Friday, September 4th, 2009

Towards Hydrogen Trains

A new switch locomotive, powered by hydrogen fuel cells, debuts at a commissioning ceremony in Topeka, Kan. Photo courtesy of ERDC.

While some clean energy advocates have suggested fuel cell cars as a technology of the future, development of hydrogen fuel cell technology is moving forward in an unusual place -- the railyard. Earlier this summer, BNSF Railway demonstrated a hydrogen fuel cell switch locomotive in Kansas. In countries around the world, engineers are studying how to build locomotives that run on hydrogen, and how best to provide the infrastructure to support them. We'll talk about the technology and why some hydrogen researchers see trains as a target for hydrogen deployment.

Guests

Robert Remick
Director, Hydrogen Technologies and Systems Center
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Golden, Colorado

Alistair Miller
Senior Scientific Associate
Office of the Principal Scientist
Atomic Energy of Canada Limited
Chalk River Laboratories
Chalk River, Ontario, Canada

Melanie Johnson
Research Project Manager, Fuel Cell Locomotive
Construction Engineering Research Laboratory
US Army Corps of Engineers
Champaign, Illinois