Iceland uses existing renewable power sources to create a hydrogen economy

The Iceland New Energy (INE) consortium is working with Daimler-Chrysler, Norsk Hydro and Shell to start running busses on hydrogen, before using the technology to move cars and, finally, Iceland's fishing fleet. The plan is to move Iceland completely over to hydrogen power in 40 years and, hopefully, supply the hydrogen necessary for other countries' power needs.

• Nearly 30 years ago, Iceland was looking for ways to reduce its reliance on imported fossil fuels and replace them with local, renewable sources-geothermal and hydroelectric power.
• From his study of Iceland's hot-water reserves, Arnason realized that the country was planning to tap only a small fraction of the energy resources that lay hidden beneath its volcanic surface.
• That convinced him that Iceland could become the first nation in the world to power its economy entirely with what is now widely seen as the energy of the future: hydrogen.
• Several multinational corporations, familiar with his ideas and attracted by the notion of using Iceland's natural energy resources to produce hydrogen from water (rather than extracting it from a hydrogen-rich fuel such as liquefied natural gas or methanol), approached the Icelandic government to express their interest in implementing a national hydrogen plan.
• In 1999, three of those corporations-Shell, Daimler-Chrysler, and the energy and metals company Norsk Hydro-joined forces with the Icelandic government, universities, research institutions, and business leaders under the banner of Icelandic New Energy (INE), a "cooperation platform" whose goal was to power the country's transportation system and fishing fleet entirely with hydrogen.
• Each company has made its own particular contribution to the project: Daimler-Chrysler has provided buses for the pilot phase, as it has for nine cities elsewhere in Europe; Norsk Hydro has the know-how for producing hydrogen; and Shell offers its long experience in delivering fuel to the public.
• The three corporations do not control the INE agenda, however; Icelandic stakeholders deliberately reserved for themselves a 51 percent majority of votes.
• The corporations take a similarly long-term approach: "We have been in the energy business for 100 years," says de Koning.
• Buses are the first step; after that come cars, and finally the country's fishing fleet.
• The only significant challenge to date occurred when a pipe in the Reykjavik filling station ruptured, leading to a minor redesign.