The commitment of Iceland towards creating the world's first hydrogen society has reached new heights with project SMART-H2 (Sustainable Marine and Road Transport - Hydrogen).
Fuel cell buses which were introduced in 2003 and have been running successfully since, with performance of the buses exceeding all expectations. There are two types of hydrogen vehicles on the road in Iceland, Toyota Prius cars with internal combustion engines, converted to run on hydrogen by Quantum of Irvine, California, and DaimlerChrysler fuel cell buses and cars. Users of the hydrogen cars include Hertz car rental.
Fuel cell equipment is also being used for auxiliary power on board of a ship, a 125-ton cruiser with a capacity of 150 passengers.
The Reykjavík grid gets 85% of its electricity from hydro power and 15% from geothermal power (2001 figures). Hydrogen is offered at a price that makes the cost of driving a fuel cell car comparable to the cost of driving a gasoline car. The Icelandic Energy Authority estimates that it may take 10 - 15% of these renewable energy sources to run Iceland's transportation system and fishing fleet on hydrogen fuel.
References:
Icelandic New Energy
http://www.newenergy.is/
ECTOS Ecological City Transport System
http://www.ectos.is/newenergy/upload/files/utgefid_efni/2nl.pdf
Icelandic New Energy - News
http://www.ectos.is/en/news/?ew_news_onlyarea=UserArea&ew_news_onlyposition=0&cat_id=22164&ew_0_a_id=283373
Creating the world's first hydrogen society - Next steps in Iceland
http://www.ectos.is/en/news/?ew_news_onlyarea=UserArea&ew_news_onlyposition=0&cat_id=22164&ew_0_a_id=284045
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Comments: 28
How do they use the electricity to generate hydrogen? Electrolysis of water?
It seems the Viking Spirit has out paced the Pioneer Can-Do... at the moment... ;)
What does Mr Cohen suggest instead? That Iceland not use hydro and geothermal energy for their transport needs and instead use oil?
Jerzy: "..Hydrogen gas is not just expensive to produce but also danger to use.."
Again, what are you suggesting, Jerzy? That Iceland should do nothing with their clean energy and instead used oil, as if importing oil was less expensive?????
Tests have conclusively demonstrated that hydrogen tanks in cars are safe. With regards to the probability of a rupture of the hydrogen storage tank,
safety tests by Ford Motor Company for the U.S. Department of Energy have found that storing hydrogen in a car is actually SAFER than storing gasoline in a car.
The following quotes are taken from "Direct-Hydrogen-Fueled Proton-Exchange-Membrane Fuel Cell System for Transportation Applications: Hydrogen Vehicle Safety Report" by Ford Motor Company, May 1997:
Pg 30: "Each tank is tested at 1.5 times its rated operating pressure, and samples from each lot are pressure tested to failure. Each tank design must be qualified at 2.25 times normal operating pressure. Each class of tank is also subjected to gunfire and must not explode but leak only through the bullet-hole." (Try doing that to a gasoline tank!)
Pg. xii: "Hydrogen has 52 times greater buoyancy and 12.2 times greater diffusion coefficient than gasoline. Thus hydrogen will disperse much more quickly than gasoline or natural gas."
Pg xi: "In a collision in open spaces, a safety-engineered hydrogen FCV should have less potential hazard than either a natural gas vehicle or a gasoline vehicle due to four factors. First, carbon fiber wrapped composite storage tanks (the leading high pressure storage tank material due to its low weight) are able to withstand greater impacts than the vehicle itself without rupture, thereby minimizing the risks of a large release of hydrogen as a result of a collision. Second, hydrogen, if released, disperses much faster than gasoline due to much greater buoyancy, reducing the risks of a post-collision fire. Third, the FCV will carry 60% less total energy than a gasoline or natural gas vehicle, resulting in less potential hazard should it ignite. Finally, the design recommended here includes an inertially activated switch in each FCV that, in the event of a collision, will simultaneously shut off the flow of hydrogen via a slenoid valve or valves, and will cut electrical power from the battery."
http://www.bullnet.co.uk/shops/test/hydrogen.htm
Read more in my article Hydrogen Efficiency and Steve's articles discussing Common misconceptions about hydrogen, at:
The Hydrogen Economy - featured articles
By electrolyis. It's is a turn-key solution that was delivered by Norsk Hydro Electrolysers, from Norway. Read their announcement 'World's first hydrogen filling station on way to Iceland', which dates back to March 7, 2003
http://www.hydro.com/en/Press-room/News/Archive/2003/March/16299/
That filling station was built as part of the EU-supported ECTOS project, and is was assembled together with Shell in Iceland (Skjeljungur). As part of the wider global-hydrogen-bus-platform, 47 Hydrogen powered buses are now in regular public transport service in 10 cities on three continents.
http://www.global-hydrogen-bus-platform.com/
Development and testing of a new hydrogen refueling infrastructure as part of this global-hydrogen-bus-platform includes hydrogen produced by electrolysis, from Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) and bio DME (Di Methyl Ether produced from biomass). I don't know in which countries these latter technologies are being used, but I like Iceland's choice for electrolysis. Using biowaste to produce hydrogen can also be a good idea, but should be done by means of pyrolysis, as discussed in my article Agrichar, at:
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977155102
Iceland is able to do this in part because the "irrelevant" "backward" US has subsidized a Lion's share portion of the bill.
US Geothermal Projects and Resource Areas
Sam: "...the US has numerous locations with plenty of sunshine..."
America's Solar Energy Potential
Of course, solar is being installed in Canada and (sunny) Germany
Sam: "...and wind."
United States Annual Average Wind Power
Sam: "Why is that potential and the existing expertise to implement geothermal, wind and solar power technology largely unused in the US?"
That's the $50Billion question.
Thanks for those links, Steve, very helpful information.
Hi Lea, sorry for not responding earlier to your comment. I think big changes are coming with the new administration. Decades ago, Iceland pioneered the hydrogen society by using cheap 'surplus energy' to split hydrogen from water by means of electrolysis, in order to produce ammonia for fertilizers, as discussed by the BBC back in 2001. The concept 'surplus energy' is further discussed in my article The four cycles of a sustainable economy.