Hydrogen Power Archives – The Green Optimistic

Hydrogen Fuel Cell Flying Car Reaches 400 Miles of Range

Matias Prieto — Mon, 03 Jun 2019 20:04:40 +0000

Massachusetts startup Alaka’i has designed a flying car that the company touts as the “first air mobility vehicle powered by hydrogen fuel cells”. On their promotion video, they announced that this flying car has ten times the power of conventional lithium batteries without compromising on carbon emissions. The hydrogen fuel cells give the five-passenger Skai a maximum […]

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Hydrogen’s Recent Ascension as Fuel for Future Electric Cars

Effie P — Wed, 27 Feb 2019 13:17:04 +0000

Fuel cells produce electrical energy directly from the chemical potential energy that is stored in H2 and O2 molecules. Using a Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM), the unit needs only to be supplied with pressurized H2. Fuel cells are inherently more efficient and reliable than combustion engines, and their only by-product is water. These advantages make […]

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Hyundai/Toyota Partnership to Sell 1,000 Hydrogen-Powered Trucks

Matthew Fiala — Sat, 22 Sep 2018 06:33:15 +0000

Hydrogen vehicles may have finally received the boost that is needed to propel the technology forward. Hyundai announced on Wednesday that it will sell 1,000 hydrogen-powered trucks in Switzerland over the next five years through a partnership with H2 Energy, a Swiss hydrogen company. South Korea’s Hyundai and Japan’s Toyota are a handful of carmakers […]

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Korea Focuses Towards Increasing Hydrogen Vehicles Presence

Arsenij Percov — Wed, 08 Aug 2018 19:43:20 +0000

The South Korean government wants to develop an ecosystem for hydrogen vehicles. The motivation for this step is trying to move away from fossil fuels towards zero emission energy. The plan has been under discussion for more than a decade. However, it was sidelined all the time, because of the policy inconsistencies through the different […]

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Researchers Surpassed Theoretical Efficiency Limit on Biohydrogen Production

Arsenij Percov — Mon, 30 Jul 2018 10:27:37 +0000

Researchers from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln surpassed the theoretical ceiling on the amount of biohydrogen that bacteria could produce via fermentation. They used a genetic engineering technique that leaves bacteria with two possible options: either to die or to adapt. The limit was proposed by researcher Rudolf Thauer in 1977, and it was 4 units […]

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New Hybrid Catalyst Generates Hydrogen from Water More Efficiently

Arsenij Percov — Sun, 29 Jul 2018 20:06:31 +0000

Ripping water apart into hydrogen and oxygen can form the basis of artificial photosynthetic devices. These devices potentially can power homes and businesses, and car manufacturers will be able to start massive production of hydrogen-powered vehicles. However, catalysts for this type of reaction are either effective but expensive and unstable, or are affordable, stable, and […]

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Toyota Expands Line of Hydrogen-Powered Cars

Arsenij Percov — Sat, 28 Jul 2018 18:47:35 +0000

Toyota is doubling down on its investments in hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. It plans to design lower-cost, mass-market passenger cars, as well as SUVs and implement the technology into buses and trucks. This is needed in order to build economies of scale. The carmaker plans to popularize the technology by making hydrogen fuel cell vehicles […]

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How Hydrogen Can Become the Fuel of Choice in the Future

Arsenij Percov — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 19:39:29 +0000

The idea of using hydrogen fuel as an energy source is amazing since it doesn’t produce any pollution. However, producing pure hydrogen from water (the only clean way to do it) requires more energy than it will generate. Hydrogen fuel can be used as storage The solution to the problem mentioned above is using hydrogen […]

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Toyota Tri-Gen: Water, Electricity and Hydrogen from Bio-Waste

Jose Aguilar — Mon, 11 Dec 2017 19:04:54 +0000

Toyota plans to go all out for its 100% sustainable new project to build the world’s first megawatt-scale carbonate fuel cell power generation plant, with a hydrogen fueling station. Dubbed The Tri-Gen, the facility is expected to begin services in 2020 and provide water, electricity, and hydrogen for Toyota from bio-waste, for their operations at the […]

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Solar Supercapacitor Generates Both Electricity and Hydrogen

Janina Lazo-Cruz — Sun, 03 Dec 2017 11:14:34 +0000

Hydrogen is a much cleaner option than other renewable energy sources, only if not derived from methane that involves carbon dioxide emission. Another limitation of hydrogen fuel cell is its feasibility to be mass produced, efficiency in energy conversion, and cost. For these reasons, a team of scientists from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) […]

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Toyota Believes Electric Vehicles Not Yet Ready for Mass Production

Janina Lazo-Cruz — Thu, 23 Nov 2017 09:17:53 +0000

“Battery-powered cars with a long range are very expensive and it takes a long time to charge them. Such cars do not fit in our program,” said Takeshi Uchiyamada, chairman of Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp, through the German magazine Der Spiegel. He deems that electric vehicles are not yet ready for mass production. This was […]

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Revolutionary Ceramic Membrane Makes Hydrogen Fuel Cells Highly Efficient

Janina Lazo-Cruz — Sat, 18 Nov 2017 13:30:44 +0000

Hydrogen is known as an energy carrier for fuel cells. It also finds significant application in various industrial processes from food processing to the manufacturing of glass, semiconductors, and ammonia-based fertilizers. A team of scientists supported and headed by CoorsTek, the world’s leading manufacturer of engineered ceramics, have developed a ceramic membrane that generates compressed hydrogen […]

