Ships, hydrogen-powered

Greenland is where Max Pemberton based the hydrogen-powered pirate ship in his 1893 novel The Iron Pirate. The hydrogen is derived... 

Delta Airlines is using a hydrogen fueled tow tractor at the Orlando Airport. General Motors has delivered its first fuel cell truck to the U.S. Army. The U.S. Navy plans to use fuel cells for ship-board power with hydrogen sourced from diesel fuel. New fuel cell technology from SANYO may power IBM Thinkpad notebook computers for 8 hours. 

In 1969 Air Products Chemicals began delivering carbon dioxide and hydrogen to customers in the Houston area via pipeline. There was also talk of shipping methanol by pipeline. A 273-mile pipeline was also opened in 1969 to convey 660 tons/hr of slurried coal from Kayenta, Arizona, to a power plant in southern Nevada. A previous coal pipeline in Ohio closed down in the mid-1960s because it proved to be uneconomical when the railroads reduced their rates.5... 

Hydrogen can be used as a motor fuel, whereas neither nuclear nor solar energy can be used directly. Nuclear power requires heavy shielding to keep the neutrons away from people, but is too heavy for cars. It can be used in ships especially submarines... 

Hydrogen buses operate in Montreal and Bavaria, an H2-powered passenger ship sails in Italy, and the 2008 Olympics in Beijing featured hydrogen vehicles. Russia has flown a jet, fueled partly by hydrogen. In the United States, the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA), NASA, and the Air Force are jointly developing an Earth-orbit airplane fueled by... 

Some potential uses of the direct approach30 are worth mentioning. The present process would be advantageous in recreational vehicles and boats, ships, and planes. Stand-alone sets for isolated communities could be powered by photovoltaics. In earth-based use, electricity costs could be reduced by the use of oxygen cathodes, thus also eliminating the evolution of hydrogen. 

Because of their high volumetric density, intermetallic hydrides are also used as hydrogen storage materials in advanced fuel cell driven submarines, prototype passenger ships, forklifts and hydrogen automobiles as well as auxiliary power units for laptops. 

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