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Refuel at home with hydrogen
Pioneering alternative energy enterprise ITM Power has praised a European Parliament decision to encourage the use of hydrogen-powered cars.
The company, which has a research and manufacturing facility in Sheffield, recently demonstrated how a conventional petrol-engined Ford Focus could be converted to run on hydrogen.
More importantly, the firm, which lays claim to being Europe's largest electrolyser and fuel cell company, has developed a refueling station which will allow owners of hydrogen-powered vehicles to fill up at home.
ITM's Home Refuelling Station uses electricity – either off-peak domestic mains supply or electricity produced from wind, wave or solar power – to break water down into its constituent elements - hydrogen and oxygen.
The firm has just started pilot production of its Home Refuelling Station in Sheffield, and says the system should produce enough hydrogen overnight for its converted Ford Focus to complete a typical daily commuting journey with the option to switch back on to petrol for longer trips.
"The average commuting journey is around 25 miles so millions of people could drive to work or do the school run every day without producing any CO," says ITM Power's chief executive, Jim Heathcote.
The European Parliament has agreed to harmonised type-approval for hydrogen-powered vehicles for the first time – which means manufacturers could be able to sell the vehicles anywhere in Europe as long as they meet a minimum set of regulatory, technical and safety requirements, which have still to be drawn up.
European Commission vice-president Gnter Verheugen, who is responsible for enterprise and industry, says the European Parliament's decision is "a big step forward in the introduction of hydrogen vehicles."
"They have the potential to make Europe's air cleaner and reduce its dependency on fossil fuels. Setting common standards will ensure high safety for citizens and will boost the competitiveness of European manufacturers."
ITM Power has been shortlisted alongside German car giant BMW for a major environmental award.
Winners of the GreenFleet Awards will be announced at a dinner in London later this month.
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Weather for Sheffield
Thursday 24 May 2012
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