University of Birmingham To Test Hydrogen In England

The British Midlands Development Corporation has announced that the University of Birmingham has unveiled a fleet of Hydrogen powered cars, making it the only university in the United Kingdom to have these vehicles.

The vehicles will be used as part of a study to research the viability of Hydrogen in transport applications. Engineers will be comparing the Hydrogen powered vehicles with gasoline, diesel and electric vehicles to learn more about their efficiency and performance. The researchers will determine how these vehicles need to be adapted in order to make Hydrogen an attractive and cost effective option.

The cars will utilize a Hydrogen fueling station at the university designed by Pennsylvania based Air Products that can fuel up to six vehicles per day. The Hydrogen fueling station is part of a cluster being set up across the region by the British Midlands Hydrogen Forum. The cluster known as the Midlands Hydrogen Ring consists of stations that will be at the heart of the Hydrogen fueling infrastructure planned throughout the region. A second station is already operational at Loughborough University and further sites planned include vehicle testing centers, an airport, a visitor attraction and eventually the open road.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/British-Midlands-University-Unveils-Fleet/story.aspx?guid={9AC0AD32-92E3-451A-AA85-88266E8DB4FD}

BC Transit Transitions to Hydrogen

Government officials in British Columbia, Canada are two more stops along the road toward their planned "Hydrogen Highway." As part of a new deal, British Columbia will see the construction of two fueling stations for a fleet of Hydrogen-powered buses, said to be the largest fleet of Hydrogen fuel cell buses in the world.

Canadian company, BC Transit has signed a $19.7 million (C$20 million) contract with Air Liquide Canada Inc. of Montreal to supply Hydrogen for the new, non-polluting buses, which will begin to arrive in the summer of 2008. Air Liquide, along with two other companies, will build fuelling stations in Whistler, Canada and at a British Columbia Transit center in Langford, Canada.

The first fuel cell buses are scheduled to be tested in Victoria in the summer of 2008 and will eventually be based in Whistler as part of public transportation for the 2010 Olympic Games. The British Columbia government ultimately envisions a Hydrogen highway reaching from Whistler to California as part of its efforts to reduce greenhouses gas emissions by 33 per cent by 2020.

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5j6ttbmzNFNOVpHUQTD9edM9MdiPg

Hydrogen Gift Ideas

Looking for a great original gift idea?

How about giving someone a real Hydrogen powered toy car!

Here are two great toy cars that are available now.

The first is the H Racer and Solar Hydrogen Station (shown left). The H Racer operates on 100% clean fuel produced by a miniature Hydrogen fueling station that converts water to hydrogen using energy captured from the sun.

http://www.frontgate.com/jump.jsp?sort=1&itemType=PRODUCT&AS=1&keyword=hydrogen&itemID=12911&iProductID=12911

The second is the Hydrogen generating car. This Hydrogen-powered car uses its very own on-board reversible Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) fuel cell to conduct the entire Hydrogen-generating and electrolytic process.

http://www.hammacher.com/publish/74717.asp?promo=homepage_hero