A D V E R T I S E M E N T
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
ADVERTISEMENTS
<< Prev. Page 1 | 2
But Patrick Serfass, director of program and technical development at the Washington, D.C.-based National Hydrogen Association (which Serfass says has no Oregon members), predicts it probably will be close to a decade before potential buyers start seeing fuel-cell cars on showroom floors.
He’s more optimistic than some.
In 2004, a National Academy of Sciences report concluded that it would take a minimum of 25 years for fuel-cell vehicles to have any real impact, essentially debunking Bush’s enthusiastic pitch.
The same year, Joseph Romm, an energy expert who worked in the Clinton administration, published “The Hype About Hydrogen: Fact and Fiction in the Race to Save the Climate.” The book criticized hydrogen advocates for ignoring the real costs of fuel-cell technology and raised questions about safety and water consumption associated with the mass use of hydrogen.
While Holland says Romm’s arguments are easily refuted, he concedes that the shorter-term “sea change” will have little to do with hydrogen fuel cells. It will be, he says, the next wave of hybrid cars: plug-ins.
While the auto industry works out the kinks, possibly for decades to come, fuel cells are being used as power sources in other arenas.
Much of the electricity-powered infrastructure that frames our lives also has backup power: cell phone towers, emergency facilities, credit card processing centers. Should the power fail, one of two things probably will kick in — a diesel-powered generator or a battery system.
Bend-based fuel-cell company IdaTech does the majority of its business in Europe installing backup power systems primarily for phone companies, according to marketing communications manager Amy Clem.
Although IdaTech is working with several potential customers closer to home, it currently has no clients in Oregon, Clem says.
ClearEdge Power, in business since 2003 and based in Hillsboro, has provided fuel-cell backup power to a Hillsboro fire station, in conjunction with Bonneville Power Administration. It has other local projects in the works.
Bill Sproull, senior vice president of business development at ClearEdge, says hydrogen is still off most people’s radars because of its economics.
“There are a lot of issues, primarily around cost and storage,” Sproull says.
“Hydrogen as a fuel source is quite expensive compared to traditional fuel,” he says, explaining that cost is one reason that backup power is a focus in the near term.
That may be one reason that biofuels, hydrogen’s chief competitor in the cleaner car market, have taken off. Holland believes that biofuels have their place — partly to line the pockets of corporate corn processors like Archer Daniels Midland Co., he says — but that there will never be enough to meet all the country’s fuel needs.
With hydrogen, he says, supply is not an issue. Hydrogen can be captured from many sources, including water, natural gas, even gasoline.
The cleanest way to get hydrogen is to “crack water,” that is, separate the hydrogen from the oxygen in H2O.
But the process takes a lot of energy.
To increase efficiency and cut down on costs, many see natural gas as the steppingstone for fuel-cell technology. It takes less energy to get hydrogen out of natural gas than out of water. Both of the processes are being used at hydrogen fueling stations.
In the case of natural gas, it may seem strange to use one fuel to get another, but, Sproull says, it’s more efficient to use the hydrogen in the natural gas for energy than to burn the natural gas directly for energy.
And Holland points out that because the natural gas infrastructure already is in place, it wouldn’t cost that much for Oregon to install filling stations now, starting with one or two in the Portland area.
But long term, Holland says, hydrogen needs to work in conjunction with renewable energy, not fossil fuels. When that happens, he says, energy efficiency is irrelevant.
“It takes energy to make energy,” he says.
The conversation over tea and cookies goes from hydrogen to population to resource conservation to the last gorillas in Africa and back to hydrogen.
“We have an obligation to protect the world,” Holland says. “It’s the endgame.”
tobyvanfleet@portlandtribune.com
by Geoffrey B. Holland and James J. Provenzano
Gibbs Smith, Publisher 2007
<< Prev. Page 1 | 2
The bottleneck of this technology is the hydrogen source, if we can not have a hydrocarbon independence, and energy efficient hydrogen source, the environmental benefit of this technology disappear. Do you Know about additional endeavour in this sense?
(email verified)
Tue, Jan 08, 2008 at 06:50 PM
There are several technological obstacles on the way to hydrocarbon independence and hydrogen fueled economy.
1. Source of the energy for hydrogen production from water. Nuclear, solar, water, wind and so on with scientific balance and common sense.
