Over the next three decades he dabbled in a variety of new technologies--electric storage batteries, steam- and gas-powered automobiles and a wireless telegraph--but after his death in 1911 the company focused again on temperature controls.

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But this portion could grow, given the hassles of making hydrogen:It requires a six-story furnace, called a steam-methane reformer, where natural gas combines with steam and nickel at 1, 600 degrees Fahrenheit to unleash hydrogen gas.

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Combined-cycle gas turbines, which use hot exhaust gases from one turbine to generate steam to turn a second one, can transform 6, 800 Btu of gas into a kilowatt-hour of electricity, enough to light one lightbulb for ten hours.

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"Economics dictates that 95% of current U.S. hydrogen is produced by steam-methane re-forming of non-renewable natural gas, " Michael K. Heiman, professor of environmental studies at Dickinson College, wrote in a study of the proposed hydrogen economy last year.

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Take Consolidated Edison of New York, a New York-based corporation that provides electric, gas and steam utility services in New York City and Westchester County.

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Gas turbines, steam turbines, nuclear power plants, high-speed trains, these are the areas he believes Hitachi can still be a world beater, especially in the developing world.

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