Las Vegas SUN: Las Vegas to get second hydrogen station for fuel cell vehicles

LAS VEGAS (AP) - A second hydrogen fuel station is being planned to open in October in Las Vegas, a boost to local plans to introduce vehicles that use the environmentally clean, renewable energy source.
The station will open at the Las Vegas Valley Water District's main campus and is a joint venture with the UNLV Research Foundation. The Water District will have two small hydrogen-powered trucks that will use the station.
The hydrogen for the new station also will be produced via solar-generated electricity.
The plans for the second station come as Las Vegas prepares to add several hydrogen-powered vehicles to the few that the city has been using for about a year.
Combined with an anticipated drop in the vehicles' price, the extra fueling station is expected to promote the production and use of more hydrogen-powered cars.
"Hydrogen is the only fuel that is both renewably based and has no greenhouse gases," said Robert Boehm, technical manager for the project and a mechanical engineering professor at UNLV.
"Also, we can make it from renewable sources. It's a way of furnishing fuel for the future."
An $8.9 million federal grant is paying for the UNLV research and construction of the fueling station at the Water District.
Las Vegas is planning to add another eight trucks or shuttle buses that would use hydrogen or a hydrogen/natural gas blend to its small fleet of hydrogen-powered vehicles by the new station's October opening date.
Las Vegas has been using two hydrogen-powered cars for a little over a year and four trucks that run on a hydrogen/natural gas blend for about six months.
The city's $10.8 million hydrogen fueling station, funded with federal and private dollars, was built three years ago.
Water is the only emission from hydrogen-powered vehicles, but the production of the hydrogen itself, through a process involving natural gas, creates carbon dioxide.
The hydrogen and hydrogen blend vehicles fill up by "plugging in" a hose to the vehicle's tank, much like a normal car is filled up at a gasoline pump.
The engine works by exposing the hydrogen to air, with the hydrogen combining with oxygen to create energy and water.
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Information from: Las Vegas Sun, http://www.lasvegassun.com
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