Monday, October 20, 2008

all hail hydrogen

the bmw hydrogen 7, the first hydrogen/gas hybrid in the clean energy series.

the fantasy:



the facts:



the hydrogen 7 is "the world's first hydrogen-powered luxury sedan." bmw has been developing this technology for a while according to their clean energy milestones. the first prototype was introduced in 1984. the first public liquid hydrogen refueling station was opened in munich in 1999.

seems like a great solution for global warming and pollution, considering the only by-product is water. but there's a catch, a catch-22 actually. the cars are still pretty expensive (current owners are mostly celebrities) and there are hardly any places where you can fill up your hydrogen tank. but, the industry isn't going to invest a bunch of money in hydrogen refueling stations until the demand for hydrogen cars increases.

it will be interesting to see how this dilemma develops over the next few years.



oh yea, the website is pretty cool too. if you navigate away from the page for too long, the website goes into 'energy-saving mode:'

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