Kirkwood Homes has decided to build a hydrogen fueling station inside a 1,000 house residential community in the northern part of Scotland. Right now, the only other hydrogen fueling station within driving distance is in London.
The Kirkwood Homes residential community will also feature a primary school and potentially a new Ellon academy. The Kirkwood homes plan would be part of the Energetica project, “… which aims to create a 30-mile corridor of energy companies between Aberdeen and Peterhead.”
Now, I’ve talked about unique approaches before regarding rolling out hydrogen fueling stations alongside hydrogen cars. Some people call this method “clustering” as is currently being done in the Los Angeles area with a cluster of hydrogen stations plus the rollout of Honda FCX Clarity’s and Chevy Equinox FCV’s.
I’ve also talked about putting hydrogen fueling stations at rest stops along the highways, at new car dealerships, at 7-11’s and other convenience stores, at wholesale clubs like Costco and Sam’s Club plus a handful of other places accessible to the public.
But, the clustering model for large residential communities is an idea I hadn’t thought about before. It makes sense especially along a technology corridor to promote hydrogen cars within a community and provide a hydrogen fueling station as incentive.
It is this kind of outside the box thinking that will keep the hydrogen ball rolling, so to speak, into eventual widespread acceptance in many nations.