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By Marc Katz, Staff Writer 6:39 PM Saturday, September 4, 2010

ENGLEWOOD — The world is poised to wean itself off fossil fuel consumption, but when it happens is a matter of debate.

Chris McWhinney and Dave Erbaugh hope their company, Millennium Reign Energy, is a major part of the process.

Working out of McWhinney’s basement on Wenger Road, the business partners believe hydrogen fuel is the way to go, especially for vehicles.

They have built prototypes and spoken with government and energy officials and automakers while looking for investors in a project they hope will make people energy independent.

“Hydrogen has a lot going for it,” said Chris Meyer, director of energy program for the Dayton Development Coalition.

Millennium Reign Energy wants to outfit homes with personal vehicle fuel stations, leading to an infrastructure of public hydrogen fueling stations for long trips. The cost and logistics of the stations are still in the air. For now, hybrid cars are one solution to the energy problem .

McWhinney said the world has to change how it generates fuels.

“Policy has been dictated by those who have the power,” he said. “Policy is set by oil companies who say we can make it cheaper, and we can make these cars get better fuel mileage and lower emissions. That kept people away from it.”

Kevin S. Kantola operates a website called Hydrogen Cars Now. While he is a one-stop shop to explain hydrogen cars, he adds “there are going to be a whole lot of alternatives in the future. Hydrogen is going to be one of them.”

He thinks a worldwide conversion will take time, and that fossil fuels will not be eliminated overnight. At the moment, one of the most extensive hydrogen station networks links 23 fueling stations in southern California. Europe is also a leading advocate for hydrogen stations, with Germany leading the way with about 30 stations.

McWhinney applied for his first patent in 2003 and has been improving hydrogen power’s effectiveness ever since he brought Erbaugh on as a partner.

“We intentionally kept this quiet,” McWhinney said.

Erbaugh said their concept is basic science that has been in use for centuries. “We’re passing electricity through water,” McWhinney said. “It’s taking what the ancient Chinese did with the four forces of nature: earth, wind, sun and rain. We can take the wind and sun and water and turn it into fire, or we can turn it back into electricity. Or, we can turn it into motion, and you can go down the road with it.”

Right now, Erbaugh said, petroleum is cheap. But this commodity will not always be around if alternative fuel sources are utilized.

“Once it becomes not cheap and scarce, what are we going to do then?” he said.

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