New ventures

Bayer Launches New North American Organization and Leadership

Bayer AG (Leverkusen, Germany; www.bayer.com) is adopting a new corporate structure proposed by the Bayer AG board of management last May. Consistent with the global reorganization, Bayer's U.S. subsidiary, Bayer Corp. (Pittsburgh, PA), will comprise five operating companies and a new leadership team for North America. The businesses include: Bayer CropScience LP (Research Triangle Park, NC), Bayer HealthCare LLC (Tarrytown, NY), Bayer Pharmaceuticals Corp. (West Haven, CT), Bayer Chemicals Corp., Bayer Polymers LLC and Bayer Corporate and Business Services LLC (the last three hail from Pittsburgh, PA) within the Bayer Corp. management holding firm. The units' executives have all been appointed internally.

A 'Total' Name Change for ATOFINA

TotalFinaElf (Paris, France; www.atofina.com) has changed its name to Total S.A. The subsidiaries of Total, ATOFINA Petrochemicals, Inc. (Houston, TX; www.atofinapetrochemicals.com) and ATOFlNA Chemicals, Inc. (Philadelphia, PA; www.atofinachemicals.com) will retain their original names and U.S. headquarters.

DOE Solicits Millions to Implement National Hydrogen Economy...

The Dept. of Energy (DOE; Washington, DC; www.doe.gov) is backing President Bush's commitment to implement a national hydrogen economy by creating the Controlled Hydrogen Fleet and Infrastructure Demonstration and Validation Program (CHFVP). Three to five applicants, including automakers, energy companies and other stakeholders, will be awarded $150-$250 million to advance the economical and efficient use of hydrogen production and systems development for hydrogen-powered fuel cell (HPFC) vehicles. The five-year project will monitor the performance of the HPFCs and all data will be provided to the U.S. hydrogen R&D program. Applications are due to the DOE by Aug. 15, 2003.

...and Moves Fuel Cells into Mainstream Energy Markets

Two new projects valued at more than $213 million will be added to the DOE's Solid State Energy Conversion Alliance (SECA) program to develop fuel cells (FCs) that can compete economically with virtually all types of power systems available today, including gas turbine and diesel generators. The DOE has selected teams headed by FuelCell Energy, Inc. (Danbury, CT; www.fce.com.) and Acumentrics Corp. (Westwood, MA; www.acumentrics.com) to implement its plan. The first phase extends to 2006, at which time the developers must produce an early prototype for testing at the National Energy Technology Laboratory (Morgantown, WV; www.netl.gov). Subsequent phases would focus on improvements in performance and commercial FC cost - ideally a factor-of-ten reduction compared with current prices.