The Hydrogen Economy is Here

Last week, I drove a modified Ford pick-up truck that burned hydrogen in its internal combustion engine. My exhaust output was pure water. What a rush to actually drive a vehicle powered by the only truly "zero emissions" fuel.

Now I know what you green fuel experts are thinking: "Well, its not really a zero emissions fuel if it takes a lot of electricity to create the hydrogen". This is true.

But the hydrogen in my fuel cannister was provided by a filling station in North Vanvouver owned jointly by a group called "IWHUP" (Integrated Waste Hydrogen Utilization
Project), whose members are committed to the establishment of hydrogen infrastructure. This hydrogen was captured and purified from the waste exhaust stream of heavy oil upgrading plant in North Vancouver. Besides bleach manufacturers, petro chemical refiners and fertilizer manufacturers are some of the best sources for waste hydrogen. In Canada alone, over 50 million kilograms of hydrogen are vented annually from industrial processes, which is enough to power 200,000 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

Multiply that by a factor of ten for the U.S., and you can see the potential. With the release of the Honda FCX Clarity, the first production vehicle scheduled for public availability at a reasonable cost ($600 per month), the transformation of North America's carbon economy into a hydrogen is now underway.

General Motors has stipulated that it will have pure hydrogen vehicles in its showrooms in selected markets by 2011 or 20012, and public transportation (buses) vehicles are gradually occupying a larger percentage of the world's commuter systems.

Are we actually going to reverse the trend of global warming with such rapidly integrated solutions? It almost is starting to look like it.

Find out more about the waste hydrogen capture process at http://www.htec.ca .

DISCLOSURE: I am in the process of becoming a shareholder of HTEC, and by the looks of things, an employee as well. There is no single business idea I've believed more strongly in than HTEC's.