Sunday, September 23, 2007

Norwegian gas group sets up biggest liquefied gas project in Europe

Fri Sep 21, 2:11 PM ET

OSLO (AFP) - Norwegian oil company Statoil said Friday it had set up the biggest liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Europe in the Barents Sea.

It said the large-scale gas project also involves French oil group Total and gas utility Gaz de France, who respectively hold 18.4 percent and 12 percent of the project, against Statoil's 33.53 percent.

Situated at the northern tip of Norway, and linked by pipeline to the gas deposit at Snoehvit, the project produced its first cubic metres of liquefied natural gas on September 13 after five years of development and with a cost overrun of 18.8 billion kronor (2.4 billion euros, 3.3 billion dollars), it said.

Initially fixed at 39.5 billion kronor, the cost of the project ran to 58.3 billion, Statoil said.

The other partners are the Norwegian company Petoro (30 percent), US firm Hess (3.26 percent), and Germany's RWE-DEA (2.81 percent).

"The first phase will be characterised by instability," Tim Dodson, Statoil's acting executive vice president for exploration and production Norway said in a statement.

"We must expect that the plant will again be closed for shorter or longer periods for further adjustments to the process."

The gas is destined for the American and European markets.

Rudd in climate talks with Gore

Posted 5 hours 44 minutes ago
Updated 5 hours 23 minutes ago

Climate crusader: Al Gore (File photo)

Climate crusader: Al Gore (File photo) (Reuters: Joshua Roberts)

Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd has met with the former US vice-president and climate campaigner Al Gore in Melbourne to discuss climate change issues.

Mr Rudd says Australia's failure to ratify the Kyoto protocol means it does not have voting rights at the December meeting of the UN framework convention on climate change in Bali.

He says ratification is long overdue.

"We would have been 11 years or a decade at least down the track towards substantive diplomatic engagement on bringing the Chinese on board, on bringing the Indians on board, on working with our friends in Washington to bring America on board and to work out the practical strategies necessary," he said.

"But instead we've had a decade of denial on climate change."

Mr Gore has welcomed Mr Rudd's pledge to ratify the protocol, and says it would put overwhelming pressure on America to do the same.

But he stopped short of endorsing Mr Rudd for prime minister.

"If I were a citizen of Australia and cared deeply about the climate crisis I would pay very careful attention to the fact that there is a clear and stark difference in the positions of the two candidates," he said.

"One supports ratification of the world treaty to solve the climate crisis and the other opposes it. That would weigh very heavily on my vote."

Tags: environment, climate-change, government-and-politics, federal-government, federal-election-2007, rudd-kevin, australia, vic, melbourne-3000

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PM announces national clean energy target

Posted 1 hour 38 minutes ago
Updated 1 hour 18 minutes ago

Mr Howard says he plans to consult state and territory leaders immediately. (File photo)

Mr Howard says he plans to consult state and territory leaders immediately. (File photo) (AAP: Dean Lewins)

Prime Minister John Howard has announced a new national clean energy target requiring that 30,000 gigawatt hours per year come from low emission sources by 2020.

Those sources include renewable energy, as well as fossil-fuel power generation which uses carbon capture storage.

The national scheme is designed to replace the individual state and territory schemes.

Mr Howard says he plans to consult state and territory leaders immediately.

"The great virtue of this is it will establish a single national target and over the past few years the states have regularly called on the Commonwealth to have a single national scheme," he said.

"And therefore in announcing this today, the states are really being invited to support something that they have called for."

Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull says the new target will drive further investment in the renewable energy sector as the emissions trading scheme is introduced.

"By the time this target is established, by 2020 and of course the years that follow, the emissons trading scheme itself will be having an impact," he said.

"So we will see both from this target and from the emissions trading scheme, and enormous amount of impetus behind clean energy sources right through Australia."

Tags: environment, alternative-energy, government-and-politics, federal-government, howard-john, australia

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Friday, September 21, 2007

Study says the best energy strategies to meet the world’s growing demand for electricity are green, small and local


