In one corner, there were small, sinister-looking bubbles that included propane, gasoline, coal and nuclear. Propane seemed sad. There was an X through nuclear. Gasoline looked like it had gotten KO'd.

In the other corner, weighing in at about one atomic mass unit, or AMU, Hoffman drew what he sees as the future of energy: a large, smiling blue hydrogen.

Underneath smiling hydrogen was a gangly sketch of a hydrogen-powered vehicle that Hoffman, along with a group of motorcycle fabricators and a code enforcement officer, is designing and hopes to build within the next year. The three-wheeled, lightweight vehicle, now on the drawing board for two months, will seat two with room for four grocery bags in the back. Instead of a steering wheel there are handle bars.

Think motorcycle meets rickshaw.

Alternative energy has become all the rage since gas crept and stayed above $2, since some of our oil markets have increasingly become unstable and since President Bush told the country it's addicted to oil. Of those alternatives, hydrogen is becoming the cool kid on the energy block.

A day before Hoffman's energy presentation, Bush, at a Wisconsin-based corporation that makes hybrid batteries, outlined his alternative energy proposals - including mention of hydrogen vehicles. "There could be a new technology available so ... when some of your children take their first driver's test, they will do so in a hydrogen-powered automobile," Bush said.

Hoffman, 48, says he thought about hydrogen energy way before it became hip. He traces his first thought of a hydrogen-powered vehicle to 1979 after he was prompted, at least in part, by headaches caused from bus fumes. He continued to revisit the idea over the years - even building a hydrogen fireplace at his home in Shandaken - and most recently when the New York Statte Energy Research and Development Authority asked for hydrogen technology proposals for $1.5 million in funding.

That put into motion his current project for the Hydrogen Transporter (Hydroporter for short). Hoffman submitted the proposal in late January to the authority, for $82,000 in matching funds, and expects to hear back in April or May. Sen. Bill Larkin, R-New Windsor, sent a letter in support of the project.

"It just seems now there's this huge push to get this going," Hoffman said of the growing interest in hydrogen. "When all along it's been deny, deny, deny."

Hoffman initially designed the vehicle with four wheels, but upon the recommendation of Jesse Morrill, the Newburgh code enforcement officer, they redesigned it with three wheels to bypass safety and insurance rules. Two- and three-wheeled vehicles are considered motorcycles, free from the regulatory constraints of having to add seat belts, air bags and crash bumpers. For that reason, Hoffman went to Ultimate Cycles in Newburgh, which builds custom motorcycles, to help with vehicle design.

In regard to safety concerns with hydrogen gas, Hoffman dismissed concerns that there would be any greater risk of an explosion in the event of a crash.

The blueprints are not complete yet, but the vehicle's price tag is already estimated to range from $6,000 to $10,000. The Hydroporter, which Hoffman said would be most suited for a mail carrier or meter maid, will drive up to 55 mph and get 120 miles per tank. Currently, the Department of Energy's gasoline gallon equivalent for a similar amount of hydrogen stands at $1.50, but is planned to increase to $2 or $3 by 2015.

The team plans to have a prototype completed by next year, which could then be sold to an automaker. For marketability purposes, they added a gas tank to the design for the times when you just can't find a hydrogen station to refuel.

On that point, Hoffman has big hopes. He mentioned BP's initiative to build hydrogen stations; though all are located in Michigan, Florida or California. He spoke of a "hydrogen highway," NYSERDA's call for hydrogen stations to be built from New York City to Buffalo in the next decade to coincide with the development of hydrogen vehicles. And Hoffman said he is in the "phone-call phase" with Stewart's Shops, which has 276 gas stations in New York and Vermont, about installing hydrogen pumps.

But Gary Dake, president of Stewart's, wasn't as hopeful as Hoffman. While he contended that it is a noble ambition, his small company is unlikely to become a market leader in hydrogen.

"Until hydrogen is more established, a player as small as ourselves really wouldn't be in a position to execute it," he said.

More than likely, most hydrogen vehicles in the near future will fuel up at places like welding-gas supply stations. But Hoffman said part of the Hydroporter project includes plans to install hydrogen pumps in vehicle owners' homes.

The rest of Hoffman's team doesn't seem as invested in the future of hydrogen as they are in the vehicle. When asked why he signed on to the project, Dee Clark, owner of Ultimate Cycles, said, "I just thought it would be something good for the environment."

Around his shop are several bikes in various stages of completion, none of which will be as environmentally friendly as the Hydroporter. Most of his creations run on 91 octane gasoline.

Gas that Hoffman, who drives what he calls a "terrible Buick" that gets 30 miles per gallon, would rather do without. Back on his dry erase board, he's asked why gasoline looks like it's taking a tumble.

"Yeah, gasoline," he said. "He's dying, he's running out, he's done."
 

The power of hydrogen

The Hydroporter will work much like a regular vehicle with an internal combustion engine. But rather than gasoline pumped into the engine, it will use hydrogen.

Hydrogen packs a powerful punch, literally. More then 61,000 BTUs of energy is released when a pound of the gas, which is made up of two hydrogen atoms connected by a bond, is heated, breaking the bonds and causing hydrogen atoms to react with oxygen in the air.

That, says American Hydrogen Association president Roy McAlister, is equivalent to about 18 kilowatt-hours.

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