Photos: Clean-tech start-ups swing for the fences

BOSTON--While the 2007 Boston Red Sox celebrated their recent World Series victory outside, entrepreneurs and investors met here on Tuesday to plot the future of energy at the third annual Conference on Clean Energy.

The New England area is vying to become a major center for clean-technology industries, along with Silicon Valley in California. At the conference, a number of companies exhibited their products, ranging from niche markets--better pretreatment for corn ethanol refineries--to very ambitious plans, such as alternatives to the internal combustion engine.

Pictured here is a prototype of a generator from CTP Hydrogen. While most fuel cells use hydrogen as the fuel to make electricity, CTP Hydrogen is using propane. The advantage of using propane is that propane fuel is widely available at gas stations or retail outlets. The company's technology can convert any hydrocarbon to hydrogen, with water, carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide as exhaust. The company intends to use the system for mobile-power applications such as cell towers or boat motors, according to company CEO Scott Rackey.

Caption text by Martin LaMonica.