Greg Blencoe, the CEO of Hydrogen Discoveries, Incorporated of Oak Ridge, Tennessee is advocating for a Southern California based Hydrogen Fueling Station Cooperative system to be built by 2015 when the major automakers say they will start rolling out large numbers of production hydrogen cars. Mr. Blencoe has in the past proposed a Hydrogen Manhattan Project for putting up hydrogen fueling stations nationwide.
The system Mr. Blencoe is talking about does not involve government subsidies, but rather is a grassroots movement aimed at early adopters of technology and environmental activists. The idea is that a group of similar minded consumers who live near each other actually own a hydrogen fueling station in a cooperative system.
This group can fuel up their own cars with hydrogen or perhaps even decide to let others use the station as well, thus making a profit. Southern California would be the ideal location to start this cooperative as there are already a number of hydrogen fueling stations open in Los Angeles and Orange counties along with hydrogen cars to refuel at those stations.
This would mean that hydrogen car owners could expand their radius of travel in Southern California (SoCal). In addition, Southern Californians tend to be early adopters of green technology so the chances of marketing this plan in this location will be greatly increased.
Another spin off this same idea that comes to mind for me is for less expensive hydrogen fueling pumps to be built as part of some master planned communities in Southern California. There is already a company that is building, near Denver, Colorado, a master planned community where every residence comes with solar panels.
If a hydrogen fuel pump were installed in some master planned communities in SoCal, then homeowners would pay for it with their association fees just as they would for the swimming pool or other amenities. And, as an option, this could also be accomplished cooperative style with each homeowner owning a part of the hydrogen pump, allowing those outside the community to fuel up there as well for a profit.
I think Mr. Blencoe’s idea has merit. It doesn’t rely on government, big oil companies or even the large gas companies to make the initial investment to get the ball rolling. What it will take is a strong grassroots movement of like-minded people who advocate for hydrogen fuel and cars and want to see them succeed.
Perhaps the SoCal people involved in General Motor’s Project Driveway might want to take up the torch on this one and start their own Hydrogen Fueling Station Cooperative system? Or perhaps there is another group of green tech investors out there just itching for this opportunity. We’ll see how this develops in the weeks and months to come.
Hi Kevin,
Thanks so much for writing about the Southern California Hydrogen Fueling Station Cooperative idea on your blog.
I contacted a lot of people in the hydrogen community about this yesterday and the feedback has been VERY positive.
Also, I really like your idea about having a hydrogen fueling station cooperative as part of master planned communities. It would be a great way for a lot of people to have a hydrogen fueling station close to where they live.
After getting so much initial positive feedback, yesterday evening and early today I’ve been thinking to myself, “OK, what is it REALLY going to take to get this going? It’s one thing for people to like the idea, but it takes a lot more than that to make it a reality.”
And I came to the exact same conclusion as you. I think the Los Angeles/Orange County GM Project Driveway members (current and past) who have driven the Chevy Equinox hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are the perfect people to help spread the word about this.
All they would need to do is tell people about the hydrogen fueling station cooperative idea when talking to other people about the Chevy Equinox hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. I think the word would spread very quickly.
I know a couple of Project Driveway participants including perhaps the most well-known one (Stephanie White). I’m going to talk to her more about spreading the word through this group and hopefully other Project Driveway members will be excited about this idea.
I’ll definitely keep you posted on any new developments.
Thanks again for writing about this, Kevin.
Great information! I’ve been looking for something like this for a while now. Thanks!
It is abundantly clear that we should and need all types of infrastructure in Hydrogen. Naysayers have there rights but we as a Nation need to do any and everything we can to start producing.Mercedes is begging us in and article i just read. If you are a Bank or even another Country who wishes to invest in America, timing is right..I need investment infrastructure money.
Contact Jim at JiffyGas.com, Make my business ready for the next boom.
Oh JiffyGas of Florida I forgot to put this in.