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Hydrogen Potential Accounts for 20% of World Carbon Reduction by 2050

Jose Aguilar — Fri, 17 Nov 2017 08:59:29 +0000

BONN, Germany — The gradual utilization of Hydrogen as electrical power, transportation, and heating source would provide for a sizeable 20 percent reduction of carbon emissions by the next 33 years, bringing global warming limit goals into reach, according to a report by the Hydrogen Council early this week. The Hydrogen Council, in progress as of January […]

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Bosch and Nikola to Launch Hydrogen-Electric Heavy-Duty Truck

Janina Lazo-Cruz — Tue, 26 Sep 2017 05:34:33 +0000

Many truck manufacturers are presently competing in the newly established market of electric medium- and heavy-duty trucks. All geared towards beating the difficulties encountered in replacing greenhouse gas-emitting diesel engines with zero-emission electric engines. Bosch, a prominent German company known to supply car components, joins the competing crowd by setting a partnership with a start-up […]

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Next-Gen Hydrogen Fuel Cells Could Use Graphene-Wrapped Nanocrystals

Guest Contributor — Sat, 16 Sep 2017 07:48:14 +0000

Scientists at the Berkeley National Laboratory have developed a mix of metal nanocrystals wrapped in graphene that may be a huge step in storing hydrogen and may lead to the creation of a new type of fuel cell. Graphene is a thin sheet of carbon that is approximately 200 times stronger than steel and is […]

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German Aerospace Center Creates Largest Artificial Sun Ever!

Nicholas Say — Mon, 27 Mar 2017 13:23:34 +0000

The German town of Juelich has a brand new artificial sun, and it is the most powerful one ever created. The German Aerospace Center has created a grid of 149 xenon short-arc spotlights, and the goal is to simulate the sun’s natural light and make hydrogen. Germany can get pretty dark in the winter months, but […]

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Light Can Now Convert Biomass to Hydrogen Fuel

Ece Polat — Thu, 23 Mar 2017 17:33:24 +0000

A group of scientists from the University of Cambridge found a way to produce fuel through solar power. The system bases its foundation on using sunlight to react biomass to turn into Hydrogen. A team of scientists at the University of Cambridge has developed a way of using solar power to generate a fuel that […]

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“Ru@C?N” Catalyst Could Replace Platinum For Hydrogen Production

Nicholas Say — Mon, 27 Feb 2017 16:28:56 +0000

A group of scientists at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) have created a new water splitting catalyst that could change the way we produce hydrogen. They call it Ru@C?N, though the marketing department has not been consulted yet. What is more important than the name is the efficiency that it offers. While […]

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World’s Only Solid Hydrogen Piece Has Disappeared

Nicholas Say — Sun, 26 Feb 2017 10:49:16 +0000

It would appear the the first possible instance of solid hydrogen has disappeared, if it was ever there to begin with. In a terrible accident last week in his laboratory at Harvard University, Professor Isaac Silvera reports that while testing the solid hydrogen with a laser, something terrible happened. There was an audible “pop”, and […]

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Modified Four Stroke Engine Can Create Hydrogen From Natural Gas

Nicholas Say — Tue, 21 Feb 2017 17:21:11 +0000

Andrei Fedorov has figured out an amazing new way to use a four stroke engine. With some modifications he and his research team can make 100 year old design into a motor that makes Hydrogen Gas from Natural Gas. Professor Fedorov works at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and the results from a recent study were published […]

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This New Microbial Fuel Cell is Made from Paper

Ece Polat — Tue, 07 Feb 2017 21:19:25 +0000

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are today’s one of most popular alternative energy systems. They are made from bacteria that generate electricity, and even though the idea has been around for a century, only today MFCs are considered a potential if they become more efficient and cheaper. University of Rochester researchers, Kara Bren and Peter Lamberg, […]

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Controlling Electron Spin to Improve Hydrogen Production Efficiency

Ece Polat — Fri, 03 Feb 2017 20:19:57 +0000

During hydrolysis, water is split into hydrogen and oxygen gas; however, during this process hydrogen peroxide forms too. As a byproduct, hydrogen peroxide intervenes with the reaction rate. The production of hydrogen peroxide is due to the spin of electrons. Thus, the Eindhoven University of Technology and the Weizmann Institute researchers found the way to […]

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Hydrogen Fuel Now Safe to Carry Around

Mila Luleva — Tue, 13 Dec 2016 15:04:13 +0000

Scientists might just have found the solution to all important safe storage and transportation of hydrogen fuel. The secret is a new polymer. There are two main reasons why hydrogen fuel has not yet become the miracle clean and powerful juice for vehicles. These are storage and safety. The temperatures at which hydrogen burns in […]

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Grass – The New Source of Cheap Hydrogen Fuel

Mila Luleva — Wed, 27 Jul 2016 11:28:10 +0000

Scientists from Cardiff University claim to have found a rapid and affordable way to generate hydrogen using common grass. Hydrogen fuel is undoubtedly one of the best renewable alternatives to fossil fuels. It has incredible energy content and it does not emit any polluting gasses. Unfortunately, current methods for producing hydrogen are the exact opposite […]

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U.S. Navy Fuel Cells Produce More Fuel From Seawater

Courtney Lepping — Wed, 29 Jun 2016 03:36:06 +0000

The U.S. Navy is looking at a way to extract hydrogen from seawater while capturing carbon dioxide to be used in fuel cells. Fuel cells represent an efficient way of converting hydrogen to electricity without generating harmful byproducts. Current refueling operations at sea are risky, whereas the Electrolytic Cation Exchange Module would not require the […]

