was referring to the last paragraph in the previous thread san...

was referring to the last paragraph in the previous thread san fransisco



In addition, the airport will build a second station next door dispensing hythane, a mixture of hydrogen and natural gas. The airport plans to use that fuel in some of its many vehicles that now run on compressed natural gas.

















San Francisco International Airport won a $1.7 million state grant Monday to build a refueling station for cars and buses that run on hydrogen.

The station will serve the small collection of Bay Area vehicles powered by fuel cells, which create electricity by combining hydrogen and oxygen. The vehicles give off no pollution, just water vapor.

Interest in hydrogen as a transportation fuel soared earlier in the decade, only to be eclipsed by advanced biofuels and electric cars. Still, the airport has made a point of testing different fuels - from biodiesel to compressed natural gas - and sees the hydrogen station as the latest example.

"We're happy to be part of the process of determining what the fuel of the future really is," said Tryg McCoy, deputy director of operations at the airport.

The station will be built near the Millbrae Avenue interchange, along the airport's southern edge. The state grant, awarded by the California Air Resources Board, will cover roughly 70 percent of the project's cost, said Roger Hooson, senior planner at the airport. The rest will be supplied by Linde North America, the U.S. wing of a German company that specializes in the use of gases.

The station, which should open next year, will not generate its own hydrogen, as some other hydrogen refueling stations do. Instead, the hydrogen will be trucked in from Southern California, Hooson said.

The air resources board on Monday also awarded grants to three other hydrogen station projects, all in Southern California.

According to the California Fuel Cell Partnership, the Bay Area already has two hydrogen stations, one in Oakland and one in San Jose.

Several local mass transit agencies, including AC Transit and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, have experimented with fuel-cell buses. San Francisco's Municipal Transportation Agency plans to do the same next year, fueling its buses at the airport, Hooson said. The station also will serve automakers such as Daimler and Toyota that are testing fuel cell vehicles in the Bay Area, Hooson said.

In addition, the airport will build a second station next door dispensing hythane, a mixture of hydrogen and natural gas. The airport plans to use that fuel in some of its many vehicles that now run on compressed natural gas.