The first time I've ever been sad I don't live in OC

Free to a good home: Fuel cell vehicles

Also the first time I would seriously consider a GM product.

Starting this month, in what will be the largest real-world test of fuel-cell passenger vehicles, GM's Project Driveway program is seeking good homes for 100 fuel-cell versions of its Equinox SUV. (Honda, by contrast, has leased just two of its FCX fuel-cell cars to customers.)

Pick me, pick me! I'll love that ugly Equinox like it was my own!

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I wouldn't typically post one of these home-town, feel good stories but this is GREAT.

Model T Fuel Cell hot rod

What is it?

a black hydrogen fuel-cell engine roughly the size of a suitcase is being prepared for installation in a red 1992 replica of a 1923 Ford Model T

Tres chic. Who is involved?

The project has been an eye opener for Sullivan [GrandPTA member and electrical engineer] and Lewis [student dad extraordinaire and mechanic], who respectively have spent 54 and 25 years devoted to cars.

“We got the tools to do something and instigate change,” Lewis said. “We’re also wondering: why isn’t everyone else as invested into ending the curse of oil?

“If we can do this in Jim’s garage, what’s the holdup here?”

They sound like some hep cats. What else?

In 2003, students hooked up a guitar amplifier to a fuel cell, leading to the creation of a fuel-cell-powered band, Protium, named after a hydrogen isotope. The band has played gigs at fuel cell and hydrogen conventions at such places as the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn., Miami and Hollywood.

Cooler than cool itself. Where was this again?

The project is the brainchild of Ross “Mad Dog” McCurdy, a Ponaganset High School science teacher who has taught a class about fuel cells and other renewable energy technologies for four years.

A support email is on its way... join me?

rkmccurdy@yahoo.com

The innovation, passion and ingenuity that alternative fuel inspires in people seems perpetually able to impress me and motivate me further. The kids involved, thanks to these awesome guys in Rhode Island, will never think the same about where their energy comes from. They turned an idealistic political movement into a fun, exciting project to garner attention for a very important cause. It is this type of intelligence and compassion that will drive our eventual switch to a better power source. There really can be no other way!

ROCK ON PONGNA... umm... PAGNO... no... PONAGANSET!