Toyota and Fuel Cell Energy have partnered to create a mini refinery to produce hydrogen for Class 8 fuel-cell trucks and electricity to run its port operations. The facility even produces clean water to wash Toyotas coming off the ships.The operation is expensive, in the tens of millions, but highly efficient.Such facilities could be built at sewage treatment plants and landfills to convert deadly methane into useable hydrogen fuel.Hydrogen certainly has its critics.
Position these refineries around the world on top of biogas sources like sewage treatment plants and landfills, and you essentially have a free supply of hydrogen, electricity, and pure water, while eliminating the harmful release of methane into the atmosphere. If they are coupled with local renewable energy sources like solar, wind, and tidal power, the benefits are even better.Toyota just opened one such plant in the Port of Long Beach, where it unloads its cars off its ships.