Hydrogen fuel cells constitute an efficient way to store energy and as such they form an important component in our struggle to contain global warming. Hydrogen fuel cells are a convenient and clean way to power cars and supply electricity on demand virtually everywhere. The importance of hydrogen as a technology is huge, as it constitutes the clean and renewable storage compliment to clean and renewable ways to capture energy, such as solar, wind, geothermal, wave and hydro-power.
The Hydrogen Economy is much more than that; it promises to change the fabric of our society. Hydrogen, holds the promise to break up the current cartel of energy suppliers that works hand-in-glove with a military-industrial complex that holds the entire world in a suffocating stranglehold. Hydrogen can clean things up and set the economy free. Hydrogen is the elixer that can remedy our polluting habits to create a better society, without the monopolies, the pollution, the taxes, regulations and the military controls that come with the current ways of supplying energy. Currently, energy is largely obtained from sources that centralize the economy around a single supplier, such as a huge nuclear plant or coal-powered plant. Similarly, oil is pumped up under monopoly conditions and transported in huge tankers, which has created these allmighty oil companies that extend their grip over society through services stations and political lobbying to keep cars polluting the world.
We should look forward to a world in which anyone can capture energy for free in their backyards, from renewable power sources such as solar, wind, geothermal and hydro-power. This energy can be directly stored in fuel cells that are built into heating and cooling systems of buildings, lights, TV-sets, stereo equipment, computers, cars, mowers, scooters, power tools, etc. Wherever you now see rechargeable Lithion batteries used, such as in mobile phones, think hydrogen and you'll get a preview of the bright future that awaits us. Hydrogen fuel cells will enable us to cut the wires through which the puppetmaster controls us now. Hydrogen fuel cells hold the promise to set us free. Let's take a serious effort to give this technology a chance!
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Comments: 23
Isn't that what "distributed generation" is all about?
Sam: "Hydrogen is the elixer that can remedy our polluting habits to create a better society, without the monopolies, the pollution, the taxes, regulations and the military controls that come with the current ways of supplying energy."
Lovins says that government should do away with subsidies and tax breaks for energy, so that we stop paying oil companies to find oil, stop paying the Pentagon to protect it, and stop allowing businesses to "write-off" their Hummers, so they can waste it.
Sam: "We should look forward to a world in which anyone can capture energy for free in their backyards, from renewable power sources such as solar, wind, geothermal and hydro-power."
Sounds like Democracy to me.
Sam: "Hydrogen fuel cells hold the promise to set us free. Let's take a serious effort to give this technology a chance!"
Lovins is optimistic about it. He says it's happening - the only issue is how fast it happens. His approach facilitates a quicker adoption of hydrogen, but it's going to happen anyway.
Great article - thanks for the clarity of on the economic/democratic aspects.
Actually, it's already happening with technology that exists today. Hydrogen technology is not rocket science (fuel cells were invented in the 1830s).
Gary: " Reduced consumption of energy is the only viable short-term solution to the impending shortage of energy."
Absolutely, efficiency is as important as a transition to hydrogen, and can be accomplished more quickly. Amory Lovins states exactly this in his book, "Winning the Oil Endgame."
http://www.oilendgame.com/ReadTheBook.html
New, already developed, ultralight, super-strong carbon fiber composites are already being used in manufacturing airplanes. This cuts fuel demand in half. Use "feebates" (rewarding efficiency, penalizing waste) to quicken the pace of introduction to markets, spurring purchase of hybrid vehicles cuts fuel demand in half again.
Gary: "current prototypes of hydrogen fuel cells generate electricity at a cost of $3,000 per kilowatt...."
I'm not sure where you get your numbers. There's no doubt that hydrogen is expensive - now - because it's not produced to the scale that's needed. Computers were once prohibitively expensive, too. Also, hydrogen has much superior "end-use efficiency" compared to gas, so less is needed (comparable to gas) to actually move a vehicle. Lovins strategy calls for integrating high efficiency with hydrogen, and estimates that our economy can be virtually transformed to hydrogen from fossil fuels by 2050, and well underway by 2025.
For more about the expense of hydrogen relative to gas, see:
http://www.rmi.org/images/other/Energy/E03-05_20HydrogenMyths.pdf
Myth #9. Hydrogen is too expensive to compete with gasoline. (p. 20).
But a more likely picture is given in the article Hydrogen - efficiency, at:
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977121475
That doesn't mean that the Hydrogen Economy will eventuate overnight. I foresee a transition and I can see fuel cells in cars compete with Lithium-ion batteries for many years. As I see things develop, the internal-combustion engine in cars will be gradually replaced by hybrids, by plug-in hybrids and eventually by electric cars that run entirely on Lithium-ion batteries.
Simultaneously, there will be a growing market for both fuel cells and Lithium-ion batteries in order to store surplus power from wind and solar. Once mass-produced, prices, size and weight will come down for both of them, while their capacity and performance will increase. Just look how the battery in your cellphone now is a lot lighter, smaller and lasts a lot longer than it did only a few years back. Nevertheless, Lithium-ion batteries will remain at a disadvantage, since recharging returns the battery only just under its previous charged state, so the battery will deteriorate over time. Consequently, I can see the Hydrogen Economy emerge much sooner, even within two decades.
