History is repeating itself north of Boston.

More than 200 years ago, Woburn native and physicist Benjamin Thompson toiled away with experiments in developing a hypothesis that later became a major part of the 19th century revolution in thermodynamics.

Thompson’s work laid the foundation for the laws of energy conservation in physics, and led to his inventions of the double boiler, kitchen range, drip coffeepot and the thermally efficient Rumford fireplace.

In 2007, the spirit of Thompson’s efforts and the revolution for efficient and sustainable energy sources seem to be booming, especially in Woburn. Many green companies are expanding the area’s scientific roots today, and cultivating important niches in the commonwealth’s “other” biotech hub.

Two new Woburn companies were brought to the small city and are the latest alternative-energy firms to join the green cluster forming there. Amid a slew of well-established life science companies, Warner-Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry and BioEnergy International both moved to Woburn in September. Both firms were recruited by Cummings Properties, a major regional developer.

“More life science firms, like BioEnergy and Warner-Babcock, are finding great value in suburban locations that offer rates at about a third of those in Boston and half of those in Cambridge,” said Eric Anderson, leasing vice president of Cummings. “These biotech firms are greatly intensifying the region’s significance in the state and fueling its inherent area draws. They are also proving how the northern part of America’s Technology Highway – Route 128 – is really coming of age, again.”

Warner-Babcock recently leased an existing 7,000 square foot lab and office facility at 42 Cummings Park in Woburn. Settling in Woburn made sense, said John Warner, the active head of the company and a pioneer in the field of green chemistry.

His firm, Warner said, focuses on designing environmentally friendly chemicals that not only aim at reducing waste, but also at minimizing harmful effects to everything, from the climate to the world’s food and water supply.

“We looked at a lot of other places,” says Warner, who was reportedly handpicked by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to chair California’s Chemicals Policy Initiative. “Woburn is a nice area. One of the tenets of green chemistry is being adaptive to one’s environment. This facility required less buildout, which is what we were looking for. That minimized the impact that fundamental new construction would have had on the environment. From an environmental prospective, what could be better?”

Finding the appropriate larger space for its research and development arm also posed some difficulties for BioEnergy. “We were looking all over,” said Steve Mack, a consultant for the international biotech company, who led the charge in finding its new R&D space.

“We looked in Randolph, South Boston, Taunton Â… but we couldn’t find anything in our price range,” added Stacy Cox, BioEnergy’s administrative assistant.

According to Anderson, a previously existing 11,000 square foot lab at 42 Cummings Park in Woburn, now serves as BioEnergy’s strategic hub for the development and commercialization of next generation biofuels, biopolymers and specialty chemicals from renewable sources.

“The owners worked with us very closely,” Mack said. “They want to do these types of leases and help green companies develop. They had a facility that met our requirements and this facility supplies us with future growth.”

Other green firms in Woburn include Electrolyzer Corp., a developer of the ElectroCide System, which is based on electrolyzed water technology. It works when a diluted saltwater solution passes through an electrical field and two separation membranes. The process reportedly generates two separate outputs simultaneously. The first is alkaline water, which is used as a cleaner and degreaser. The second is electrolyzed acid water that contains 30 parts per million of hypochlorous acid and is reported to have an extremely powerful bactericidal/viricidal effect. Electrolyzer says that its system is particularly useful in food service industries, where it can be used for hand washing; surface sanitizing, food preparation, and making bacteria-free ice. The company is located at 400 West Cummings Park.

In West Cummings Park, too, since 1991, ElectroChem has provided fuel-cell research to the marketplace and provides fuel cell technology developers with a platform to acquire fuel cell products. ElectroChem researches, develops, tests and manufactures such fuel-cell components as stacks and electrodes. Its green niche includes the development of custom products, and working as a committed partner of developers seeking fuel-cell materials and products.

About a quarter-mile away from the epicenter of all the new activity at the intersection of interstates 93 and 95, GEO2 Technologies operates from 7,000 square feet at 12 Cabot Road in Woburn. Its core technology revolves around the material, manufacturing and application of its novel, high temperature, high porosity cellular ceramic filters and substrates for adsorptive and catalytic reactions, said Dennis Clarke, the president and chief executive officer of Cummings Properties.

“GEO2’s technology can be used in a variety of emissions control systems for any internal combustion engine or in any high temperature filtration or chemical reactor applications,” Clarke noted. “The technology reportedly filters 99 percent of the particles that would normally be discharged from a vehicle powered with a diesel engine.”

Ztek Corp., a hydrogen reformer and fuel-cell development and manufacturing company, is the most senior of the green firms brought in by Cummings, having moved into West Cummings Park in 1988. Ztek says its mission is to develop and commercialize the world’s cleanest, most efficient fossil fuel energy conversion devices. Since its founding in 1983, Ztek notes it has secured more than 200 U.S. and international patents on its various key innovations for achieving improved efficiency and simplified and reduced cost of production.

Cummings Properties claims 9 million square feet of space north of Boston, including a large number of biotech, meditech and pharmaceutical firms. It is in the final phases of constructing the brand-new replacement for the Edward J. Sullivan Courthouse in Woburn. The 150,000-square-foot Middlesex Superior Court is expected to open at Trade Center 128 in March.