Some of the energy produced will likely power a new loom that weaves entire garments,
not just rolls of cloth. Goodbye sewing sweatshops of New York, LA, and other
third world countries. But where will all the seamstresses go?

The US Department of Energy has agreed to re-start research on cold fusion, a
process for generating heat which succeeded — but only among scientists
outraged at the seemingly false claims of Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann in
1989 to have achieved it. Initial attempts to replicate the Fleischmann/Pons
experiment failed, but since then refinements to the experiment suggest there
may be some fire behind the smoke after all. Enough, at least, to make it worth
continuing to look. Of about 3,000 experiments around the world, some 50 have
shown reproducible results.

Reference: Hecht, Jeff (2004). “Is Cold
Fusion Heating Up?” Technology Review, April 23.

Reference: Chang, Kenneth (2004). “U.S. Will Give Cold
Fusion Second Look, After 15 Years.” New York Times, March 25.

Fuel Cell Advances

Mitsubishi Motors plans to commercialize an electrolytic method of producing
hydrogen from water by the end of 2005, for use in fuel cell vehicles. It says
the system could be as much as 90 percent smaller and 30 percent cheaper than
competitive devices that derive hydrogen from natural gas. In addition, the
company is working on a compact fuel cell generator for home use it claims could
produce hydrogen from water as cost effectively as those that derive it from
natural gas or gasoline.

Electrolysis is also the method used by a Canadian company in a 10-kilowatt
engine to provide propulsion and general-purpose electricity on board a 42-foot
yacht. The module electrolyzes its own hydrogen fuel from purified seawater or
fresh water. The noise, vibration, and odors that go with the traditional diesel
engine will be gone. The engine will be ready by July this year and sea trials
could begin shortly thereafter. When successfully tested, fuel-cell-powered
yachts will go on sale in 2005 for between US$300,000 and $500,000.

The US Maritime Administration has a program to explore the utility of
hydrogen fuel to power bigger ships and port facilities, and demonstrated a
fuel-cell-powered water taxi on San Francisco Bay in October 2003. But that
system relies on a very expensive derivative of borax to obtain the hydrogen,
and is not economically viable.

The Office of Naval Research is also researching fuel cell technology, with a
current focus on extracting hydrogen from diesel fuel to run fuel cells aboard
future hybrid electric/diesel turbine warships. This approach takes advantage of
the existing infrastructure of a diesel fleet, but it too has run up against
problems.

The water electrolysis method appears to be closest to adoption in production
systems.

Reference: Roush, Matt (2004). Great Lakes IT
Report, April 16. “GLITR” is a subscription email service available through
http://www.wwj.com/technology.asp.

Reference: Snow, David (2004). “Fuel Cells
Weigh Anchor.” Wired News, April 22.

“Softwear”: Revolution in Clothing

A world-renowned Japanese fashion designer has given up the glamour to focus
on a piece of cloth — “A-POC.”

Clothes have always been made by (1) weaving thread or yarn into fabric, (2)
cutting the fabric into pieces, and (3) sewing the pieces together to produce a
garment. A-POC eliminates steps 2 and 3. Thread goes into the loom at one end
and a shirt, dress, or other garment comes out at the other in the form of a
flattened tube of fabric that just needs to be trimmed around the seams.

Jessie Scanlon reminds us in Wired that “Textile manufacturing has a
long history of sparking social and technological change,” referring to riots
when Jacquard’s loom was introduced in 1801. He notes, too, that A-POC
technology could be applied to other weavable goods, including shoes, tents, and
beanbag-like chairs and sofas — coming to market this year.

With new types of fiber, such as a resin-linen blend as strong as steel,
there is even a plan to use the technique to make Iso trusses, a lightweight,
low-cost alternative to traditional building trusses made from wood, steel, and
aluminum.

Reference: Scanlon, Jessie (2004). “Seamless: Issey
Miyake saw the future of fashion. So he gave up haute couture to become a
softwear engineer.” Wired, Issue 12.04, April 2004.