In the United States, hydrogen has seen a hotbed of activities on both the West Coast and the East Coast. But what about one of the most energy consuming states in the middle of the U. S., Texas – is this state getting onboard with hydrogen?
Very recently, a Houston-based company, HydrogeN-XT, has stated that they intend to develop 10 hydrogen fueling stations in Texas. Now this won’t be the first hydrogen development that Texas has seen.
For instance, in 2006, the Texas H2 Coalition was formed as a non-profit to advance the interests of hydrogen and hydrogen cars in the state (this coalition hasn’t been active for the past few years now however).
In 2007, though, the Texas H2 Coalition unveiled several hydrogen vehicles in Austin including ride ‘n’ drives of the BMW Hydrogen7 and the Toyota FCHV-adv (I’ve personally driven both of the vehicles – very nice!) Daimler and General Motors also had vehicles at the event.
Here are a few other reasons that creating a Texas Hydrogen Highway system would be a good idea:
- Texas has already demonstrated hydrogen fuel cell buses in some of the major cities.
- Texas already has fuel cell forklifts in some of their warehouses.
- Texas has an over-abundance of wind energy, which can be used to create renewable hydrogen.
- Texas already has the largest hydrogen pipeline network in the U. S.
- Texas is already one of the top 3 hydrogen producers in the U. S. (see graphic above)
- Texas has some of the worst air quality in the U. S. including the cities of Houston and Dallas/Fort Worth and can greatly benefit from clean energy vehicles.
So, whether it’s official or not, it looks like the Texas Hydrogen Highway is moving forward and for those of us who like to breathe it will be greatly appreciated.
References
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20070319005057/en/Texas-H2-Coalition-Invites-Public-Test-Drive
http://www.hydrogen.energy.gov/pdfs/review10/tv011_hitchcock_2010_p_web.pdf
http://files.harc.edu/Projects/TexasHydrogen/TexasHydrogenRoadmap.pdf
https://www.hydrogencarsnow.com/?s=texas
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