World's First Zero-Emissions Hydrogen Train Unveiled in Germany

[OxQQme]

Source: http://www.truth-out.org/

The hydrogen, aka "hydrail," train is powered by a hydrogen fuel cell and emits nothing but steam and condensed water, making it a much quieter and eco-friendly alternative to the 4,000 diesel trains currently in circulation in the country, according to a company press release.

The train claims speeds of up to 87 miles per hour and a hydrogen storage capacity for a 497-mile range. Excess energy is stored with onboard lithium batteries.

As CityLab pointed out, the train's fuel source is effectively carbon neutral since the hydrogen used by the train actually came from waste byproducts from the chemical industry and other manufacturers.

Read more: http://www.truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/world-s-first-zero-emissions-hydrogen-train-unveiled-in-germany

[forest444]

1. If zero emissions they really mean zero, then, wunderbar!

And if so, I hope they keep close tabs on those trains. Big Awl would just love for an accident to happen to those.

[Thor_MN]

2. Given that the last German mass transit that used hydrogen was such a booming...

Uh, yeah, they better watch carefully.

And I would think they would avoid "HYDRA", given the Capt. America connotations.

[forest444]

4. Oh! Good call!

Seriously though, we could have rid ourselves of the internal combustion engine by now had it not been for decades of Awl Bidness interference - including everything from buying revolutionary patents in order to sit on them indefinitely, all the way to extortion and murder.

I hat being pessimistic about something so important; but short of an alien invasion, Big Awl will probably never let alternative technologies become generalized the way we need them to be.

[truthisfreedom]

3. I'd be very curious to see a breakdown

Of the chemical path of that hydrogen to see that it's carbon-neutral. In general, it's difficult to produce simple hydrogen efficiently.

[Midnight Writer]

5. No, it's cool. Engineers from VW put it through "special testing". All is good.

[truthisfreedom]

8. Fine German engineering.

[LanternWaste]

11. How relevant and sound.

How very relevant and sound.

[YOHABLO]

7. That could be the U.S. leading the way on eco-friendly transportation technology.

[truthisfreedom]

9. Let's be clear on this everyone! Hydrogen is not a renewable resource.

It's just a way to move energy around. And it's not very efficient. You can't find free hydrogen floating around anywhere on this planet. It's not something you pump out of the ground like methane gas. It's something that has to be produced like gasoline, refined, cracked from something else, or produced by electrolysis, which is very very wasteful. Something like 70% of the electricity you put into electrolysis to make hydrogen and oxygen is wasted.

Yes, it burns clean.

No, it's not easy to find. You have to make it. And you burn a lot of energy making it. Which is not green at all.

[OxQQme]

10. The train's fuel source is effectively carbon neutral

As CityLab pointed out, the train's fuel source is effectively carbon neutral since the hydrogen used by the train actually came from waste byproducts from the chemical industry and other manufacturers.

"Typically, this hydrogen is simply burned, so using it to power trains would not place any new, additional burden on the environment," CityLab wrote. "Admittedly, the production of such chemicals is itself not always carbon-neutral, but given that these substances are already being manufactured, the train project will at least ensure that this process is more productive."

[LanternWaste]

12. That it is renewable was not a premise made in the article.

That it is renewable was not a premise made in the article. That it is 'recycled', was. Which is green.