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The South Shore News & Tribune
Hydrogen Fans Spread The Word
yhammett@tampatrib.com
Published: November 5, 2008
PALMETTO - Gas prices are on nearly everyone's mind these days.
And the call for alternative forms of energy has probably never been greater.
Those who consider hydrogen the great hope of alternative fuels say they may have some answers for ridiculous gas prices.
They will converge Tuesday through Nov. 14 at the Manatee County Fairgrounds to generate ideas with fellow hydrogen worshippers and share their knowledge with the public during the first HHO Games & Exposition.
Several Bay area hydrogen gurus are expected to participate.
"We expect some of the most ingenious inventors in the world in developing ways to produce fuel and electricity using hydrogen," said event organizer Joe Shea. "We're expecting several thousand people to attend."
According to the event Web site, there will be a few revelations involving "bold new ideas for gas-saving technology."
It's all about fuel savings and cleaner - even zero - emissions, Shea said.
Hundreds of cars that use gas and hydrogen-injection will be on display.
Shea found his interest in hydrogen years ago when welder Denny Klein of Clearwater unveiled Aquygen, a novel gas made from ordinary water through a patented process. It replaces oxyacetylene for most brazing, soldering and cutting applications, according to his Web site, www.ytechapps.com/aquygen. Aquygen also can be used to fuel hybrid hydrogen-powered cars.
"He drove from Orlando and back on a quart of gas in 1995," supplementing his fuel with hydrogen, Shea said.
Other hydrogen enthusiasts have followed in their own way.
Among the novelties scheduled to appear at the expo is a 20-foot Shamrock boat with a 304-horsepower Ford inboard engine that uses HHO as fuel. Owner Ed Carter plans to travel from North Carolina for the show.
Jim Tarantola, owner of Backyard Builders of Tampa Bay, plans to be there to spread the word on hydrogen generators and recruit unemployed tradesmen interested in learning how to install them.
"I want to break new ground in something that's really important," Tarantola said.
"I've always been playing with alternative energy, wind, solar panels, stuff like that. What I learned was how to take all four elements - wind, earth, water and fire - to get off the electrical grid," Tarantola said.
Other participants are expected from as far away as England and Germany.
IF YOU GO
WHAT: HHO Games & Exposition
WHERE: Manatee County Fairgrounds, 1402 14th Ave. W., Palmetto
WHEN: Nov. 11 to 14, seminars and workshops; 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nov. 11, main exposition
HOW MUCH: $2 and a canned good for the Manatee County Food Bank; veterans admitted for free
INFORMATION: Joe Shea, (941) 753-1136, or www.hho games.com
HHO GAMES
Special Guests - Nov. 11
Palmetto High School Honor Guard, 9:00AM
Opening Prayer
Michael George Lombardi
Pastor and HHO Inventor
Bradenton, Fla.
Special Guests & Speakers
Hon. Jane Von Hahmann, Chairwoman, 12PM
Hon. Joe McClash, Commissioner-at-Large, 12:15PM
Manatee County Commission
Jim Tarantola, Backyard Builders of Tampa
"Why HHO - Why Now?" - 1PM, Nov. 11
Inventor Seminars
Open to all, but get there early!
Ozzie Freedom Seminar
"HHO Marketing" - 10AM, Nov. 11
ZeroFossilFuels Seminar
"Advances In HHO" - 2PM, Nov. 11
James Coleman, Atty. at Law
"HHO and Patent Law" - 10AM, Nov. 12
Michael Lombardi Seminar
"Understanding EFIEs" - 2PM, Nov. 12
Zero's 6-Hour Roundtable
(at Manatee Technical Institute, Bldg. 11)
Nov. 14, 10-4PM
...Stay Tuned for More Seminars!
Vendors & Friends
Energy Builders Network, Inc., Silver Springs, Nev. Hydrogen Concepts, Phoenix, Ariz.
HH02HHO, Cape Coral, Fla.
Water4Gas, Los Angeles, Calif.
CTM-Kool, Inc., Bradenton, Fla.
YourWater4Gas, Clearwater, Fla.
MileageSeekersHHO, Cleveland, Ohio
H202HHO, Arlington, Tex.
Moreco Energy, LLC, Venice, Fla.
Green Gas Sensor Solutions, Orlando, Fla.
HydroVantage, Clearwater, Fla.
Water 4 Fuel 4 Boats, Harkers Island, N.C.
