(NASA Photo of the proposed X-33 Space Plane. Currently the Shuttle's main engines, and onboard systems are powered by hydrogen and hydrogen powered fuel cells.) The Solution
(Left-Graphic rendering of a possible solar hydrogen generating facility, Next - Graphic rendering of a possible tanker carrying liquid hydrogen for export.)
WaveRider® 1:2 Scale Prototype during successful testing in largest wave tank in world in Germany.
Hydrogen: The Ultimate Fuel The element that gives all carbon based fuels their usable energy is hydrogen. So why bother with the rest? We should just move right to the source. The only fuel that cannot be exhausted is hydrogen. When produced from water through electrolysis and then burned, hydrogen is returned back to it's original form - water. The cycle is complete, nothing is wasted. The only fuel that can be produced without any pollution during the production process is renewably generated hydrogen. Most energy is solar energy. What makes a particular solar energy renewable (within a viable amount of time and effort) is what generation from the sun a particular solar energy is. Oil and coal takes millions of years to produce from the sun, natural gas and propane are by-products of petroleum, uranium for nuclear power takes millions of years to produce and degrade, and is extremely toxic. All these mentioned are many generations apart from the sun. Photovoltaic and Solar Thermal are first generation energy sources, wind and wave/tidal are second generation sources. These renewable sources are immediately available upon demand especially in concert with each other. Through electrolysis, hydrogen is generated and converted from water immediately. The only emission from the conversion process other than hydrogen is oxygen. Hydrogen can be stored and maintains it's energy potential indefinitely. Storage, transportation, and handling differ little from that of natural gas. The infrastructure already exists and conversion will be relatively inexpensive when phased in as hythane, a mix of methane and hydrogen. Hydrogen has no hydrocarbons to produce any CO and CO2 that could be emitted to the atmosphere during combustion at end use. Hydrogen produces only trace amounts of NOx, the lowest NOx levels of any fuel used in combustion. And when used in fuel cells, no NOx at all. Hydrogen will be produced locally in great abundance, making the U.S. potentially the largest energy exporter in the world for the first time in over 60 years, rather than the largest energy importer in the world. Also, due to the fact that solar hydrogen can be produced on demand means there is no reason to store enormous amounts for embargoes, or reduction in supply or production. This is an important milestone. There is a real opportunity to move forward by leaps and bounds toward the solutions for everything from; air pollution, dependence on foreign oil, greenhouse gas emission and oil spills, to; the trade deficit, new jobs creation and defense conversion. Such opportunities rarely present themselves to a society. It is extremely important that we take advantage of this opportunity we have before us. Hydrogen: Economics The economics of solar hydrogen are all relative to the level of production, like anything else. Although government investment in hydrogen based energy systems will help spur the market and increase levels of production resulting in reducing cost, we must have the participation of the private sector in order to effect the magnitude of this venture. In 1993, The Southern California Air Resources Board (SCAQMD) produced a concise analysis of the potential for the hydrogen economy entitled "Hydrogen on the Horizon" by the SCAQMD Chief Scientist Alan Lloyd Ph.D. (currently Chairman of the California Air Resources Board-CARB). The SCAQMD has funded, and is interested in funding future hydrogen projects through their Technology Advancement Office fund, and the California State AB2766 discretionary funds as well as CARB Programs. There is a significant assortment of federal funding programs supporting public/private partnerships that are developing and deploying such technologies and projects as well. The Department Of Energy’s (D.O.E.) Hydrogen Program’s funding has increased since first receiving funding in 1992 from $5 million/yr. to currently receiving $25 million in 1997. This is of course a paltry amount if you consider the $500 million annual funding of nuclear fusion, a technology that most experts feel is still 100 years away, and even if it does happen it will need hydrogen as it’s fuel. However, it is up to the private sector to take advantage of these technologies and lead the way with the most abundant and safest energy source ever. From the sun, and it’s near generation sources, wind, tidal, and geothermal, etc., we can safely and economically produce hydrogen, which burns cleanly in any internal combustion or turbine engine with few engineering changes. With the eventual use of hydrogen through fuel cells, (which electrochemically converts hydrogen into electricity and water) one can achieve from 40% to 60% efficiency for mobile uses (conventional vehicles are 17% efficient). At least 60% efficiency is achieved for stationary sources, which is at least as good as the best conventional generation, only with zero emissions. The technology described in this plan has been developed and demonstrated, and can be brought to the marketplace now. United Technologies/Hamilton Sundstrand, a U.S. defense contractor and PVI, a photvoltaic systems manufacturer, jointly conducted a research into the economics of the hydrogen economy. The results showed that the cost of hydrogen produced on a 100MW or larger scale from renewable energy sources would cost as little as $.67/gallon of gasoline equivalent for internal combustion engine vehicles (ICE), and as little as $.33/gallon of gasoline equivalent for fuel cell electric vehicles (because of the fuel cell’s increased efficiency). Hydrogen and Transportation Ballard Bus Fueling at Xerox Facility
