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Posted on 12-11-2004 Hydrogen - Fossil Fuel In Drag? Shell's first US hydrogen station is open now, reports John Vidal. But
will we all be filling up soon? November 11, 2004, The Guardian
It was billed as the "team of dreams" when in 2003 Shell, the world's
second's largest oil company, linked with General Motors (GM), the largest
car maker, to invest up to a billion dollars over 10 years to develop the
world's "hydrogen economy". Yesterday, in a small ceremony near Washington
DC, one of the fruits of the relationship was shown off.
In front of US department of energy and industry leaders, Shell opened its
first American hydrogen service station. A prototype GM minivan powered by
a fuel cell - a device that combines hydrogen and oxygen to make
electricity - filled up with hydrogen at a conventional-looking pump and
drove off into what some believe will be a cleaner, less oil-dependent
future.
Car and chemical manufacturers as well as governments are pumping money
into hydrogen and fuel cell vehicle research and the infrastructure for a
hydrogen economy. New interest in what is called "tomorrow's petrol"
follows President Bush's December 2003 decision to put hydrogen at the
centre of US renewable technologies.
Jeremy Bentham, Shell's head of hydrogen, was upbeat. "The opening of this
station marks a new phase of development of the infrastructure for the
hydrogen economy. In the next few years, perhaps 2010 or 2012, fuel cell
vehicles will be commercialisable. By 2050 we believe that hydrogen will
be playing a significant role as an energy carrier, increasingly made from
non-fossil fuels," he said.
The decision may be linked to September 11, American love of technology or
US foreign oil dependency, but, says Bentham, it's also about making
money.
Shell's Benning Road filling station in Washington is one of some 22 new
stations for fuel cell and hydrogen-powered vehicles built in the past
year, making about 90 worldwide, but critics say solving problems of
producing, distributing and storing the gas will require hundreds of
billions of dollars.
But the hydrogen/fuel cell route has serious scientific critics. A
committee of the US National Academy of Sciences earlier this year said it
will not solve energy problems, that fuel cell vehicles only marginally
reduce greenhouse gases, and that there are big safety, cost and
distribution barriers to overcome. "In the best case scenario, the
transition to a hydrogen economy would take many decades, and any
reductions in oil imports and carbon dioxide emissions are likely to be
minor during the next 25 years," said the authors.
Dr Joe Romm, assistant energy secretary to Bill Clinton and now director
of the Centre for Energy and Climate Solutions, was in charge of the US
hydrogen programme for five years. He says the hydrogen economy is being
overhyped, and touting it as a clean energy panacea is diverting money
from simpler conservation technologies and kidding the public that
hydrogen is "green" while the gas will most likely be produced using
fossil fuels.
"GM have denigrated and downplayed hybrids [electric/petrol combination
cars]. They see hydrogen as terrific PR. It makes them look like they are
environmentally [friendly] while they stave off fuel economy regulations.
I think it will be seen as a major blunder."
More than $7bn (£3.98bn) is earmarked by US, EU and Japanese governments
and industry for hydrogen/fuel cell R&D. The US energy department is
putting up $1.7bn; Japan $4bn over 15 years with a goal of 5m fuel cell
vehicles by 2020. Nissan is committing $500m and DaimlerChrysler $1bn. GM
says it wants to be the first car company to sell a million hydrogen/fuel
cell vehicles while California's governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, promises
a $100m "hydrogen highway" with more than 200 stations by 2010.
"Pursue it or rue it," said one car industry executive this week.
"The momentum is growing," says Bentham. "It's facts, not fiction now. We
actually have the nodes of a hydrogen economy. Investment is on a serious
scale". He compares the nascent industry's situation with mobile telephony
in the 1980s. "We're in the 'clunky' phase, but we know that this
technology is going to be very attractive."
Producing hydrogen and handling large quantities are not the problem, he
says. Shell alone produces 7,000 tonnes a day from its refineries and
world annual hydrogen output is about 50 million tonnes and growing 10% a
year. It is largely used to make nitrogen-based fertilisers and to convert
low-grade crude oil into transport fuels.
Hydrogen can be extracted from biomass or even seawater, but the primary
source today is natural gas - which is not as environmentally friendly as
the car companies want people to think because it breaks down into
hydrogen and greenhouse gases
Bentham says that in combination with a fuel cell engine, it is far
cleaner than conventional fuel. "The energy content of a kilo of hydrogen
is about the same as a gallon of petrol, but the efficiency of the fuel
cell is far higher than the internal combustion engine," he says.
What is overlooked, says Romm, is that hydrogen is an energy carrier, not
an energy source. "You use a lot of fossil fuels at the front end to get
to hydrogen at the back end. It's discouraging for me as a clean energy
advocate that people are putting claims out that aren't based on reality."
The cost of producing hydrogen from renewable sources, he says, is between
$10 to $20 a gallon of petrol equivalent. "They tell you that the future
is pollution-free but for the next few decades you will have to subsidise
research into hydrogen and fuel cells.
"No alternative energy vehicle makes much sense in the US for 20 years at
least. Of all of them, the fuel cell car is the least likely and most
implausible."
Shell says the claim that it's just good PR is too cynical. "There was a
lot of hype in the late 1990s. But it is a very realistic view that by
2010-2012 vehicles will be commercialisable," says Bentham.
"Whether they will be mass-produced depends on governments and car
manufacturers."
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