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Bionic Leaf Turns Light Into Liquid Biofuel

Mila Luleva — Tue, 07 Jun 2016 19:56:42 +0000

Scientists at Harvard developed a bionic leaf that can convert light into biomass more efficiently than nature, and then make biofuel. Artificial photosynthesis has been in the spotlight for quite some time. Typically it is associated with splitting the water molecule into hydrogen and oxygen via some sort of a solar technology. The produced hydrogen […]

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Norway to introduce New Hydrogen Refueling Stations

Courtney Lepping — Tue, 17 May 2016 05:06:37 +0000

A transportation convenience is set to be released this year by the Norwegian leading manufacturer H2 Logic: a new hydrogen refueling station. An alternative to battery electric vehicles, fuel cell electric vehicles have particular prospects as well as problems. Hydrogen refueling stations can only service a few cars at a time, for starters, but the […]

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H2 Energy Offers Affordable Hydrogen Generator For Home Use

Mila Luleva — Fri, 01 Apr 2016 11:58:25 +0000

Low-cost hydrogen generator from H2 Energy Renaissance is coming soon to wipe out fossil fuels. It is truly remarkable how clean energy technologies and inventions that seemed like taken from a Sci-Fi movie just 10 years ago, are now on the market and within everyone’s reach. Developments happen fast, with better and more powerful technologies appearing […]

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First Hydrogen Powered Drone to Monitor the Arctic

Mila Luleva — Fri, 12 Feb 2016 18:27:32 +0000

First ever flight of a drone powered by hydrogen marked the beginning of eco-friendly, long-distance unmanned aerial monitoring. By now everyone has heard of unmanned aerial vehicles, a.k.a. UAVs or drones. Industry giants want to use these to speed up deliveries or monitoring, scientific teams want to use these for automated measurements, and pretty much every […]

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Boeing Tests Reversible Solid Oxide Fuel Cell

Mila Luleva — Wed, 10 Feb 2016 11:59:40 +0000

Boeing has developed a new type of fuel cell that can store and generate electricity. The invention is now under testing. Earlier this week, Boeing made an announcement about their latest revelation. They presented the result of 16 months of development- a new-generation “reversible solid oxide fuel cell“, which can store and generate clean power. […]

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EasyJet to Power Aircrafts with Hydrogen Fuel Cells

Mila Luleva — Thu, 04 Feb 2016 13:01:08 +0000

EasyJet, one of UK’s leading low cost airline companies, has announced their new plans to power planes with hydrogen fuel cells. Over the past few years, we (in Europe) witnessed an incredible boom of low cost airline companies, which offer cheap tickets to and from pretty much any destination around. With this arose the issue of carbon emissions from aviation, […]

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Toyota Uses Mirai FCV to Show Off Future Plans

Samantha Joe — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 20:26:13 +0000

Another day at the North American International Auto Show, another cool thing to show. Toyota Motor Corp showed off a conceptual “connected” vehicle, which uses satellites for communication. The concept car was developed based on the Toyota Mirai FCV, a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle that was one of the first to be available for sale commercially. […]

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Lexus LF-FC Shows Off Hydrogen Power

Samantha Joe — Wed, 13 Jan 2016 20:39:37 +0000

Hydrogen vehicles seem to be the priority for Toyota right now. The carmaker has been pushing hard, and so has its luxury brand. A Lexus hydrogen fueled vehicle concept, the LF-FC, was shown at the 2016 Detroit Auto Show. The LF-FC showed off an all-wheel drive fuel cell power system and a holographic controlled interface that […]

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Modified Enzyme May Bring Affordable Hydrogen Fuel One Step Closer

Samantha Joe — Wed, 06 Jan 2016 18:48:21 +0000

Hydrogen has high potential to fuel vehicles, but as pure hydrogen does not exist naturally, it must be derived from other compounds that contain hydrogen. Researchers have been able to make headway on the journey towards taking hydrogen fuel from water, and now in a cost-effective way. Hydrogen fueled cars have not been able to […]

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Thailand Home Energy Storage Project Turns Solar Power to Hydrogen

Mila Luleva — Wed, 23 Dec 2015 13:33:41 +0000

Eco-friendly housing development in Thailand stores excess solar power, generated from rooftops, in the form of hydrogen. It is great to see that improvements in solar panel technologies, and drop in commercial prices, have made more and more home owners opt for generating clean solar power. But, energy consumption varies greatly throughout the day (and night) […]

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Audi’s New Hydrogen Fuel Cell-Powered Q6 H-Tron to be Launched in 2016

Samantha Joe — Tue, 22 Dec 2015 08:23:38 +0000

More hydrogen fuel cell vehicles may be on the way. Audi’s parent company, Volkswagen, did not have a great year. With its emissions cheating scandal going on and on in the press, the image of the brand, and its group, is tarnished. It will cost Volkswagen a lot, not only to make things right, but also […]

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Hydrogen Vehicles Among London’s Taxis, Soon

Samantha Joe — Sun, 20 Dec 2015 13:16:52 +0000

London has a new kind of taxi in town. Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles operated by a company called Green Tomato Cars, started to pick up passengers soon after COP21 (the Paris agreement) was signed by world leaders, officially recognizing the “urgent and potentially irreversible threat” to our world, posed by climate change. The cars being used […]

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‘Hydricity’ Uses Solar Power To Produce and Store Hydrogen

