For fuel cell innovation, the tank is half full

By Claire Poole
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"Clean technologies" have gained a new lease on life due to rising energy prices, venture capitalists in search of new places to put their money and repeat IT entrepreneurs confident they can boost energy efficiency. Yet breakthrough developments in the most promising and critical of clean technologies, fuel cells, remain several years away from profitable commercialization.

"There's a lot of hype surrounding them, mostly around cars, PDAs and notebooks," says Samir Bhavnani, a senior analyst at consulting firm Current Analysis in Reston, Va. "But the reality of it is if you look at what these guys do when they come up with a design, it will be a couple of years before you see this widely available. This stuff takes time."

Nonetheless, the interest in fuel cells is high and progress is being made. "Everyone is racing toward this market," says Rodrigo Prudencio, a principal at energy clean-tech venture firm Nth Power in San Francisco. Much of the focus among venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and energy and nonenergy corporations alike is on fuel cells, or various devices that employ electrochemical reactions to create power exceeding the life span of conventional batteries

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