Fill 'Er up with Hydrogen...Iceland Opens World's First Public Filling Station to Fuel Hydrogen-Powered Cars and Buses

    NEW YORK--April 8, 2003--

    Ceremonies Planned at Shell station at Vesturlandsvegur in
    Reykjavik, Thursday, April 24, 10-12 Noon

    Hydrogen Conference Planned April 24-25 in Reykjavik

    For the first time anywhere in the world, a public gas station has been renovated to manufacture and dispense hydrogen fuel alongside gas and diesel.
    The facility, in Iceland's capital city of Reykjavik, plans opening ceremonies on April 24 from 10-12 noon. The filling station is located at Vesturlandsvegur, about four miles from the center of the city. Iceland is the first country to pledge the future of its society to this newly feasible source of energy.
    Icelandic New Energy Ltd.'s ECTOS project will be launched at an existing Shell retail station in Reykjavik, using Norsk Hydro electrolysis technology. Hydrogen for the project will be produced by electrolyzing water, using electricity generated from renewable energy. The goal of the company is to substitute fossil fuels with hydrogen (based fuels) and create the first hydrogen economy in the world.
    First to fill up will be a concept car from Mercedes brought to Iceland for this event. By late August, three hydrogen-powered city buses manufactured by DaimlerChrysler will also be fueled by compressed hydrogen. Initially the vehicles will be tested for two years in the streets of Reykjavik. Icelandic New Energy (INE) Limited, a holding company of Icelandic business interests, is the principal in a partnership with DaimlerChrysler, Norsk Hydro (an energy company), and Shell Hydrogen. (Ed. note: filling station photos available upon request via blumassoc@aol.com)
    The opening of the hydrogen filling station coincides with a Reykjavik conference on Apr. 24-25 titled, "Making Hydrogen Available to the Public." (For registration information, see www.newenergy.is). At the conference, speakers from Icelandic New Energy, Norsk Hydro, DaimlerChrysler and Shell, as well as specialists in renewable energy and fuels and new business opportunities in the hydrogen energy field, will discuss how this new energy source will be made available to the public in the near future.