April 19, 2008

HYNOR: Norway’s green jump to lead the rest of world.


A country with a ratio of 4 trees to one person, building a hydrogen based highway shows a nations serious commitment towards the environment and sustainability.
What, where, when, why and how are the questions that come into our mind when we hear about HyNor. One of the worlds most environment friendly country Norway is working at a very fast pace to develop a hydrogen fuel based highway since 2005 some 350 miles in length between the cities of Oslo and Stavanger. This should be a mile stone in alternate fuel studies and practical implementations. Both government and private sector in Norway is involved in developing this hydrogen corridor. HyNor feathers hydrogen fuel stations, which means large-scale hydrogen fuel based vehicles such as cars, taxis, trucks and buses, completing there green journey effectively. Along with the extensive support from global environmental groups, the picture completes with energy and transportation companies with public authorities and research and development institutions taking keen interest, as HyNor is good news for energy business world over which is depressed with the ever souring oil prices. Norway has a long history of hydrogen generation by electrolysis through the use of hydro-power. Using renewable energy resources for creating hydrogen should dish up a model for other nations considering hydrogen-based economy. Norway is also providing tax incentives on hydrogen fuel based vehicles.
Quantum Fuel Systems provided HyNor project with 15 Toyota Prius Hybrids converted to run on hydrogen gas, as a part of test run.
With the expected success of HyNor, Norway plans on executing a national hydrogen fuel base transportation system. All this hard work and expected success might trigger a much needed rapid fuel shift, which will show its environmental, economical and commercial benefits.
At the moment two problems should be temperature and availability as the wide variations in climate and topology including very cold seasonal temperatures, not conducive to many fuel cell vehicles may cause some delays, cos most current car manufacturers have concept vehicles that are fueled by hydrogen though they have had very positive test results from these vehicles but assembly lines have not been modified for them. Still this alternative makes sense because the emissions from hydrogen vehicles is zero compared to fossil fuel based vehicles which chug 1.5 billion tons of gas emissions into the environment.
The ultimate achievement would be for the world to recognize that a model for hydrogen transportation is feasible, practical and happening right now.