Fuel Cell Boat’s First Cruise Through Amsterdam’s Canals
A canal boat using fuel cells for power made its first cruise this Wednesday. The “Nemo H2″ has a capacity of 87 passengers, and is the first boat to utilize new fuel cell technology, which combines hydrogen and oxygen to create electrical power and water – while also leaving no harmful traces in the environment, emitting only water vapor.
Amsterdam sees a lot of canal cruises every day, and it’s important to find cleaner ways to make this possible. Other programs targeted at this have been introduced as well – for example, starting from the spring, customers will have an option of going on a “CO2 Zero Canal Cruise”, costing them an extra 50 Euro cents, which goes directly into funding carbon-reducing technology.
The boat currently costs about twice as much as a regular boat to build, and needs to be recharged every day at a hydrogen dispensing station – as opposed to the weekly refills of regular boats. However, Â researchers are confident that the boat will justify its costs as more of it are produced, and as hydrogen distribution was developed further.
[ Via Yahoo! Green ]
