_____________________________________________________________________________
|  File Name      : MHDMINI.ASC      |  Online Date     :  04/02/95         |
|  Contributed by : Jerry Decker     |  Dir Category    :  ENERGY           |
|  From           : KeelyNet BBS     |  DataLine        :  (214) 324-3501   |
|           KeelyNet * PO BOX 870716 * Mesquite, Texas * USA * 75187        |
|        A FREE Alternative Sciences BBS sponsored by Vanguard Sciences     |
|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
     The following article is from Business Week, April 3, 1995, page 107.
_____________________________________________________________________________

                    Electric-Fluid Energy gets another shot
                                 by Peter Coy

Magnethohydrodynamics is beguilingly simple in principle:  Electricity can be
generated by passing a conductive fluid through a magnetic field.

But the extreme temperatures and fluid velocities needed for large MHD
generating plants damage components.

The Energy Department pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into MHD until
1993 without producing a plant that produced MORE electricity THAN IT
CONSUMED.

LM Manufacturing Ltd., a six-person company in Marysville, Washington, says it
can succeed by thinking small.  It hopes to build modest MHD generators that
use liquid metal as the conductive fluid and produce just 5 to 250 Kilowatts
of power.

The initial market is farms, where deregulation is permitting competition.  In
one scenario, a farmer burns natural gas to heat a liquified gas.  The mixture
speeds past a magnet, generating power.

The Energy Dept. gave LM surplus test gear from the Hanford (Wash.) nuclear
site.  In return, it will receive stock in LM and royalties on any generators
sold.
_____________________________________________________________________________