Emission Free Train

Those look pretty interesting. I think a recent Trains magazine had a blurb on those too. 

Now, you have to GET the H2.  More than likely, you have to use electrolosis, which uses power.   Unless they are using solar, there is no free lunch.

Dominic Mazoch posted:

Now, you have to GET the H2.  More than likely, you have to use electrolosis, which uses power.   Unless they are using solar, there is no free lunch.

True, Dominic, but at least they're on the right track.  

The problem is a hydrogen powered vehicle cannot be safely stored in an enclosure. The slightest tank leakage creates a potential bomb. The explosive nature of hydrogen in a stoichiometric mixture cannot be underestimated.

And even solar energy is, ultimately, non-renewable ....

Tommy posted:

The problem is a hydrogen powered vehicle cannot be safely stored in an enclosure. The slightest tank leakage creates a potential bomb. The explosive nature of hydrogen in a stoichiometric mixture cannot be underestimated.

I had similar thoughts.  The German engineers who designed this train must not have read their history books.  Hindenberg disaster come to mind ?  

I was thinking more of Apollo 13.

It is not "emissions free." NOTHING is emissions free. There is no free lunch. Consider how much "emissions" it took to produce the hydrogen in the first place.

I get a kick out of the tree huggers who drive electric cars, thinking they are "helping the environment" by driving a zero-emissions car. Horse-hockey. All they have done is move the emissions from their tailpipe to the smoke stack of whatever power plant serves them. They are still using energy and it takes some kind of emissions-producing fuel to make that energy.

I wish more people understood that Rich. 

It should be said in defense of the drivers of electric cars, that even though the cars are not actually "emissions free," they are still producing fewer pounds of emissions per mile of travel than if they were burning gasoline in conventional on-board engines.