Fuel Cells in a Hydrocarbon Economy
- From: "lkgeo1" <lkgeo1@xxxxxxx>
- Date: 13 Nov 2006 09:13:42 -0800
Fuel Cells in a Hydrocarbon Economy
It seems like there's a lot less hype these days about the
inevitability and even the imminence of the so-called "hydrogen
economy". More people apparently are coming to recognize the daunting
challenges associated with producing, delivering and storing hydrogen
in a manner that is both economically reasonable and environmentally
beneficial. True, an energy infrastructure based on hydrogen separated
from water by renewably-generated electricity is theoretically
possible, but before such a vision will actually be implemented --
involving incalculable billions of dollars of new hydrogen-compatible
infrastructure -- many performance and cost breakthroughs on many
fronts across many steps of the value chain must be demonstrated
convincingly to investors and customers alike. To say the least, this
is not very likely, at least not anytime soon.
So, with the diminishing appeal of hydrogen, one might think that
interest in fuel cells might be waning. Not so fast, my friend. A
recent report from Fuel Cell Today shows that, at least in stationary
application (if not for transportation purposes), the fuel cell market
continues to show improving vital signs.
Fuel cell technologies that don't require hydrogen as a fuel are
especially attracting attention. In the U.K., Ceres Power's approach
enables the use of natural gas in fuel cells, which has piqued the
interest of the major gas utility British Gas. Just here in Ohio alone,
Ohio University is actively investigating fuel cells that operate on
coal, and Technology Management Inc. has developed solid oxide fuel
cell technology that has operated on biofuels. Other examples are far
too numerous to list here, but you get the idea: fuel cells meshing
with the current hydrocarbon infrastructure.
Admittedly, fuel cells that operate on hydrocarbons do produce some CO2
emissions. It's not the utopian world offered by the promise of the
hydrogen economy. But, if fuel cells can operate cost-effectively on
plentiful and reasonably-priced fuels, they can at least reduce (if not
eliminate) greenhouse gas emissions relative to conventional
utilization of those fuels, and (if used in applications to replace
internal combustion engines) can reduce demand for petroleum of
increasingly vulnerable and uncertain supply. Half a loaf is better
than none.
If fuel cells can make the big time in our hydrocarbon economy, it can
significantly improve our energy/environmental situation while paving
the way for the bigger prize that would be enabled by the longer-term
emergence of a true hydrogen economy -- if/as the other pieces of the
hydrogen puzzle (production, distribution, storage) get solved.
http://www.cleantechblog.com/2006/11/fuel-cells-in-hydrocarbon-economy.html
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