This year, visitors to San Francisco can travel between two popular waterfront destinations on a free ferry powered by hydrogen.
The boat is equipped with fuel cells. They convert hydrogen and oxygen into electricity – which powers the vessel – and water that passengers can drink.
Murphy: “It’s fun to see them line up at the water fountain to experience it firsthand.”
Seamus Murphy of the San Francisco Bay ferry system says most ferries in the U.S. are powered with climate-polluting diesel fuel.
Battery electric ferries provide a cleaner option – and his agency has committed to buying five.
Murphy: “But when it comes to longer distance routes, battery electric technology has just not advanced to the point where those batteries are light enough to be able to accomplish the speeds that our vessels need to travel at for a long period of time.”
Hydrogen fuel cell technology can fill this need.
It’s not as climate-friendly as Murphy hopes it will be in the future. Currently, most hydrogen is produced using fossil fuels, and so-called ‘green hydrogen,’ that’s made with clean energy, is hard to obtain.
But Murphy expects the supply chain to grow if demand increases. So he hopes the new ferry helps get people excited about the potential of hydrogen.
Reporting credit: Sarah Kennedy / ChavoBart Digital Media
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