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https://www.bbc.com/news/business-62619313
Why an old train could point to a clean energy future
- Published
- 59 minutes ago
Image source, H2M
Image caption,
The Green Goat is getting a green refit
By Chris Baraniuk
Technology of Business reporter
An old diesel freight train in British Columbia, Canada is about to get a new lease of life.
Local firm Hydrogen in Motion (H2M) is currently converting the Green Goat locomotive to run on a mix of hydrogen and battery power.
The so-called switcher locomotive performs tasks such as transporting small loads of lumber or animal feed at rail yards.
If all goes to plan, H2M will have the engine running by the end of this year, or early next.
"With the successful demonstration of this we would be looking at much larger trains as well," says H2M president and chief executive Grace Quan. "We'd be looking at converting entire fleets."
Hydrogen, which emits water but no carbon dioxide when burned, is often touted as a fuel of the future.
There are already a few hydrogen-powered trains out there, such as the ones currently being rolled out in the German state of Lower Saxony. The technology made its debut there in 2018.
In the UK, a hydrogen locomotive, HydroFlex2, is undergoing testing in Long Marston, Warwickshire.
But current methods of storing hydrogen in tanks, as a highly pressurised gas or extremely cold (cryogenic) liquid, are expensive and potentially unsafe. Scientists have long aimed to find ways of storing hydrogen in more inert solid forms.
This would belie the ability to store hydrogen:
https://www.toyota.com/mirai/2022/