look at this

Ok, its a start.... But then again, unless the energy cycle gets better (vs petroleum), It will be a niche fuel.

Okay, this is my first time I have seen a Hydrogen Fueling station. This was my first thought: WOW, look at all that crap to run one little hose. Might work for municipal or fleet but looks like it has a loooong way to go before it is on every street corner.

I think there was supposed to be one in Westchester county, north of NYC, but a child daycare nearby objected. Shell and GM are opening several others too.

Joseph,
Just wait and see. If Calif. CARB decides that this going to work out well, then there may will be a mandate similar to the ZEV mandate of the 90's, specifying an x % of car to be sold in Calif. have to run on H2...and then, other metropolitan areas may decide follow suit, and H2 filling stations will spring up like mushrooms.

They are 'anticipating' improvements in electrolyzer efficiency. Well I,m anticipating improvements in Tesla coils to power my electric car. We'll see which happens first if at all.

This is just a demo unit realy.They already built far more productive stations that can handle 400 cars a day. As for improving the electrolizer eff.. they already have done that several times and recent improvements should be rather interesting. They found a way to use a catalyst to get the temp needed for high temp production down toa level more mass produced cheaper parts can be used in the system AND much more normal industrial processes can be used to provide the heat.

Wind power and hydrogen fuel generation are not correlated. The idea of running one only when running the other, when both are connected to the grid, is asinine. They are two separate systems, and run most efficiently when they have nothing to do with each other.

The wind generation should be putting energy into the system whenever possible. Either it's useful and thereby resulting in less oil, coal, or natural gas burned -- or it's not, in which case there's no gain and no loss.

The hydrogen should be running on nights and weekends, when demand is lowest. The most efficient power generation is used first, and successively less efficient means of generating electricity next. So, by running the generation at nights and weekends when demand is lower, it's serving to level out the curves and use energy most efficiently. By running when the wind power is being generated, it's not helping to smooth the curve -- and therefore not optimizing on reducing pollution, fuel usage, and cost.

Allen:

Although a regular gas station may look simple, there is alot more infrastructure (oil rigs, tankers, etc.) and effort required to get oil from the ground to your gas tank than there is in that local hydrogen fueling station. (never mind all the people that had to die in order to get that fuel from the ground to your gas tank) That hydrogen fueling station is leaps and bounds more responsible/ethical and less complex than any regular gas station.