REYKJAVIK — At first glance, the red ship hardly looks like a
herald of the future. Even its owner admits the hull needs a coat of paint and
the interior some spit and polish.
But in a few weeks, the Elding – Icelandic for "Lightning" –
will be transformed into the world’s first hydrogen-equipped commercial vessel,
the latest sign that Iceland is pushing hard to become the first nation to break
free from the constraints of fossil fuel.
Come April, visitors to Europe’s northernmost capital will
get a taste of that future by taking whale-watching tours aboard the ship, or
renting one of the world’s first hydrogen-powered hire cars.
The conversion of the Elding to hydrogen power will initially
be confined to the use of a fuel cell to power the engine that runs its
lighting, but for 43 euros ($62.26) a trip, the ship will offer whale-watchers
unprecedented peace.
When the crew spot whales at sea, they shut down the main
engines to let people hear the mammals swim and blow water – an experience owner
Vignir Sigursveinsson said had been marred in the past by the rumble of a diesel
auxiliary engine below.
"When we have the hydrogen machine, the boat will be
completely soundless, which will make the experience of seeing the whales in
their natural habitat even more magical," Sigursveinsson told Reuters.
Besides appealing to tourists seeking greener travel, the
155-passenger ship will take Iceland a step closer to its goal of converting its
entire transport system to hydrogen by 2050.
Jon Bjorn Skulason, head of Icelandic New Energy, the venture
between companies, academia and the government shepherding the process, said the
ship would help show whether the fuel could work at sea: essential if Iceland
wants to convert its fishing fleet, one of the world’s largest.
"We think, with the testing we’re doing over the next two or
three years, our society will be quite well prepared to accept this technology
on a larger scale," Skulason said.
Icelanders seem ready to embrace hydrogen as a fuel. Skulason
cited one survey that showed 93-percent public acceptance, a fact that he
attributed to the relatively few negative associations the gas has for
Icelanders.
In Japan, it is sometimes linked in the public consciousness
to atomic bombs, while for some in the United States it recalls the 1937
Hindenburg airship disaster.
With limited global supplies of oil and gas and mounting
worries about greenhouse gas emissions, the race to find an ideal green
transportation fuel is gaining urgency.
Since hydrogen can be made from plain water and produces only
electricity and water vapor when burned, its backers see it as a prime
candidate.
But producing it from water takes electricity: according to
2005 data from the International Energy Agency, 67 percent of the world’s
electric power still comes from non-renewable sources such as coal, gas and
other fossil fuels.
Two-thirds of electricity in volcanic Iceland is already
derived from renewable sources – its plentiful rivers and waterfalls and the
geothermal heat that boils beneath its crust.
This has allowed the country to break new ground in hydrogen
testing, with the world’s first commercial hydrogen refueling station in 2003
and the first hydrogen-powered rental cars last year.
"It has a very exotic energy system where hydrogen could make
sense," said Dolf Gielen, senior energy analyst at the International Energy
Agency’s Energy Technology Office.
The North Atlantic country with a population of just 300,000
is in big-league company in testing the scope for hydrogen.
Countries including the United States, Japan, Canada, Germany
and France are also exploring the fuel, but Iceland leads many with its progress
on dry land.
The hydrogen filling station, at first reserved for three
buses in a European Union-backed pilot, opened to cars late last year and will
fill the fuel tanks of the Elding.
Now one of dozens in the world, the station looks similar to
its petrol-dispensing counterpart, but is instead hooked up to water, and power
to separate the water into its components, hydrogen and oxygen.
The oxygen is dispersed, while the hydrogen is compressed for
piping directly into vehicles.
Skulason said hydrogen was safe when treated with respect,
but people would need to learn its peculiarities.
"Not long ago you could see people smoking when they were
refueling cars," he said, adding that now drivers know to treat gasoline with
respect.
"We’re not saying hydrogen is more or less dangerous than
gasoline. It’s just a different thing."
The station’s expansion coincided with the November arrival
in Reykjavik of 10 specially adapted Toyota Priuses. The cars, which charge
their batteries with internal combustion engines that burn hydrogen instead of
petrol, joined a Daimler Chrysler fuel-cell car imported in mid-2007.
Seven went to Icelandic companies for testing in their
corporate fleets, while three went to the rental company Hertz, which now offers
hydrogen-fuelled rentals.
Skulason expects to see up to 20 hydrogen-powered cars on the
road by year-end and twice that after 2-1/2 years. By 2030 or 2035, he believes
most of Iceland’s vehicles could be hydrogen-fuelled, although this depends on
the arrival of affordable models.
So far, he said, customer feedback had been positive.
Margret Lindal Steinthorsdottir, marketing manager of Hertz
in Iceland, said she has had queries about the rentals from all over the world,
although few have led to bookings so far.
"But we remain optimistic. The weather has been awful, the
tourist season has not begun and the cars are expensive to rent," she said.
Skulason said Icelandic New Energy made a forecast seven
years ago for how long it would take Iceland to convert fully.
"We’re maybe somewhere between 12 and 18 months behind
schedule. So if you think about a 50-year timeframe, that’s very little," he
said.
Full conversion will take time. It will need changes to infrastructure,
affordable hydrogen cars – now as much as five times as expensive as
conventional ones – and, in Iceland’s case, a viable shipping technology.
