Only logged in members can reply and interact with the post.
Join SimilarWorlds for FREE »

I Appreciate Planet Earth

[The U.S. should have these trains.]

Germany unveils zero-emissions train that only emits steam
The world's first 'hydrail' can travel almost 500 miles per day at speeds of up to 87mph.

Tom Emburyd Denis, Independent, 1 November 2016


Germany is set to introduce the world’s first zero-emission passenger train to be powered by hydrogen.

The Coradia iLint only emits excess steam into the atmosphere, and provides an alternative to the country’s 4,000 diesel trains.

Lower Saxony has already ordered 14 of them from French company Alstom, and more are likely to be seen around the country if they are judged a success, reports Die Welt.

The iLint is powered by huge lithium ion batteries, and these get their energy from a hydrogen fuel tank on the roof of the train.

The hydrail can travel almost 500 miles per day at speeds of up to 87mph, and the only sound it gives off comes from the wheels and air resistance.

“Alstom is proud to launch a breakthrough innovation in the field of clean transportation," said Alstom CEO Henri Poupart-Lafarge, in a statement.

"It shows our ability to work in close collaboration with our customers and develop a train in only two years.”

Hydrogen power works when hydrogen is burned with oxygen to produce huge amounts of energy, with the only by-product being water.

NASA has used liquid hydrogen to propel its rockets into space since the 1970s.
I pollute the earth whenever I get a chance
This comment is hidden. Show Comment
This comment is hidden. Show Comment
ArishMell · 70-79, M
@IstillmissEP Ah, I see! Thank you!

My thought was that without water-vapour we'd have no precipitation, so all the land would be barren deserts.

Another natural factor kept quiet about, is that of still emerging from the last glaciation, so I don't know how much that has been accounted for. Everyone talks - or shouts - "climate change" and how we should stop or reverse it, but no-one says what the state of the climate should be!
This comment is hidden. Show Comment
Jackaloftheazuresand · 26-30, M
and nobody was scared of the hydrogen? Now that's surprising
ArishMell · 70-79, M
@Jackaloftheazuresand Not surprising at all.

Why should they be scared, unless perhaps as a result of their own ignorance of anything technical?

Hydrogen is powerfully flammable, so systems handling it are designed to be as safe as possible. This train would be deigned, built, maintained and refuelled in properly-designed facilities, by trained personnel working under modern, strict health and safety regimes.

Mains gas is also powerfully flammable. Yet we, of whom most have never been trained in handling flammable gases, are allowed to use gas cookers at home, with naked flames; and often with little or no servicing of the appliance.*

Petrol is also very flammable, and vapourises dangerously at modest temperatures; but even though most of us have never worked in an oil-refinery or a garage, we are all allowed to refuel our cars in public, at self-service pumps, irrespective of the vehicle's condition or our expertise.

Do you see many people too terrified of the gas or petrol to boil an egg or refuel their car?

+++

+I should add that in the UK, and probably other countries, it is illegal for mains gas fittings and appliances to be installed, modified or maintained other than by accredited personnel.
Jackaloftheazuresand · 26-30, M
@ArishMell That's because we've become accustomed to those fuels, here's why it's surprising. I was excited to read about hydrogen cars a long time ago but people were freaking out because they were worried about them getting in wrecks and blowing up and all sorts of disasters. This same phenomenon I witnessed in a written assignment where my peers said they would rather live near a coal facility than a nuclear one because they were afraid of radiation and meltdowns.

 
Post Comment