National Energy Policy
A national energy policy should be based on economical, sustainable
solutions. Several short term and long term opportunities are available
that can quickly begin paying social and economic dividends. See also
the Soft Energy Path
from RMI and the National
Energy Policy Initiative.
Project Next Step: A proposal for kick-starting the Hydrogen Economy
With so much happening in the hydrogen arena it is difficult for
the average citizen or journalist to grasp the significance or
potential of the hydrogen economy. News reports arise of a new fuel
cell car development here and an installed building plant there. For a
summary of how the hydrogen economy might look, see this online Harvard
Magazine article and the Hydrogen
Future (RMI 2003, 1.3mb). The
Rocky Mountain Institute has proposed a transitional plan for
kick-starting the hydrogen economy by manufacturing and
installing the hydrogen vehicle and the stationary building fuel
cells as a combined package. This combination enhances the advantages
of hydrogen technology and should be adopted as a major goal of
environmental, economic development, and strategic or security
organizations. The stationary fuel cell in the building and doubles as
a hydrogen filling station for leased cars by including the reformer
and/or electrolyser. The vehicle can then refill while parked during
the day (most vehicles sit 90% of the time) and double as an
electrical generator. If only one in 25 cars in California were
fuel-cell vehicles, their combined generating capacity would equal the
entire State's stationary generating capacity.
It is often stated that a major obstacle to converting to a hydrogen based fuel-cell economy is that the hydrogen infrastructure is not in place and can not be built for 20 or 30 years. However this need not be the case if stationary fuel cells in buildings are installed with complementary fuel cell cars as a package. This plan takes advantage of existing infrastructures including natural gas pipe lines and the AC power grid that are already in place. The RMI proposal requires that building fuel cell installations include the hydrogen reformer to provide hydrogen from natural gas and the connections for the car to plug into the local electrical power grid. The plan then allows for the fuel-cell powered cars to act as electrical generators when they are parked. The combination not only facilitates hydrogen-powered cars by providing more filling stations, it also provides additional electrical generation capacity during peak daylight hours.
This clever proposal involves installing refrigerator-size reformers (devices that extract hydrogen from natural gas or other fuels) in an office building, apartment houses, hospital or university. The reformers provide the hydrogen fuel for the building's fuel cells, and in addition for a fleet of fuel-cell cars. The apartment house or office building becomes the hydrogen "filling station", using the existing natural gas supply lines that are already installed in most buildings. The fleet of cars can be leased to staff who work in a common location or building. They drive to work and hook up their cars to be refueled from the reformers. The car is also plugged into the building's electrical system which connects the fuel cell to the local electrical grid. Once the car is refilled, the vehicle's 5kw fuel cell can then provide dual duty by generating electricity which can be supplied to building and/or sold back to the regional power grid. For example, most typical homes require only a 1.5 to 2.5kw generator. One vehicle could temporarily supply enough electricity for several homes. So it is possible that much of the electricity generated by a small fleet of hydrogen powered cars would be surplus energy that could be sold to the grid. The Army is also interested in the dual capability of fuel-cell vehicles to be able to also generate electrical power in the field.
By using this simple model a hydrogen infrastructure could be built today with off-the-shelf technology, providing not only less polluting cars, but additional electrical generating capacity. See A Strategy for the Hydrogen Transition by RMI, Vehicle of Change by Lawrence D. Burns, J. Byron McCormick, and Christopher E. Borroni-Bird in the October 2002 issue of Scientific American, and How Hydrogen can Save America by Peter Schwartz and Doug Randall, Wired Magazine, April 2003, and Amory Lovin's Hydrogen Primer.Energy Efficiency
or
Get more work done from the energy we already produce.
More efficient appliances, motors, and refrigeration. Most electricity is used to run motors, not lights.
Encourage
hybrid cars and fuel cell powered cars using hydrogen. If our present
vehicles achieved just a 3 mpg increase in fuel economy, the
United States would be independent of foreign oil and the $45
billion balance of payment deficit that this country has lost annually
since the mid 1970s. What else could we have done with over $1 trillion?
Produce the hydrogen in
building-based reformers to provide energy for building and fuel for
cars
Reform building codes to include insulation, more efficient wiring, better lighting,
Energy Generation
Develop fuel cell technology for buildings and cars. Available technology could produce a building/auto hydrogen fuel system that is based on the existing electrical and natural gas infrastructure. Fuel cell powered cars would be developed that plug into the grid while parked and generate electricity when not in use. The hydrogen producing reformer would be installed in buildings (not in vehicles) and would generate the hydrogen, thus becoming a filling station for car. This plan was proposed by the Rocky Mountain Institute in 1999 in A Strategy for the Hydrogen Transition. See also the article Energy Forever.
Use off-the-shelf technology to develop power generators that use renewable resources, such at photovoltaic, solar thermal electric, wind, and biomass.
Reform building codes to encourage co-generation in large buildings and complexes
Energy Agenda
The first item is to pass fuel efficiency standards for all passenger cars, truck, SUVs and vans so that we can reduce our consumption of foreign oil (presently about 60% or our total consumption) and promote hybrid-electric cars. The next step should be to transition to the hydrogen economy.
Check for updates on hydrogen powered cars at HyperCar news, General
Motors hybrid vehicle news, GM
military fuel-cell truck, GM-Toyota
partnership,
Toyota,
and Honda.