Iceland Tries out Hydrogen Fuels
Iceland, whose electricity and heating comes almost completely from hydroelectric power and geothermal springs, is still dependent on imported oil for transportation needs. Because of its geographic isolation, gasoline is expensive to ship to the country.
Retired University of Iceland Professor Bragi Arnason has come up with a solution: use hydrogen to power transportation. Hydrogen needs water and electricity, both of which Iceland has plenty. So Professor Arnason has proposed the use of electrolysis to produce hydrogen gas: a current is sent through water to split it into hydrogen and oxygen.
This has caught the attention of General Motors, Toyota and DaimlerChrysler, who are now using the island nation as their test market for their hydrogen fuel cell prototypes.
“We are very small country but we have all the same infrastructures of big nations,” Arnason said. “We will be the prototype for the rest of the world.” Arnason predicts Iceland will be fossil fuel free by 2050. (edition.cnn.com)