Applying the aforementioned estimates to ground transportation represents a significant long term incentive considering the enormity of the market, the incentives, and mandates that already exists for clean fuels. Daimler-Chrysler, Ford, GM, Mazda, Nissan, Honda, BMW, Toyota and others all have aggressive fuel cell and hydrogen vehicle programs. Mercedes Benz, Toyota, Honda Chrysler, GM and others have, unveiled their fuel cell vehicles years before the experts predicted. Mercedes Benz experts have been saying for over a decade that if there was the supporting infrastructure in place they could put hydrogen powered ICE vehicles on the road today. The HyGen Industries Hydrogen Energy Venture will commercialize the practical application of renewably generated hydrogen as a fuel. The prospects of this venture will be:
Safety Hydrogen is one of the most misunderstood energy carriers of all. Over the decades, hydrogen has been falsely identified as an unstable and overly dangerous fuel. This has been disproved over the last few decades through well documented research by established and respected scientific organizations such as Lawrence Livermore Labs, Los Alamos Labs, The Department of Energy Labs - NREL, etc. It all started with the Hindenberg Disaster over 60 years ago. The research and investigation of that incident has established that the hydrogen did not cause the accident. That all of the deaths were from those who jumped off before the craft hit the ground, that those who were burned, were burned by diesel fuel not by the hydrogen. Since then various universities, government and private labs have conducted extensive R&D working with hydrogen. Professor Michael Swain of the University of Miami, Fla. conducted a research and demonstration project on the safety of hydrogen and other more commonly used fuels. His research and demonstrations have shown that under everyday conditions, hydrogen is safer than all of the other fuels that are available, liquid or gas, whether used in transportation or stationary uses. First, hydrogen is 14 times lighter than air. When it leaks, it dissipates immediately. You almost have to stand over it with an ignition device to get it to ignite. Unlike gasoline, methanol, propane, or natural gas, when it does ignite it doesn’t burn like those other fuels, it ignites in a flash and then it’s gone, without a trace, except water vapor. It doesn’t explode with droplets or pools of burning fluid or gas flying in every direction starting new fires wherever or whomever it lands on. Prof. Swain’s research included using hydrogen in a home situation like natural gas for cooking and heating. He conducted an experiment where he purposely created a situation that resulted in hydrogen leaking in the house and attempted to ignite it by turning on a light or other electrical device that would normally cause an ignition as with natural gas. This experiment he conducted with both hydrogen and natural gas. The results showed that unlike natural gas, the hydrogen did not accumulate in pockets near the ceiling. In fact the hydrogen actually permeated through the ceiling dissipating into the atmosphere, and when the ignition source was activated, there was no explosion or any ignition at all. The same experiment with natural gas resulted in the usual explosion that would have caused injury or even death. That carbon atom sure can cause a lot of problems! As far as storage, hydrogen is safest stored under pressure. The tanks have been manufactured with protocols that require them to withstand pressures several times the operating pressures. The tanks go through a long and arduous battery of tests and abuse before they are approved for use, including dropping them from 100 feet on the nozzles without leakage, thrown into barnfires without exploding, and shot at with a high powered rifle without exploding. If gasoline tanks were that well built and tested, maybe that family that ran over road debris on the freeway in L.A. earlier this year would not have been burnt to death when their plastic gasoline tank ignited into a fire. Clearly hydrogen has characteristics that require it to be handled a little different than other fuels. For instance, hydrogen is more susceptible to electrostatic ignition than other fuels (other fuels are susceptible to electrostatic ignition, just not as susceptible as hydrogen). However, so long as the storage system is adequately grounded (autos are automatically grounded by the truck body), there is no risk of ignition. The Solar Hydrogen Facility at Xerox is within 100 feet of very high powered electrical lines that power industries in the area as well as the Metro Green Line light rail system. Because the hydrogen storage system is grounded, there is no risk of ignition. Also, hydrogen ignites within a wider range of oxygen mixture than other fuels, from approximately 4% to 80%. This is one of the attractive characteristics of hydrogen that allow for combustion to take place more efficiently than other fuels. This simply means you cannot allow any significant amount of air into the fuel storage system. However storage and fueling systems are designed not to allow the pressure to ever go anywhere close to below a positive pressure, keeping the air out. If a tank must be removed for any reason, the tanks are then flushed with nitrogen before refueling with hydrogen again. Praxair, Air Products, Linde, Air Liquid are all companies that have been handling and transporting hydrogen on the public highways for nearly 40 years. Although there have been traffic accidents, there has never been even one casualty from hydrogen either leaking or igniting. No other fuel producing industry can make that claim. Dr. Fred Edeskuty, the former Chief of Hydrogen Programs at Los Alamos in New Mexico, once gave this analogy; If you were driving down a two lane highway with no shoulder, just a steep 1000 ft. mountain on both sides, and coming towards you in the opposite direction were two tanker trucks - one in each lane, one hydrogen and one gasoline, and you had nowhere else to go, you are about to hit one of the trucks, there is no avoiding a crash. He said your best chance of survival would be to aim for the hydrogen truck. We rest our case.
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