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GOVERNMENT IGNORES HYDROGEN FUEL CELLS!
Fuel Cell Power is contributing to several Government consultancies on the subject of energy security and climate change. The DTI’s Microgeneration Strategy does not even mention hydrogen fuel cells. The Department of the Environment (DEFRA) says in Climate Change The UK Programme 2006 that hydrogen has prospects only after 2020, particularly for the transport sector, and it may also have a role for balancing intermittent renewables when there is insufficient capacity from the national grid.
The Government has put a lot of effort into efficiency measures to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and has employed abatement technologies to reduce other greenhouse gas emissions, but they are sidestepping the main problem of changing from burning fossil fuels! Many people and organizations would like to use renewable energy, but the British energy industry has been run down for decades and this decline is borne out by two Government commissioned reports. In view of the growing problems of energy security and climate change, many people would also like to use public transport more or run their cars on renewable energy.
Conserving energy
Compared with the national grid, fuel cell systems are extremely efficient. The primary energy efficiency of the national grid is only about 35% because it is uneconomic to transport heat from central power stations and there are also transmission losses. It is estimated that the thermal energy loss from the national grid would be sufficient to heat every building in the country. If electricity is generated on site, at least a third can be used directly at over 90% efficiency and the remainder stored as hydrogen. Electrolysers are at present about 80% efficient and hydrogen fuel cells provide electricity and heat at about 85% efficiency, giving overall efficiency of 68%. The total primary energy efficiency of a renewable energy combined heat and power (CHP) system incorporating hydrogen fuel cells would therefore be about 75%, compared to that of the electricity grid at only 35%.
According to the Energy Minister, Malcolm Wickes, the Government only plans to have 30% to 40% of electricity generated by CHP by 2050, so they will continue to throw away nearly two thirds of the thermal energy.
In view of the efficiency of hydrogen fuel cells, it is extraordinary that the DTI’s Microgeneration Strategy does not even refer to them and the Government’s report Climate Change, The UK Programme 2006 relegates their introduction until after 2020, which is when the global car manufacturers would like to introduce them. Hydrogen is one of the most benign fuels, with no toxic emissions and no global warming gases if it is obtained from renewable energy, and its safety has been proven during years of evaluation by the major motor manufacturers.
Economic costs
The DEFRA review estimates the cost of global warming gases at about £70 per tonne of carbon (equivalent to about 3.7 tonnes C02) and this should be increased by £1 per year to take into account the rising costs of global warming in the future. On this basis, the annual cost of the 209 million tonnes of global warming gases emitted in the UK is about £14,600 million.
In comparison the Government’s funding of measures to combat climate change is tiny, with £80million for the next three years allocated to all the technologies associated with low carbon buildings, including CHP, fuel cells, solar photovoltaic and solar thermal, micro-hydro, micro-wind, biomass and heat pumps.
A further £50 million was added in the last Budget. The main funding has gone to established companies, with £215 million incentives under the UK Emissions Trading Scheme, £560 million allocated to investment in the grid, and financial support under the Renewables Obligation for up to £1 billion per annum, which will be mainly paid by the public. The European Emissions Trading Scheme also only covers grid connected electricity generation.
Market entry
It is difficult for new clean energy technologies to break into markets where established technologies are not covering their external costs, particularly when established energy suppliers are getting Government support. Fuel Cell Power recommends that Government support for off grid technologies should at least equal that for grid connected renewables. British engineers are developing a variety of small innovative micro wind energy collectors, solar units and biofuel powered generators. Small cheap micro wind units, as well as solar panels, could supply basic electricity for efficient lighting, to power computers and to control heating systems. Larger generators powered by biofuels or hydrogen fuel cells could be used as required for higher power demand. A full range of renewable energy technologies, which could incorporate new materials and techniques is available from the database set up by the Liverpool based Grünhaus.
Hydrogen fuel cell systems are the ideal means for storing intermittent supplies of electricity from micro wind or solar energy, but most of the development has been carried out abroad. The Department for Trade & Industry (DTI) did not support a request for E.U. funding for evaluation of hydrogen fuel cells some years ago, on the basis that they were not interested in hydrogen, and this attitude continues to hold back investment in this important technology. Once large scale manufacture is achieved, individuals will be able to generate and store their own electricity from renewable sources, without the need for more investment in the grid. The Japanese Government supports their engineers and manufacture is scheduled for later in 2006 of hydrogen fuel cell units producing electricity and heat in people’s homes, as well as hydrogen for their cars. The implications for developing countries are tremendous! The world cannot sustain the additional carbon dioxide emissions if growing economies imitate our inefficient and polluting energy infrastructures.
Twenty year timescale
We should build up new efficient energy infrastructures over the next twenty years. According to the Energy White Paper, about one million domestic gas boilers are replaced each year and if CHP units were installed, most homes could be generating their own electricity by 2025. Natural gas could be used while stocks of fuel cells and renewable energy technologies are built up. This would give increased energy security and cost savings as fossil fuel prices rise and would also help to avoid dangerous climate change. If only half the domestic buildings in the UK changed to CHP, this would replace our entire nuclear generating capacity.
We are now reaching the point where the traditional fossil fuel energy infrastructure is failing to meet needs for energy security and the threat of climate change is growing. It will take decades to change to new sustainable energy sources and during that time it is expected that oil supplies will peak and become more expensive. This will coincide with the run down of the UK’s North Sea resources which should be replaced with the energy technologies of the future.