Mila Luleva — Fri, 18 Dec 2015 08:44:43 +0000

Hydricity is a new hybrid concept, which combines solar power with hydrogen production and storage, to ensure constant power generation and highly efficient, chemical-free, energy storage. The scientific community is all about boosting solar cell efficiency, producing hydrogen by splitting the water molecule, and improving energy storage capacity these days. No hour goes by without […]

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Intelligent Energy to Extend Drones’ Battery Life by Using Hydrogen Fuel Cells

Samantha Joe — Tue, 15 Dec 2015 21:27:45 +0000

Drones have been making headlines for the past while. The small flying machines are fun to play with, and have a variety of uses, but they are still not the most practical of options for industry use. The chief drawback is that the battery life is short, usually peaking at 20 minutes. At this year’s Consumer […]

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Hyundai’s Hydrogen Car Sets New Land-Speed Record

Samantha Joe — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 20:09:42 +0000

A new record was just set for hydrogen fuel cell-powered land speed. The Hyundai Tucson Fuel Cell, which is available in the United States, set the record at the Soggy Dry Lake Bed in California. The top speed? 152.24 kilometers per hour, or approximately 94 miles per hour. It may not sound fast, but it’s the […]

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The Newest Revolution In Fuel Is Greener Than You Might Think

Michelle Lutz — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 13:00:30 +0000

The race to find the “cure” for ending the use of fossil fuels is consistent and harried. Researchers all over the world are hard at work to seek out that new fuel source that will cause people to want to use it. The EV is a great option, but with only about 5% of sales […]

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Australian Company to Ship Hydrogen to Japan as Renewable Energy Source

Annika Tostengard — Fri, 13 Nov 2015 21:44:00 +0000

Australian company Renewable Hydrogen plans to harness solar energy to make hydrogen and “bottle it and ship it to Japan on a true industrial scale”, as executive director Andrew Want told ABC. The process uses solar energy to electrolyze purified seawater, separating hydrogen from oxygen, that then gets converted to ammonia for shipping. The energy […]

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Audi to Unveil the Newest Hydrogen Vehicle in 2016

Michelle Lutz — Thu, 12 Nov 2015 16:10:00 +0000

Audi has developed a new hydrogen-powered car that will be introduced in 2016. The Audi FCV (fuel cell vehicle) has been eluded to and not yet introduced. Audi had said that the vehicle will be much like the A7 Sportback h-tron in style and performance. The newest features are the quiet running of the engine […]

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The Lexus FC LC Concept Is The Newest Idea In Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles

Michelle Lutz — Wed, 11 Nov 2015 19:18:45 +0000

Toyota’s luxury vehicle division, Lexus, has introduced the newest concept car – the FC LC, also known as the Fuel Cell Luxury Car. This four door coupe is designed as a cross-over between luxury and sports cars and was recently presented at the 44th Tokyo Motor Show in Tokyo, Japan. The FC-LC pushes the limits […]

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Hydrogen Fuel Cell Bicycle, a World-First by Linde AG

Benji Jerew — Mon, 19 Oct 2015 16:58:06 +0000

Linde, Germany’s largest supplier of industrial gas, including hydrogen, already has a number of hydrogen fuel stations, at least one hundred at last count, has developed the world’s first hydrogen fuel cell bicycle. Bicycles are already emissions-free, provide great exercise, and can be parked anywhere, even in your office. On the other hand, if you […]

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Dutch University Discovers How to Reduce Platinum Use in Fuel Cells

Annika Tostengard — Mon, 12 Oct 2015 05:21:58 +0000

Researchers from Tufts University have discovered a way to make fuel cells cheaper by using less platinum. Platinum is used as a catalyst in fuel cells, inducing the chemical reactions that make green technology like electric vehicle batteries work. Platinum, however, is extremely scarce and so using it in any technologies generally prohibits them from being very […]

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Hydrogen Fuel Cars Focus of Department of Energy Grant

Annika Tostengard — Sat, 10 Oct 2015 19:24:07 +0000

One of the major factors holding back hydrogen cars up until now has been storage. There is currently no economical way to store the gas onboard a vehicle. However, the Lawrence Livermore Nationa Laboratory aims to solve this problem as part of a tri-lab consortium working on new materials and tools to make hydrogen fuel […]

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Caltech’s ‘Artificial Leaf’ Could Revolutionize the Hydrogen Economy

Satya Sivani — Mon, 14 Sep 2015 19:42:20 +0000

Caltech institutions’s newly invented ‘Artificial leaf‘ is a highly efficient stand-alone photoelectrochemical (PEC) device which can split water into hydrogen and oxygen using sun light. “The first car driven by a child born today could be powered by hydrogen and pollution free,” ex-President George W. Bush said in his 2003 State of the Union address to the scientists […]

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The Solar Cells that Make Hydrogen Gas

Annika Tostengard — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 05:30:13 +0000

Exciting new research demonstrates that solar energy could be used create hydrogen fuel. At the Eindhoven University of Technology, researchers have unveiled a new solar cell prototype that can actually make gas from water by using the electricity from the solar cell to set off a chemical reaction. The team accomplished this feat by shaping the […]

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Toyota Test Their First Fuel Cell Buses

Mila Luleva — Mon, 27 Jul 2015 16:24:15 +0000

First Toyota hydrogen fuel cell bus is currently under testing in Tokyo, Japan, in preparation for market launch. Over the past few years, we have had quite a fair share of test hydrogen fuel buses at various locations around the world. Already back in 2009, keen developers of the technology introduced it in north-east China, […]

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How the Chinese Tackle Air Pollution With Hydrogen Trains

