Lögberg-Heimskringla - 09.09.2005, Side 5

Lögberg-Heimskringla * Föstudagur 9. september 2005 • 5
Multinational trial program tests fuel-cell public transportation
PHOTOS: BAXTER SMITH/COMMUNITY TIMES
Above: an Icelandic hydrogen fuel station. Right: one of Iceland’s hydrogen-powered buses.
In Iceland, pollution-free
technologies provide example
Baxter Smith
REYKJAVÍK, Iceland
— A few days after the U.S.
Congress approved an $85-bil-
lion energy bill in late July that
critics decried as loaded with
giveaways to the fossil-fuel in-
dustry and stingy on renewable
resource funding and energy
conservation, the largest field
test of hydrogen-powered mu-
nicipal buses was wrapping up
across Europe.
The energy bill, the out-
lines of which were years in
the making, contained $125
million for a five-year, fuel-cell
bus demonstration program
and abóut $3.5 billion for R&D
on fuel-cell technology and hy-
drogen as a clean fuel source.
Although the U.S. Fuel Cell
Council, an industry advocacy
group, praised the funding, oth-
ers believe that by designating
such relatively small funding to
this technology, Congress has
ensured that the United States
will lag in the development and
application of what some re-
gard as the energy technology
and fuel of the future.
Early this month, nations
involved in the Clean Urban
Transport for Europe project
concluded a two-year test of
Mercedes Benz fuel-cell buses
— 30 total — in 10 European
cities.
In Reykjavík, Iceland’s
capital city, three buses en-
joyed a highly successful run,
according to Tim Sasseen, a se-
nior field service engineer with
Vancouver, Canada-based Bal-
lard Power Systems. Ballard,
which is a world leader in the
development of fuel cells, part-
nered on the buses with Daim-
ler-Chrysler, Shell Hydrogen
and Icelandic New Energy.
“It’s gone much better than
expected. In every city, the bus-
es increased the service, and
the response of passengers was
very favourable,” he said.
Sasseen said passengers
rentarked upon the quietness of
the buses and lack of vibration
compared to diesel-powered
vehicles.
“And drivers in Stockholm
said they were not as tired at
the end of the day due to vibra-
tion,” he added.
For the field test, the CUTE
project involved installing fuel
cells on modified Citaro buses,
which is the standard Mercedes
Benz municipal bus platform.
Project cities were in Sweden,
Portugal, Germany, Luxem-
bourg, Holland and Spain, as
well as in London and Reykja-
vík. The project was also run in
Perth, Australia.
Instead of a normal diesel
engine, the buses have alumi-
num tanks of hydrogen and
fuel-cell modules stored on the
roof that power the vehicle’s
electric engine. The buses have
a range of 125 to 250 miles, de-
pending on the number of hills
along the route and the number
of passengers aboard.
Electrolysis-produced hy-
drogen generates energy to
power the buses. Water vapour,
the sole emission, escapes
through the tailpipe.
Besides being a clean fuel
source, fuel cells are two to
three limes more energy effi-
cient than gasoline, Bragi Ar-
nason, a University of Iceland
professor and the nation’s hy-
drogen guru, noted in the July
8 Grapevine, an English-lan-
guage newspaper.
So far, Daimler-Chrysler is
the world’s leader in fuel-cell
adaptation to municipal transit.
Toyota has eight hybrid/fuel
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cell buses in Tokyo, according
to Sasseen, and a bus project is
set to begin this autumn in Bei-
jing-
Last September, the U.S.
Department of Energy an-
nounced a demonstration pro-
gram involving Ford Motor
Corp. vehicles equipped with
Ballard fuel cells.
Besides mass transit and
eventual automobile usage,
fuel-cell technology is envi-
sioned for a host of energy
applications, including home
heating and home electricity
and even cellular phone power.
Although the technology
is expensive, the comparative
cost of producing hydrogen has
held steady as the price of oil
on the world market increases.
Optimistic estimates are
that it will be another five years
before fuel-cell buses begin to
be cost compatible with diesel
buses. It is expected to be sev-
eral more decades before fuel-
cell automobiles are in wide-
spread use.
In April 2004, Califomia
Gov. Amold Schwarzenegger
signed an executive order cre-
ating a public/priváte partner-
ship to build a network of 150-
200 hydrogen fueling stations
or a “hydrogen highway” by
2010.
Hydrogen for fuel cells
can be harvested from vari-
ous sources, including natural
gas, biomass, coal, oil or wa-
ter. Producing it frorn those
sources typically results in the
generation of carbon dioxide at
the beginning of the process,
which is counterproductive to
the clean-energy concept.
However, the hydrogen
produced for the Reykjavík
buses comes from water —
from Iceland’s hydro-electric
grid, which is virtually pollu-
tion-free.
Reprinted with permissionfrom
the Community Times, West-
minster, MD.
JL
www.icelandnaturally.com
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