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Hydrogen station to be built on Camp Pendleton

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Written by Pfc. Damien Gutierrez Scout Staff

Friday, 13 February 2009

A new, environmentally friendly hydrogen station for hydrogen-fueled vehicles is being developed for Camp Pendleton to comply with a presidential directive for federal installations mandating a certain percent reduction of petroleum-fuel consumption and an increase in the use of alternative-fueled vehicles.  This hydrogen station will be one of the stations on the California Hydrogen Highway. The new hydrogen station will be located in the Del Mar area of the base, said Cristina M. Ferrari, branch head, Air Quality Branch, Marine Corps Base. The hydrogen highway is a chain of hydrogen-equipped filling stations and infrastructures along a road or highway which allows hydrogen powered cars to travel. Camp Pendleton currently has three hydrogen-fueled vehicles, two General Motors Equinoxes and one Ford Escape hybrid. Camp Pendleton is also in the process of getting three more fleet vehicles that run off hydrogen within the next three months. The hydrogen station is scheduled to start dispensing fuel next week and is estimated to be fully operational by August or September of this year, said Gary W. Funk, regional fleet manager, Assistant Chief of Staff Logistics, Southwest Regional Fleet Transportation, Marine Corps Installations West. At this point, the hydrogen station is not scheduled to be open to the public, but there is discussion about opening it up for public use in the future, said Ferrari. “Hydrogen fuel is the cleanest thing out there,” said Ferrari. Some of Camp Pendleton’s fleet vehicles also use compressed natural gas and are capable of using ethanol as alternate fuel sources. Hydrogen fuel has numerous advantages over gasoline. It has zero tailpipe emissions, can be made from renewable energy sources such as solar power and wind, and powers vehicles quietly. Hydrogen fuel can be produced domestically from several sources, reducing our dependency on petroleum imports. Hydrogen also produces no air pollutants or greenhouse gases when used in fuel cells for hydrogen-run vehicles, according to www.fueleconomy.gov. The $1.4 million  hydrogen station is funded by the Department of Defense, through the Environment Security Technology Certification Program, Headquarters Marine Corps and Ztek Corporation. Ztek Corporation is a fuel-cell development and manufacturing company. A fuel cell is an electrochemical conversion device that produces electricity from fuel. For more information about the new hydrogen station, call the MCB Air Branch within the Environmental office at (760) 725-9756 or the SWRFT office at (760) 725-4946. Also for more information and questions about hydrogen fuel, visit www.eere.energy.gov.

 

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