| lkgeo1 2006-10-27, 9:25 am |
| Hydrogen and fuel cells: fake promises?
In Short:
Hydrogen vehicles hold the promise of curing the world's oil dependency
while making transport-related air pollution and CO2 emissions history.
But sceptics say that hydrogen is clean only if produced from renewable
sources of energy.
RELATED
Alternative fuels for transport
Background:
Transport accounts for some 71% of all oil consumption in the EU, with
the automotive sector alone dependent on oil at 98%, according to the
Commission.
To reduce oil dependency, the Commission has set out an objective to
substitute 20% of traditional automotive fuels with alternatives by the
year 2020 (Green Paper: Towards a European Strategy for the Security of
Energy Supply, 2000).
A year later, it presented a communication on alternative fuels,
identifying three of them as the most promising: biofuels, natural gas
and hydrogen.
Hydrogen has many benefits:
It is the most abundant element on earth;
it is a versatile energy carrier that can be produced from any source
of energy;
it would reduce oil dependency, and bring transport-related air
pollution and greenhouse-gas emissions to virtually none, and;
it can be stored and easily kept over time.
Issues:
Together with biofuels, hydrogen has been identified by the Commission
as one of the main candidates to replace oil in transport uses and
reduce Europe's oil dependency.
However, after the early enthusiasm, sceptics were quick to point to
the "illusions" of the hydrogen economy:
Like electricity, hydrogen is an energy carrier, not an energy source.
In other words, the hydrogen economy will only be as clean as the
original energy source it is made from (coal, nuclear, natural gas, or
renewables);
a hydrogen-based transport system requires a network of fuelling
stations that will cost vast sums of money to set up. In a study
published in December last year, the International Energy Agency (IEA)
said trillions of dollars will be needed to develop infrastructure
before the widespread use of hydrogen (EurActiv 2/12/05);
fuel-cell batteries that convert hydrogen into electricity through a
chemical reaction have limited efficiency and storage capacity with
power losses being made in the hydrogen-electricity conversion process,
and;
fuel-cell batteries are still highly expensive (around =8010,000 for a
medium-sized vehicle), due to the materials used in their manufacture.
These include platinum and Nafion, an acid membrane used in the
electrolyte of fuel cells.
Public and private R&D efforts have therefore focused on reducing the
cost of fuel cells, increasing their storage capacity and on finding
ways to build up new infrastructure at the cheapest cost.
At European level, a Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology Platform (HFP)
was launched in 2004 to accelerate research and deployment of hydrogen
technologies. Led by industry, the platform brings together public and
private researchers as well as public authorities and the financial
community.
In March 2005, the platform presented a Strategic Research Agenda to
direct research and to encourage public and private investment in
targeted R&D programmes (EurActiv 17/03/05). The programme targets
commercialisation of vehicles in 2015 but many think that they will not
become competitive before 2020 at the earliest.
Several EU-funded pilot projects have also been launched to show the
viability of hydrogen fuel cells in public transport. Called "Clean
Urban Transport for Europe" (CUTE), the EU programme helped power 27
hydrogen-fuel cell public buses in nine European cities, from Amsterdam
to Barcelona. The project, the results of which were presented in May
this year (EurActiv 11/05/05), showed that improvements still needed to
be made in areas such as:
Design, construction and operation of safe hydrogen supply chains and
refuelling stations;
efficient production and use of tonnes of hydrogen, and;
infrastructure optimisation.
Positions:
"The question is no longer whether this technology works, but when it
will be competitive," Energy Commissioner Andris Pielbags said as he
unveiled the result of the CUTE project.
About a year ago, a group of MEPs presented a Green Hydrogen Charter
urging the EU to mobilise all forces to shift to a hydrogen economy by
2025 (EurActiv 13/09/05). MEPs clearly expressed themselves in favour
of a hydrogen economy based on renewables.
In the US, the Bush administration has earmarked $1.8 billion over five
years for a Hydrogen Fuel Initiative and a complementary FreedomCAR
project. The EU, the US and other partners are working together in an
"International partnership for the hydrogen economy".
