In Los Angeles, a new, local emissions train will help you combat local and global smog by powering itself with hydrogen fuel cells.
Today, liquid and gas form of hydrogen is considered to be the best green alternatives to a form of heavy fuel that powers the society’s largest machines and the ZEMU train is only a few months away from starting its routine services from San Bernadino and Redlands to LA proper.
ZEMU stands for zero-emissions multiple units and possesses several advantages over other decarbonized rail transport. Electric rails charge themselves via overhead powerlines, but these require millions of rupees in funding and aren’t even practical to maintain for long distances.
Manufactured by the Swiss company Stadler, these trains take on hydrogen fuel being split into hydrogen molecules, that generate energy that recharges an electric battery that powers the train’s motors. The battery is also recharged by braking, and the only emission of any sort is water vapor.
“I think it’s going to enable a lot of places to decarbonize without having to make extremely expensive investments in infrastructure,” Watkins told Fast Company Magazine.
HYDROGEN POWER COMING ONLINE:
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Green hydrogen, using renewable energy sources, is to be available in the not-too-distant future, but even if the trains lead to CO2 entering the atmosphere, as Adele Peters at Fast Company details, San Bernadino needs zero-emissions transport fast.
The area was recently given an ‘F’ grade for air quality by a leading air quality index survey and suffers from more days of smog than almost any other city in America.
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