Missouri's first hydrogen fueling station is on the campus of Missouri University of Science and Technology. University students will generate this alternative energy and ideas that could eventually help drive the nation in a greener direction.

" We are going to help the United States, particularly the Department of Transportation, understand how to adopt hydrogen into transportation fuel," said Steve Tupper, a spokesman for Missouri S&T.

Instead of nearly $4-a-gallon gasoline, researchers say hydrogen only costs $3 a gallon and can go four times the distance.

"Hydrogen is a fuel that's part of the answer to the future," said Tupper.

Supporters say the benefits travel beyond cost to include a quieter ride and faster acceleration, not to mention cleaner air.

"Our job is to see how this all fits together on the infrastructure of the transportation system of the United States," said Tupper.

Missouri S&T believes it can show the United States the road to greater use of hydrogen.
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Edited news release from Missouri S&T:

ROLLA, Mo. -- Missouri’s first fueling station for hydrogen vehicles is at 900 Collegiate Blvd., off exit 185 of Interstate 44 and off White Columns Drive. This is also the future home for Missouri S&T’s EcoCAR Challenge Team,. That student design team will re-engineer a Saturn VUE over the next three years as part of “EcoCAR: The NeXt Challenge,” sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, General Motors, Natural Resources Canada and other organizations.

This is the latest facet of Missouri S&T’s “Show Me the Road to Hydrogen” project, a collaborative effort involving several federal agencies, the Missouri Transportation Institute and corporate partners. The shuttle service to Fort Leonard Wood is part of the Missouri S&T demonstration project, which has been running since July 31, 2007, when it took its first passengers from the Havener Center on the Missouri S&T campus to Hy Point Industrial Park east of Rolla.

Contributors to the Missouri S&T event at Rolla include the Defense Logistics Agency, the U.S. Department of Transportation Research Innovation and Technology Administration, Federal Transit Administration, the Missouri S&T National University Transportation Center, the U.S. Department of Energy, the Missouri Transportation Institute, Gas Technologies Institute, EmPower CES LLC, Collegiate Station, General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and Linde AG.

Sponsors for the E3 (E-cubed) Commons facilities, shuttle service and EcoCAR Challenge include Missouri S&T, the Defense Logistics Agency, the Federal Transit Administration and the Missouri S&T National University Transportation Center. Contributors include the U.S. Department of Transportation Research Innovation and Technology Administration, the U.S. Department of Energy, the Missouri Transportation Institute, Gas Technology Institute, EmPower CES LLC, General Motors and Ford Motor Co.

E3 (E-cubed) Commons is the name given for the site of several planned renewable energy, environmental and educational initiatives sponsored by Missouri S&T in collaboration with many governmental and industry partners. The university uses the equation “E3 = C” (or “E-cubed = C”) as shorthand for the slogan “energy, environment and education equals civilization.”