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NIVERSITY IMES
Jan. 26, 2015
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ENFRENTAMIENTOS BÉLICOS EN UCRANIA
C A L I F O R N I A S T A T E U N I V E R S I T Y, L O S A N G E L E S
Cal State L.A. becomes the first to sell hydrogen fuel to public. Angeline Bernabe
GOLDEN EAGLE RADIO GEARS UP FOR A EXCITING YEAR
It’s official! The Governor’s office recently gave Cal State L.A. the green light to sell hydrogen fuel to the public. Located near the Engineering, Computer Science, and Technology building, the oncampus hydrogen station, will now be the first site to sell hydrogen fuel in California.
REMEMBERING AUDREY HEPBURN PG 3
CYBER TOOLS TO HELP YOU IN SCHOOL PG 2
momentum PG 2 60s Fashion makes a comeback PG 4
HERE IS SOME HELP ON EATING HEALTHY ON A STUDENT BUDGET PG 7
Issue 208.4
The Hydrogen Station is Open for Business
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www.csulauniversitytimes.com
Staff Reporter
Until recently, a proper meter system was unavailable which allowed owners of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles to dispense hydrogen for free at any location where a hydrogen station exists. The hydrogen station on campus was originally used as a site to dispense hydrogen for presentation purposes and was only available to those who had a code—as was seen last November when a team of people were fueling an Audi and Volkswagen for the L.A. Auto Show and the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Association Conference in the same month. Now, with a working meter system and the ability to produce hydrogen onsite at Cal State L.A., the university joins in on the commercialization of making hydrogen fuel a common asset in today’s automotive world. Owners of these hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles that want to use the station just need a credit card to make a purchase. For those that need a review of what hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles are, they are cars that power on an electric motor. These vehicles generate electricity through the use of oxygen and air to power the motor. So, in more or less fancier words, a fuel cell vehicle is essentially a type of electric car that is both eco-friendly and the key to the future of the automotive industry. However, don’t mistake the use of the hydrogen
Photo | Timmy Truong station with the smaller electric vehicle charging stations that are located around campus and were installed over the summer. Today, almost every car company produces electric vehicles. Green Car Reports say on average, an electric car can cost up to $40,000 from brands like Ford, Chevrolet, and Honda; and up to almost $95,000 from high-end companies like Tesla. For fuelcell vehicles, a Los Angeles Times article by reporter, Charles Fleming, states that a Tesla Model can range from $72,000 - $100,000. Just recently, Toyota hopped on the bandwagon and launched their own line of fuel-cell vehicles that will not run cheap (roughly $68,000).
for now. Electric vehicles are quiet, are high in efficiency-so, easy to maintain, and provide benefits of improving the environment’s air quality. Now, who wouldn’t want that? Although these vehicles are expensive, the idea of some carmakers giving hydrogen fuel away for free does sound enticing. That is, until more meters appear at those locations. In the meantime however, until cars do fly, Golden Eagles can say we’re attending a university concerned with the development of future vehicles. While that’s all good, investing in such a project is risky. With the hydrogen station being the first of it’s kind to charge people for its usage, the on-campus
site will be open to the public, which means that anyone with a fuel-cell vehicle can use the station. Which, depending on how many people own a fuel-cell vehicle, can impact the amount of traffic coming through campus. If many will own a fuelcell vehicle in the future and the station will continue to be open, the cars can pose a major problem because it will still cause traffic on campus, and a plethora of other things like parking, safety, and more. Nevertheless, despite the problems the station entails now, the public will still be able to purchase hydrogen to fuel their fuel-cell vehicles starting this month by the kilogram.
Pricey, right? So why invest in such an expensive vehicle when gas prices fluctuate on the daily, there are limited hydrogen stations around a city like Los Angeles (the other prominent location being at the Shell Gas Station on Santa Monica Boulevard), and re-fueling an electric vehicle can take up long hours? Perhaps the answer is all in the idea of how these vehicles can help transform the way we think of the future, and how we imagine cars of the future to be like. Maybe less in the idea of cars flying, and maybe more so in quality of the vehicle
Vanessa Grau and Vice President Joe Biden pictured above from a luncheon on Friday, January 23rd. Vanessa Grau, CSU statewide coordinator for student activities, met with Vice-president Joe Biden in Los Angeles to discuss the large impact the Affordable Care Act and Covered California have had in improving students lives.