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Fuel cells will operate in a very different energy market from the present fossil fuel based infrastructure, in which consumers purchase fuels from centralized global industries. The new low carbon energy infrastructure will be characterized by conservation of increasingly expensive oil and gas and the use of more indigenous, renewable fuels. Public perceptions of energy will change and different types of efficient fuel cells will meet the needs of each market sector.
Developments with materials science and energy management systems over the past decades will be applied to technologies which have been sidelined by the prevalence of cheap fossil fuels. Local groups and individual households will generate electricity and heat with micro CHP units fuelled by their own waste and local energy crops. Mass produced solar photovoltaic panels will provide basic household electricity and solar thermal panels and heat pumps will contribute to hot water and space heating. Small wind energy collectors, designed to suit prevailing low level wind conditions, will provide additional electricity and hydrogen for fuel cells.
Developers of micro combined heat and power units, including fuel cells, have been discouraged from entering the energy markets because the arrangement of the national grid does not allow for the economic export of their surplus electricity. However, it is hoped that OFGEM will begin to deal with this problem and that the Private Member’s Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Bill, which recently received the Royal Assent, may in due course make it more cost effective for the public to generate electricity and heat on site.
Synergy between household and transport energy
There will be a synergy between the energy used for transport and that used to power our homes. Computerized energy management systems will ensure the most effective use of the energy generated. A household’s surplus electricity could be stored in the battery or fuel cell of an electric car. In due course, the fuel cells in cars will provide substantial sources of back up electricity to meet peak electricity demands.
Fuel cell powered cars are not so far away as people are led to believe. Once a technology gets into commercial production it progresses by leaps and bounds. If we start with fleets of hybrid fuel cell powered vehicles, development efforts will switch from improving internal combustion engines and focus instead on fuel cells for transport. It will not be long before fuel cell powered vehicles become affordable. The Rocky Mountain Institute in America has already developed a fuel cell powered car with carbon fibre body which, if mass produced, would be competitive with present technology.
Higher priority for clean energy
We need to move energy from the bottom of our list of priorities to nearer the top. The way we use energy will affect people for many generations and life on the planet far into the future. Energy is an important investment, which like our homes, should be planned over twenty years or so. Government statistics show that the average household allocates about ten times more to leisure activities than to heat and electricity for their home.
A recent report by the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change recommends that in view of the scientific evidence of the acceleration of the rate of global warming, the Government’s target for a 60% reduction in greenhouse gases by 2050 should be changed to 70% and brought forward 20 years to 2030. At the last international meeting of the G8 and emerging economies at Monterrey, Mexico, the British Environment Secretary, David Miliband quoted from Sir Nicholas Stern’s report to the UK Government: “It is imperative we take action to prevent further climate change because the economic costs – never mind the human costs and the environment – will far outweigh the costs of mitigation.” Claude Mandil, Head of the International Energy Agency, presented the findings of extensive research carried out by the agency. He said: “Investment in new low-carbon technologies is needed now – otherwise a fresh generation of inefficient, carbon intensive power stations would become locked into the global energy mix.”
Building a new energy infrastructure
Fuel cells will be integral parts of the more efficient, low carbon, locally based energy infrastructure which is emerging. This is already starting with the growing application of the 250 kilowatt to 2 megawatt carbonate fuel cells powered by natural gas or biogas from waste. Alkaline fuel cells built on this scale may also provide electricity and heat economically if they are powered by the waste which would normally go to landfill sites. Smaller 1kW solid oxide fuel cells are providing electricity and heat in a growing number of European homes. The compact Proton Exchange Membrane fuel cell is suitable for transport and portable applications and will soon be in larger scale production as technical advances bring down costs.
A major Government backed programme is needed to rebuild Britain’s engineering capacity which declined during the era of cheap oil and gas. This programme should include all energy efficient, low carbon and renewable technologies, with versatile fuel cells powered by either biogas from waste and energy crops or hydrogen from wind, wave or solar power. In this new energy infrastructure, people will not be just energy consumers, but energy creators, making their own energy locally, with additional supplies either from the grid or gas pipelines when required.
Local organizations and individuals are being invited to start the change to new energy infrastructures as shown in the attached MAKE YOUR OWN ENERGY |