2. Hydrogen storage and transporting technology. Hydrogen energy density is low. Storage technology is far from being sufficient.
3. Compact, efficient and reliable Hydrogen Fuel Cell technology. Few or more years and billions of dollars away.
Other possibility for transportation only is the Electric Vehicle. Unless we get satisfied with much smaller and slower vehicles or someone brings revolutionary battery technology this is ever lasting solution pursuit.
(email verified)
Wed, Jan 09, 2008 at 06:23 AM
Hydrogen will never be found to be acceptable here. We, as a region, have invested in Public Transportation as a Political Policy which cannot be usurped by private vehicles. The ongoing war with the automobile keeps us from maintaining our infrastructure so we won't be prepared when a alternative fuel is found to be acceptable by the "anti-progress" lobby masquerading as environmentalists. Social independence, like the freedom afforded us by the private automobile, can not be tolerated.
(email verified)
Wed, Jan 09, 2008 at 07:59 AM
Anyone using the excuse that ethanol profits go primarily to Archer Daniel Midland has exposed himself as seriously out of touch. Farmers throughout the midwest have formed ethanol cooperatives to profit from the fruits of their labors. Where does Mr. Hydrogen think the vast costs associated to produce energy for hydrogen will come from? That's right--corporations, like his bogeyman Archer Daniels Midland.
(email verified)
Fri, Jan 11, 2008 at 08:37 PM
Hydrogen is a currency (like electricity) and not an energy source. The Electro-Hydrogen Economy of the future will be based on sustainable, pure energy supplies / inputs (solar, wind, geothermal, tidal), with hydrogen and electricity being carriers of that energy.
www.SolarIntell.com
(email verified)
Thu, Jan 24, 2008 at 02:19 AM
Find a paper
Enter a street name
or a 5 digit zip code
Browse archive
The Beaverton Valley Times
Sustainable feed
Facebook
Digg
Del.icio.us
Newsvine
Stumbleupon
Reddit
Re: Fuel-cell advocate has hydrogen hopes
This is about hydrogen powered car and more…
Because we need to use the energy to produce hydrogen we need to look at the efficiency and total consequences of such process. Presently we are predominantly utilizing fossil fuels whether as the source of the hydrogen or the energy to make it from water. That means we are consuming resources cumulated over the eons of the Earth existence. We do reverse those processes at much higher rate and therefore changing our environment. I would dispute if it is really relevant if not for the foreseen result of exhausting these resources. We need to look therefore for the energy source that is really clean and abundant. We need such source to afford the expenditures needed to manufacture hydrogen as the energy carrier if there is nothing else. And of course there are many. Still, all of them need the clean energy source anyway.
Now is the question. What energy source is really the clean one? I would like to make the statement that it is no such. Nuclear energy can be manufactured with ease and great efficiency with some manageable level of byproducts. Solar and geothermal energy is not free and clean really. Wind and tide energy is not reliable and its harvest similarly as collecting solar energy is not without byproducts. I would argue that there is very little known about environmental effect of the industrial use of environmental energy.
The way to look at the problem is to figure out how to offset the negative effect of urbanization and deliver the needed energy for growing population. First I believe we need to play the energy consumption card in the very smart way and not mix it with efficiency because most efficient home may not save energy over the Life Cycle.
We know that urbanization is causing hot spots on the planet surface. In large part because the energy consumption for comfort maintenance related to the daily and yearly cycles. We need to figure out how to harvest those cycles and minimize external energy use. This actually may offset the effect of the population growth. I guess there are ongoing efforts to simulate such solutions as of now.
Well we still need to figure out how to provide the energy needed for the human mobility and transportation of goods. It looks like this is much more difficult problem to solve. With some approximation, one hour of the average car use is the equivalent to one day of the single household energy needs. Looks like the great way to reduce the energy consumption is TELECOMMUTING. Teleporting doesn’t cut it . Unfortunately only small however growing number of workers can telecommute.
Well, I am arriving to the very well known conclusion. The best way to preserve and maybe even restore environment is:
1. Stabilization of the population.
2. Energy preservation and recycling.
3. Telecommuting and mass transit.
4. Elimination or limiting energy consumption for recreational use.
Easy to say…
"Zbigniew Sobolewski"
(email verified)
Tue, Jan 08, 2008 at 01:16 PM