Annika Tostengard — Mon, 13 Jul 2015 18:52:02 +0000

In China, commuters in Qingdao can now arrive to work on board a bright orange tram that runs entirely on hydrogen and emits only steam. As China’s smog grows more thick, leaders across the country are turning their attention to new green technology. Qingdao is not the only Chinese city with a hydrogen-powered tram system. […]

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Toyota Mirai Offers the Most Zero-Emissions Miles

Benji Jerew — Wed, 01 Jul 2015 23:43:07 +0000

Fall 2016, Toyota North America plans to officially launch the world’s first full-production hydrogen fuel cell vehicle (FCV), the 2016 Toyota Mirai. Like all ZEVs (zero emissions vehicles), it generates no tailpipe emissions, just water vapor, since it is an FCV. Given that hydrogen fueling stations are in short supply, much like electric vehicle charging […]

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Hydrogen From Ammonia to Power Fuel Cell Cars

Mila Luleva — Fri, 08 May 2015 19:40:29 +0000

In their search for cheap methods to produce hydrogen to power fuel cell cars, British scientists proposed to derive the precious element from readily available ammonia. The race for becoming the first car manufacturer to start selling fuel cell vehicles is more fierce than ever, with engineers and mechanics at Toyota, Honda, Hyundai and others working […]

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Toyota to Produce Hydrogen Fuel from Cow Dung

Sarah Higman — Tue, 05 May 2015 10:53:56 +0000

Toyota engineer Scott Blanchet has been working on a new car engine – one that is powered by cow dung. Exploiting a waste product to harvest the universes most abundant element hydrogen is the plan. Toyota will extract the hydrogen out of the manure using large digesters; essentially lagoons where the dung is broken down […]

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Progress Eagle, a Triple-Decker Solar-Powered Airplane Concept

Satya Sivani — Mon, 27 Apr 2015 18:55:22 +0000

With an ultimate aim of reducing the environmental impact of air travel, the AWWA-QG Progress Eagle Quantum airplane, an airplane concept, was designed with zero carbon emissions. ‘Progress Eagle’ was designed by a Barcelona-based Spanish designer, Oscar Vinals, as his second concept. Last year, he released his design of AWWA Sky Whale, an airplane concept […]

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Hydrogen from Corn Waste Obtained at Virginia Tech

Anthony Petrolo — Fri, 24 Apr 2015 12:47:06 +0000

US scientists have recently developed a hydrogen fuel cell prototype battery, produced in a more rapid and cost-effective manner, and utilises organic content to facilitate electrolysis. This will play a vital role in fast-tracking a transition to cleaner and more energy-efficient renewable fuels. Professor Percival Zhang, his research team at Virginia Tech’s Department of Biological […]

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Fuel Cell Cars to Price Competitively with Clean-Diesel, says Toyota

Benji Jerew — Tue, 10 Mar 2015 19:13:50 +0000

Fuel cell cars are nothing new, and their price is certainly nothing to sniff at, which makes some people wonder who will adopt the technology. Of course, paying around $60,000 for a modestly-equipped midsize sedan, because it runs on a hydrogen fuel cell, would attract a certain number of buyers. That’s why the Tesla Model […]

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Why Hydrogen Cars are Less Efficient Than Electrics

Ovidiu Sandru — Mon, 09 Feb 2015 13:42:58 +0000

The efficiency of hydrogen cars versus battery electrics has been debated for a long time in the past decade. However, despite of all that talk, these days Toyota unveiled the first widely-available commercial hydrogen fuel cell vehicle hybrid, the Toyota Mirai. I have nothing against hydrogen itself or the hydrogen cars currently produced – it’s […]

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Toyota Mirai Coming to Japan and California

Benji Jerew — Sun, 08 Feb 2015 13:04:18 +0000

The 2016 Toyota Mirai, world’s first production hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, will arrive in California and Japan dealers by the second half of 2015, along with a special perk, free hydrogen fuel for the duration of the lease! While none of the technologies in the Mirai are particularly new, Toyota put them together in a way […]

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Toyota Mirai Hydrogen Fuel Cell Car – Just a “Better Battery”, Says Exec

Benji Jerew — Wed, 28 Jan 2015 21:03:45 +0000

Personally, I think both battery electric cars and hydrogen fuel cell cars, such as the Toyota Mirai, have a place in the future of transportation, but maybe the solution isn’t that clearly cut. Ahh, the age-old debate between battery electric cars and hydrogen fuel cell cars… Actually, can we call it an “age-old debate” if it’s […]

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Advancing Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technology – Toyota Opens Patent Vault

Benji Jerew — Tue, 06 Jan 2015 20:02:41 +0000

Over the last couple of decades, a lot of research and development money has been poured into hydrogen fuel cell technology, one form of clean transportation technology that Toyota has hedged its bets on, as opposed to battery electric vehicles. In fact, Toyota has gone so far as to say that hydrogen fuel cell vehicles […]

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Graphene Charges Atmosphere with Battery Running on Thin Air

Ari Luis — Sat, 20 Dec 2014 09:28:34 +0000

Graphene, the wonder material made of carbon that’s impermeable to gas and liquids, could one day be used for hydrogen batteries, based on research at The University of Manchester. The material that was first isolated and explored by a research team at the same university was found to allow protons to pass through, opening up […]

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Study: Underground Hydrogen Storage is Cheapest, but Hard to Implement

