{"id":171243,"date":"2025-01-30T07:14:57","date_gmt":"2025-01-29T21:14:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.railexpress.com.au\/?p=118411"},"modified":"2025-01-30T07:14:57","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T21:14:57","slug":"trialling-clean-energy-for-a-net-zero-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=171243","title":{"rendered":"Trialling clean energy for a net-zero future"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.railexpress.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/HYDI-article.jpg\" alt=\"\" style=\"float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;\"><figcaption>Image\/METRONET<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>The construction industry is working towards reducing its reliance on fossil fuels as part of global efforts to reach net-zero emissions. A key step towards this is cutting back on using traditional diesel.<\/strong><span id=\"more-118411\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>One solution being trialled by the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.metronet.wa.gov.au\/projects\/byford-extension\"  rel=\"noopener\">METRONET Byford Rail Extension Project<\/a>\u00a0is a HYDI unit that can be retrofitted to existing diesel equipment to produce hydrogen on demand for engines, with a lifecycle of around 20 years.<\/p>\n<p>Developed by South Australian hydrogen technology company HYDI, the compact, self-contained unit uses proton exchange membrane cells to produce hydrogen from distilled water without any additional chemicals.<\/p>\n<p>The big win for sustainability &#8211; hydrogen has around three times more energy value than diesel and produces fewer pollutants when burned.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Trial details<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A HYDI unit was installed on a CAT 962 loader.<\/li>\n<li>Before the unit was installed the loader used 8.18 litres of diesel per hour. After installation, fuel consumption improved to 6.56 litres per hour &#8211; a 19 per cent increase in fuel efficiency.<\/li>\n<li>Over 130 hours, the unit saved approximately 210.6 litres of diesel and used only 3.5 litres of distilled water.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What\u2019s next?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The HYDI unit will be tested on more equipment to confirm its benefits. The project team is aiming for a minimum of 10 per cent improvement in fuel efficiency across various equipment.<\/li>\n<li>Data will be tracked monthly and results will be shared with the industry to encourage adoption of this technology.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Overall benefits of the HYDI unit<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Reduces diesel use by 10 to 20 per cent, cutting greenhouse gas emissions.<\/li>\n<li>Lowers exposure to diesel fumes, reducing the risk of asthma, headaches and lung irritation for workers and nearby communities.<\/li>\n<li>Supports government carbon reduction goals<\/li>\n<li>Encourages innovation and creates demand for new technologies and is helping industries that are hard-to-electrify sectors transition to net zero.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The HYDI unit trial aligns with the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.metronet.wa.gov.au\/Portals\/31\/Project%20Documents\/Strategies\/Sustainability\/Sustainability%20Strategy.pdf\"  rel=\"noopener\">METRONET Sustainability Strategy<\/a> to identify and implement practical ways to reduce the carbon footprint of METRONET projects.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.railexpress.com.au\/trialling-clean-energy-for-a-net-zero-future\/\">Trialling clean energy for a net-zero future<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.railexpress.com.au\/\">Rail Express<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.railexpress.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/HYDI-article.jpg\" alt=\"\"><figcaption>Image\/METRONET<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The construction industry is working towards reducing its reliance on fossil fuels as part of global efforts to reach net-zero \u2026 <\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.railexpress.com.au\/trialling-clean-energy-for-a-net-zero-future\/\">Trialling clean energy for a net-zero future<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.railexpress.com.au\/\">Rail Express<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":1,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10518,163,801],"tags":[10376],"class_list":["post-171243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environment-and-sustainability","category-rail-industry-news-australia-new-zealand","category-sustainability","tag-rail-express"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=171243"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":171244,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171243\/revisions\/171244"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=171243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=171243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=171243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}