Mooresville business leaders hope a series of Public Radio spots will bring needed attention – and financial support – to efforts to promote hydrogen fuel cell technology.
Mooresville’s close ties to the technology are being trumpeted throughout the Charlotte region on Charlotte’s WFAE and Davidson’s WDAV.
The public broadcasting spots urge more regional participation in the Hydrogen Economy Advancement Team’s (HEAT) work with Appalachian State University to replace diesel railroad technology with greener hydrogen fuel cell hybrid – or “hydrail” -- trains.
The radio spots are the brainchild of HEAT, Alexander Zachary Jewelers and the Mooresville-South Iredell Chamber of Commerce.
Mooresville hydrail proponent Stan Thompson, Alexander Zachary owner and former mayor Bill Thunberg, and design engineer Jim Bowman began the Mooresville hydrail initiative in 2003 to attract Federal R&D funding for CATS’ north corridor (now the “Red Line”).
By 2005, UNC-Charlotte and Appalachian State were helping and the First International Hydrail Conference was held in Charlotte. Eventually the group formed HEAT.
Since 2005, the International Hydrail Conferences have been held every year but 2011, when it was suspended due to the economy.
Hydrail conferences have been held in the U.S., Denmark, Spain and, in 2010, Istanbul, Turkey. Last year’s event was funded by the United Nations and the Turkish National Railways.
Besides the hydrail conferences, Thompson has been invited to Canada, Belgium, England, France and Italy to make hydrail presentations. An invitation to China this year had to be turned down for lack of HEAT travel funds.
Thompson hopes the Public Radio spots, which will be aired through October, will generate financial support.
One consequence of Mooresville’s work with Appalachian State has been the creation of a Ph.D. program in hydrail at the ancient University of Pisa, Italy. Pisa University is where Galileo performed his famous experiments with gravity.
In 2012, the University of Birmingham in England will host the seventh International Hydrail Conference. The university, like Pisa’s, offers a Ph.D. in hydrail railroad technology.
Despite the international recognition of hydrail, Thompson said he is frustrated that the Mooresville chamber’s international environmental and energy leadership is still relatively unknown in Charlotte.
The federal government and agencies from Russia, Japan, Italy, South Korea, Denmark, Turkey, the European Union and the United Nations have presented at Mooresville-hosted hydrail conferences in Salisbury and Charlotte, but Thompson said the major Charlotte media outlets have paid little attention.
“Few towns the size of Mooresville have an international footprint this big on a subject this societally important,” Thompson said. “The US EPA has co-sponsored all three hydrail conferences held North Carolina.”
In contrast, said Thompson, public broadcasting has given Mooresville and hydrail “excellent coverage.” WUNC-TV’s news show, North Carolina Now, has twice interviewed Thunberg and Thompson about hydrail progress.
WFAE’s flagship program, Charlotte Talks, has done the same.
On a national scale, National Public Radio’s popular program, Science Friday, also did a show.
“When Catawba College (in Salisbury) hosted the 2007 Hydrail Conference, WFAE’s Scott Graf came to Salisbury and gave us excellent coverage,” said Thompson. “Our underwriting is partly a recognition of that.
“But after Mooresville threw our racing-based support behind (Charlotte’s) successful bid for the NASCAR Hall of Fame, we seemed to drop totally off their radar screen.
“Hopefully, Charlotte will come to recognize the importance of hydrogen technology and include hydrail as part of its ‘Energy Hub’ vision,” Thompson said.
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