GEOFF BALLARD DIES AT AGE OF 75
Geoff Ballard, the Canadian entrepreneur who transformed pollution-free fuel cells from an exotic power source used in the space program to an everyday engine used in industry, buses and, perhaps soon, in cars, died Aug. 2 at Lions Gate Hospital in Vancouver from complications of a liver disease. He was 75.
In 1999, Time magazine named Ballard a "Hero of the Planet" for his efforts to reduce pollution in cities by getting fuel cells into cars -- an effort that has borne little fruit yet, but that is receiving renewed emphasis because of the rising price of gasoline. A geophysicist by training, Ballard spent the first years of his career working for the U.S. Army, specializing initially in microwave communications and later in ice physics. In the latter role, he studied ways to hide fuel tanks for U.S. bombers in Greenland's ice fields. When the energy crisis hit the United States in 1974, Ballard was chosen to lead the newly created Federal Energy Conservation Research program. Stymied by Congress' refusal to provide what he considered adequate funding, he quit and set out on his own, buying a decrepit Arizona motel for $2,000 and turning it into a research laboratory. He initially tried to create a lithium battery that could be used instead of an internal-combustion motor in cars, but that effort led him into bankruptcy. The company moved to Vancouver when it got a contract to provide a lithium battery for a submarine owned by Canadian industrialist John Horton, who agreed to provide funding for the company. In 1983, Ballard teamed up with engineer Paul Howard and electrochemist Keith Prater to try to develop fuel cells, getting seed money from the Canadian military. A breakthrough moment for the company came in summer 1989 while Ballard was relaxing in a spa at the Hollyburn Country Club in Vancouver with a British Columbia official. Ballard convinced the official that his company could produce a municipal bus that would run on hydrogen and emit only water vapour. Four years later, officers of Ballard Power gathered with Canadian officials to ceremonially sip water collected from the tailpipe of the $4.2-million bus. Eventually, Daimler AG and Ford Motor Co. bought into Ballard, investing more than $750 million in development of the technology. This year, Ballard sold the company's automotive fuel-cell division to the two auto manufacturers for nearly $100 million. Ballard himself, meanwhile, recognized that fuel-cell cars could never be viable unless a distribution system could be established for hydrogen. In 1999, he started General Hydrogen to explore ways to manufacture and market the fuel. That company was bought last year by Plug Power Inc. for $10 million.