Hydrogen highway inches closer

2010 Mar 7

A few days before B.C. Transit unveiled 20 gleaming new hydrogen-powered buses in Whistler, the fleet got its first fuel-up at a North Vancouver company called Hydrogen Technology and Energy Corporation, or HTEC.
But the three-year-old company doesn't yet have the plant equipment to ship hydrogen over long distances, so when the Whistler buses went back to the pump in the resort town, they refuelled with hydrogen brought in by tanker truck from Quebec.
Critics of hydrogen technology were quick to point out the contradiction of zero-emission vehicles that are reliant on transcontinental trucking. The question of how green this fleet really is nicely encapsulates the debate over how worthwhile hydrogen energy really is -- a debate HTEC thinks it will win.

By the time it gets used, hydrogen is a miracle fuel. It's odourless, non-toxic and burns with almost no emissions. Feed it into a fuel cell, and you can pry loose even more energy and get no emissions at all, save for some heat and clean water.
Since the phrase was raised in the 1970s, a "hydrogen economy" seemed to offer a productive industrial society without any of the hazards of smog, climate change and foreign interventions connected with oil production. It has always been attractive to politicians, as the cabinet minister-studded unveiling in Whistler demonstrates, as a super-clean, ultra hi-tech solution to a very tough problem. In the effort against climate change, it is certainly easier to announce funding for local research than it is to effect more systemic societal changes.
 
Read more:  http://www2.canada.com/northshorenews/news/story.html?id=d1a8fba5-f9eb-4826-a5b1-516c621a5068

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Posted by Christopher Beau at 3:44 PM

Middle East Turning To Alternative Energy

2009 Nov 23

It all sounds very grandiose and really too good to be true, but a number of Persian Gulf states, including Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Bahrain and Qatar are hoping to be able to satisfy a good portion of their massive energy needs through alternative and renewable energy sources, instead of relying mostly on oil.

In a part of the world that experiences some of the hottest summer temperatures, averaging above 44 degrees Celsius during at least 4 months of the year; and whose energy growth use is growing by more than 10% per annum, these countries have their work cut out for them to be able to realize 70% of their total energy needs from alternative and renewable energy by the year 2030.

By trying they definitely are, and with unique sustainable environment projects like Abu Dhabi’s zero-carbon Masdar City and Qatar’s carbon-neutral Energy City being able to produce a good part of their required energy needs may not be as far fetched as it seems.

In the two noted examples, both Abu Dhabi and Qatar plan to use a combination of renewable energy power sources to provide electricity and other energy needs for these pilot projects which will be the basis for the gradual switching from conventional power sources to those such as solar energy and wind power, geothermal and hydrogen (which also can be used to power cars and other vehicles).

In regards to geothermal power which utilizes energy from volcanoes and hot springs, and is now said to be more economical than either coal or natural gas, the UAE and other Gulf States may find it worthwhile to do business with an Israeli company, Ormat Industries, which is now said to be involved in a large geothermal energy project in Indonesia.

Read more: http://blog.cleantechies.com/2009/11/23/middle-east-alternative-energy/

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