Energy suppliers could change to being providers of energy services, as originally promised by the Labour Government in its manifesto In Trust for Tomorrow and substantial new revenues could accrue from exports of new energy technologies. The impact on the economy is being investigated in a major review of the economics of climate change.
Climate change
The Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Prime Minister invited Sir Nicholas Stern to undertake the review entitled The Economics of Climate Change. In his interim report Sir Nicholas said “The most recent science indicates that some of the risks of climate change are more serious than had first appeared and could be irreversible and accelerate the process of global warming…..leading to temperatures higher than anything seen in the past 50 million years. Even if we can stabilise global emissions of greenhouse gases in the next decade or two and then ensure that they fall sharply, there is still a risk that we will exceed the safe limit of 2°C global temperature increase.”
The Chairman of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, Sir John Lawton, said “We are undertaking a completely uncontrolled experiment with the planet we are living on.” Climate scientists are concerned that the public is unaware of the gravity of the nature of global warming. There is evidence that ‘feedbacks’ are accelerating the speed of change. As the earth warms, soils and plants may become net emitters of C02. As the polar ice melts, less sunlight is reflected back into space and methane frozen for thousands of years is being added to the global warming gases in the atmosphere.
Transport
Fuel cells could power future integrated public transport systems. Ultra light rail systems, or trams, would be most efficient for local use as wheels on rails need about a third of the energy used by tyres on roads, but they are not covered by existing grants for public transport, nor are they mentioned in the Government’s review.
Next year the Government is inviting tenders for the replacement of the Intercity 125 trains and fuel cells should be able to provide the motive power by the required date of 2013. It is imperative that clean, efficient ground transport systems replace air travel wherever possible, because carbon dioxide has about three times more impact at higher altitudes.
Government plans inadequate
We cannot add more C02 to the atmosphere, but Government measures do not tackle the problem of burning fossil fuels. Plans to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 15% to 18% from 1990 levels by 2010 and by 60% by 2050, as recommended by climate scientists in 2000, do not taken into account the evidence over the past six years that this may not be enough to avoid dangerous climate change. We should be developing and bringing to market new energy technologies, both for use in the UK and for export, so that developing countries do not add more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.
According to Government statistics, the main reduction in carbon dioxide emissions since 1990 was from the manufacturing sector although it is not specified how much was due to increased efficiency and how much transferred to low cost manufacturing countries. Secondly, coal contains nearly twice as much carbon as natural gas, so the change to gas fired power stations reduces carbon dioxide emissions so long as gas prices remain competitive. Methane emissions from landfill sites, coal mining and gas distribution have been cut substantially and the Government has used abatement measures to reduce other greenhouse gases at point of manufacture.
Government backing for grid connected renewable energy will lock the UK into its outdated, inefficient electricity generating infrastructure. Every member of the public should be able to choose the appropriate technology which will ensure their own energy security over the coming decades and the Government’s job is to facilitate the introduction of all types of sustainable technologies. At present there is little choice but public money is going to the fuel suppliers with the most industrial muscle. Even if 10% of electricity is generated from renewable sources by 2010 the C02 reductions will be largely offset by the projected increase in electricity demand. Although well sited wind farms are beneficial, we may reach the limit for this expansion if the grid cannot cope with more than 20% of electricity from such intermittent sources. The alternative is to develop a hydrogen infrastructure which could provide fuel for transport.
Role of the public
If people were fully aware of the risks of global warming, many would be prepared to make changes to their lifestyle and invest in benign energy sources. There is an over -riding need to educate the largely ignorant public in simple, understandable and practical ways. The taxpayer does not have a choice, as decisions are taken from the top down and the Government is allocating their money to modifying existing wasteful energy infrastructures, rather than to helping enterprising companies which could supply the sustainable technologies which people want to buy.
In view of the growing problems of energy security and climate change, many people would like to generate their own electricity and store it as hydrogen and use the surplus to power their vehicles. They would also like to use public transport more or run their cars on renewable energy, but there is little investment in energy efficient buses or trams and by 2010 biofuels will still only provide 5% of transport fuels. It is innovative companies which will fulfil the growing public demand for clean, safe energy and they will act as a spur to the large energy industries which are too unwieldy to initiate major change.
Fuel Cell Power has made the following recommendations:
- The external costs of fossil fuels should be paid by the user, that is the polluter should pay. This will make a more level playing field for all energy technologies.
- Combined heat and power (CHP) units should replace centralized electricity generation as soon as possible. This should be done in conjunction with energy saving measures in buildings.
- There should be equal support for all types of fuel cells, including alkaline hydrogen powered fuel cells which are not grid connected. Alkaline fuel cells are of no interest to fossil fuel suppliers because they are best utilised with renewable energy but they could prove to be the cheapest system.
- Renewable energy technologies, including hydrogen and fuel cells, should be exported to developing countries, which will otherwise become the main source of growing carbon dioxide emissions.
- We should start now to introduce prototype hybrid fuel cell powered buses and trams in order to establish an integrated transport system. This would expedite the introduction of fuel cell cars.
- The UK should reverse the trend of previous decades and begin to rebuild its engineering capacity. Technologies developed by innovative energy companies should be supported as well as university R & D.
- The public needs education on energy, climate change, and renewable technologies including hydrogen fuel cells.
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