Honda heads out on the hydrogen highway (BC Canada)

[jpak]

http://autos.canada.com/news/story.html?id=e868fe58-b978-4794-8d2d-b5f94a4013ab

Whistler -- The 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games will provide a glimpse into tomorrow's transportation world and the fuel set to power the future. The Hydrogen Highway, as it is called, is an integral part of British Columbia's Fuel Cell Strategy -- a strategy aimed at making the province one of the leading lights in the hydrogen economy by 2020.

Launched as a demonstration program in 2002, the Hydrogen Highway will form a corridor that runs between Vancouver International Airport, the City of Vancouver and Whistler, with branches connecting Victoria, North Vancouver, the University of British Columbia and B.C. Hydro's Powertech Labs in Surrey. Beyond 2010, the plan is to link this network to similar projects in Alberta and California.

The North Vancouver location is particularly interesting, as it provides the answer to a thorny question: Where will the hydrogen come from? The hydrogen emitted as the byproduct of a sodium chlorate manufacturing plant in North Vancouver delivers 600 kilograms of hydrogen an hour. This is enough to refuel 20,000 vehicles once a week for an entire year!

The other side of the technology needed to make the Hydrogen Highway work as envisioned is the fuel cell. While many view this complex device as a modern invention, the first one was actually produced in 1839. Sir William Grove noted that running an electric current through water split it into its two constituent parts -- hydrogen and oxygen. He figured that if it worked one way, it should work the other. To test his reasoning, Grove built the world's first fuel cell. In a delightful twist of irony, interest in his invention quickly waned because of the dawning of a new age and fuel source -- gasoline.

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