The
Infrastructure
Hydrogen vehicles could be refueled at present gasoline stations
by installing technology that can be manufactured today.
Hydrogen can be transported in natural-gas pipelines or in tankers,
using existing petroleum infrastructure. Gasunie Research,
of Groningen, Netherlands, is organizing NaturalHy,
a program to test distribution of hydrogen, mixed with natural
gas, in existing natural gas pipelines.
Since
pipelines are the cheapest way to transport gaseous hydrogen, an
effort is underway to promote the development of the International
Renewable Hydrogen Transmission Demonstration Facility (IRHTDF).
The hydrogen
infrastructure (for production, transport, storage, and dispensing)
can be set up today for conventional internal combustion engine
vehicles.
This infrastructure
can then be available for the fuel-cell vehicles of the future.
Conversion
to hydrogen will rely heavily on working with the existing petroleum
infrastructure.
We will have
to rely on petroleum for years to come. Converting now depends
on working with petroleum companies to incorporate their existing
market and infrastructure into needed means of producing, transporting,
storing, and dispensing hydrogen.
Research is
striving to improve renewable methods of generating hydrogen (from
livestock waste, landfill biomass, wastewater sludge, chemical
reactions, and electricity from solar, wind, and water power).
Harvesting hydrogen from these sources can make it a completely
renewable resource.
