Hydrogen trial in Perth, Western Australia, letter from project official

From: Mike (niche_at_iinet.net.au)
Date: 11/12/04 

Date: Fri, 12 Nov 2004 19:07:05 +0800

Hi chaps,

I'd be interested in a critique of the Perth Western Australia Hydrogen
bus trial,
here is a pasted email from a government official in response to
concerns
from a perth resident. There is at least one bus currently doing the
rounds
and perhaps two, they are fuel cell based not ICE.

I look forward to comments, observations, critiques etc. Email from
official below.

Rgds

Mike
http://niche.iinet.net.au
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Firstly thankyou for your interest in the project. More importantly
thankyou for your interest in the critical issue of energy supplies -
for transport, for stationary needs. For this is the root issue that
this project is trying to address.
How do we continue to provide energy needs for our community to do the
things that we value as essential - mobility, access to goods and
services, etc?
How do we do this in a way which is renewable and does not create a
greenhouse or other broader environmental issue?
What are we going to do while we are working towards some sort of
totally renewable and clean 'ultimate' and we only have practical
sources of energy from fossil fuels?
How do we transition from where we are to where we want to be?
>From the questions that you pose in your email, the questions that I
have outlined above are very much at the front of your mind. And that
is what our project is trying to look at and find answers to. We see
our fuel cell bus project, and the broader STEP (Sustainable Transport
Energy Programme) project as part of the local, national and
international searches for answers to these questions.

Our project is allied with ten other projects in Europe and several in
North America. Each project is doing similar but different things and
we are obtaining information which we exchange. So the learning is
accelerated many times. And at greatly reduced cost.

And now to answer your questions more directly.

Firstly you have some of the information about our project incorrect.
As you can see from what I have said above, we do not see our project as
THE answer, or even AN answer. It is part of the searching for the
answer.

Your general observations about energy flows are accurate. Yes
production of hydrogen from electrolysis is very energy intensive. And
if this energy is obtained from fossil fuels or other non-renewable
sources then you have to look very closely at this. But what about when
the energy is obtained from renewable sources. In Iceland they are
using electricity generated from geothermal sources to produce H2 from
electrolysis. In Hamburg they are using some wind energy to generate
part of their electricity.

When you then look at the life cycle analysis, the answers become much
more complex and potentially very beneficial in terms of reduced
environmental impact and greenhouse effect.

There are lots of sources of H2 and coal is a very uncommon source.
More than 90% of the 5000 tonnes of H2 produced daily around the world
comes from steam reforming of natural gas. And this may be a very
important transition path to a totally renewable source of H2. There is
a large amount of research going into finding a practical, cheap and
efficient way of doing this, but we don't have it yet.

I am unaware of H2 being a significant greenhouse gas. There is
research gong on about the impact of water being generated from fuel
cells, but the general view to date is that this will just be another
leg in the global water cycle and is unlikely to cause a negative
impact. But this needs to be looked at in more detail.

I disagree with your comments about the safety of H2. They are
incorrect in many aspects. Hydrogen is as safe as a transport fuel as
petrol, natural gas, diesel or LPG. It is not more safe or more
dangerous. It is just different. Each of these fuels has its own
characteristics which need to be catered for in the fuel cycle and
engineering of the safety of the vehicle etc. There are some studies
that would claim that hydrogen is more safe. There are trials that show
that a car with a petrol tank on fire ends up being almost totally
consumed by the fire. However a hydrogen fire leaves the car intact.

If you go to http://www.ch2bc.org/indexh.htm you will find excellent
information here.

The Hindenberg is an excellent example of the safety of hydrogen - not
the danger. The hydrogen did NOT burn even though the vehicle was on
fire.

In closing, your questions are extremely pertinent. We must find some
way to provide our energy to maintain the goods and services that we
want, and to give similar access to developing countries. We can't go
on using fossil fuels. They are going to run out and using them
continues to cause environmental and human health problems.

I do NOT say that hydrogen is the answer. I say it seems a good bet.
But there are issues to resolve.

But I ask the question. If it is not Hydrogen, what is it to be? I see
nothing else on the horizon.

I have attached some additional information for you.

Posters note:
This file attached and uploaded to url for reference...

http://niche.iinet.net.au/hydrogen.pdf

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  • Re: Hydrogen trial in Perth, Western Australia, letter from project official
    ... There is at least one bus currently doing the ... >How do we continue to provide energy needs for our community to do the ... >our fuel cell bus project, and the broader STEP (Sustainable Transport ... >production of hydrogen from electrolysis is very energy intensive. ...
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