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Tavish all for hydrogen |
| 22 June 2006 MSP Tavish Scott turned heads on his way to work yesterday morning (Wednesday) when he chose an unusual mode of transport to travel there. In order to help to demonstrate the benefits of the hydrogen fuel cell operated car developed by the Unst based PURE project, the Scottish transport minister and Shetland MSP used the car to travel to Bute House for the morning’s meeting of the Scottish Cabinet. Mr Scott, accompanied by Sandy Macaulay of the PURE project, drove the car through Edinburgh’s rush hour traffic to Bute House, where the car attracted considerable interest from fellow ministers, including both environment and enterprise ministers. He said: “Driving the car through the morning traffic, surrounded by cars pumping out carbon dioxide and other pollutants, while sitting in a car pumping out nothing more than water vapour, really brought home to me the potential benefits of this technology. “The emissions from petrol and diesel vehicles make up not far off a quarter of Scotland’s carbon dioxide emissions and are a major cause of air quality problems in cities. “A shift to hydrogen vehicles, with the hydrogen generated using electricity from renewable sources, would be a major step forward for the environment. It would not only cut local pollution but it would also make a major contribution to tackling climate change.” He said the work carried out in Unst by PURE has given Scotland a place at the forefront of this technology, and an opportunity to lead the way as the technology is rolled out for general use. “I was pleased that I was able to show my fellow ministers the car and to let them see for themselves that the technology is ready to move on from the prototype stage. “I think it can have left them in no doubt that the Scottish Executive’s contribution to the funding for the PURE project has been very well spent.” |
