Subscribe to daily environment news





 

Click for news Click for pictures
National Tree Day

Planet Ark Home


Iceland Opens Hydrogen Filling Station to Public
Mail this story to a friend | Printer friendly version

ICELAND: November 29, 2007


REYKJAVIK - Iceland made its hydrogen filling station, the world's first when it opened to serve buses four years ago, available for use by private cars on Wednesday.


This is the latest step in a pilot project conceived by Icelandic New Energy, a company backed by the government, academics and private firms, that aims to have up to 40 hydrogen cars on the roads of the capital by the end of 2009.

"The future prospects for hydrogen are very bright," Jon Bjorn Skulason, general manager of Icelandic New Energy, told Reuters in an interview. "There is no other fuel in the world that fills the demands that fossil fuel fills today."

Iceland, rich in geothermal and hydroelectric power sources that allow hydrogen to be produced without pollution, aims to become independent of fossil fuels by mid-century.

The filling station opened in 2003 but initially only served the three hydrogen buses involved in a separate pilot.

Now it will be available to power 10 new Toyota Prius hydrogen cars that VISTORKA, a shareholder in Icelandic New Energy, delivered to three Icelandic companies on Wednesday.

Three of those 10 went to Hertz car rental, which will offer tourists to Reykjavik the chance to rent and drive hydrogen cars for the first time.

VISTORKA is owned by a consortium of Icelandic corporations. (Reporting by Kristin Arna Bragadottir, editing by Anthony Barker)


REUTERS NEWS SERVICE


 ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS SEARCH

Enter your keywords to search our news archive by subject. Type "Greenpeace", for example, into the box below and you will be given a listing of all Planet Ark's news and images relating to Greenpeace.

  
Sort by relevance   Sort by date

Alternatively, why not check out our news archive on an issue by issue basis? Select a topic from the list below to learn everything you need to know about the topics contained within this search engine.



© 2008 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters.
top

 
TODAY'S
ENVIRONMENT
NEWS

GERMANY:
Germany Warns Of Economic Risks From Species Loss

NORWAY:
Sahara Dried Out Slowly, Not Abruptly - Study

NORWAY:
Petrify, Liquefy: New Ways To Bury Greenhouse Gas

PERU:
Peru's Tribal Land Protected From Gas Concessions

UK:
Seven Ways To Be Green With Money

US:
For Sale: Machine To Make Home-Made Ethanol

US:
UN Says 1.5 Million People "Severely Affected" By Myanmar Cyclone

US:
Hearing In Lead Paint Case To Be Broadcast On Web

US:
Go Easy On Biofuels Until More Clarity - World Bank

US:
US Ships Head For Myanmar As Officials Decry Delay

US:
Conservationists Win Battle On Key California Land

US:
Ancient Seaweed Chews Confirm Age Of Chilean Site



previous day


This site developed by Frontline, and managed by Planet Ark using RPM-NT.

Site designed by Jon Dee @ Planet Ark.

Radiant