NYC to be Shell hydrogen filling station cluster

A GM fuel cell concept

Today, Shell is opening up its second hydrogen filling station in New York City, and a third filling station will be opened later this month.

“The prospects for hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles are strong in the longer-term”, said Duncan Macleod, Shell Vice President of Hydrogen. “This first cluster is an important step as we continue to build capability in retailing hydrogen fuel, in line with the auto makers’ plans to develop hydrogen vehicles.”

I know there are many hydrogen haters out there, but I believe this is a positive step.

Fusion: Another reason to crack hydrogen?

Can lasers make energy positive Fusion possible?

Fusion power plants. Sounds like something out of Star Trek, yet in just 2 to 3 years scientists might be able to use lasers that create fusion reactions that offer offer 10 times the amount of energy put in - typically derived hydrogen according to MIT.

While commercialization would probably occur many years later, it is an interesting development, and another offshoot of the potential of hydrogen.

Earlier this week, the Obama Administration indicated that it would stymie its support of hydrogen research in the US. Granted, there are many obstacles to hydrogen, but might not hydrogen offer the greatest potential of any possible energy source? Is it dangerous to take our attention off this issue?

Mazda's hydrogen hybrid: Isn't the hydrogen highway closed?

Now if I could only find that hydrogen filling station

So, Mazda has received permission from the Japanese government to start leasing the Mazda hydrogen hybrid. Cool, right, especially since this hybrid can burn both gasoline and hydrogen?

Still, now the President Obama has put the kibosh on hydrogen funding, isn't the hydrogen highway closed here in America? Does hydrogen still matter?

Obama: Forget the hydrogen highway

A Honda fuel cell vehicle

The Obama administration will shift the government's funding from hydrogen fuel cell vehicles to plug-in vehicles.

"We want diversity, but we also want critical mass. If we're going to address these problems (of dependence on foreign oil), we eventually have to build something," said Steven Chalk, principal deputy assistant secretary of the Energy Department's Office of Energy Efficiency of and Renewable Energy, adding the government has to "pick some winners so to speak and go with our best shot."

Where'e the hydrogen economy?

The Honda FCX Clarity

Whatever happened to the hydrogen economy? That's a question NewScientist is addressing today.

Essentially, New Scientist finds, as have many, that the high costs of platinum probably require a replacement for platinum. Clean, efficient production of hydrogen is still, despite some interesting developments in electrolysis, impossible. Basically, the same things that hampered the hydrogen highway 10 years ago, or still hampering the hydrogen highway today.

Yet, some of the world's smartest automakers, especially Honda, continue to believe that the hydrogen economy is just around the corner.

Now is NOT the time to give up on the hydrogen economy

The key to the hydrogen economy?

This morning GreenCarCongress reports, "A review of the materials, architectures, performance, and energy efficiencies of emerging microbial electrolysis cell systems (MECs) finds that MECs can efficiently convert a wide range of organic matter into hydrogen and are therefore a promising technology for renewable and sustainable hydrogen gas production from organic feedstocks."

While this research in no way demonstrates the viability of the hydrogen economy, it does demonstrate how science might just turn the impossible into the possible.

Many in the US are ready to dismiss the hydrogen economy altogether, yet is not such denial nothing less than the refutation of science?

2,200 homes in Japan run by fuel cells

Honda's plan to bypass the hydrogen highway?

There are now 2,200 homes in Japan that use fuel cells to convert natural gas into electricity and hot water. By 2020, Japan hopes to have one quarter of its homes powered by fuel cells. Who cares? Companies like Honda are planning to develop the fuel cell vehicle, such as the Honda Clarity, on the backs of similar home fuel cells (MSBNC).

Honda: No to electric cars, yes to fuel cell vehicles

A Honda fuel cell vehicle filling up at a solar-hydrogen station

Yesterday, President Takeo Fukui told Jiji Press that Honda was going to focus on fuel cell vehicles instead of electric vehicles because "Honda has no plan to develop automobiles that can be used only in limited areas." Read more....

CAFE? Whatever! Give me hybrid tax credits!!

Today's hybrid cars are the quickest way to plug-in hybrids

A number of the candidates running to be the next President have done a lot of talking about foreign oil dependency, but have offered few actual details other than CAFE, funding for battery research and ethanol.

Sadly, a number of the candidates also have jobs in Congress and they have not done anything about extending Toyota's and Honda's hybrid vehicle tax credits. Sure, putting many more hybrid cars on the road won't significantly reduce foreign oil dependency immediately, but it will significantly increase battery research and competition to create cost effective, fuel efficient technologies, such as plug-in hybrid vehicles.

CAFE? Blah, blah, blah. Give me something now! Why do politicians always talk about what they can do tomorrow, without doing ANYTHING today? As I stated in my earlier post on the hydrogen highway, politicians have no real vision for the future of America - it's all soundbites.

Walking the walk just isn't a requisite requirement for today's politicians.

Hydrogen Economy: Where's the buzz?

FCV's: Too much of a threat to the military-industrial Iron Triangle?

Fuel cell vehicles, such as the Chevy Equinox FCV, Honda FCX Clarity, and Toyota FCHV, captured a pretty big chunk of the spotlight at the LA Auto Show this year, but nobody really seemed to care.

Sure, fuel cell vehicles are expensive and there isn't yet a hydrogen infrastructure. In reality it would take 10's of billions dollars to kick start the hydrogen economy and to create enough tax incentives to make fuel cell vehicles affordable for consumers.

