Hydrogen Fuel from Lake Erie Water
This hydrogen fuel cell bus operates in Hartford, CT.
Computer-generated image of an articulated hydrogen fuel cell bus in front of the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland.
Hydrogen and Fuel Cells - Key Clean Energy Choices
• Renewably-generated hydrogen gas as fuel in a fuel cell has zero emissions, generation-to-tailpipe - only water. There is no ozone effect, no CO2, no particulate matter, nothing to impact the air, water or our health.
• With hydrogen from local water, produced using wind or solar power, you can have clean air and energy independence. Theoretically, you could build a wall around Cleveland and have fuel for vehicles and power for homes.
• When local water is used to produce hydrogen, the clean water vapor emissions are usually going right back into the same freshwater system from which they were acquired.
• The “five miracles for hydrogen to be viable” are no longer miracles - and the infrastructure is growing worldwide, including in the U.S. Click Here for more information.
• Nearly all major car companies see hydrogen as a long-range answer and have prototype vehicles - Toyota, Honda, GM, Ford, Chrysler, Hyundai, Daimler, Nissan, Kia and Volkswagen. There are hundreds of vehicles (passenger cars and buses) already on the road.
For more information, visit the California Fuel Cell Partnership website at www.cafcp.org and/or the Ohio Fuel Cell Corridor website at www.fuelcellcorridor.com.
Stay tuned for future articles in EcoWatch Journal exploring the potential of hydrogen and fuel cells.
NASA’s Glenn Research Center is leading a team of industry and university partners in demonstrating a prototype of a commercial hydrogen fueling station that uses wind and solar power to produce hydrogen from water. This initial installation will produce hydrogen from Lake Erie water to fuel a mass transit bus powered by fuel cells.
The demonstration, featuring a unique, high-capacity electrolyzer that separates water into its elemental components of hydrogen and oxygen, is part of an economic development program in the Cleveland area. The Glenn-led collaboration will customize the electrolyzer for the prototype fueling station, designing the circuitry needed to use renewable energy sources to power the electrolyzer and fueling station.
“The project is more than a key technology demonstration,” said project team member Valerie Lyons, chief of Glenn’s Power and In-Space Propulsion Division. “It will be a great educational tool for the public and will serve as a catalyst to inspire new ideas and initiatives that can generate many new jobs and manufacturing opportunities in Ohio.”
The hydrogen fueling station will be at the Great Lakes Science Center on the south shore of Lake Erie, where it can be powered from the science center’s existing wind and solar power sources. The fueling station will generate hydrogen from Lake Erie water for use in a Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA) bus powered by fuel cells. RTA will operate the bus in revenue service.
Cleveland State University’s Nance College of Business Administration will work alongside the collaborators to develop a template for the station. The design will be treated as intellectual property and placed in a trust benefiting Ohio citizens.
The goals of the economic development program include engaging Ohio’s supply chain manufacturers and retraining a skilled workforce for clean energy jobs. The project is intended to demonstrate the viability of clean energy systems for transportation and stationary power and boost regional economic development.
Seed money for the project was provided by The Cleveland Foundation, with a $310,000 grant, through the collaborative team’s fiscal agent, the Ohio Aerospace Institute. Other collaborators include Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Consultants of Brecksville, Ohio, City of Cleveland’s Renewable Hydrogen Energy Station Team, Parker Hannifin, Technology Management, Inc., Earth Day Coalition and UTC Power of South Windsor, CT.
For more information, contact Linda Sekura at 216-663-1876, 216-433-5693 or Linda.Sekura@grc.nasa.gov.