by guest Blogger Stan Thompson Before 2014, the Caribbean island nation of Aruba will roll out the world’s first fleet of hydrogen hybrid, self-powered, rail transit vehicles. Los Angeles, CA, transit manufacturer TIG/m Modern Street Railways is building both the streetcars—resembling heritage open trolleys—and the hydrogen production infrastructure needed to power their fuel cells. Energy • Read More »
Archives: hydrolley
2013 HYDRAIL CONFERENCE IN TORONTO
January 16, 2013 | By Stan Thompson | 1 Comment | Filed in: Conferences, Fuel Cells, Hydrail, Hydrogen Boats, Hydrogen Economy, Hydrogen Fuel Production, Hydrogen Organizations, News.by guest blogger Stan Thompson Toronto (Ontario) Canada will be the location of the Eighth International Hydrail Conference (8IHC) on 11 and 12 June, 2013. The venue and the first of the slate of presenters will be announced shortly. The International Hydrail Conferences are annual gatherings of academic, government and rail industry experts to expedite • Read More »
Hydrail and Sandy: Learning the Hard Way
November 1, 2012 | By Stan Thompson | 3 Comments | Filed in: Hydrail, Hydrogen Economy, Infrastructure, News, Political Issues.Posted on November 1, 2012 By guest blogger, Stan Thompson What you won’t hear, but should, in news coverage about Hurricane Sandy and transit service interruptions is that hydrail—hydrogen fuel cell/battery hybrid—subway trains would be much less impacted by salt water flooding. That’s not to say subway service could have continued. Signaling, switching and many • Read More »
HYDRAIL, FRACKING AND WILLIE SUTTON
September 2, 2012 | By Stan Thompson | Comments Off on HYDRAIL, FRACKING AND WILLIE SUTTON | Filed in: Fuel Cells, Hydrail, Hydrogen Fuel Production, Hydrogen Fueling Stations, Hydrogen Vehicles, Hyrail, Infrastructure, Political Issues.Posted on September 2nd, 2012 By guest blogger, Stan Thompson According to Wikipedia, Willie Sutton claimed never to have said the words that elevated him in history from a habitual law-breaker to authorship of Sutton’s Law. Sutton was a notoriously successful bank robber—the original “Slick Willie.” His notoriety earned him a famous, though apocryphal, interview • Read More »
HYDRAIL HISTORY: RIDE THE TRAIN IN SPAIN
December 8, 2011 | By Stan Thompson | 1 Comment | Filed in: Advocates, Fuel Cells, Hydrail, News.by guest blogger Stan Thompson Unless you have access to Dr. Who’s TARDIS or H. G. Wells’ Time Machine, you’ll have to depend on old texts to envision William Murdoch’s 1784 steam locomotive debut in Britain or Peter Cooper’s Tom Thumb, the first locomotive to run in America. But if you can afford an air • Read More »
University of Birmingham, UK, To Host 2012 Hydrail Conference
August 16, 2011 | By Stan Thompson | Comments Off on University of Birmingham, UK, To Host 2012 Hydrail Conference | Filed in: Hydrail, Hydrogen Economy, Infrastructure.By guest blogger Stan Thompson The University of Birmingham, UK, will host the next International Hydrail Conference there in the summer of 2012 in cooperation with Appalachian State University. Dates and details will be available in late September, 2011, on the hydrail web site of the Energy Center at “App State” in Boone, North Carolina: • Read More »
Hydrail: A Tale of Two Metals
February 24, 2011 | By Stan Thompson | 3 Comments | Filed in: Hydrail, Hydrogen Economy.by guest blogger Stan Thompson When the history of railway evolution in the first half of the twenty-first century is written, it may largely be a tale of two metals and their respective economics. Copper and hydrogen are both essential to the long-term economical delivery of electric power: copper to stationary applications and hydrogen to • Read More »
NPR’s Ira Flatow Helped Hydrail Too
February 11, 2011 | By Stan Thompson | 2 Comments | Filed in: Hydrail, Hydrogen Education.by guest blogger Stan Thompson In my February 10, 2011, commendation of public broadcasting for its help in raising hydrail awareness, I failed to credit Ira Flatow’s excellent program, Talk of the Nation – Science Friday. On September 4, 2009, Ira ran a great segment on hydrail but never mentioned the technology by name. Web • Read More »
WHITE HOUSE: PROTERRA INC. IS ON THE RIGHT TRACK
January 31, 2011 | By Stan Thompson | 6 Comments | Filed in: Hydrail.(by guest author Stan Thompson) One of the first visionary US manufacturers to “get” the hydrolley concept has been Proterra Inc., the Golden, Colorado, (and now Greenville, South Carolina) manufacturer of state-of-the-art, Green-tech transit vehicles. Proterra’s founder, Dale Hill, shared a vision of a fuel cell streetcar with me way back in 2007. The next • Read More »