With such high costs, why not just focus on plug-in hybrid vehicles and pure electric vehicles anyway, the consensus seems to be saying these days.

How sad. How embarrassing for a country that used to be the world's leading auto manufacturer and technological leader. Does America have any future beyond consumption? Finish....

Did automakers cry wolf on the hydrogen highway?

Hyundai's Bibendum winning FCEV

There is a rumor in the automotive world that the US auto industry and its lobbyists have long convinced the US Congress and multiple executive branches that CAFE was an inhibitor to fuel cell vehicles and the hydrogen economy. This lobbying effort, the rumor claims, has gone on for decades, although it has weakened since 9/11, Iraq, Katrina, etc.

I don't know whether the rumor is real or not, but I've heard it many times from many different sources.

The real point, however, is that in many circles, such as those rounded out by environmentalists and energy security hawks, the hydrogen economy is now believed to be fiction, something that is always a decade or two away from reality - something I have also believed, until recently. Finish.....

A hydrogen highway breakthrough?

A new Potential Biohybrid Catalyst for Hydrogen Production and Use Created

Green Car Congress is reporting that "Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Colorado are reporting the first successful electrical connection between hydrogenase enzymes and carbon nanotubes."

While hydrogenases enzymes have long shown promise as catalysts for hydrogen production they have not been able to form stable, strong electrical connections for use in an electrical device, however, some anaerobic bacterium have shown promise helping hydrogenases to remain catalytically active.

By carefully designed synthesis, it should be possible to tune the catalytic biohybrids for use as electrochemical probes for in vivo detection of hydrogenase activities. More importantly, this work offers the first step toward the construction of functional hydrogenase/SWNT hybrids for application in a variety of hydrogen production and fuel cell technologies.

India begins exploring hydrogen as a fuel for autos

Tata will test hydrogen/natural gas fuel mixes on 'conventional' cars

In attempt to fight pollution, "Bajaj Auto, Ashok Leyland, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra and Eicher Motors have come together to develop hydrogen-blended compressed natural gas (HCNG)-run vehicles."

There have been some in the automotive world whom have speculated that countries like India, and especially China, might beat the US to the hydrogen highway. Since those countries lack national fuel pipelines, some believe it make more sense for those countries to go directly to a hydrogen highway now. In essence, build for the future, not the past.

It appears India might be paying attention to such ideas.

(Source: Economic Times)

Could hydrogen be the key to plane travel?

Boeing makes progress on HALE aircraft

Could jetliners one day be powered by hydrogen? If so, the hydrogen sky-way could have a far bigger impact on global warming than the hydrogen highway.

Currently, Boeing is testing a hydrogen-powered airplane called HALE, or High Altitude Long Endurance. Obviously, this style of airplane doesn't have a lot of use for transportation, but its success might help put airplanes towards hydrogen.

"This test could help convince potential customers that hydrogen-powered aircraft are viable in the near-term. This is a substantial step toward providing the persistent intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities our customers desire."

—George Muellner, President, Boeing Advanced Systems

(Source: GreenCarCongress)

George Clooney joins alternative energy company

For his brains or his celebrity?

"George Clooney will become an executive board member of a new Swiss energy company that will develop environmentally friendly techniques for car motors and other devices, the billionaire who is setting up the firm said Saturday," according to MSN.

"The new company will have different branches doing research and development in the clean production of hydrogen, solar energy and fuel cells, said Nicolas Hayek, chairman of the Swatch Group."

Insane: Saltwater key to America's fuel needs?

The new gasoline or the key to the 'hydrogen highway'?

"Years of research lie ahead, but he suspects that his doped salt-water could pack sufficient punch to power an internal- combustion engine, with a ceramic "window" in the top of the cylinder through which radio waves would enter to ignite the mixture," states MotorTrend's Technologue regarding saltwater as a fuel.

"Or maybe salt proves too corrosive for use in engines, and the technology just gives us a clean, economical means of producing hydrogen to power fuel cells. In any case, John Kanzius may have stumbled upon a scientific phenomenon with the potential to brighten our increasingly gloomy energy future. At least we'd never have to go to war over salt"

Hopefully this salty discovery will shake up the world of alternative fuels.

So what if Jay Leno drives a BMW hydrogen vehicle?

Jay Leno in a BMW hydrogen-powered vehicle

Yesterday, BMW announced that Jay Leno would help BMW bring the hydrogen future to America by letting Leno test drive a BMW Hydrogen 7 vehicle.

“As an avid car enthusiast I’m always interested in the future of automotive technology. With the BMW Hydrogen 7 I can experience all the fun and great features of a performance car, yet know that I’m being environmentally friendly at the same time! I look forward to driving the Hydrogen 7 and learning more about hydrogen as a fuel for our future.”

BMW notes, "Running in hydrogen mode, the BMW Hydrogen 7 essentially emits nothing but water vapor, representing a major step in reducing harmful CO2 emissions. It is not a concept car, but a production model vehicle that has successfully completed the entire Product Development Process. While the BMW Hydrogen 7 is not for sale, it is considered to be a milestone in bringing forward hydrogen as the sustainable fuel for individual transportation.

BMW believes that hydrogen will replace petroleum as the long-term alternative to fossil fuel, and hopes the Hydrogen 7 will play a pioneering role in driving forward the hydrogen technologies that will ensure our mobility in the future."

I want the hydrogen economy to move forward as much as anybody, but I'd much rather read more about hydrogen production and hydrogen gas stations at this point in time.