Fuel Cells

Chicago Commuter Rail

Alternative Railroad Electrification

Rather than building costly overhead electrification infrastructure to convert a Chicago-area commuter rail line from polluting diesel power to emission-free electricity, the Metra Board of Directors chose a far less expensive and quicker route.

August 28, 2022 - Metra

Electric Train

TOD and Zero-Emission Trains: Can You Guess Where the Controversy Is?

The nation's first fuel cell electric train will make its debut in Southern California in about four years, but it's also associated with a controversial ballot measure on the station sites that voters of Redlands will decide on Super Tuesday.

February 24, 2020 - KVCR

Water Emergency Transportation Authority

Electrifying Maritime Transport – San Francisco Bay to Show the Way

While battery-power doesn't appear practical, electricity from fuel cells does. The nation's first fuel cell-powered ferry will be operating in San Francisco Bay next year thanks in part to a $3 million grant from the California Air Resources Board.

July 2, 2018 - East Bay Times

Train Buffs: Do You Know What a ZEMU Is?

In addition to commuter trains hauled by an electric or diesel-powered locomotive, there are EMUs and DMUs, and come 2021, for the first time in North America, there should be a ZEMU thanks in part to a $30 million California transportation grant.

May 1, 2018 - California Assembly Press Release

Report Reveals Broken Commitment to Green Building at the World Trade Center

An investigative report by James West finds that the developers of the World Trade Center sacrificed a commitment to green building to retain a key tenant after damages wrought by Superstorm Sandy.

December 11, 2014 - Mother Jones

Newest Fuel Cell Vehicles: Trains!

Alstom Transport uses technology similar to that of hydrogen fuel cell automobiles. Railway Gazette reports that German rail authorities hope to develop Zero Emission Trains by purchasing fuel cell trainsets.

October 6, 2014 - Railway Gazette

Is the U.S. Ready for Fuel Cell Vehicles?

Toyota is set to introduce its first fuel cell vehicles in the U.S. in 2015, which are expected to cost between $50,000 and $100,000. But will the U.S. be ready for it, i.e. will there be hydrogen fueling stations? Yes, say public officials.

May 31, 2013 - Automotive.com

New Electric Fuel Behaves Like Gasoline

Researchers at MIT have developed a radical new approach to electric vehicles: a liquid fuel carrying electrically-charged particles that could refuel cars just like gasoline.

June 9, 2011 - Grist

The Sustainable Transportation Divide

Grist's David Roberts attended a national conference on the future of transportation at Ohio State in early May and noticed a divide in the concluding discussion on how panelists approached the issue of sustainability in transportation.

May 10, 2010 - Grist

Chicago's Answer to NYC's High Line Will Generate Power & Food

A proposed plan from Gensler and 4240 Architecture would turn an abandoned rail line in Chicago into an energy-generating, food-growing powerhouse. Oh, and a park too.

November 2, 2009 - Fast Company

The Quest for Energy: The Input/Output Problem

In August of 2006, an unknown Irish company called Steorn took out a full-page ad in The Economist to announce that they had created a magnetic technology that produced more energy than it used- essentially, a perpetual motion machine, the Holy Grail of energy.

June 24, 2008 - Tim Halbur

Fuel Cell Buses: A Tale Of Two Transit Agencies

In the San Francisco Bay Area, two public transit agencies are conducting trials with "Zero Emission Buses", or ZEBs. They are using different types of hydrogen fuel cell technologies, with very different results.

March 3, 2008 - San Jose Mercury News

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