Hydrogen Economy - The Personal Benefits for the Average Driver

There seems to be confusion about what the hydrogen economy is, and how it benefits the average driver. In my understanding, the hydrogen economy is simply the use of hydrogen as a medium of exchange among the different energy sources and their uses. This is similar to the exchange economies for electricity or gasoline. A typical American buys electricity that is generated and distributors through a complex web of generator, exchange and supply companies located across the region. The customer needn't follow where the electricity came from, or how it reached him since each kilowatt hour is indistinguishable among the suppliers and the customers. Because this web, electricity is cheaper and more reliably available than it would be otherwise. The typical U.S. household uses about 3 kWhrs of electricity every hour of every day, costing (in Michigan) about 9.5¢ kWhr, or 30¢ per day.

A similar economy exists for gasoline, and the energy use is about the same, but the cost is higher because the efficiency of automobile engines is far lower than that of electric motors. A typical American drives about 30 miles per day using about 3.5 kWhrs of motive power. The cost is higher, about $5/ day not because of the inefficiency of the oil distribution economy, but because the typical automobile engine delivers only about 10% of the combustion energy to motive power under normal driving conditions. By contrast, a typical electric motor delivers nearly 90% of the energy to mechanical effect under normal use conditions.

Electric cars would be one good way to reduce the cost, pollution and political problems of gasoline cars, but the range is poor and the recharge rate is slow for all-electric vehicles. Gasoline hybrids are better, providing instant fill up and long range, but one is still stuck with the smelly inefficient gasoline engine; the cost is still $3 or $4 for the same 30 mile trip. Hydrogen cars, as envisioned, tend to be hybrids that replace the low efficiency gasoline engine for a higher-efficiency fuel cell. As with gasoline, the customer would "fill up" with gaseous hydrogen made by many different suppliers and technologies, and as distributed by any local "gas" station. Hydrogen could be shipped from a central location, as is done now, or could be generated on site using electrolysis, a technology favored by Protonix, Teledyne, or Hydrogenics, or produced by small-scale reforming a technology favored by Chevron, BP, and REB Research (my company). With proper hydrogen standards, the customer would not care where the hydrogen came from or how it was made. Hydrogen energy will be more expensive than electricity or methanol the stuff used to make the hydrogen, but the customer will pay less per day because of the large increased efficiency of energy conversion. With fuel cell efficiencies about 50%, the energy cost for the 30 mile trip would be about 60¢.

Even small fuel cells, too small to provide propulsion, can provide flexibility in how the vehicles are used. Drivers will be able to add fax machines, refrigerators, and battery chargers within their cars or vans, options that would be impossible or very expensive with an electric or gasoline hybrid car or van. Other customers who can benefit, even with the current technology, include electric wheel chair users and municipal bus operators. Wheel chair users can benefit from the quicker fill-up time that hydrogen offers over electric charging. They do not suffer as much from the high technology cost since wheel chairs do not have to go as fast or as far as a car would. Hydrogen use on municipal bus systems provides similar advantages, with two additional advantages; the fleet is used for many hours/day reducing the capital cost, and they can have central fueling stations reducing the uncertainty of getting stuck. Already fuel cells are found on several municipal bus systems-particularly those with short, start-stop routes in polluted downtown areas.

A key question is where to get the hydrogen, and that is where my company, and its larger competitors, come into the picture. In a free hydrogen economy, each of us will have to compete with the others on the basis of cost, convenience, and reliability - and the customer will benefit. It's an exciting time to be in the energy business.

Share Your Opinion!

Do you have an opinion on the article? Whether you liked or disliked the article, Share it!