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Quest for hydrogen-fueled dirigible

Written by Mike Flynn

Buiness innovator's quest to patent hydrogen-fueled dirigible (May 20, '09)

Rinaldo Brutoco, who made his fortune as a young entrepreneur in the ‘70s then founded a think tank focused on bringing the best of business thinking to benefit society, is now committed to hastening the world’s transition to what he predicts will be a hydrogen-fuel economy.

Brutoco contends that such a transition is vital to freeing the nation from dependence on oil. And to help achieve that, he has filed a patent application for a hydrogen-fueled dirigible, an airship with a semi-rigid frame, a mode of transportation whose time may have come again, he thinks.

He’s named his proposed airship the H2 Clipper, which his comprehensive patent application suggests will fly at altitudes “in excess of 39,000 feet at speeds in excess of 350 miles an hour, with a lifting capacity in excess of 400,000 pounds.”

Brutoco, now 62, was co-founder of the nation’s first pay cable television operation and followed that with successes in other television-related ventures before founding the World Business Academy in 1987, an initiative he sums up as “turning the perception of business from that of predator to steward.”

He understands that what he refers to as “myths” about hydrogen, including that it is too dangerous or explosive for common use as fuel, will need to be laid to rest before he’ll be able to build support, and funding, for his concept.

To help achieve that, he touts the arguments made in a book he wrote aimed at the “debunking of eight common myths about hydrogen,” including the widely held belief in its danger as a fuel.

I came in contact with Brutoco at the request of his close friend Mike Fitzgerald, CEO of Enterprise Honolulu, a client of mine who asked that I make some introductions for Brutoco. Getting to know him, his World Business Academy and his dirigible has been an intriguing process.

And part of the process of initial conversations about the dirigible has been learning that debunking the hydrogen “myths” will be a key challenge for him because some whose support Brutoco needs are skeptical of his ability to change perceptions about hydrogen. But Brutoco seems unfazed by that challenge.

I asked Brutoco in our first telephone conversation whether his dirigible was a real concept or science fiction.

He responded that rather than being a 21^st Century science-fiction vehicle, he views his H2 Clipper concept as an environmentally driven return to the early 20^th century roots of passenger air travel. “It’s basically a concept that has come ‘round again,” he contends.

What is coming to be known around the world as “the hydrogen movement” by governmental, academic and business entities involved in a burgeoning hydrogen and fuel cell industry initiative would suggest Brutoco may find support in some quarters to offset the skepticism.

Discussion at recent gatherings of Europe’s hydrogen and fuel cell industry in Hannover, Germany, and the annual convention of the National Hydrogen Association in Columbia, SC, focused on greater intensity on deployment of vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel cells into broad uses.

“The H2 Clipper will be a cheap, clean way to deliver hydrogen to fueling stations like those that California and Europe are creating as part of their hydrogen highways. But it will do far more than transport large quantities of hydrogen to market,” Brutoco said.

“Its large, pressurized compartment is designed to be suitable either for passengers or for pressure- and temperature-sensitive freight,” he noted, “And thus the H2 Clipper will dramatically cut the cost of future passenger air travel.

Brutoco will bring to the H2 Clipper project the resources of his World Business Academy, which he describes as a think tank (based in both Hawaii and Ojai, CA, between which he splits his time) to help articulate a vision for the future of socially and ecologically responsible business leaders.

Brutoco points to other recent airship developments as indications that he’s on the right track as far as pursuing a new mode of environmentally focused air travel and transit.

“Various airship endeavors have been undertaken around the world since the day of the Graf Zeppelin and other great airships with perhaps the most notable being the U.S. Air Force ISIS project,” he said. That’s a planned helium-powered surveillance platform that would stay aloft at 65,000 feet for up to 10 years.

In addition, a firm called Airship Ventures is operating a 246-foot long Zeppelin taking passengers on sightseeing excursions over the San Francisco Bay area. The airship has a semi-rigid frame, which is what distinguishes an airship from a blimp, inside its giant envelope.

But other such craft are filled with helium, which Brutoco says is much more dense and can’t produce the lifting capacity of hydrogen.

From his role as the youngest attorney ever to argue a case before the California Supreme Court, to building personal wealth as a successful and innovative entrepreneur to creating an important think tank focused on issues important to society, Brutoco is accustomed to overcoming challenges.

Winning support for his dirigible could prove his biggest challenge.