Experts: U.S. May Be Losing Fuel Cell Race
Apr 18 - Associated Press
The United States could fall behind in using fuel cells because it already has an extensive infrastructure for other energy sources and spends fewer government dollars on alternatives, industry officials and analysts said.
"It's a little too early to tell on the U.S.," said Roger Saillant,
chief executive officer of fuel cell developer Plug Power, based in Latham,
outside Albany. "There is a risk we're becoming a laggard."
China and India both have ample supplies of coal gas or other fuels to take
hydrogen from, making the use of fuel cells easier. Japan, which faces high
energy demands and steep oil prices, may also be among the first to embrace the
technology, industry observers say.
Fuel cells are battery-like devices that combine hydrogen and oxygen to
produce electricity without combustion. Under ideal conditions, they release no
harmful emissions.
David Jollie, editor of Fuel Cell Today, a London-based Web site that tracks
the industry, agreed that fuel cells will likely take hold first in areas
without competing technologies, just as cellular phones have become dominant in
many developing countries.
"Anywhere there is not an established grid structure or infrastructure
there will be more opportunity to get in there," Jollie said. "They'll
look to leap frog the old centralized distribution network."
David Schoenwald, co-manager of the $46 million New Alternatives Fund, a
mutual fund that invests in environmentally friendly energy companies, said he
has started to invest more overseas where government support and interest is
greater in developing new energy sources.
"We see the rest of the world as having greater interest in clean energy
and energy security than the United States," Schoenwald said. "A good
part of the world is part of the Kyoto treaty and are interested in protecting
the environment. This is going to require a fair amount of government support to
reduce costs and help development and the current administration isn't as
supportive as we would like."
The international climate treaty negotiated in Kyoto, Japan, required
industrial nations to reduce by 2012 greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global
warming to levels below what they were in 1990. The U.S. did not ratify the
treaty.
The United States is spending about $200 million this year on hydrogen
research, compared to $260 million in Japan, according to the U.S. Department of
Energy. Canada is spending $400 million, while the European Union is investing 2
billion euro ($2.43 billion) over the next several years.
David Garman, the Energy Department's assistant secretary of energy
efficiency and renewable energy, defends the Bush administration's commitment to
new energy technologies. He cited the president's plan to spend $1.7 billion on
hydrogen research and development over the next five years.
"If you go all the way back to the president's national energy plan,
there were 105 recommendations. Fifty-four were for energy efficiency and
renewable energy," Garman said.
"The way people have portrayed the president and his plan is
one-sided," he said. "The plan is very pragmatic. It's going to take
some time for renewable energy and things like hydrogen to be competitive."
Right now, it costs about 10 times as much to operate a hydrogen-powered fuel
cell car as it does to run one with an internal combustion engine. And the small
amount of hydrogen that is produced today comes from natural gas and other
fossil fuels, generated in a process that releases carbon dioxide into the
atmosphere.
In January 2002 the federal government announced the establishment of Freedom
CAR, a partnership with U.S. automakers aimed at creating a network of hydrogen
filling stations to help accelerate production of fuel cell vehicles.
Every major automaker is working on some type of fuel cell vehicle, but the
Energy Department estimates they won't be widespread until 2020.
General Motors has estimated it would cost $11.7 billion to build 6,500
hydrogen fuel stations in 100 U.S. metropolitan areas and 5,200 more on national
highways.
"It is a very complicated effort with many facets," Garman said.
"But if the motor vehicle industry develops a fuel cell car consumers want
to buy, the infrastructure will be there. It's very achievable."
Herb Nock, senior vice president of marketing and sales for Danbury,
Conn.-based FuelCell Energy, said his company, which builds large fuel cells for
utilities, is focusing on markets like California and the Northeast, where there
is congestion on the power grid and concern about pollution.
"We don't see this product replacing nuclear or coal-fired plants any
time in the near future," Nock said. "We're looking at markets where
other energy forms just don't make sense."
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On the Net:
Plug Power: www.plugpower.com
Department of Energy: www.doe.gov
FuelCell Energy Inc.: www.fuelcellenergy.com
Fuel Cell Today: www.fuelcelltoday.com Copyright © 1996-2004 by CyberTech,
Inc. All rights reserved