WatertoGas, St. Petersburg, Fla.
Water Fuels USA, Richmond, Va.
Kiker Wires, Avon Park, Fla.
Hi-Tech Greening, LLC, Los Angeles, Calif.
HybridGen, Clearwater, Fla.
HydroGas, Bradenton, Fla.
Attorney Jim Coleman, St. Petersburg, Fla. Advanced Hyrdrogen Source, Sebring, Fla.
Max. Cam Video, Lewisville, N.C.
BluWave Hybrid, Cincinnati, Ohio
HHO Saves Gas, Dayton, Ohio Aqua Miles Technologies, Sarasota, Fla.
...
Jim Tarantola of Backyard Builders of Tampa has taken another two Demonstrator spaces to display more of the wide array of Demonstrator vehicles he'll be showing, which already include a big Ford pickup, an RV, a motorcycle and even a stump grinder (now doing yeoman duty cleaning up after Hurricane Ike in Houston). At $10, the spaces are a bargain! Jim is one of the major installers in South Florida.
  I recommend
Best of the Show- Jim, Beth, Jamie and Joe Tarantola, HighPerformanceFuelCells Winner of 2008 HHO Games
with unending thanks to our HHO team and family -
Toyota Todd, Willie Mays, Jimbo, T, JD, AJ, Bob,
Mercedes Mark, BMW Mark, Captain Mike, Mitsubishi Mike,
Surburban Bob, Cadillac Herman, Mike at SCT, PWM Dale
You know who you are, we could never do it without you!
Many of the exhibitors at the HHO Games were displaying and selling kits that use the electrolysis process to split water, or H2O, into two separate hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom, or HHO, and inject the resulting gas into a combustion engine to burn with either gasoline or diesel. The kits will fit on any vehicles with combustion engines.
“We’re here to teach people how to build and install their own kits,” said Jim Tarantola, who builds seawalls during the day and promotes his HHO company, HighPerformanceFuelCells.Com, at night and on weekends.
Tarantola — who brought two trucks, a car, a motorcycle and generators, all running on HHO fuel cells, down from Tampa for the exposition — said he got interested in alternative fuel because he wanted to save money.
It was through the network of backyard tinkerers and inventors posting their findings on YouTube that his interest grew into the business he now has.
“YouTube has been a blessing to all this,” Tarantola said, pointing to the 30 or so exhibitors and vendors lined up in the Mosaic Arena at the fairgrounds. “Now you can transfer information with others.”
Those deeply involved in HHO systems said it is like a movement that cannot be stopped.
Many see Ozzie Freedom, founder of Water4Gas in Sunland, Calif., as the leader of the movement.
Freedom has been working on developing energy from hydrogen since 1983, and because he was in the computer business he began posting information on the Internet.
He wrote a book on how to design, build and install your own hydrogen fuel cells that has sold more than 80,000 copies nationwide. Many refer to it as the bible of the industry.
To promote the use of HHO technologies, Freedom and his technical director, Ari Cohen, arrived in Palmetto after completing a 16-day cross-country informational tour in a VW Jetta diesel equipped with a fuel cell.
“Everywhere we stopped people would see the car and want to know about it,” Freedom said.
He said they had a 50-percent gasoline savings on their trip.
It was the potential fuel savings that got Sharon Schmitz of Bradenton involved with the movement.
Schmitz, CEO of artist consortium CTM-Kool Inc. who spent 26 years in the Air Force, six of them in Turkey and Saudi Arabia, said she “wanted to get free of our dependency on Middle East oil.”
Her company sells its own HHO kit and is a dealer for six other manufacturers.
Schmitz’s enthusiasm shows when you spend a couple of minutes with her. She hands you a dozen sheets of paper with information and questions about the technology that is more than 200 years old.
Bert Miller of Sarasota decided to check out the exposition because he is excited about the possibilities. At first he was skeptical about the claims that you can save 20 to 70 percent in gas mileage, but after he started experimenting with building a fuel cell he got the bug.
“When I made my first explosion I got pretty excited,” Miller said. “I just made water explode.”
He said you do not need advance degrees in science to create a fuel cell.
“You can get all the parts at an ACE Hardware,” Miller said. “Then be able to follow instructions and use testing equipment.”
The HHO Games and Exposition continue through the week with seminars today and Thursday and a six-hour roundtable Friday
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