CHEVROLET EQUINOX FUEL CELL CAR IN HAWAII

It was 30 years ago when working for U.S. Senator Spark Matsunaga in DC that I drafted the hydrogen legislation that later became the Matsunaga Hydrogen Act.  It was a rocky road to get here, but today I was taken for a ride in the Chevrolet Equinox fuel cell car 

by Boryann Liaw of the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute.  Posing next to that vehicle is Dr. Liaw with Stephanie Ackerman, Vice President of Pubic Relations of The Gas Company.  General Motors views Hawaii as their next major base for fuel cell transport.  Richard Rocheleau, Director of the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute, is the University of Hawaii leader for this partnership.

Representative Mina Morita was the first to get behind the wheel, 

and she seemed thrilled with the experience.  Mina, of course, is that spirit of continuity and dedication we need for our State, Nation and World.  She has been shepherding the cause of renewable energy for 15 years, and represents a region on Kauai that includes Kilauea, where I worked for C. Brewer almost half a century ago, and where my grandfather helped build a hydroelectric facility more than a century ago at Wainiha.  This story is covered in SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Planet Earth, where an entire chapter is devoted to hydrogen.

Three individuals key to the future of fuel cell transport are Dr. Joseph Mercurio, GM Manager for the Government and Military Fuel Cell and Electric Vehicle Programs, Representative Morita and Jeffrey Kissel, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Gas Company.  

I was particularly impressed with Jeff, for he has the experience, attitude and courage to make a difference. I promised to send him some of my thoughts on next generation aviation and the future of Hawaii.  Perhaps he is that crusading individual the state needs to get things going, otherwise, the inevitable option will be a prolonged local depression.  He said that while attending the University of Hawaii he worked for the local office of Senator Matsunaga.  We share similar views, but Jeff's is decidedly optimistic about what is to come and mine is not as doomsdayish as some of my colleagues on the Manoa Campus.

I have long felt that a fuel cell vehicle showed more promise than the plug-in electric car, for the former should be able take you five times further.  My reservation had to do with the potential cost of the fuel cell and hydrogen.  As one gallon of methanol has more accessible hydrogen than one gallon of liquid hydrogen, and methanol is the only liquid biofuel which can be directly fed into a fuel cell, I thought that a direct methanol fuel was the most reasonable option as a bridge to the ultimate Hydrogen Economy.  This effort by GM and Gas Company, though, could totally bypass carbon in the cycle if the hydrogen can someday be competitively produced from renewable electricity.  In the meantime, their intention is to ingeniously adsorb hydrogen from existing synthetic natural gas pipelines.

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