Imagine little need for oil drilling or oil imports. Imagine no air pollution from cars.
Tom Sullivan does imagine that.
The idea of hydrogen fueling stations has been around for years - and there are some already out there, but Sullivan’s plan is different. In fact, he says it's revolutionary. It could make driving less expensive and change the world at the same time.
Sullivan made a fortune starting a company called Lumber Liquidators. Now he's betting his fortune -- some of it -- on a concept that manufactures the hydrogen right at the fueling station and eventually he believes right in your own home.
American drivers spend billions on gasoline this Memorial Day weekend. And most of it will go to foreign economies. As Sullivan sees it, it's the largest transfer of wealth in human history.
"I did have a chance to meet the president and talk about hydrogen," said Sullivan in his Palm Island mansion.
The wealthy businessman, owner of SunHydro, is building a string of hydrogen fueling stations like his first one in Connecticut, expected to be completed by mid-summer.
But unlike other hydrogen fueling stations they'll actually manufacture hydrogen on site using only water and solar power.
"Within a couple of years, you'll be able to drive from Maine to Florida only with sun and water," he said.
In the Gulf of Mexico there is one giant billboard for switching our economy to one based on hydrogen, said Sullivan.
"It's not going to happen overnight, but by the 10 to 20 years it'll take to clean up the gulf, we could make gasoline obsolete," he said.
Hydrogen cars may remain a novelty until hydrogen fueling stations are everywhere. So Sullivan's companies are working on what hydrogen experts say is the real answer: decentralizing the hydrogen industry, making the hydrogen on site at the fuel stations, and selling hydrogen manufacturing units for the home - again using only water and sun. Fill your tank in the morning as you head out. Most hydrogen cars can go 400 miles before re-filling.
The cost? "It's equal to about $3 a gallon," Sullivan said.
So why isn't it happening now? faster?
"Good question,” said Sullivan. “It's easier just to go to the pump and fill up. And the cost of the infrastructure is high. To me, it make so much sense, I don't know why it hasn't been done."
The concept is exciting to those yearning to phase out the petroleum-based economy.
"Yeah, it's pretty fun," Sullivan says in his understated tone.
So why hasn't hydrogen taken off? Experts say it’s largely because there has to be fueling stations before millions of drivers will buy hydrogen cars. But who wants to invest in all those fueling stations without the hydrogen cars on the road?
Sullivan, for one.
