Baked penguins to be on the menu down in the deep south?

Antarctic camps trial hydrogen power


Australians on expeditions to Antarctic field camps will soon be using hydrogen to bake bread, heat their huts and power their laptops.
In an Antarctic first, Australian expeditioners will power a penguin-monitoring camp at Bechervaise Island with the clean, green gas this summer.
The project aims to investigate the safety and operational aspects of using hydrogen in Antarctica's extreme environment, with a long-term view of running all Australian field camps and stations without fossil fuels.
Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) engineer Peter Magill told a conference in Hobart, the increasing cost of fossil fuels had pushed the AAD to explore renewable energy options.
"As the cost of fossil fuels continues to rise, we need to explore renewable energy options to supplement or completely replace them," he said.
"We have already reduced our fossil fuel use at Mawson (station) by installing two wind turbines and we can reduce it further by using any electricity generated by the turbines, in excess of station requirements, to produce hydrogen."
The hydrogen demonstration project will operate out of Mawson, the most westerly of Australia's three continental stations and about four kilometres from Bechervaise Island.
The hydrogen will be transported to the island in cylinders on a specially designed trailer.
More than 850 delegates are in Hobart this week for the combined meetings of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) and the Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs (COMNAP).