powered by hydrogen.

This bus, and a similar one, shuttles employees and visitors daily around the grounds of two

national laboratories in northern California: Lawrence Livermore and Sandia.

They're located across the street from each other in Livermore, about an hour east of

San Francisco.

The environmental advantages of hydrogen are crucial:

When hydrogen is used as a fuel in the internal combustion engine, the greenhouse gas emissions

are far lower than a conventional gasoline-powered vehicle.

The only emissions coming out of the tailpipe are water vapor and very low-levels of criteria

pollutants such as oxides of nitrogen; below super-ultra-low emission vehicle standards;

these are very clean vehicles for the environment.

It's all part of a Department of Energy initiative.

What we are trying to do is to get hydrogen vehicles and the refueling infrastructure

introduced to the public, so the public can become aware of the environmental and energy

security advantages of hydrogen as a transportation fuel.

Hydrogen buses like these, leased from Ford Motor Company -- are also highly fuel-efficient

-- up to 25-percent more efficient than their gasoline-fueled equivalents.

Here at Livermore, our buses, our taxis, cycle our site constantly, all day long and we're

putting hundreds of miles a week on these vehicles. We'll probably, in terms of mileage;

we're probably the most extensive project that's ongoing now in the DOE program.

And so the data that we will be gathering will be shared with the automobile manufacturers,

with Ford, and also with the hydrogen producer, in our case, it's Air Products, uh, is providing

a refueling site here at Livermore.

Refueling a hydrogen vehicle is far different than filling up a gasoline-powered car.

This is the Air Products refueling station, used by the Lab's two buses and a hydrogen-powered

Prius.

It's all computerized, but instead of gallons, units of hydrogen are measured in kilograms.

There are also safety procedures that need to be followed.

This is telling me now that I need to ground the trailer and the shuttle bus.

There's no gas cap to remove. Instead, there's a valve that must be opened.

What I need to do next is to release the red button here so that I can begin the fueling

process by releasing the solenoid. I press the red button.

The flashing light lets me know the solenoid has been released so the fuel can start to

be released to the vehicle.

OK, now I'm attaching the fueling nozzle to the refueling receptacle and locking it in

place [click] and the fueling process has begun.

Under the hood, you can't see much difference in a hydrogen-powered engine. These buses

have a 6.8-liter supercharged Triton V-10 engine, with just a few modifications, such

as alternate materials for valves and other parts that might become brittle when exposed to hydrogen.

The buses, and the two labs' other hydrogen technologies were introduced to the public

at a noontime ceremony in downtown Livermore.

As a national security lab, we think very broadly of national security, including energy

security, and this is really important, this hydrogen fuel, to energy security.

This can be produced using entirely domestic resources.

Using hydrogen technologies like these hydrogen buses is a great way to bring the technology

into the community and to provide outreach and education, especially on ways to reduce

our dependence on imported oil and reduce greenhouse gases and air pollution.

This project shows the firm commitment of Lawrence Livermore, Sandia, AirProducts, and

Ford to the advancement of clean energy technologies in their communities.

You're truly leaders in launching this green economy and behalf of DOE, I applaud you for your efforts.

It will obviously take many more years before alternative clean-energy vehicles outnumber

those powered by gasoline. But slowly, with many more scientific advances along the way,

it seems a sure bet that there will be hybrids, all-electric, and hydrogen in our nation's

future transportation system.