HYDROGEN
A Hydrogen Economy
Hydrogen
Fuel Cells
Global Highlights
What’s Happening in BC?
Environmental Matters
Social, Economic and Political Matters
What Does it Cost?
Can I Do at Home?
Links
A Hydrogen Economy
Electricity is an enormously important and versatile energy
carrier. Unfortunately, fossil fuel derived electricity is
messy and inefficient, and can't be stored in large quantities.
The lack of adequate energy storage systems is a significant
barrier that prevents intermittent renewable energy from
being available to serve fluxes in energy demand, and for
use in mobile applications.
Over the next few decades, hydrogen and fuel cells will
change all that. Fuel cells—devices that produce electricity
via chemical reactions rather than combustion—convert fuel
into electricity two or three times more efficiently than
power plants or internal combustion engines do, and produce
far fewer toxic emissions and noise. They also permit the
storage and distribution of energy in the form of a fuel,
most commonly hydrogen. Moreover, this fuel can be renewably
derived from water and clean energy, or (as a transitional
step) from natural gas.
The coming "hydrogen economy" will pair electricity with
hydrogen to produce an energy system that is safer, cleaner,
and even more versatile than the one we know today.
When used in concert, electricity and hydrogen form an ideal
energy-carrier system.
Electricity can be generated from intermittent renewable
sources, and hydrogen can be safely stored. Fuel cells can
then produce on-demand electrical energy to power municipalities
and neighbourhoods, your home, your laptop or your cell phone,
and even power your car. For a variety of reasons, hydrogen
will displace fossil fuels as the blood of our future energy
infrastructure. Fuel cells will play a critical role in this
coming hydrogen economy. (Adapted from Rocky
Mountain Institute)
Hydrogen
Hydrogen, first on the periodic table of the elements, is
the least complex and most abundant element in the universe.
Using hydrogen as fuel can fundamentally change our relationship
with the natural environment.
As a nearly ideal energy carrier, hydrogen will play a critical
role in a new, decentralized energy infrastructure that can
provide power to vehicles, homes, and industries. Hydrogen
boasts many important advantages over other fuels: it is
non-toxic, renewable, clean to use, and packs much more energy
per kilogram. Hydrogen is also the fuel of choice for energy-efficient
fuel cells.
Because this renewable energy carrier can be made from the
electrolytic decomposition of water, and becomes water again
when joined with oxygen in a fuel cell, hydrogen is inexhaustible.
And when the process of electrolysis is powered by renewable
electricity, instead of fossil fuels, the energy lifecycle
of hydrogen is entirely pollution-free. In the meantime,
transitional methods exist to make hydrogen with relatively
moderate environmental impact.
Fuel Cells
Fuel cells running on pure hydrogen are dramatically more
efficient than the internal combustion engine's 15-20% efficiency.
By harnessing the fuel's energy via a chemical reaction rather
than combustion, a fuel cell can convert 40–65 percent of
hydrogen's energy into electricity. One important transition
strategy suggests hydrogen be burned in an internal combustion
engine to produce distributed electricity. This pollutes
much less than one running on gasoline or diesel, and makes
the storage link for intermittent resources, but its energy
efficiency is still less than half that of a fuel cell.
Because a fuel cell's energy efficiency is not scale-dependent,
stationary fuel cells can be sited locally where the waste
heat can be used. This cogeneration of heat and power brings
a fuel cell's energy efficiency close to 90 percent at optimum
use of all co products. All the while, this unparalleled
energy efficiency arises from a reliable device that emits
only drinkable water and scant traces of other emissions.
(Adapted from Rocky
Mountain Institute)
Global Highlights
- Canada: As well as being a leading hydrogen fuel cell
technology developer, Canada is pursuing two hydrogen
and fuel cell commercialization concepts: the Greater
Toronto Hydrogen Village Project Fuel
Cells Canada and The BC Hydrogen Highway Project.
More details about the H2 highway will be announced in
early April 2004.
- Clean Urban Transport For Europe (CUTE) project: 10
European cities cooperating on an inter-city hydrogen
bus network. The goal of the Euro CUTE project is to
demonstrate the real world performance and economics
of clean hydrogen-powered public transportation. The
CUTE project involves nine cities in eight European
countries, and is evaluating 27 hydrogen-powered buses
in a variety
of conditions. Four of the nine hydrogen stations in
CUTE will supply hydrogen produced through water electrolysis.
Canada's Stuart Energy Corporation, through their European
subsidiary, Vandenborre Technologies, has supplied
some of the electrolysis units CUTE
PDF Brochure
-
Iceland, an island nation with both hydraulic and geothermal
energy, has made it a state priority to have the first
hydrogen economy. Their hydrogen economy initiative is
off and running with the installation of their first
hydrogen station. Iceland
PDF brochure
-
California Fuel Cell
Partnership has a vehicle and bus demonstration
project, and is floating a Hydrogen Highway initiative.
- Providing an excellent global overview of HFC market
penetration, The Fuel Cell Today team has reviewed
fuel cell development in the various markets that are opening
up this clean and efficient power generating technology.
