It looks like the US is going to get its first retail hydrogen fueling station later this year (other articles put the time frame at September/October this year). Retail filling stations are important because they are the basis for the necessary infrastructure shift to end the age of oil. With a filling station available, not only will vehicular fuel cell applications get a boost but people in the immediate area who want to use fuel cells for other applications can potentially fill up with the hydrogen version of a gas can, relieving them of the need to get their own hydrogen source and reducing the infrastructure spending needed on other fuel cell applications.
I'm looking forward to seeing hydrogen pumps pop up locally as the technology rolls out. GM is partnering with the USPS to deliver hydrogen fuel cell powered mail delivery vans. Since the USPS does not maintain fueling stations for their fleet, retail hydrogen pumps will quickly be followed by hydrogen mail vans, providing the pumps with guaranteed revenue.
As pumps get deployed, we're likely to start getting into that heady area where the small inventor, the tinkerer gets involved in a real way. Once they can get easy access to relatively cheap hydrogen, who knows what ideas will bubble up from our collective creative impulse?
Posted by TMLutas at July 14, 2004 10:11 AM