Ovidiu Sandru — Thu, 11 Dec 2014 19:25:56 +0000

Just like natural gas is being stored for eons in the underground, hydrogen could too one day be stored the same way. This is the conclusion reached by a Sandia National Laboratories study that was sponsored by DoE’s Fuel Cell Technologies Office. The underground storing solution comes at a very low cost, and could be […]

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Newly Discovered Property of Graphene to Boost Fuel Cells Efficiency

Mila Luleva — Fri, 28 Nov 2014 09:22:20 +0000

The founder of graphene discovered one more incredible property of the material that can give the ever-so-needed to boost fuel cells and hydrogen-based technologies. The strongest, thinnest, and initially known as impermeable material, in fact allows hydrogen protons to pass through. No wonder graphene is labelled as the “miracle material”. Every property or use of […]

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Fuel Cell Uptake to Charge Platinum Demand

Ari Luis — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 00:28:21 +0000

We’re not talking album sales here, though we wouldn’t mind getting a million hits. We’re referring to the rare shiny metal that’s more expensive than gold. If 80’s band Spandau Ballet sang about gold, platinum producers are counting on fuel cell manufacturers to fall head over heels over the metal. It’s not as if they […]

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Toyota Mirai is “The Future” of Toyota, Literally!

Benji Jerew — Tue, 18 Nov 2014 23:39:08 +0000

The culmination of decades of research and development, Toyota’s first mass-production hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, the Toyota Mirai, will start deliveries next month in Japan. Far from being a hydrogen fuel cell conversion vehicle, the Toyota Mirai was built from the ground up as a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. Twin 70 MPa hydrogen fuel tanks […]

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Imergy Power Systems’ Recovered-Vanadium Flow Battery Gets First US Contracts

Benji Jerew — Thu, 13 Nov 2014 16:18:42 +0000

According to today’s press release, Imergy Power Systems already has over two hundred flow battery installations worldwide. Hawaii Energy Research Systems has filed for the first US contracts using Imergy Power Systems recovered-vanadium flow batteries. Imergy Power Systems’ flow battery energy storage system, like all flow batteries, uses tanks of electrolytes to store energy. Since […]

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First Commercial-Scale Solar Hydrogen Fuel Generator Opens in UK

Benji Jerew — Tue, 11 Nov 2014 15:03:06 +0000

Hydrogen fuel can indeed be produced via electrolysis, which requires connection to some kind of power source, be it a coal-fired power plant or an array of solar panels, and this raises a question… “Renewable energy, such as wind power and solar power, are typically intermittent, so how can they be used as a reliable […]

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Makes Its Own Hydrogen Fuel – Mercedes-Benz Vision G-Code Concept

Benji Jerew — Mon, 10 Nov 2014 21:35:26 +0000

Unveiled at the opening of the Beijing Product Engineering Centre, the Mercedes-Benz Vision G-Code Concept looks like most any futuristic vehicle, except that, even paint-deep, this isn’t any ordinary hydrogen fuel vehicle. You’ll note, for starters, that it would be entirely incorrect to call the Mercedes-Benz Vision G-Code a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. Like hydrogen […]

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Hydrogen Production and Solar Energy Storage Boosted by New Catalyst

Mila Luleva — Fri, 07 Nov 2014 11:46:11 +0000

A catalyst that increases both hydrogen production and solar energy storage has been developed in a unique experiment conducted in a famous Stanford chemical lab. The substance can be used to solve the two most highly discussed issues in the field of renewable energy- hydrogen production and solar energy storage. Production of pure hydrogen is a […]

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New Material on the Cutting Edge of Alternative Energy Produced

Ari Luis — Thu, 06 Nov 2014 00:14:46 +0000

A compound that is used for lubrication has found a new application, err, actually at least two – as a supercapacitor and hydrogen catalyst. Chemists at the Rice University, led by James Tour, took molybdenum disulphide and turned it into a thin, nanoporous film. While it was nonreactive on its flat sides, it was found […]

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Toyota FCV Company’s Hero as Zero Car in Japanese Rally

Ari Luis — Wed, 05 Nov 2014 15:25:40 +0000

The Toyota Fuel Cell Vehicle (FCV) participated in the Shinshihiro Rally as the Zero Car. It was the final race of the Japanese Rally Championship that was held last October 31 to November 2 in Shinshiro, Aichi, although the FCV was not competing. The FCV rolled through the race track to check road safety. Just […]

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Toyota FCV Revs Up for Japanese Rally

Ari Luis — Sun, 02 Nov 2014 00:50:08 +0000

The Japanese automaker announced that it will enter a custom Fuel Cell Vehicle in the final leg of the Japanese Rally Championship today, November 1. They gave no specifics but described the car to have a white paint adorned with silver, blue and black graphics and will come with mud flaps and lightweight wheels, as […]

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Solar Hydrogen Starts to Rock Thanks to Dirt Cheap Stuff

Ari Luis — Mon, 13 Oct 2014 02:33:21 +0000

We use solar power to make electricity, but now thanks to new developments, we will be able to use it for hydrogen production. Now isn’t that cooking with gas, or what? Hydrogen is currently produced from natural gas using a technique called steam reformation. So, if one makes a carbon accounting of hydrogen-powered cars, it’s […]

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Smart Hydro Power Turbine to Help Peruvian Farm Produce Chocolate

Mila Luleva — Thu, 09 Oct 2014 10:52:16 +0000

Numerous communities around the world live in a desperate need of electricity. For many, it is not just to have luxury, but rather to make life possible by meeting the basic needs of their entire families. This is why projects that aim to help these communities have to be spoken about loudly and supported heavily. […]

