A design for hydrogen production and dispensing for northeastern United States, along with its infrastructural development timeline

•Using renewable energy sources as alternative fuel vehicles are inevitable.•Design gives priority to customer convenience with minimum additional investments.•Hydrogen produced from renewable and nuclear resources is a practical possibility.•Fueling locale by population, traffic density, legislations and growth pattern.•Hydrogen is produced using resources available in the Northeast United States.

Countries are trying to reduce their energy consumption, fossil fuel usage, and greenhouse gas emissions. Recent guidelines generated by various government agencies indicate an increase in the fuel economy, with a reduction in green house gases. The use of both alternative fuel vehicles and renewable energy sources is thus necessary toward achieving this goal. This paper proposes a hydrogen fueling infrastructure design for the Northeastern United States. The design provides an implementation plan for a period of 13 years (from 2013 to 2025). This design gives priority to customer convenience with minimum additional investments for its implementation. Extensive research has been conducted on generating a hydrogen supply from factories and other potential sources that can satisfy demand in the region. Markers (e.g. population density, traffic density, legislation, and growth pattern) have driven the process of demand estimation.