Ausdruck der Seite: Aktuell > Archive > 2009 > REMONDIS aktuell (03/2009) > News > New energy for road traffic
Limiting climate change
New energy for road traffic
VERA generates climate-friendly electricity and district heat from sewage sludge and sewage gas for Germany’s second-largest city.
REMONDIS subsidiary VERA refuels hydrogen buses in Hamburg
The go-ahead has been given: hydrogen is establishing itself as the energy source of the future at an ever faster rate. Hamburg is the forerunner in Germany. By extending its H2 infrastructures, the city is helping to preserve the world’s scarce oil reserves and, at the same time, reduce climate-damaging CO2 emissions and fine dust pollution.
One of the top German addresses for vehicles run on hydrogen is Hamburg-Hummelsbüttel. It was here that VERA took over the operation of an H2 filling station. Fuel cell buses owned by the Hamburger Hochbahn AG travel here to refuel. The hydrogen needed for the buses is produced directly at the filling station – and it is completely emission-free and regenerative. The electrolysis needed to do this works exclusively using green-accredited electricity generated by renewable energy.
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The fuel cells are on the roofs of the buses. They transform the hydrogen into energy.Comprehensive know-how
VERA – an abbreviation of ‘Verwertungsanlage für Rückstände aus der Abwasserbehandlung’ (recycling plant for residue from wastewater treatment) – is a joint venture owned by REMONDIS Aqua, the energy provider, Vattenfall, and the company, Hamburger Stadtentwässerung. Being a public private partnership business, VERA uses residual waste from the town’s sewage treatment plant to generate biogas, steam and electricity. “Our expertise in the area of alternative energy concepts was a big point in our favour when we were commissioned to run the filling station,” commented VERA managing director, Thomas Ronge-Leiding.
The City’s ambitious targets
Hydrogen-powered buses have been used in Hamburg for six years now. This emission-free form of transport has meant that CO2 emissions have dropped by several hundred tonnes.
As a result of its positive experiences, Hamburg is now intending to considerably extend its H2 infrastructures. It is planning, among other things, to set up further hydrogen filling stations which cars should also be able to use. These future-oriented plans underline the town’s ecological leaning which will be able to call itself the European Green Capital from 2011.
“The best way for those who wish to see what the mobility of the future looks like is to travel to Hamburg.”
HZwei-Magazin