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New Renewable Hydrogen Fuel Generation Catalyst Developed at Stanford

Benji Jerew — Tue, 26 Aug 2014 17:23:55 +0000

We like the idea of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles which, in themselves, generate water vapor as their only emission. Hydrogen fuel, however, could prove to be a sticking point. Considering that second point, hydrogen fuel cell vehicle opponents have pointed to hydrogen fuel generation’s fossil-fuel roots as a clear indication that they aren’t viable emissions-free […]

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New Polymer Absorbs Carbon Dioxide Under Pressure

Mila Luleva — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 12:41:43 +0000

Converting fossil fuels into hydrogen seems to be picking up quite a speed, with scientists looking for ways to make use of the petrol-producing facilities and turn them into hydrogen refill stations. The technique, which is now being explored, is called integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC), but its biggest limitation is the release of CO2 as […]

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Elon Musk’s “Hydrogen is BS” – Fuel Cell Vehicle Myth Ten

Benji Jerew — Tue, 05 Aug 2014 18:39:17 +0000

Elon Musk has a very bad opinion on hydrogen use in cars. He stated it in one of our interviews with him and with other oca Up until now, we’ve been covering a number of myths regarding hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and their viability as safe and environmentally-responsible transportation, and I suppose the last is […]

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Fuel Cell Vehicle Myth Nine – One is “Obviously Better” than the Other

Benji Jerew — Mon, 04 Aug 2014 21:23:58 +0000

How about that for a vague title? Perhaps the biggest argument between hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and battery electric vehicles is attempting to prove that one is better than the other. The comparison between fuel cell vehicles and electric vehicles, however, isn’t really straightforward. They have their strengths and weaknesses, not only regarding environmental impact, […]

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Fuel Cell Vehicle Myth Eight – Hydrogen Fuel IS Emissions Intensive

Benji Jerew — Fri, 01 Aug 2014 17:31:35 +0000

Some have pointed at fuel cell vehicles as yet another in a slew of “greenwashed” vehicles, but a careful consideration of the facts should help to dispel some of the myths surrounding this new technology. Part of the problem is that, in spite of the fact that hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, much like battery electric […]

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Fuel Cell Vehicle Myth Seven – Hydrogen Fuel Stations are Too Expensive!

Benji Jerew — Thu, 31 Jul 2014 18:30:37 +0000

Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, just like hybrid electric vehicles and conventional vehicles, would require refueling stations, but aren’t they too expensive to build? Like all vehicles on the road today, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles store their fuel onboard, but needs to get that fuel from somewhere else. Some have asked, much like the chicken-and-the-egg conundrum, […]

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Fuel Cell Vehicle Myth Six – Hydrogen Fuel Storage and Delivery is Dangerous

Benji Jerew — Tue, 29 Jul 2014 15:19:27 +0000

Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles may seem like a new technology, but is hydrogen fuel production, storage, delivery, and utilization unproven technology? Actually, this has been around for decades, the proton exchange membrane fuel cell dating back as far as the 1950s, invented by General Electric. The first commercially available fuel cells were available in the […]

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Fuel Cell Vehicle Myth Five – Fuel Cell Vehicles Use Liquid Hydrogen

Benji Jerew — Mon, 28 Jul 2014 17:46:43 +0000

We’ve been filling up conventional vehicles with liquid fuel for over a century, so it only makes sense that hydrogen fuel cell vehicles use liquid hydrogen fuel, right? The upcoming Toyota FCV, for example, uses composite H2 storage tanks at pressures of up to 875 atm (12,859 psi), giving the car a theoretical range of […]

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Fuel Cell Vehicle Myth Four – Hydrogen Fuel Storage is Dangerous

Benji Jerew — Fri, 25 Jul 2014 18:39:10 +0000

I’m really getting on a roll here, talking about various myths surrounding fuel cell vehicles, and I’m looking forward to hearing what our faithful readers of The Green Optimistic have to say about the technology. Mention hydrogen, and one image that may come to mind is the infamous self-destruction of the airship Hindenburg, which was […]

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Fuel Cell Vehicle Myth Three – Hydrogen Fuel is Expensive

Benji Jerew — Fri, 25 Jul 2014 01:20:18 +0000

If cost is a measure of how willing people are to get into alternative fuel vehicles, such as fuel cell vehicles, won’t expensive hydrogen fuel effectively cancel out any environmental benefits? We’ve already discussed how much it costs to power a fuel cell vehicle, and it’s actually cheaper than battery electric vehicles. Battery electric vehicles […]

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Fuel Cell Vehicle Myth Two – Fuel Cell Vehicles are Expensive

Benji Jerew — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 16:58:13 +0000

Here on The Green Optimistic, we love practically anything that reduces our footprint in the environment, such as hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, but there is plenty of misinformation out there that make people think they’re a bad deal. Maybe you heard once that a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, such as the upcoming Toyota FCV, cost […]

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Fuel Cell Vehicle Myth One – Fuel Cell Vehicles “Burn” Hydrogen

Benji Jerew — Tue, 22 Jul 2014 15:18:09 +0000

Starting a discussion on the multiple benefits of fuel cell vehicles, which makes us wonder, are there any myths that need to be busted? Olathe Toyota Parts Center turned me on to a special page they put up, “Ten Fuel Cell Vehicle Myths,” based on a number of fuel cell vehicle myths that are going […]

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Hyundai ix35 Fuel Cell Vehicle Gets “Up To” 80 MPGe

