Hydrogen Stations Going Co-op? Yeah, It Could Work.

Would owning 1/1000th of a Community Co-op Hydrogen Station be worth $2,000.00 to you? Greg Blencoe, CEO of Hydrogen Discoveries, Inc. thinks it would be, and he’s come up with an ingenious idea that might help “fuel” the hydrogen station infrastructure.

After corresponding with Greg, this is his plan as he related to me,

“How to build the hydrogen fueling infrastructure without the oil companies or the federal government.”

“The truth is,” says Greg, “that the car companies are very frustrated that neither the oil companies nor the federal government has stepped up to build the hydrogen fueling infrastructure. In order to break this logjam, I am proposing the following idea that would eliminate the need to depend on the oil companies or the federal government to get the hydrogen fueling infrastructure built.”

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Greg goes on to explain, “The idea is to get 1000 people that live reasonably close to each other to agree to buy a hydrogen car and finance a hydrogen fueling station that will be built close to where they live.  A figure that is often used for the cost of a hydrogen fueling station is $2 million.  This would translate to $2000 per person.

Each person would pay the extra $2000 when they purchase a hydrogen car.  And then they would own 1/1000th of the hydrogen fueling station which would be a cooperative.

The hydrogen fueling station could be run by members of the cooperative or the operation of the facility could be outsourced.  Just like with gas stations today, this cost would be covered by money made from fuel and convenience store sales.

Once the hydrogen fueling station is up and running, the people who paid the $2000 and own part of it would get a “Member” fuel price.  Any other people who buy hydrogen cars after them (and did not pay $2000 for the hydrogen fueling station) would have to pay a “Non-member” fuel price which might be something like $1 more per kilogram of hydrogen (e.g. $7 instead of $6).

Any profits from the hydrogen fueling station could be paid back to the 1000 owners every quarter or year in the form of dividend checks.  And eventually the hydrogen fueling station could be sold and each person would receive 1/1000th of that amount.  Therefore, each person would make back part or perhaps even all of the $2000 initial investment over time.

One of the amazing things is that this could pretty much be done anywhere there are 1000 people who live pretty close to each other who want to do this.

Hydrogen fueling station cooperatives could be done without any help from the oil companies or the federal government.  They would be a true grassroots effort that could totally reshape the energy power structure.”

As with any new technology, it’s success usually depends on who can get it to market first. Once a technology makes it to market, it is often very difficult to knock it off it’s winners block and replace it with an even cheaper or better competitor.

The question has to be asked, “With all of the competing alternate fuel technologies trying to break into the market place, who will be the winners and who will be the losers?”

Well hopefully, guys like Greg will keep putting the idea’s on the street, until we come out with a clear winner that we can all get behind.

Photo: LingualX via Creative Commons License

Source: Greg Blencoe, CEO of Hydrogen Discoveries, Inc.

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