However, hydrogen still faces a number of criticism, not least from the
scientific community.
Ulf Bossel of the European Fuel Cell Forum, an organisation that
supports technical and scientific advances on fuel cells, challenges
what he calls 'the hydrogen illusion'.
"Hydrogen is clean only if it is made from renewable electricity," says
Bossel. But he adds that if a hydrogen-based economy becomes a reality,
it will be characterised by a massive increase in demand for electric
power, which he says is unlikely to be met by renewables alone.
According to Bossel, a substantial part of the increased demand for
power will therefore need to come from coal-fired or nuclear power
plants with all the known consequences for the environment and for
safety.
In addition, he says a substantial amount of energy is lost when the
electricity is converted to hydrogen for storage in a fuel cell and
subsequently converted back into electricity.
"About three quarters of the original energy is lost for electrolysis,
compression or liquefaction, transportation, storage, transfer and
re-conversion back to electricity with fuel cells," the Fuel Cell Forum
said in a statement.
According to Bossel, this is because "a synthetic energy carrier cannot
be more efficient than the energy from which it is made. Renewable
electricity is better distributed by electrons than by hydrogen."
However, hydrogen promoters say that fuel-cell vehicles are just as
efficient, if not more efficient, than conventional engines.
"Internal-combustion engines in today's automobiles convert less than
30% of the energy in gasoline into power that moves the vehicle,"
according to Shell Hydrogen.
"Vehicles using electric motors powered by hydrogen fuel cells are much
more energy efficient, utilising 40-60% of the fuel's energy," it
points out.
According to Shell Hydrogen, the biggest challenge is financial, not
technical. "From a vehicle perspective, funding the transition from
expensive prototypes to affordable mass production will be the key
issue".
Shell estimates that Fuel Cell Vehicles can become competitive when
annual production reaches one million globally. "Through the
combination of the technical and manufacturing advances anticipated
over the next five years, with the build-up of a reasonable global
production over the following five to ten years, we believe attractive
and affordable FCVs can become a commercial reality," Shell says.
Other criticisms relate to the environmental impacts of using hydrogen
in the transport sector. In a recent review of scientific studies,
British researchers found that contrary to most expectations, hydrogen
is an indirect greenhouse gas with a potential global warming effect.
The researchers, led by Richard Derwent from the Centre for
Environmental Policy at Imperial college London, said this occurs
because emissions of hydrogen lead to increased burdens of methane and
ozone and hence to an increase in global warming. However, they said
that the climate effects would still be considerably less than in a
fossil fuel economy.
Latest & next steps:
By end 2006: Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology Platform to produce
implementation plan
December 2006: EU to adopt 7th Research Framework Programme (FP7)
Second half 2007: Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology Platform expected
to deliver a European programme of industrial research, technological
development and demonstration on hydrogen and fuel cells (Joint
Technology Initiative - JTI)
Links
European Union
Commission (DG Research): Introduction to fuel cells
Commission (DG Research): Key advantages of FC technology
Commission (DG Research): Why is R&D needed for fuel cells?
European Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology Platform (HFP): DRAFT
Implementation Plan - Status 2006
European Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology Platform (HFP): HFP
Achievements and Perspectives 2006
European Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology Platform (HFP): Strategic
overview (2005)
International Organisations
Int'l Partnership for the Hydrogen Economy: Website
Governments
U=2ES. Dept. of Energy: Hydrogen, fuel cells & infrastructure
technologies program
EU Actors positions
Shell Hydrogen: FAQ: Environmental issues reagrding hydrogen
Shell Hydrogen: FAQ: What about the future of hydrogen?
Shell Hydrogen: FAQ: Development of the hydrogen infrastructure
Fuel Cell Forum: Hydrogen Cannot Solve Energy Problems (20 July 2005)
Fuel Cell Forum: The hydrogen illusion (Ulf Bossel, April 2004)
Richard Derwent et al.: Global environmental impacts of the hydrogen
economy Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial college London (2006)
|