“Hydrogen”. Hearing this word - what comes to your mind?
Even in my not so technical minded brain first associations popping up are: New. Clean. Car.
The combination of it: the Hydrogen 7. A vehicle I or most of the mobile population are not yet able to drive - even if we agree with the concept. That’s at least what I thought. Until recently when I found out that I already had: in a different version though but nonetheless… I drove in a hydrogen run vehicle, not a BMW but sponsored and developed by the BMW group.

How so?
Starting in August 2005 two hydrogen-powered passenger buses were running at Munich airport. They were part of H2 argemuc, a hydrogen pilot project launched in 1997. In cooperation with the Bavarian State Ministry for Economics, Infrastructure, Transport and Technology and a group of technology leaders (among others the BMW Group and the Linde Group) the Airport Munich GmbH aimed for an ambitious goal: trying to reach a milestone in the use of gaseous and liquid hydrogen in the mobility sector, proving the technology’s suitability in everyday use on a wide scale.

Running passenger cars, buses and forklift trucks on hydrogen, the project crowned itself by operating the world’s first public hydrogen filling station - demonstrating a reliable supply of energy for hydrogen-powered vehicles. Coming to a (wanted and planned) end in December 2006, the success of the H2 argemuc project represents an important step from the prototype stage towards market maturity. Thterefore, the future outlook for is more than promising.
The technology is ready - just has to be applied. A steady stream of visitors at the filling station (15 000 over the last years) shows public interest and acceptance. With the hydrogen project at the Munich airport not only the State of Bavaria has proven once more to be one of the most progressive German states in the field of clean energy but also the airport presents itself to be amongst the most innovative and modern. Rainer Hörl, leader of the department servicefield energy, water and waste management, explains that environmental protection and sustainable innovation are highly stressed in their official guidelines and employed practically wherever possible.
Since 2003 one of the terminals in Munich carries the largest solar power system ever built on an airport. The next coup will be to run the fleet of ground buses on canola oil.

So what’s the outcome?
First, there is more innovation and especially practical application going on in the field of clean energy than most of us realize. If I took a hydrogen bus without noticing it you might have as well.
Second, big companies need to take a stance and offer a platform for experiments to speed up the process of growing out of the prototype stage. Therefore: two thumbs up for the free thinkers at Munich Airport – keep going!Fotos: Munich Airport