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The President's latest initiative
intends to compliment the FreedomCAR program, with an emphasis on
developing the technologies and infrastructure needed to produce, store and
distribute hydrogen fuel for use in fuel cell vehicles and electricity
generation.
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Peterborough, New Hampshire - February 3, 2003
[SolarAccess.com] President Bush's State of the
Union speech contained no shortage of surprises, with his announcement of a
major funding initiative for the advancement of hydrogen powered fuel cell
vehicles no exception.
From environmentalists to leaders in the hydrogen and
fuel cell industries and automakers, the Bush announcement sent ripples far
and wide. Whether garnering praise or eliciting criticism, hydrogen is in the
nation's energy spotlight.
The big splash originated from the President's US$1.2
billion Freedom Fuel Initiative to "…reverse America's growing
dependence on foreign oil by developing the technology needed for
commercially viable hydrogen powered fuel cells," as he said in the speech.
Bush's proposal is the most recent in a series of
initiatives that his administration has supported since the announcement of
its National Energy Policy, in May 2001, which proposed that hydrogen would
be an important clean energy carrier for the future. Later, in January 2002,
FreedomCAR was announced, a Cooperative for Automotive Research between
General Motors, Ford and DaimlerChrysler, which was designed to address the
need for the development of fuel cell technology.
The President's latest initiative intends to
compliment the FreedomCAR program, with an emphasis on developing the
technologies and infrastructure needed to produce, store and distribute
hydrogen fuel for use in fuel cell vehicles and electricity generation.
INFRASTRUCTURE QUESTION
Fuel cell technology itself has been around since the
1839s. One of the first major commercial uses for the technology was with
NASA's Apollo missions in the late 60s. According to Bernadette Geyer
spokeswoman at the U.S. Fuel Cell Council, the technology has made drastic
improvements in both size and cost within the past few years. While fuel cell
cars are still cost-prohibitive to mass market, it's the necessary
infrastructure of creating and distributing hydrogen that may be the biggest
test of the technology's future success.
"The infrastructure question is looming large and
near," said Geyer. "The (fuel cell) industry has been making leaps
and bounds but the greatest challenge is infrastructure."
The infrastructure challenge should not be understated.
Geyer said the dilemma is much like the question of which came first: the
chicken or the egg. Without an adequate refueling infrastructure to, a mass
market for these cars does not exist. And, although car manufacturers have
developed fuel cell powered prototypes, production versions of these cars
depends on an as yet built infrastructure.
"Certainly the funding will help bring down the
cost faster, especially the infrastructure issues," said Geyer. "We
don't want to run into the same problems that battery powered cars
encountered. We need to try and make sure it won't be bad for
consumers."
Electrical vehicles were offered throughout the 90s
but didn't encounter much success since the cars were geographically limited
to their charging stations - mostly car owner's homes.
While hydrogen is the most abundant element on earth,
it's not readily available in its natural form and must be removed from other
elements. This process of distilling pure hydrogen requires energy and the
best way to do it is still being developed.
"That's another question that's being looked
at," said Geyer. "Even if you pull your car up to a station that
offers hydrogen, where are they getting the hydrogen from?"
Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI),
who has directed much of his attention toward fuel cell vehicles through
RMI's spin-off research project, Hypercar, Inc. believes that infrastructure
hurdles won't be too formidable to solve.
"The supposed problems of safety, storage and
cost have already been solved for using hydrogen in cars," Lovins told
SolarAccess.com News. "The key is to make the cars very efficient first,
so the fuel cells become small enough to afford and the
compressed-hydrogen-gas fuel tanks become small enough to fit nicely."
While hydrogen can be distilled or "cracked"
from many substances, natural gas may be the best current option for hydrogen
production.
"Natural gas is a very energy-efficient and
cost-effective way to make hydrogen, with climate impact initially halved and
later eliminated," said Lovins. "The fuel cost per mile would be
less than gasoline's cost today."
PRAISE FOR PLAN FROM AUTO INDUSTRY
Automakers in the United States, which have been
slower than their Japanese counterparts in adopting fuel cell technology,
have come out in praise of Bush's plan. (Sure about this? Said Geyer)
The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers (AAM), a
trade organization that represents manufacturers who represent more than 90
percent of US vehicle sales said fuel cells hold great promise for greater
fuel efficiency and cleaner emissions, generating twice the fuel economy of
conventional engines.
"Automakers commend President Bush's dedication
to forging a government-industry partnership to develop fuel cells,"
said AAM President & CEO Josephine S. Cooper. "Fueling
infrastructure is one of the major challenges for making fuel cell vehicles
commercially available, especially delivery of hydrogen. Proper government
and consumer incentives will be needed to initiate this this infrastructure.
For environmental gains to be realized, consumers must be convinced that the
new technologies will deliver the performance, function, safety and utility
they desire."
The Bush announcement has raised concerns however,
that efforts toward increasing the efficiencies of current technologies may
take a back seat to a hydrogen and fuel cell efforts that may not reach
fruition for many years.
"Many environmentalists think FreedomCAR will be
more convincing if accompanied by actions to speed adoption of the interim,
already available car-efficiency improvements that can save a lot of oil and
pollution while the fuel-cell cars are being brought to maturity,"
Lovins said.
He cited currently available hybrid-electric vehicles
such as the one he drives that averages 64 miles per gallon.
CRITICISM, SUPPORT
Not everyone is coming out in praise of the
administration's plan.
As an environmental group, the Sierra Club might be
expected to welcome Bush's announcement, but Daniel Becker, the director of
the Sierra Club's Global Warming and Energy Program feels otherwise.
"The auto industry is using the promise of future
fuel cells as a shield against using existing technology to dramatically cut
our oil dependence, and pollution, today," said Becker. "This technology
is sitting on the shelf while Detroit dithers. The biggest single step we can
take to curb global warming and cut our dependence on oil is to make our cars
and light trucks go farther on a gallon of gas "."
George Earle of Plug Power, a leading US Fuel Cell
company, doesn't see it that way.
"Minor efficiency improvements in current
technologies won't get you there," Earle said.
Scott Redmond of FST Energy, a Hydrogen Energy
company, said that relying solely on current fuel efficiency improvements
will not solve the country's dependence on foreign oil.
"Not for the scope, the urgency and the long-term
future of America and the world," said Redmond." As Jeremy Rifkin's
book, The Hydrogen Economy and many contemporary reports validate: the world
is running out of oil almost 100 years earlier than everybody thought."
While fuel cells operate on a renewable fuel, the
process by which the hydrogen is created takes energy and many feel that the
best scenario in the long run would be to use Renewable Energy such as solar,
wind, geothermal, biomass and hydro as the energy source to create the
hydrogen.
"Fossil fuels will be an important stepping stone
to make hydrogen available in the short term while we are demonstrating and
building the interest in fuel cell technology," Earle said. "As
interest in fuel cells grows, support for building a hydrogen infrastructure
should increase. Ultimately, the hydrogen must be produced from renewable
resources to truly realize the benefits of this technology (economic,
security and environmental)."
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