Benji Jerew — Thu, 17 Jul 2014 18:43:36 +0000

Instead of calling it the Hyundai Tucson Fuel Cell, they’re calling it the Hyundai ix35 Fuel Cell, which is pretty much the same thing, except for those nasty gasoline emissions. According to the United States Hyundai website, the Hyundai ix35 Fuel Cell was to be sold in early 2014, and only in Southern California. Of […]

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Hydrogen Fuel Not as Dangerous as Previously Thought – Sandia National Laboratories

Benji Jerew — Wed, 09 Jul 2014 16:34:46 +0000

According to recent studies by Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), more existing gas stations could be utilized to store and deliver hydrogen fuel for upcoming hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, but only if the restrictions were more scientifically-based. One only has to mention “Hindenburg” to recall infamous images of flaming death and the cry, “Oh, the humanity!” […]

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Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles May Be the Future

Benji Jerew — Tue, 08 Jul 2014 18:33:57 +0000

While battery electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles may co-exist for some time, will one or the other dominate long-term? With the early successes of electric vehicles (EV) like as the Tesla Model S and Nissan Leaf, it may seem that battery electric vehicles (BEV) have gotten a head start on hydrogen fuel cell […]

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Toyota FCV Will Start at Just $69,000

Benji Jerew — Mon, 30 Jun 2014 19:38:16 +0000

Toyota’s approach to the future of transportation, the Toyota FCV, is definitely electric, but not battery-powered. Instead, Toyota believes hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will be the future of transportation. In a recent presentation of the Toyota FCV, Toyota says of the technology: “ You can watch the whole presentation here (over an hour), starting with […]

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Solar Powered Hydrogen Fuel – The Rebellion

Benji Jerew — Wed, 18 Jun 2014 16:07:25 +0000

Hydrogen fuel cell and battery electric vehicles have one very important thing in common: they’re both emissions-free sort of. While it’s true that hydrogen fuel cell and battery electric vehicles do not generate any emissions in themselves, their upstream emissions cannot be ignored. Really, it all depends on where the power grid gets its electricity […]

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New Regulation in Japan Advancing Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles

Benji Jerew — Thu, 05 Jun 2014 16:09:19 +0000

While hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and infrastructure seem to be an oddity outside Japan, the Japan Ministry of Economy is working hard to improve its chances. Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (FCV), like electric vehicles (EV), produce no emissions on their own. Pressurized hydrogen gas, stored in an on-board tank, is fed into the hydrogen fuel […]

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Toyota Invests $7 Million in Hydrogen Fuel Infrastructure

Benji Jerew — Wed, 21 May 2014 16:29:11 +0000

Toyota’s future isn’t battery electric, but hydrogen fuel cell. The infrastructure has to be there first, however, which makes this announcement not unexpected. Toyota isn’t anti-battery, as some might assert, but isn’t mincing words when it comes to its vision of the future of transportation. The hydrogen fuel cell, according to Toyota, is cheaper on […]

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Is This The End of The Line for Toyota RAV4 EV?

Benji Jerew — Tue, 13 May 2014 17:33:48 +0000

Toyota’s stance on electric vehicles seems to be clear, so the end of the Toyota RAV4 EV doesn’t really come as a shock. Instead, Toyota is focusing on its hybrid electric vehicle and hydrogen fuel cell technology, clearly seen even in its marketing. True, hybrids are a great interim step, but I don’t think they’ll […]

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Department of Energy to Fund Zero-Emissions Cargo Transportation Technology

Benji Jerew — Mon, 05 May 2014 19:39:55 +0000

While zero-emissions transportation is still a fairly new field, zero-emissions cargo transportation is practically unheard-of. Cargo transportation, the backbone of which, at least in the United States, is the over-the-road (OTR) tractor trailer and the diesel locomotive, generates millions of metric tons of greenhouse gases. OTR tractor trailers, for example, generated ≈400 MMT (million metric […]

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US Navy Technology Makes Fuel from Seawater

Mila Luleva — Tue, 08 Apr 2014 19:25:32 +0000

Making fuel out of seawater is now possible, according to a team of scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC. They developed a technology, which extracts hydrogen and carbon dioxide from water and converts them into hydrocarbon fuel that could power ships and aircraft. This is a real breakthrough that holds the potential […]

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Mantra Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle Prototype is Cheaper

Benji Jerew — Mon, 24 Mar 2014 14:49:19 +0000

The conventional hydrogen fuel cell is clean, but expensive, since it uses rare metals to maintain the longevity of the cell. Current hydrogen fuel cell technology uses a rare-metal impregnated PEM (proton exchange membrane) that keeps the two halves of the system apart and generates electrical current. Hydrogen protons pass through the PEM, but the […]

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“Portable” Hydrogen Fuel Cell to Reduce Emissions in Honolulu

Benji Jerew — Mon, 03 Mar 2014 19:17:37 +0000

In an effort to reduce idling ship emissions at port, a hydrogen fuel cell pilot project will provide power to ships, without burning a drop of fuel. Idling, from tractor-trailers to container ships, is simply a waste of fuel, generating emissions for now good reason. Unfortunately, the practice is ongoing, since onboard systems, such as […]

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Hydrogen Fuel Production Costs Could Decrease with New Materials

Benji Jerew — Tue, 25 Feb 2014 13:33:11 +0000

As automakers improve their technology to reduce emissions, one technology that’s slowly coming to fruition is the hydrogen fuel cell. The fuel itself is another matter. In fact, we’ve seen a number of hydrogen fuel cell vehicle prototypes, some of which could be on the road as soon as 2015, in spite of the fact […]

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