When electricity can be effectively applied to accomplish a task that requires energy, it will likely turn out to be the best, most efficient way to go. When there is a need for a fuel that is storable for use on demand, hydrogen, because it is clean, non-toxic, environmentally benign, cost effective, and can be made just about anywhere in virtually limitless supply, seems very much to be a logical choice.
Renewably generated electricity and hydrogen constitute the ultimate energy end game for the world. All I, and probably most people in the rapidly expanding hydrogen community, want is to compete in the energy technology arena on a level playing field…on merit; nothing more. Let the competition take place on a technology neutral playing field…without hype of any kind. Criticism of competitors is fair as long as it is based on honest, unvarnished information. Those of us who are enthusiastic about biofuels, battery technology, plug-in hybrids (PHEV), and in hydrogen technologies have more in common than not. Joe Romm is right that we need to get clean, automotive technology on the road as soon as possible. I’m sure he believes PHEV is the best technology. He may well be correct. No one knows at this point.It is possible that the most impressive, emerging, automotive technology iteration will be a PHEV with battery power augmented by a hydrogen fuel cell [FCPHEV]. There are decided advantages. The fuel cell can be smaller on a FCPHEV than on a vehicle powered by a fuel cell alone. Even with a smaller tank of hydrogen on board, a FCPHEV could get substantially more range between fillips when it runs most of the time on external recharge. The fact is several car companies are already showing the way with FCPHEV technology: General Motors has the Chevy Volt, a PHEV that, while currently outfitted with a gasoline engine, was first presented to the public with a fuel cell providing on board power; Ford has its Hy-Series FCPHEV powering an Edge SUV. Other automakers are moving in the same direction. Despite the firm and substantial commitment to hydrogen by nearly all of the world’s auto industry, by the European Union, by Japan, by Canada, and by China; here in the U.S., the naysayers continue to downplay hydrogen’s potential.
It is possible, perhaps even likely, that is article will trigger another attack on hydrogen loaded up with distortion, arrogant pronouncements, and thermodynamic mumbo jumbo designed to sensationalize and mislead rather than inform.
Recently, an energy insider who should know better made the following comment, ‘The fundamental reason there will not be a hydrogen economy in your life is that the fuel providers have no incentive to build the infrastructure. At the very best, they would be wasting money creating a competitor to a fuel they already make a large profit on, and, more likely, they would end up spending tens of billions of dollars on infrastructure that never makes back its cost. Nobody has ever proposed a solution to this chicken & egg problem and that of course is why hydrogen cars will never be mass produced.’This statement is riddled with flawed logic.
The last time I checked, the ‘fuel providers’ were not in charge of government energy policy; at least not officially. But then, the big energy players like Exxon Mobil do shape public policy to a dramatic extent through the unmatched influence they exert over our elected representatives.
Number nineteen on the American Film Institute’s list of all time famous movie quotes comes from a character named Howard Beale in the movie, Network. Beale exclaims, ‘I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!’ That line pretty much sums up my attitude. Those of us who recognize the critical role hydrogen will play in building a sustainable energy future must not sit still and allow distortion and misinformation to shape the public discourse. Unhindered, cream always rises to the top. In just the same way, hydrogen will emerge as a key component of the world’s clean energy future, not 20 or 30 years from now, but over the next decade.
My friend who is now driving a hydrogen fueled, Chevy fuel cell Equinox is experiencing the future first hand. He finds it exciting and reassuring. How soon it becomes reality for the rest of us is far more about politics than about technology. The technology is sufficiently advanced now.
President-elect Obama tells us change is coming on the energy playing field. We hope and expect that means he will be featuring both electricity and hydrogen prominently in his transformative game plan.
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