Peter Lehman
The big news for the Schatz Center this month is the official opening of the HSU hydrogen fueling station. As reported by Richard Engel in this issue, we had a joyous grand opening ceremony on a beautiful Humboldt County day. After almost two decades of installing hydrogen projects scattered all around the U.S., it has been especially rewarding for us to bring our technology home.
Support for our hydrogen work governments, transit agencies, and local citizens are all enthusiastic. We hope this will be the beginning of a hydrogen transportation infrastructure in Humboldt County and that we can serve as a role model for other regions.
Richard also reports on our highly successful UNPEPP interns who worked with Redwood National and State Parks to improve the energy efficiency of park headquarters in Crescent City. This is the sixth year we’ve had an UNPEPP program and the three undergraduate engineering students did a bang-up job researching and reporting on efficiency improvements.
Also in this issue, grad student Kristen Radecsky reports on her work with fellow student Peter Johnstone to research off-grid lighting in Kenya. Working with Professor Arne Jacobson, Kristen and Peter are trying to determine the extent to which very efficient LED lights can replace dirty and costly kerosene lighting. Such a change would have both health and global climate benefits. You’ll also find updates about our efforts to develop wind and hydropower for the Yurok Tribe and our ongoing gasification research.
As I write this, our presidential race is in full swing. Both candidates have taken serious and responsible positions on the need to address climate change and it seems that our nation is poised to finally take meaningful action. We look forward to working with the new administration to advance clean and renewable energy technologies.
