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printGreen group protests hydrogen bus depot
B.C. Transit has started clearing a forested wetland in Whistler in order to build a depot and fuelling station for hydrogen fuel cell–powered buses, much to the dismay of environmentally minded residents of the resort municipality.
The three-hectare site is owned by B.C. Hydro, which transit agency spokesperson Joanna Morton noted has agreed to let the property be used for the project. The depot will accommodate 20 hydrogen-fuelled buses, starting next year. The buses will serve as a showcase for green transportation during the 2010 Olympic Games.
“We found that the B.C. Hydro site was the one that would have the least impact on the environment,” Morton told the Straight.
But Whistler resident Sara Jennings said the site is in an ecologically sensitive area that needs to be protected. As president of the 300-strong Association of Whistler Area Residents for the Environment, Jennings noted that B.C. Transit plans to create a new wetland complex to replace habitats that will be filled in and paved over.
“We believe it’s more important to protect an area in its natural state and make it more healthy, rather than try to re-create it,” Jennings told the Straight.
It seems the slide-rule brigade found that producing hydrogen produced more pollution than the diesel buses the newer fuel cell buses were to replace! Hmmmmm.........and it seems no one told BC Transit. The only country that can produce clean hydrogen today is Iceland because of the ample amount of very cheap thermal generated power available (what happens when one lives on a volcanic Island).
Hydrogen fuel cell buses are from another age and will end up costing the taxpayer millions in extra costs.
Somebody please tell the 'green' gurus at BC Transit this.
It relies on faulty outdated data and makes the assumption that hydrogen must be made (with the old efficiency numbers) with coal...(which is the polluter in the equation)
These days electrolyzers are 90% efficient, and hydrogen can be made by wind and solar or even bacteria inoculation and saltwater de-salinization.
Good for Vancouver for doing this. HHO is the future not the past
The cost to make hydrogen and the pollution that is created to make it, far outweigh the benefits. Simple as that.
The premiers hydrogen highway is a myth.