Typical transitions like this take 50 years or better. 18 to 43 years is relatively fast.
Gary: "In the mean time, I'll continue to work on reducing consumption."
Good. Regarding transportation, keep your eye on cars made from carbon fiber composites and plug-in hybrids.
Gary: "When the hydrogen economy does finally come, it will be very expensive relative to today's 'cheap oil.'"
Lovins bases his calculations on oil @ <$40 per barrel. You realize, of course, that half of the world's hydrogen production presently is used in oil refineries. I encourage you to read Lovins' work for yourself, or my summaries of his work. The man has spent 40+ years in the field. I think he may know what he's talking about.
Finally, Lovins quotes venture capitalist, Rober Shaw: "Those who think it can't be done shouldn't interrupt those doing it." Winning the Oil Endgame, p. 230.
Also, keep in mind that hydrogen isn't the only solution being worked on.
You make it sound like the hydrogen economy will be some kind of utopia - liberating us from all forms of control. If anything is important to a large enough group of people, someone will find ways to create control structures.
And, finally, I am not trying to discourage the development of the "hydrogen economy." I just saying, "Don't get your hopes up quite yet." I might be able to hold off replacing my 11-year-old car for another 20-25 years, but I doubt it. In the mean time some knowledgeable folks are predicting peek oil in 5 years. I'm not pinning my hopes on hydrogen.
Oil will get more and more expensive, as it becomes more scarce. But there is an abundance of water in the sea, while rain is a renewable resource, so the cost of water is negligable. Similarly, there is an abundance of sunshine and wind almost anywhere. The promise of the Hydrogen Economy is that it will deliver us energy that can be produced anywhere anytime and that can be used anywhere anytime, all at negligable cost, thus freeing us from the monopolies, pollution, taxes, regulations and military controls of fabricated scarcity.
Sure, it won't happen overnight, but we need to work on it to make it happen and complacency with the status quo is no option, if only for the sake of the environment and the looming catastrophies caused by global warming.
Actually, Gary, I'm trying to get your hopes up, or at least to read or pay attention to Lovins' work. The man has a vision if we can get over our sense of pessimism that we can't solve this problem.
Gary: "The problem is that today hydrogen is extracted from natural gas (a fossil fuel)."
That is temporary in Lovins' strategy. He expects hydrogen to be produced via electrolysis from renewables as the eventual outcome.
Gary: "Basing the The cost of hydrogen based on $40 oil doesn't reflect the future."
True. Oil is going today for >$80/barrel, which tends to make hydrogen more attractive.
Gary: "To be sustainable and solve the dependance on fossil fuels, hydrogen will have to be extracted from either water or biofuels - both expensive propositions by any measure."
Lovins expects the price of renewables to come down as renewables expand. That's why hydrogen production via reforming natural gas is a temporary, transitional step.
Gary: "...hydrogen isn't the only solution being worked on."
Of course, and it shouldn't be. Hydrogen isn't an energy source. It is an energy carrier (like electricity). It has to have sources (like electricity). Think of it as a central hub, fed by many spokes - hydroelectric, renewables, natural gas, even hydrocarbons (separating the hydrogen from the carbon will eventually be more profitable for oil companies than adding hydrogen to oil to make gasoline).
Gary: "You make it sound like the hydrogen economy will be some kind of utopia - liberating us from all forms of control."
Not really, but it is sure better (a helluva lot better) than what we're doing now.
Gary: "If anything is important to a large enough group of people, someone will find ways to create control structures."
Distributed generation is kind of like the internet. It's going to be up to us in great measure, whether it's going to be controlled by a central/monopolistic entity. I think we all have to make this decision and take an active part to the degree that we can.
Gary: "I might be able to hold off replacing my 11-year-old car for another 20-25 years, but I doubt it. In the mean time some knowledgeable folks are predicting peek oil in 5 years. I'm not pinning my hopes on hydrogen."
No. Hydrogen cars probably won't be on the market in 5 years. But cars made of carbon fiber composites with plug-in hybrid power trains might be. Whether you realize it now or then, that will help advance the hydrogen revolution.
Please read Lovins' work and keep an open mind. We cannot keep doing what we're doing now. His strategy is outlined here:
http://www.rmi.org/images/PDFs/Transportation/T99-07_StrategyH2Trans.pdf
Electric cars or plug-in hybrids are a more likely solution as the distribution system for electricity already exists. Just the creation of a new distribution system for a hydrogen source is a logistic nightmare.
I'm sorry you seem so ill-disposed to educate yourself re: Lovins' work. It would go a long way in healing your pessimism. I've posted links to two of his articles relevant to this discussion. For you convenience, I re-post them here:
http://www.rmi.org/images/other/Energy/E03-05_20HydrogenMyths.pdf
http://www.rmi.org/images/PDFs/Transportation/T99-07_StrategyH2Trans.pdf
But I would strongly recommend his book, "Winning the Oil Endgame."
http://www.oilendgame.com/ReadTheBook.html
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977130412
Pricing is as yet unavailable, but - as you say - the odds are rapidly changing in their favor.