Government▼Watch Europe’s CUTE project for hydrogen-fuel-cell buses deemed a success Other achievements included operating 9 different hydrogen supply chains and refueling stations; safely refueling the buses nearly 9000 times; and maintaining a bus avail-
Almost half of the nearly 200 t of hydrogen used in Europe’s zero-emission buses was produced from renewable sources such as wind, biomass, and solar.
EUROPE AN COMMUNITIES / KE VIN DR AKE
Since mid-2003, 27 public buses powered by hydrogen fuel cells have traversed the roads of 9 European cities, from Amsterdam to Barcelona. The results, say European policy makers, have erased many doubts about the technology’s capacity to work under real-life conditions. The buses covered >1 million km and carried >4 million people, all the while producing zero emissions and causing no accidents, according to findings from the Clean Urban Transport for Europe (CUTE) project, which drew to a close in May. Close to 50% of the nearly 200 t of hydrogen used during the project was produced by “green” renewable energy sources. The electricity used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen came from wind, hydropower, biomass, and solar sources, according to a European Commission (EC) Directorate-General for Energy and Transport official, who requested anonymity because only commissioners can be quoted by name.
ability rate of >90%, which is close to that of conventional, diesel-powered buses. Overall, CUTE “vastly exceeded our expectations,” the EC official explains. Michael Jones, a hydrogen project
manager for BP International, one of CUTE’s industrial partners, agrees. Certain challenges need to be overcome before hydrogen-fuel-cell vehicles will be ready for commercialization. These include bringing down the weight of the fuel cell, increasing its efficiency, and lengthening its life. The EC plans to put 200 more hydrogen-powered vehicles on the road over the next 3 years, including buses, passenger cars, scooters, and other small vehicles for cargo delivery. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has a large hydrogen technology validation program, which got up and running last year for passenger cars. The 5-year project is testing fuel cells as well as hydrogen production cost, efficiency, and maintenance, says DOE’s Sigmund Gronich. So far, 59 vehicles have been deployed, operating from 9 hydrogen stations in 6 cities across the country. —KRIS CHRISTEN
Oilman tapped to head USGS A trained geologist, Mark Myers is an expert on North Slope sedimentary and petroleum geology. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Myers would be the first director of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in 50 years to come from neither academe nor within the agency. Myers has spent his career working as an exploration geologist for the oil and gas industry in Alaska. Environmental groups say that because of his background, he might be more likely to open up new areas to oil and gas drilling, including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Others, though, believe that Myers will be a proponent for research. Myers most recently served a dual role as head of Alaska’s geological survey and director of the oil and gas division of the state’s natural resources department. However, Myers and six other top Alaskan officials resigned from their posts last fall in protest over the concessions Gov. Frank Murkowski (R) made to oil companies during negotiations to build a natural-gas pipeline from Alaska’s North Slope. In his resignation letter, Myers wrote
© 2006 American Chemical Society
that “staying in this position would require me to compromise my values as to what is right, both legally and ethically, and what is in the interests of the state.” “A lot of people’s initial fears, [especially of those] who don’t know him, including myself, were allayed in that this might be somebody who will stick to the science,” says Craig Schiffries, the director of science policy for the National Council for Science and the Environment. “And if he were asked to misrepresent the science, he might act in a way similar to his resignation in Alaska.” Bob Swenson, the current acting director of Alaska’s geological survey, agrees. “Mark truly understands that good science begets good policy,” Swenson notes. Myers received his Ph.D. in geology in 1994 from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, where he specialized in sedimentology, clastic depositional environments, surface and subsurface sequence analysis, and sandstone petrography. He earned his B.S. and M.S. degrees in geology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. —KRIS CHRISTEN
AUGUST 1, 2006 / ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY ■ 4541
