Complicating matters? Ten hydrogen buses coming to London
London is one of the most noticeable battlegrounds in the fight for cleaner transportation. Headlined by the ongoing battle between Porsche and mayor Ken Livingstone, the fight also includes scuffles over motorcycles in bus lanes and new bicycle lanes. So, into this tempest, why not drop the oh-so-uncontroversial issue of hydrogen?That's just whats happening thanks to a new agreement signed by Air Products and Transport for London. Air Products will build a hydrogen fueling station in central London that will supply hydrogen for a fleet of buses that will be in operation by 2010. The American company ISE will deliver ten hydrogen buses to TfL: five that use fuel cells and five that burn hydrogen in internal combustion engines.
[Source: Air Products via Domestic Fuel]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
A.Brien 11:58PM (3/23/2008)
I think it will be more efficient and cheap by using internal combustion engines instead of fuelcells.
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Niralisherni 2:31AM (3/24/2008)
You are quite right, London keeps itself busy by being in the middle of some or the other environmental news (mostly in a good way) first by way of the London entry tax and then the hydrogen buses. More cities should look to implement these initiatives to lower pollution and congestion on the roads. - http://www.zapworld.com
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Niralisherni 2:32AM (3/24/2008)
You are quite right, London keeps itself busy by being in the middle of some or the other environmental news (mostly in a good way) first by way of the London entry tax and then the hydrogen buses. More cities should look to implement these initiatives to lower pollution and congestion on the roads. - http://www.zapworld.com
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Chris M 2:35AM (3/24/2008)
It would be more efficient and cheap to run IC engines directly on compressed natural gas, especially since the cheapest source of H2 is steam reformed natural gas, and that is what Air Products will use.
fuel cells are far more expensive than IC engines, but would appear to be more efficient. However, when you subtract the energy losses in steam reformation to make H2 fuel, the combination of H2 production and fuel cell vehicle uses about as much natural gas as a compressed natural gas vehicle would. So, why waste so much money for no real advantage?
Of course, the H2 ICE vehicles will use far more natural gas than a compressed natural gas would, and produce far more carbon emissions.
So this whole H2 bus project is a rather expensive step backwards, all in the name of "progress".
Politicians for the most part don't seem to understand that. Many have been snookered by the hydrogen hype, and most are rather careless with government funds. It doesn't help that most of the public is similarly uninformed, and too often fail to hold officials responsible for bad decisions.
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TX CHL Instructor 6:26AM (3/24/2008)
Aw, Chris... Hydrogen is the PERFECT fuel... for people who can freely spend other people's money.
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Dave 1:07PM (3/24/2008)
Somebody already found the answers the hard way. Read this:
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_8365544?nclick_check=1
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kevin 7:32PM (3/24/2008)
Hydrogen is not a perfect fuel by a longs hot . I think to truly make it efficent is to only use ut to generate electricity essentially acting as a range extender for electric automobiles (grant it that the automobile gets over 300 miles on a single charge),. Personally t would take the route of a fuel cell vehicle than burning the hydrogen because you still create emission by burning a gas. Yes the process to make hydrogen is dirty ( in a senss because the power used comes from a coal fired plant) But it can become green by using renewable energy .
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roger 7:42AM (3/26/2008)
Hydrogen as an energy carrier (like petrol or diesel) is very inefficient overall. See:
http://planetforlife.com/h2/h2swiss.html
if you don't believe me.
It is only attractive because it seems so lovely - the only by-product is water. However, here is another scheme, not so sexy, but a whole lot more practical -
www.nanobus.org
using rapid charging NanoSafe or A123 battery packs on diesel-electric hybrids, and opportunity charging at the ends of the bus route whenever possible. In this scheme, you can get anywhere from 10-90% full electric running, depending on how much you charge, but still can switch on the generator into hybrid mode if you are stuck in traffic, or need to turn on the A/C.
Note: I wrote this website, so I am sort of biased...
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Rob Italiano 12:14AM (3/28/2008)
Is this London England, or London Ontario we are talking about here?
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