Looking to the future: New hydrogen fueling station in Hereford created by “Hydrogen Bill”

AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - A local farmer in Hereford has created the first hydrogen fueling station that is known of in Texas and is hoping to create a better economy and environment in the years to come.

Within the past two weeks, creator of Panhandle Sustainable Energy also referred to as Hydrogen Bill, finished building his hydrogen fueling station, what is known to be the first of it’s kind here in Texas.

He then brought back a hydrogen-powered car from California, where they are typically sold and driven.

“Hydrogen Bill is an outstanding innovator, and he had a vision for 20 years how we can use it in place of gas and oil. That’s how it all started. Back in those days hydrogen was extremely expensive, but he had a vision that one day it would become cheap and we could produce it in mass,” said Joshua Partheepan, assistant professor of power systems engineering at West Texas A&M University.

These experts are even saying that using hydrogen fuel is better than gasoline in terms of expensive and effect on the environment.

“The price of it because of the efficiency of it, is equivalent to driving with gasoline, but you are getting far more mileage per kilogram, and it again has the same energy as one gallon of gasoline,” said Nick Parker, a partner in Panhandle Sustainable Energy.

“Now we can take pure water, rip it apart with electricity from the renewable resources and combine it in a fuel cell in these electric cars to give us now transportation without pollution without using a string based on a carbon-based formal,” said Ken Starcher, instructor of engineering and technology at West Texas A&M University.

Experts in this field are confident that fueling a car with hydrogen is just as safe as fueling one with gasoline

“People think of the Hindenburg when they think of hydrogen, but that was a large volume of hydrogen in a relatively low-pressure system. The containment here and the warning signs on the fueling stations, say that anyone can refuel this thing that could refuel a diesel or a gasoline car,” said Starcher.

“Hydrogen” Bill says he sees hydrogen cars being the future of transportation with fueling stations every 20 miles from Texas to California.

“In 20 years, everything is going to be hydrogen and Toyota. All the way from California down the highway down there with stations every 20 miles,” said Bill Paetzold, creator of Panhandle Sustainable Energy.

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