Source : nydailynews.com
Chris Dinapoli and Greg Bufano hang out near the new – and green – hydrogen-fueling station in the Bronx. They have taken another bold step into a greener future with the opening of the first hydrogen-fueling station by a city agency. As part of the process of shifting from polluting gasoline and diesel to alternative fuels, the city Department of Sanitation unveiled the fueling point Thursday at its facility at 1635 E. 233rd St. in Eastchester. The move is part of a program by Shell Hydrogen and General Motors to build a national network of hydrogen stations.
"The development of hydrogen-fueling stations and fuel-cell vehicles will bring our nation one step closer toward a sustainable and energy-independent future," said Sanitation Commissioner John Doherty. The new Bronx facility joins similar fueling points recently built in White Plains and at Kennedy Airport. Along with the hydrogen-fueling station, the Sanitation Department gets the use of a Chevy Equinox fuel-cell vehicle as part of GM's Driveway program, a field-testing initiative to gather detailed data on the vehicles in daily use.
Doherty said the electric SUV will be used by a Department of Sanitation supervisor in the Community Board 12 area of the northeast Bronx. The Sanitation Department already has a large and growing fleet of hybrid collection trucks and street sweepers, and many vehicles that run on compressed natural gas, but none as green as a fuel-cell vehicle. Fuel-cell cars are powered by electricity generated through a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen taken from the air, with the only waste product being water. The hydrogen-fueling point looks and functions much like a regular gasoline pump, but it fills the car's tank with compressed hydrogen instead.
Gary Stottler, manager of field service for GM's fuel-cell test fleet, said GM currently has more than 25 fuel-cell vehicles in the metro area. Many are being used by government agencies evaluating the technology for possible fleet purchases, but a significant number are with individual consumers and commuters.
"We're trying to get as many potential users familiar with the technology as possible," he said. Currently GM's Driveway program is limited to the Chevy Equinox, but future plans could include hydrogen-powered delivery vehicles, Stottler said, since fuel-cell technology "is very easy to scale up." Shifting a portion of the giant fleet of delivery trucks in the city to a zero-emissions fuel would vastly improve air quality in the asthma-ridden Bronx because the majority of truck traffic entering Manhattan passes through the borough.
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