Bianca Bartz
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 Zemship on the Alster Here’s a beauty of an eco-innovation from my hometown of Hamburg, Germany. I’ve floated the Alster waterways many times, and next time maybe I’ll be doing it on a hydrogen-run ferry. They are currently building the fuel-cell powered hybrid Zemship, which stands for Zero Emissions Ship. It will carry 100 passengers around the downtown water passages, an activity reflective of the environmental consciousness of Hamburgers. Germans are very protective of nature—they’ve already got a solar catamaran (seen in the gallery) on the Alster—so investing in innovations like the Zemship, which will reduce water pollution, is well worth it for citizens.
 The Zemship's advantages are zero air emissions (the hydrogen used for its two 50 kW fuel cells is derived from natural gas, so it is not emissions free in its life-cycle), a quiet engine and less water pollution to the Alster. Germany-based Proton Motor designed the hybrid battery/fuel cell system and purports that it is nearly twice as efficient as a conventional diesel-powered ferry - and definitely cleaner than the coal-fired steamer ferries originally running on the Alster.
Funded by the EU, the Zemship project includes the building of a dockside hydrogen station where the ferry will refill its pressurized tanks every two to three days. ATG also owns the solar-powered catamaran the Alstersonne. Hamburg is making a good-sized investment in hydrogen and fuel cell infrastructure, using a hydrogen-run Fiat Diablo at the Hamburg Airport with its own hydrogen pump, and running a small fleet of three hydrogen buses in the inner city as part of the HyFLEET project.
(treehugger)References: alstertouristik.de, treehugger Comment: on Fuel-Cell Hamburgers |
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