A big week for the greenies in Japan sees renewable energy technology get equal billing
The launch this year of the world's first production fuel-cell car, the Toyota Mirai, has driven the accelerated growth of hydrogen refuelling station infrastructure development across Japan. And the introduction of Toyota's fuel-cell passenger vehicle to the Japanese market has also served to focus unprecedented attention on this year's International Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Expo at the Big Site complex on Tokyo Bay..
...Regarded as the planet's biggest expo of its type, the fuel cell expo drew some 1580 companies from around the world, participating in five days of lectures, demonstrations of future and existing technologies and test drives of fuel cell cars including the Mirai and Honda Clarity.
Senior engineers from Daimler, Volkswagen, General Motors, Toyota, Iwatani Corporation (energy co) and JX Nippon Oil and Energy updated the gathered industry types and media on the latest developments in fuel cells, hydrogen production and delivery systems and battery technology...
Gas company Taiyo Nippon Sanso Ltd revealed a world-first with its compact portable hydrogen station mounted onto the back of a 10-ton truck. H2 to go- anywhere.
...The question begs. Why is Japan so aggressive in its adoption and development of hydrogen-powered fuel cell cars and the infrastructure to support it? Japanese car companies including Toyota, Nissan and Honda have been developing fuel cell cars for well over 10 years. But it was the earthquake, tsunami wave and resulting nuclear disaster in March 2011 that forced the government to shut down its 54 nuclear reactors and look for alternative forms of energy that stimulated car and energy companies to accelerate hydrogen-based technologies.
The Honda Smart Hydrogen Station- Home fueling of Hydrogen Vehicles
...Up until early 2011, Japan's energy needs were split up into 20 per cent nuclear, 30 per cent coal and the remainder in oil and natural gas. To fill the gap created by the loss of nuclear energy, Japan started importing more oil which has led to higher energy (electricity) prices and higher C02 levels.
So the car industry, energy companies and government came to a collective realisation in late 2011 that diversifying its energy needs, and steering towards hydrogen, gives the country a way out of the higher energy costs and environmental issues. The recent launch of the world's first hydrogen-powered fuel cell car in Japan, the Toyota Mirai has given added impetus and urgency to hydrogen infrastructure development. That is why the country is pushing ahead with plans to build at least 100 hydrogen refueling stations nationwide by the end of 2016...
A Hydrogen Station can be built anywhere there is water and electricity.
With mass production, the cost will nosedive
Tech always gets better and cheaper-that's a 5 megabyte hard drive from 1956 - being loaded via forklift onto plane.
The only exhaust from a Hydrogen Electric Vehicle is water.
Thanks to Toyota, Honda and Hyundai, gasoline is no longer required to get from point a to points b, c and d. It's too bad that Obama cut R&D fuel cell funding when he took office. The US could have led this revolution.
CEA presents a new efficient way of producing hydrogen from water vapor
Researchers at the French agency for nuclear energy and alternative energy CEA (Commissariat à lénergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives), has developed a new much efficient method of producing hydrogen gas. Compared to other methods used, this method significantly reduce the investment and operating costs. And it does so at a very high efficiency indeed, at 90 percent...http://www.ourprg.com/?p=20047
Why do Hydrogen threads bring out the most idiotic comments on the net? It's as if Hydrogen Gas virtually invades some brains and causes mental pollution. While you sat around thinking you were brilliant, Japan and Germany have actually done things to contribute to the future and make themselves energy independent.
Here's a rare American with 10+ years experience in Solar/Hydrogen/Fuel Cells that can explain it much better than I can. I just talked to him last week.
He was featured in a Scientific American article in 2008
Inside the Solar-Hydrogen House: No More Power Bills--Ever A New Jersey resident generates and stores all the power he needs with solar panels and hydrogen
June 19, 2008 -EAST AMWELL, N.J.Mike Strizki has not paid an electric, oil or gas billnor has he spent a nickel to fill up his Mercury Sablein nearly two years. Instead, the 51-year-old civil engineer makes all the fuel he needs using a system he built in the capacious garage of his home, which employs photovoltaic (PV) panels to turn sunlight into electricity that is harnessed in turn to extract hydrogen from tap water...