Write your abstract here.
Hydrogen power
lights up the seas.
06 November 2007
The
Soviet
Union once powered lighthouses on its Arctic coast using
radioactive batteries, leaving its successors the problem of disposing
of the nuclear waste. Now a cleaner technology is being harnessed to
power lighthouses in remote places: fuel cells.
A consortium led by CPI
of Wilton, Teesside, UK, is using a fuel cell to power the South Gare
lighthouse at Redcar on England''s North Sea coast. It was previously
prone to power outages when the mains power cable was damaged by the
wind and heavy seas.
CPI
has proofed its fuel cell against the ravages of salty air and
seawater, and has developed a novel water-based cooling system for it,
too. CPI spokesman Graham Hillier told New Scientist the light is working reliably - and like its predecessor is visible from some 40 kilometres out at sea.