Lighting Up Operations with Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology

By Sunita Satyapal, Director, Fuel Cell Technologies Office

There are about 100,000 diesel-powered mobile lighting towers in the United States, illuminating everything from airport runways and construction sites to movie sets and award show red carpets. However, these towers emit carbon pollution and toxins that are unhealthy to breathe and damaging to the environment. In addition, users would rather not deal with the odors and noise of diesel-based equipment.

An Energy Department-supported plan is addressing these problems by designing, building, and testing a mobile lighting tower powered by hydrogen fuel cell technology, which is quiet and emits nothing but water while generating electricity.

The Energy Department, Boeing, Multiquip, Altergy Systems, and other private sector partners provided the initial backing for the hydrogen fuel cell mobile lighting tower (H2LT) technology, which was developed at Sandia National Laboratories. Instead of a traditional diesel-powered light tower, H2LT uses hydrogen gas (stored in the system), polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell technology, and energy efficient lamps to illuminate work areas while discharging little to no emissions. For the complete story, see the EERE Blog.

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