Hydrogen power is key to Iceland's oil-free goal; nation has set 2050 deadline

• Hydrogen, tested in buses from Amsterdam to Vancouver and used in the rockets of the U.S. space shuttle, is a clean power that promises to break dependence on oil and gas--at least in Iceland.
• "Sometimes I have to explain to passengers that it's just water vapor," the driver said of white clouds trailing after his bus along the streets of the capital, Reykjavik.
• "When it's very cold there's a lot of white steam."
• With almost unlimited geothermal energy sizzling beneath its surface, Iceland has an official goal of making the country oil-free by shifting cars, buses, trucks and ships over to hydrogen by about 2050.
• By then, in theory, the only oil used on the volcanic North Atlantic island will be in planes visiting Reykjavik airport.
• Other countries, such as the United States, where President Bush is a strong backer of hydrogen, face a far tougher path.
• Hydrogen's big drawback is that it is very expensive to produce--either by splitting water into its components of hydrogen and oxygen or by separating hydrogen from natural gas or methane.
• With current technology, burning oil to make hydrogen to run a bus produces more pollution than simply running the bus on oil.
• Car makers from Tokyo to Detroit have visited Iceland's hydrogen projects to discuss fuel cell design, Arnason said.
• The world's first hydrogen filling station, run by Shell, opened in Reykjavik in April 2003.
• Bush, for instance, wants to break reliance on Middle Eastern oil supplies as part of a wider quest for national security with a $1.2 billion scheme to promote hydrogen.