Ballinger told RV News, "I started dusting shelves in the store when I was five years old. By 16, I was the parts department manager for a company that used to be called Huntington Beach Trailer Supply. Then I was store manager and purchasing agent for my parents store from the time I was 18 to 23. " After high school Ballinger started college, but quit to open a chain of dental laboratories. He eventually sold his company and went back to college at University of LaVerne to finish his degree. Besides his grandfather and father, Ballinger's uncle, Harry Gramig, is in the industry and his brother Ben Ballinger is a rep for Leisure Time Marketing, a manufacturer's agent company. It was at the University of LaVerne that Nick was introduced to fuel cell technology in a chemistry class. Ballinger said, "In 1997 in one of my last semesters before I graduated, I had a chemistry class with Dr. Iraj Parchamazad, chairman of Chemistry Department and Professor of Chemistry. We talked about a lot of different energy products and one of the topics that came up briefly was this product called fuel cell technology that was in its infancy. "I thought it was an interesting subject so decided to write a research project on fuel cell technology." After graduation Ballinger continued to think about it and thought it might have a market in the RV industry. He said, "I came back to the university and talked to Dr. Parchamazad more about it and asked what he thought about this idea for RVs. "Dr. Parchamazad said that we should look into it. We did more research and concluded that with his background in fuel cell technology that we could develop a product for recreation vehicles." Through a contact of an attorney friend (John Joannes) of Dr. Parchamazad an investor came in and Dr. Parchamazad, John Joannes and Ballinger formed a company -- Clean Fuel Generation, LLC. Prior to seeing the R3500 in action, Nick Ballinger briefed invited guests to an overview of fuel cell technology. Dr. Parchamazad earned his Ph.D. (Doctorat es Sciences) in 1968 at Aix-Marseille University, France. He also served as consultant to the Ministry of Industry in Iran 1982-1987, and a member of the scientific advisory committee for the preparation of a master plan for the chemical and petrochemical industry of Iran. In addition he was consultant to the Ministry of Energy from 1981- 1982 for the application of solar energy in energy planning for Iran. He joined the faculty of University of LaVerne in 1987. Ballinger continued, "Then we went to the university and solicited their support and told them we would like to do our research and development at the university. We entered into a research and development agreement with the university and gave them a grant. In return they gave us the room to work in and managed the research for us. "To this point we have several ideas for the technology and we have the first fully automated prototype, the R3500, that gives us fresh water, hot water, heat, electricity and it's virtually silent with no emissions. "From here what we want to do is take it to full commercialization to be used in RVs. We are continuing research and development to this end." continued