Their worldwide survey marks the conclusion of this
research,
quantifying historical progress and commenting on more
recent developments. Fuel
Cell Today (Nov 5th 2003)
- Waste to energy: Landfills and wastewater treatment
plants can provide feedstock for high temperature carbonate
fuel cell technology. Working with the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency and Fuel
Cell Energy Inc. of Danbury, Conn., King County
in Washington State will build, install and operate
a fuel
cell that uses gas produced during sewage treatment
as fuel. Using that biogas, the fuel cell will produce
up
to 1 megawatt (MW) of electricity -- enough to serve
1,000 households -- to meet some power needs at the
treatment plant. The plant has been commissioned and
will begin
operations in 2004. Waste
to Energy pdf.
What’s Happening in BC?
BC is home to a world-class hydrogen and fuel cell development
cluster, anchored by PEM fuel cell leader Ballard Power Systems.
Sixty five percent of Canadian companies in the hydrogen
and fuel cell business are located in BC.
The Canadian government supports research facilities at
the NRCan center at UBC, where the industry group Fuel Cells
Canada is located.
Victoria adds to research expertise with the Institute for
Integrated Energy Systems at UVic.
BC boasts the world leading fuel cell developers at all
scales, from distributed generation to micro fuel cells for
portable electronics, fuel cell test equipment manufacturers,
and a venture capital investment company Crysalix, financing
promising startups in the fuel cell industry.
In the Fall of 2004, Fuel Cells Canada, along with government
and industry partners, will host a demonstration fleet of
Ford’s fuel cell powered vehicles.
The 'Hydrogen Highway' is the first demonstration of its
kind in Canada, designed to showcase multiple applications
of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies and demonstrate Canadian
leadership leading into the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Environmental Matters
Hydrogen, which exists as a gas under normal atmospheric
conditions, is odorless, colorless, and tasteless. It is
both non-toxic and safe to breathe. It can also be safely
transported in specialized, crash, puncture and pressure
tested containers. In a hydrogen-based energy economy, environmental
disasters like the Exxon Valdez debacle would be relegated
to history. Because hydrogen dissipates when leaked, a major
hydrogen spill would amount to little more than a waste of
precious fuel.
Hydrogen produced by steam methane reforming has virtually
no NOX or CO emissions, but it still produces
CO2. If the CO2 is sequestered, this
is a low emission pathway. If not, there are still GHG emission
concerns.
This documented white paper demystifies hydrogen energy,
debunks popular misconceptions, and proposes a surprisingly
easy, attractive, and profitable path to the hydrogen economy
(23 June 2003). Twenty
Hydrogen Myths
Amory Lovins argues that the authors of the erroneous Science (www.sciencemag.org)
article claiming enormous hydrogen leaks have misinterpreted
their references (again) in an effort to conceal their original
mistake. Rebuttle
to Tromp et.al.
Social, Economic and Political Matters
These are three policies which would accelerate the development
of the hydrogen economy:
- Developing regional pathway initiatives and incremental
transition strategies that make sense for the circumstances
of each bioregion.
- Funding the early demonstration projects, to create
'market pull'
- Hydrogen and fuel cell education and outreach linked
to community energy planning.
What Does it Cost?
Since hydrogen and fuel cells are just now transitioning
from intensive development to demonstration programs, prices
are very high as mass manufacturing has yet to enter the
industry. Fuel cells are typically near $10,000 kW and need
to fall by a factor of 10 to be competitive with incumbent
power generation technologies. Hydrogen can be produced competitively
now, but usually by steam methane reformation of natural
gas. In a mature market, it is realistic to expect that hydrogen
from electrolysis can be produced for around $3.00 - $4.50/KG
or $24 -$37/GJ. This compares to gasoline that costs $24.42
GJ - 25.86 GJ (assuming $0.85 - $0.90 per liter). At the
current BC Hydro tariff rate of $0.057, electricity in BC
costs $15.83/GJ.
Strategic infrastructure placements to support grid distributed
energy, especially in constricted markets like Vancouver
Island or in markets where high reliability and high energy
quality are needed, will help make a hydrogen infrastructure
available for vehicle applications in the manufacturing volumes
required for price reductions.
Can I Do at Home?
No, not yet. Manufacturers are exploring personal fuelling
appliances for home use. Another very promising pathway is
a direct solar catalytic conversion panel that can produce
hydrogen at home, or at a remote site. This will likely be
paired with low-pressure metal hydride storage (most similar
to a battery). In the meantime, watch for small appliance
sized electrolyzers, with pressurized storage for fleet and
home applications.
If you have a good creek, it would be smart to investigate
the power potential, as electrolyzers will be easily scaleable
to small and medium resources.
The community level is a key early area for adoption of
HFC technology, where many users can benefit from one distributed
generation installation, such as an apartment building using
a fuel cell to provide combined space heating and power production.
Your local municipality could be an ideal early adopter,
where police, fire and emergency response headquarters require
uninterruptible and backup power, and the municipality also
operates various fleets of vehicles. Each sector would benefit
from the combination of distributed generation of hydrogen
and electricity.
Links
An Introduction to Fuel Cells, by Brian Cook, Vancouver:
www.fuelcelltoday.com/FuelCellToday/IndustryInformation/
IndustryInformationExternal/Reports/DisplayReport/0,1620,449,00.html
Provided by General
Hydrogen
= Top = Compiled and written by A. Zev Fisher for the BC Sustainable
Energy Association
Last updated July 22, 2004
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