Yesterday I talked about the possibility of hydrogen forklifts being the first commercial production fuel cell vehicles. Today I would like to follow up on the boom in use of hydrogen fuel cell forklifts in the everyday workplace and in our military.
First, in the food warehouses sector a company called United Natural Foods, Incorporated (UNFI) is installing an Air Products hydrogen fueling station. This will power 65 fuel cell forklifts in their Sarasota, Florida distribution center in an attempt to go a little greener.
UNFI considers going greener part of corporate social responsibility towards their customers and the general public. UNFI joins other large grocery store chains such as Wegmans, Central Grocers and Whole Foods in using hydrogen forklifts to help achieve this goal.
The second item I would like to talk about is that even the U. S. military now sees the value in using hydrogen fuel cell forklifts. Robins Air Force Base, about 100 miles SSE of Atlanta, Georgia has decided to use solar panels and hydrogen forklifts to go a little greener.
The portable hydrogen fueling station, again made by Air Products is only refueling one test fuel cell forklift for now, but is capable of refueling up to 20 such vehicles. The air force base has stated that if all goes well with the test, then they will convert other vehicles to run on hydrogen.
The hydrogen forklift movement has been picking up steam over the past couple of years as both the public and private sector see not only the environmental value but practical value of using the universe’s most abundant element (H2) for power.
I have only one concern that how will the hydrogen be generated, mean it takes lot of other fuels to separate H2 from H2o 🙁