Jun 1 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Samantha Maziarz Christmann The Buffalo News, N.Y.

When Globe Specialty Metals sets up shop in Niagara Falls next year, it will join established hydrogen producer Praxair, becoming the latest company attracted to the clean, plentiful hydropower of Niagara Falls.

As Globe and Praxair embrace the future of green technology, they showcase the power of the Falls as the ultimate green energy source. And who better to do so than two companies with such intense energy needs?

"Energy is the largest operating cost for Praxair," said Susan Szita- Gore, the company's director of corporate communications. "A reliable power source is critical."

At Globe, power costs account for 30 percent of manufacturing expenses, making the company's 40- megawatt recent grant of low-cost power from the State Power Authority indispensable.

But why are these companies so power thirsty?

"Making hydrogen and silicon generally requires a very high and very even temperature, which requires a lot of energy," said Harvey G. Stenger, dean of the University at Buffalo School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and professor of chemical and biological engineering.

Hydrogen and silicon are two of the most abundant elements in the universe. But because neither is readily found by itself, extracting the elements is the tricky part.

Heating natural gas to a very high temperature, then reacting it with water, creates hydrogen gas and carbon monoxide. Removing the bulk of the carbon monoxide is easy enough, but extracting its tiny remaining impurities gets a bit more energy intensive, Stenger said.

The same is true for silicon, which is made when silicon dioxide is reacted with hydrogen.

Separating silicon from oxygen in raw materials like sand is only the first step of silicon production. Purifying it to premium-grade silicon, as will be done at Globe, involves heating it to a molten slurry above 4,000 degrees.

"That last step requires a lot of voltage," said Stenger. "Making very high-quality, very pure silicon requires a lot of control."

The lure of Niagara's power signals a return to the region's original industrial draw. After all, before the advent of alternating current, it was the need to be physically near a direct power source that brought companies to the area a century ago.

"The company that evolved into Praxair was attracted to the area as far back as 1907 when it built the first commercial oxygen plant in North America in Buffalo," said Szita-Gore. "A reliable source of power was a factor in the decision to locate in Buffalo even then, along with access to growing industries in the Great Lakes area."

Local officials hope Niagara Falls' clean power will stimulate the area's green economy in a similar way, with seeds planted by companies like Praxair and Globe.

"Niagara's second great 'Green' era has arrived . . . We are once again regaining control over our destiny," wrote Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster in a recent column.

The silicon Globe will make is destined for photovoltaic solar panels. And petroleum refiners use Praxair's

hydrogen to cut smog emissions by removing sulfur from transport fuels. The most notable green possibility of hydrogen is the permanent replacement of gas-powered vehicles with cleaner hydrogen-powered ones.

But Praxair's ties to the green economy go deeper. Its oxygen-based oxy-combustion technology reduces harmful emissions in steel, cement and glass production. Municipalities and corporations use its oxygen- based water treatment systems to help clean up wastewater, and it is now helping Beijing prepare drinking water for the 2008 Olympics.

"Approximately two-thirds of Praxair's annual revenue is derived from our gases and applications technologies which help our customers reduce their environmental footprint, improve their energy efficiency, or increase yield of their production, decreasing their use of raw materials," said Szita-Gore.

The Connecticut-based Praxair employs nearly 1,300 workers in Niagara Falls and Tonawanda. Globe Specialty Metals will spend $60 million rebuilding and reopening an idle Highland Avenue plant, and is expected to bring 500 jobs to Niagara Falls over the next three years.

Stenger said the renaissance's green undertones might make an industrial surge in Niagara Falls seem even sweeter the second time around. But, when all is said and done, he said, green technology will take whatever power source it can get.

In fact, Buffalo Niagara's ready electricity delivery infrastructure, laid by predecessors like the Hooker Chemical and Plastics Corp., could be just as much of an incentive as the green hydropower of the Falls itself, he said.

"Electricity is electricity, wherever you get it," said Stenger. "Energy from a waterfall does sound good. But, where it comes from just doesn't matter."

schristmann@buffnews.com