or before August 27, 2008, with funding subject to appropriations from Congress. For more information, visit MTI MicroFuel Cells Inc., the developer of Mobion® off-the-grid portable power solutions, displayed a new embedded micro fuel cell prototype design for handheld global positioning system devices at the 10th Annual International Small Fuel Cells Conference in Atlanta in May. The prototype provides three times as much energy as GPS devices powered by four disposable AA batteries. On a model with a large, full-color screen, this fuel cell design generates up to 60 hours of continuous power and provides weeks instead of days of typical usage. "Our Mobion-powered GPS prototype will provide handheld GPS users such as hikers and campers, travelers, boaters, pilots and other sports enthusiasts