Fuel-cell advocate has hydrogen hopes

Oregonian pushes for wider use of debated alternative energy source

By Toby Van Fleet

Pamplin Media Group, Jan 8, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (6 Reader comments)

L.E. BASKOW / PAMPLIN MEDIA GROUP

Geoffrey Holland, the co-author of a primer on hydrogen technology, says it wouldn’t cost that much for Oregon to begin developing hydrogen filling stations, starting with one or two in the Portland area. More people are talking about West Coast “hydrogen highways” that could enable fuel-cell-powered cars to travel from British Columbia to Southern California.

ADVERTISEMENTS

Geoffrey Holland, in Portland for the day from his home in Salem, pulls into the parking lot at Grand Central Bakery on North Fremont Street in a silver 2006 Honda Civic that he bought brand-new.

“If I could have a fuel-cell car, I’d buy one in a heartbeat,” he says.

It’s a conviction based on years of study. At 60, the writer and documentary filmmaker has inserted himself into the wide, ongoing discussion about renewable energy.

But he’s not on the biofuels bandwagon that’s picking up riders all over our petroleum- and coal-powered state, or busting solar-power myths, or throwing capital at wind turbines in Eastern Oregon.

Holland is talking about hydrogen.

“This is not some figment of the imagination,” Holland says between bites of an oatmeal raisin cookie and sips of Earl Grey tea. “This is real.”

Despite an ebbing and flowing debate about feasibility, Holland believes that hydrogen technology, fueled by renewable energy like solar and wind power, can provide energy independence and a cleaner environment with zero carbon emissions.

He has put his passionate hope into a book, “The Hydrogen Age: Empowering a Clean-Energy Future,” published in the fall. Co-authored with Los Angeles-based James J. Provenzano, president of the air quality advocacy nonprofit Clean Air Now, the book has received accolades from green guru Paul Hawken as well as Julia Whitty, environmental correspondent for Mother Jones magazine.

Hydrogen + oxygen = power

Hydrogen is not something you can harvest or mine, Holland says. It’s something you have to make.

Hydrogen makes up more than three-quarters of the mass of all matter on the planet. Captured and contained, it is put to a variety of uses, from making Crisco shortening to fueling rockets for NASA.

“Hydrogen isn’t a fuel,” Holland explains. “It’s an energy carrier.”

Fuel-cell technology, which dates to 1839, is the key to converting energy stored in the hydrogen molecule into electricity and heat. It works not through combustion, but through an electrochemical reaction.

There are various types of hydrogen fuel cells, but the general concept works like this: When hydrogen and oxygen form to make water in the cell, the reaction produces electricity. And depending on the source of the hydrogen, issues of efficiency, storage, purity and cost all come into play.

When the source of hydrogen is water, the only byproduct of energy derived from a hydrogen fuel cell is a little water vapor, making it a totally clean fuel.

But getting hydrogen out of water takes a lot of energy, and that means depending on power from the grid, much of which is derived from coal.

“Hydrogen is very attractive to a lot of people because it’s clean,” says Rick Wallace, policy analyst at the Oregon Department of Energy. “But there are a lot of hurdles here.”

Carmakers hit the highway

As electric hybrids continue to evolve, car companies also are investing millions to be on the cutting edge of the fuel-cell market.

General Motors is advertising its investment in hydrogen technology on prime-time TV.

The auto giant will distribute the first 100 prototypes of its fuel-cell-powered Chevrolet Equinox sport utility vehicle in Los Angeles, New York and Washington, D.C., for real-life, real-world trials this year.

Honda plans to lease out a few fuel-cell sedans this year as well, starting in Southern California.

But none are coming to Oregon. There’s no place to fill the tank.

“Oregon has a tremendous opportunity to become part of the leading edge of hydrogen technology,” Holland says. “Our state is missing out by not getting on board with this.”

In the last few years, talk has ramped up about “hydrogen highways” in California and British Columbia, and even on the East Coast.

In 2003, President Bush announced his $1.2 billion Hydrogen Fuel Initiative. Soon after, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger started promoting the idea of an infrastructure along the state’s highways that would support hydrogen filling stations.

That “Build it and they will come” attitude has earned a select few Californians access to the first fuel-cell cars emerging in the market.

Roadblocks are likely

This past fall, Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski signed a memorandum of understanding with British Columbia that, in part, represents a mutual commitment to explore the development of a hydrogen infrastructure that would allow fuel-cell vehicles to travel from Canada to California by 2010.

1 | 2 Next Page >>