To hear UND professor Scott Tolbert tell it, this time in our history is to fuel cells, "green" energy sources and the hydrogen economy as the time 100 years ago was to the development of the automobile.

A century ago, when Henry Ford built the first automobile assembly line, skeptics said the car would never catch on and critics said it was too dangerous. Ford went ahead anyway. He began producing the Model T in 1908, and by 1927, when it was discontinued, more than 18 million had rolled off the assembly line.

Within 20 years, the automobile had come of age and was an integral part of our culture and society.

Today, fuel cells are seen as an up and coming component of a hydrogen economy, Tolbert says.

As it was 100 years ago, there are plenty of naysayers. Skeptics say it won't work. Critics - perhaps remembering the disastrous 1937 explosion of the hydrogen airship Hindenberg - say it's too dangerous.

Tolbert, assistant professor of mechanical engineering for the School of Engineering and Mines, says: "It's doable."

UND recently conducted a fuel cell teaching workshop attended by seven teachers of science, math and technology: Troy Bazey, Grand Forks Schroeder Middle School; Byron Borgen, Surrey, N.D.; Margaret Henke, Bisbee-Egeland/Cando, N.D.; Donald Kartes, Mandan; Tim Schwanz and Kris Stewart, Grand Forks Twining Middle School; and Lloyd Walker, Grafton North Valley Career Tech.

Taught by UND graduate student Amy Boll, the teachers learned about fuel cell energy, how it works and its uses.

"We're talking about using hydrogen for home heating, as a fuel instead of gasoline in internal combustion engines," Tolbert said. "Instead of distributing natural gas through normal distribution system, we could be using (hydrogen) to heat homes and directly generate electricity."

America needs to develop alternative "green" energy sources - such as hydrogen, wind, geothermal, solar and tidal energy - to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels and because the alternatives are cleaner and safer.

"What we hope the teachers will walk away with is activities for their students that center around the green energy village," Tolbert said, "where they look at a closed energy system within the community, where they generate the energy there and use it there."

Wouldn't it be an interesting experiment, he said, to find a community in North Dakota of, say, 500 people, and see if it could generate all its own energy for everyday use through alternative energy sources?

The teachers at the workshop said they looked forward to teaching what they'd learned. Energy sources and energy costs are important issues to their students, they said, especially with the ever-increasing price of gasoline.

"Those students may not be drivers, but in a few years, they will be, and those are costs they will have to pay," Schwanz said.

The Department of Energy says North Dakota has the potential to power more than 30 percent of the nation's electrical needs through wind power, Tolbert said.

"North Dakota is the Saudi Arabia of wind," he says, smiling.

And, as for the 1937 Hindenberg disaster, it was highly flammable paint that coated the infamous airship, not the hydrogen air tanks, that started the fateful fire, Tolbert said. If the Hindenberg had been carrying gasoline instead of hydrogen, it might have been even a greater disaster, some experts say.

Teacher ag tour

North Dakota teachers can get a look at farms, ranches and agricultural processing facilities and learn how to make agriculture part of their classroom activities through two summer workshops offered by the North Dakota Geographic Alliance.

"Agriculture in the Red River Valley of the North" will be held Aug. 2-3 in Grand Forks, a news release said. A day of classroom work will be followed by a field trip to selected agricultural production areas and processing facilities. The "Northwest North Dakota Diversified Agriculture Tour" will be Aug. 15-16 in Minot, and will include alternative crop and animal production. The tours are underwritten and sponsored by the North Dakota Agriculture in the Classroom Program.

Each workshop will cost $100 and include one graduate credit from Minot State University, UND or North Dakota State University, or $50 without graduate credit. Info: (800) 235-1948; toni.schwartz@minotstateu.edu; or www.ndgamagazine.org (under recent and upcoming events).

Lignite tour

Troy Bazey, Grand Forks, and Lisa Strand, Thompson, N.D., were among 120 teachers from North Dakota, Minnesota, South Dakota and Montana who attended a three-day educator's seminar in Bismarck, "Lignite: Our Regional Resource: Energy, Economics and Environment," conducted by the Lignite Energy Council.

Teachers toured the Falkirk Mine, Great River Energy's Coal Creek Station, Dakota Gasification Company's Great Plains Synfuels Plant, BNI Coal's Center Mine and the Milton R. Young Station. Teachers could receive a credit in economics through the Center for Economic Education at UND.