SHEC Labs (Solar Hydrogen Energy Corporation) in Saskatoon is building a pilot plant that will use energy from the sun to power a process that converts methane to hydrogen. It’s apparently more efficient than traditional steam methane reformation and releases fewer greenhouse gases and other pollutants.

“To add even greater value, the process has the ability to use a renewable source of methane and carbon dioxide, such as biogas from municipal wastewater plants and landfill gas. Renewable methane generated from biomass results in no net increase in carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere when the methane is converted into hydrogen by SHEC’s solar hydrogen generator,” according to a report from Renewable Energy Access.

SHEC Labs is looking for capital for deploying its first commercial scale plant. It figures that once this first plant is operational, it can replicate it in other regions with biomass/biogas resources.

If you’re among those who think a hydrogen economy will never emerge — at least in our lifetime — you may be tempted to dismiss this company. The reality, however, is that a mini hydrogen economy is already here, and has been for decades. We need hydrogen today for all sorts of industrial applications, and this is why companies such as Mississauga-based Stuart Energy (recently purchased by Hydrogenics) have been so successful. Fact is, if SHEC can come up with a better and cheaper way of producing hydrogen, there will be great industrial demand for this product. If a more mainstream hydrogen economy emerges, the company will be even better positioned.

Vancouver has joined Toronto, Los Angeles and Edinburgh with its decision to install bus shelters lit with Carmanah Technologies’ solar LED lighting system. The company’s i-Shelter technology will illuminate signs in 225 new bus shelters to be installed throughout Canada’s third-largest city. Municipalities apparently like the idea of providing lighting for general safety, as well as illumination for advertising and other signs, without having to rip up concrete and lay electric wiring. It’s a good move for Vancouver as it prepares to host the 2010 Olympics on the theme of “sustainability.”

On another note, PROFIT Magazine ranked Carmanah the 36th fastest growing company in the country.

Interesting article from Clean Edge News about advances in the area of solid-state lighting, which could potentially “cut in half the 22 per cent of electricity used by lighting.”

But this technology goes far beyond energy conservation. Researchers predict that future advances will allow for the creation and manipulation of lights with an eye to improving health, altering mood, increasing productivity, and even boosting crop yields.

Even cooler, the article discusses future applications, such as the use of solid state lighting to allow vehicles to communicate with each other. Rapidly blinking lights at the back of a car would be the human equivalent of reading lips — the car in front could tell the car behind it to slow down quickly in an emerging breaking situation, or some other driving scenario. Think Morse code with LEDs.

Then, of course, there’s the use of LEDs as a replacement for general illumination. “The scaling up of LED chip size and current density will substantially reduce costs, bringing LEDs into offices, homes, and, perhaps, even dining room chandeliers,” the article states.