DC Opens One of Nationês First Hydrogen Pumps
Last Wednesday, Washington D.C. became home to one of the first hydrogen-fuel dispensing pumps in North America, reports the Associated Press. The pump, located at a Royal Dutch/Shell group station just four miles east of the Capitol, services only six minivans which General Motors Corp. uses to demonstrate the technology.
Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, joined by officials from Shell and D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams were on hand at the pumpês unveiling. According to Abraham, the Washington pump will be the first step toward the real transition in the economy from the carbon-based economies of the past to a hydrogen economy of the future.
GMês research chief, Larry Burns, estimated during the opening of the Washington-based hydrogen pump, that adding enough of the hydrogen pumps at U.S. gasoline stations — approximately, 12,000 stations — will cost around $12 billion. GM hopes to sell affordable hydrogen-powered vehicles by 2010, and Shell envisions building on the number of stations and having mass-market penetration between 2015 and 2025, he said.
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