Iceland first to abandon oil-power
The island nation of Iceland, which has brought us Björk and Sigur Rós, was formed by volcanoes and to this day has huge boiling underground lakes heated by molten rock. Cities pipe the hot water and store it in giant tanks to heat homes and business. Now, the environmentally friendly country is the first to take the step of abandoning gasoline power in favor of hydrogen. In electric engines, electrodes split water into hydrogen and oxygen, as hydrogen electrons pass through a conductor they create a current of power. Hydrogen fuel is 2-3 times more expensive than gas, but also gets up to 3 times the mileage, all without carbon emissions (only water vapor). Capital Reykjavik is already testing three electric buses. Marie Maack of the Hydrogen Research Project believes that "If we make hydrogen and use that as a fuel for transportation then we can run the whole society on our own local renewable energy sources." Iceland hopes to be free of gasoline-powered cars by the middle of the century.
Iceland the First Country to Try Abandoning Gasoline, ABCNews.com