The announcement comes on the heels of GE last week showing off its own LEED Platinum data center in Louisville, Ky. Data center energy consumption is becoming an important issue for data center operators and Internet companies. In 2010, data centers consumed about 1.3 percent of all electricity use for the world and 2 percent of all electricity use for the U.S., according to the latest report from Jonathan Koomey.

Vantage says it received the green certification for energy-efficient and water-efficient designs, including energy-efficient and low-toxic building materials, energy-efficient lighting, a lighting control system, an efficient HVAC system, recycled materials for the building, and recycling of the construction waste from the building. The facility is one of three data centers on that campus, and the other two data centers are registered for the LEED Platinum certification and the company expects they will be certified as well.

Vantage also reported the power efficiency metric (PUE), which is a commonly used figure in the data center industry and which looks at how efficiently the building is using energy (PUE compares energy use of the entire building to the energy use of just the IT for the building). Vantage says its LEED Platinum data center has a PUE of 1.29, measured during commissioning, which is pretty low (1 is very efficient, while 2 is not so efficient).

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Gottesfeld also told us CellEra already is working with a major manufacturer and is integrating its fuel cells into backup power systems. CellEra plans to use its new cash to turn its working prototype into its first commercial product, he said, adding that the company aims to have products ready for the market in two years.

According to the release, CellEra believes it can cut fuel-cell development and manufacturing costs by more than 70 percent by eliminating the most expensive material – platinum. The precious metal, which is by far the costliest part of a fuel cell, is normally used as a catalyst to create the electrochemical reaction that converts hydrogen, air and water into electricity.

The key to CellEra’s platinum-free fuel-cell technology is its proprietary electrodes, Gottesfeld said, which are the positively and negatively charged areas where the reaction takes place. The company isn’t developing the platinum-free catalysts itself, instead working with partners that use raw materials such as iron, cobalt or silver, he added.

CellEra’s plans to initially target stationary applications, such as providing backup power for hospitals, which already spend more than $3 billion for lead-acid batteries each year. CellEra also plans to target the diesel-generator, telecommunications and information-technology markets.

Further into the future, the company also seems to be considering the elusive vehicle market. Christian Schütz, a partner at BrainsToVentures, told the Financial Times’ German edition that he expects CellEra to introduce fuel cells for hybrid cars by 2015.

Gottesfeld shied away from giving a date, saying that “given the flux in this market today, I would not venture to make any projections.” Still, he added that the technology could work “very nicely and cost-effectively” with batteries to extend the range of electric vehicles in the future.

If CellEra succeeds in significantly lowering costs, it could help fuel cells overcome one of its key obstacles. Fuel-cell companies, delivering huge promises and few mass-market products for decades, have long been an easy target for skeptics. The technology’s ability to convert fuel, such as hydrogen, into electricity with no emissions other than water vapor has led automakers to tout fuel cells as the next big thing for vehicles since at least 1993, when Ballard Power Systems originally demonstrated a fuel cell in a vehicle and planned to make it available in just a few years. But high costs, as well as infrastructure issues and some technical challenges, have kept the technology in the wings.

The CellEra announcement is part of a spate of recent news, including advances from automakers, customer announcements (see here and here) and new government programs in the U.S. and the UK, that may help to bring back a bit of optimism about the potential for fuel cells.

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But platinum prices are still high and supply isn’t expected to keep up with demand — a major point of concern for fuel cell companies, which use platinum as a catalyst for converting hydrogen gas into electricity and water. It’s also a point of innovation as researchers and firms have scrambled to find a way to replace (or at least reduce) the expensive material in their designs.

Hydrogen fuel cells have two main reactive surfaces: an anode, which splits oxygen, and a cathode, which splits the hydrogen gas. Both electrodes typically use platinum to catalyze the reaction, but a team of Australian researchers has developed a way to outfit the cathode with a conductive, Gore-Tex-like material to replace the platinum. The Monash University researchers told Greener Design they’re optimistic about ditching platinum in the anode as well:

“However, the way the conducting polymer works as [a] catalyst make us believe that it should be possible to design a conducting polymer that suits the hydrogen oxidation reaction,” said Monash’s Dr. Bjørn Winther-Jensen.

The Monash team’s work is related to that of researchers at MIT, who have devised a way to use cobalt in an anode-side reaction that mimics photosynthesis, as well as Japanese automaker Daihatsu Motor, which said last year that it had developed a similar polymer-based approach. (So far the company hasn’t made any additional announcements.)

Other companies are working on the cathode problem: Japanese company Hitachi Maxell is looking to blend platinum with gold as a way to cut prices and boost efficiency. The new catalyst is just 2-3 nanometers in size, allowing the company to pack more reactive surface area into the fuel cell stack. However, the Maxell approach may not be as helpful at cutting costs if the U.S. economy continues to slide, since gold prices tend to go up as the dollar goes down. (Still, we’d take gold’s current $814 per ounce over $1,400 per ounce any day!).

Researchers at Brown are also experimenting with nanotechnology to improve platinum’s performance as a catalyst (this time without adding gold into the mix.) By blending the pure metal with two compounds, the team has created “nanocubes” that, like Maxell’s gold-blend catalyst, boost the platinum’s reactive surface area.

Such initiatives are slow going, however, and platinum is unlikely to become a cost-effective option for fuel cell manufacturers any time soon. Nor for the beleaguered U.S. auto industry, which uses platinum as the active ingredient in catalytic converters; each converter can use four to seven ounces of the pricey material. The auto industry accounts for as much as 50 percent of global demand for the metal, according to Reuters, and growing numbers of cars on the road in China and India are likely to increase pressure on existing resources. Mazda and Nissan have both developed catalytic converters that use nanotechnology to reduce the amount of platinum used by 50 to 90 percent.

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• 50% of the consumers have 3G connectivity
• Phones like the 905SH can receive several digital (not analog) television channels
• Several hours of digital television over a phone can be recorded on the phone for later playback
• 90% of all music downloads are done on the phone, not something we know as "the iPod"
• Phones can easily be used as electronic wallets and GPS devices

Why are we "behind"? Culture is surely a part, as are the U.S. wireless carriers themselves. Consumers here tend to be multi-device users; yes there’s likely a phone in their pocket, but there’s also a laptop or desktop involved in daily computing. Hopefully, if we’re truly 1.5 years behind, we can expect a big wireless bang in 2008 when we "catch up!" ;) Thanks for the tip, Charles; this article was a great read.

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Over the past few months, I’ve been working on Gmail Clips, a new feature that can help mix things up a bit. Starting this week, you can see headlines from your favorite blogs and news sites right above your Inbox. Gmail tips and relevant text ads appear from time to time as well.

I am trying to add feeds, but having no luck in searching for topics etc. If you are successful, let me know. Otherwise, we might have to catalog this as yet another premature launch from Google!

Meanwhile, the feature creep, and similarities between GYM are too much for you, then read Bubble Generation’s latest rant about Yahoo. Oh they are not alone Umair. After all Tis a Season To Copy! Anyway what is Yahoo? I asked that question a couple of days ago?

Plus, Paul K thinks that GMail is getting smarter.…”where the service automatically detects structured information in emails, like FedEx/UPS/etc tracking numbers, or addresses, and then offers to track the package, or map the address, respectively. It’s about time.”

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