London Plans to Construct Hydrogen Highway for 2012 Olympics
It is the consensus of many high ranking officials that having a hydrogen highway will be an important part to attracting more visitors for the Olympic games while promoting healthier communication alternatives. The way it will come together is through the construction of a network hydrogen filling stations. These filling stations will then in turn service a large fleet of 150 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. This fleet would include 50 taxis, 8 buses, and 50 cars & vans. Each vehicle will be used for municipal purposes during the games but will eventually open to the public over time.
This announcement is in direct contradiction of another proposed direction that London officials said they were headed in. They announced recently that they have plans to use eVito electric taxis and GM Vauxhall Ampera police cruisers during the 2012 Olympic games. Reports indicate that this will still be happening even though the hydrogen highway is going to be constructed. This raises the question if a hydrogen highway is actually necessary or which type of vehicle do they want their country to invest in, electric or hydrogen.
More news about the hydrogen highway includes using hydrogen for other things. The main proposal is to also take the hydrogen fuel cells and equip it to several office buildings throughout the city. The fuel cells will then be used to generate electricity and heat for the buildings. This would assist in cutting back on electrical and heat energy waste. A clever idea and smart step to take if they are already going to be building a hydrogen highway.
London officials promise that their vision of a hydrogen highway will be complete by the time the 2012 Olympic games roll around. It will be interesting to see if they can actually complete the project in a timely fashion. However, this news should be looked at as big news because it shows that London does indeed care about the environment and wants to showcase that when they are in the spotlight and hosts to the rest of the world.
Sources:
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Steven Mottor, My Own Review, 2010
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Times Online UK, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article7076513.ece, 2010
Published by Mottor
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