A couple of initiatives related to public transport involving solar power and hydrogen fuel bring alternative energy to commuters in two different cities.
Solar Bus Shelter
The City of Corona in California has installed solar bus shelters connected to the grid, writes Energy Boom. They feature six panels and six inverters which can generate approximately 1.2 kilowatts of power. With this amount of solar power, the shelters qualify for the California Solar Initiative rebate and a federal tax grant program. The shelters are supplied by GoGreenSolar.
The solar shelters cost US$14,500 while conventional bus stops cost US$10,000 to US$12,000, but with all the tax incentives, the extra cost is more than made up for.
Hydrogen London Bus
Across the pond, the Great London Authority, led by Mayor Boris Johnson, hydrogen, zero-emitting buses were introduced on 18 December to improve air quality in some of the busiest routes.
The buses use hydrogen fuel cell technology and emit nothing but vapor. For now there is one bus route running on hydrogen, and it is the first of a fleet of eight to be phased into operation this year.
Funding came from the TfL (London’s transport body), the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and the European Union via the Clean Hydrogen in Cities (CHIC) project.
Now, wouldn’t it be great to introduce these two initiatives in the same city so citizens could wait for a hydrogen bus at a solar-powered shelter? I think so.
2 comments
I think the hydrogen bus is a great idea. Vancouver has had one for the last 10 years or so. It costs about $50 a mile to run, but who cares it’s subsidized by taxpayer money. Wahoo!
I think we should demand more for further support from government and private sector to develop more clean technologies. It is a bright idea to use solar energy for public transport. This is the right way of using alternative energy sources and Canada is definitely one of the leading countries.
Comments are closed.