The wisest energy strategy for the United States, and indeed other countries facing similar challenges, is to move away from their reliance on large-scale centralized coal and nuclear plants, and instead, invest in renewable energy systems and small scale decentralized generation technologies. According to Benjamin Sovacool from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, these alternative technologies are simultaneously feasible, affordable, environmentally friendly, reliable and secure. His analysis and recommendations are published in Springer’s journal Policy Sciences.
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The electricity sector as it currently operates is at the mercy of natural disasters, price fluctuations, terrorist attacks and blackouts. Coupled with other, more long-standing problems such as increasing levels of pollution, growing vulnerability and inefficiency of transmission and distribution networks, and rising electricity prices related to disruptions and interruptions in fuel supply, these challenges add to the need for an evaluation of alternative energy technologies. Sovacool studies in detail the current technological composition of, and challenges faced by, the American electric utility industry. He then evaluates the broad portfolio of energy technologies available to American electricity policy makers, against five criteria: technical feasibility, cost, negative externalities (or impact on human health and the environment), reliability and security. Sovacool’s detailed analysis shows that three other sets of technologies – energy efficiency practices (like more efficient appliances), renewable energy systems (such as generators that create electricity from sunlight, wind, and falling water), and small-scale distributed generation technologies (such as generators that produce decentralized and modular power close to its point of consumption) – appear to offer many advantages over large and centralized nuclear and fossil fueled generators.
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Sovacool’s paper shows how these alternative approaches can offer policy makers solutions to curb electricity demand, minimize the risk of fuel interruptions and shortages, help improve the fragile transmission network, and reduce environmental harm. He concludes that “it is these miniature generators – not mammoth and capital-intensive nuclear and fossil fuel plants – that offer the best strategy for diversifying electrical generation in a competitive energy environment.” Source: Springer
Asia-Pacific nations urged to study biofuels more carefully


The nations of Asia and the Pacific are being urged to study the issue of biofuels with greater care before deciding on how they will use their agricultural products to generate energy.
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Scientists say there is an urgent need to support the current rush toward major decisions on biofuel policies in Asia and the Pacific with solid research and unbiased information about their potential benefits, impact, and risks. This appeal was issued at the end of a recent Expert Consultation on Biofuels organized by the Asia Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutions (APAARI) together with the Philippine-based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics in India, the Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute, and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Mexico. The consultation was held at IRRI’s headquarters in Los BaƱos, Philippines, on August 27-29. “There’s no doubt biofuels will have an impact on agriculture in Asia and the Pacific and present some very interesting new opportunities,” APAARI’s executive secretary, R.S. Paroda, said. “But we need to be absolutely sure this will not affect the region’s food security and its continuing efforts to alleviate poverty.”
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In the Asian region, both China and India are gearing up for substantial investments in biofuels. Malaysia and Indonesia are investing heavily in oil palm plantations for biodiesel production. The Philippines has mandated the blending of gasoline with 5 percent biofuel. However, at the same time, countries such as China have currently banned the use of maize – a vital food crop for national food and feed security – as biofuel. The consultation focused on important issues such as (i) how bioenergy production may have an impact on global and regional food security, (ii) understanding bioenergy options for key crops and cropping systems in Asia, (iii) identifying research priorities for designing and evaluating integrated food-bioenergy production systems, and (iv) developing a framework for research on biofuels in key agricultural systems of Asia. Source: International Rice Research Institute

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Making EU climate goal 'unlikely'

The IPCC report warns of declining crop yields and increased hungerThe European Union's goal of keeping the global temperature rise to 2C is unlikely to be met, a leading climate researcher has warned.
Professor Martin Parry told BBC News that millions, if not tens of millions, would be at increased risk to their lives from a rise above 2C (3.6F).
Professor Parry co-chairs the impacts working group of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
The group's full 2007 report is being presented to scientists in London.
Its summary findings were unveiled in April.
Asked what the chances were of keeping the average global temperature rise at or below 2C, Professor Parry said: "Quite little, I think, unfortunately.
Failing to tackle it will lead to floods, droughts and natural disasters which can destroy poor people's lives
Gareth Thomas, DfID"And it's evident from the work of the IPCC that even with a maximum of 2C we're not going to avoid some major impacts at the regional level."
His personal estimate was that the rise could be constrained to between 2C and 3C.
Adapt and survive
The IPCC report on Impacts, Vulnerability and Adaptation paints a picture in sober scientific language of a world where some regions see significant changes as greenhouse gas levels and average temperatures escalate.
Parts of Africa would see water shortages, as would Asian and South American zones fed by mountain glacier melt.
Crop yields would decline across the tropics; Europe would see an increase in heatwaves.

Billions face climate risk
Mapping climate impacts But Professor Parry said steps could be taken to help societies adapt to these impacts.
"We need to talk very seriously about major amounts of adaptation being put in place now," he said.
The Kyoto Protocol established mechanisms which would leverage money for adaptation from carbon trading. But the funds have been criticised as being too small and too bureaucratic, and there have been wrangles over who controls them.
A number of development agencies including Britain's Department for International Development (DfID) are seeking to build climate adaptation into their aid projects.
Speaking at the London IPCC meeting, held at the Royal Geographical Society (RGS), Trade and Development Minister Gareth Thomas described climate change as a "development challenge".
"Failing to tackle it will lead to floods, droughts and natural disasters which can destroy poor people's lives as well as their livelihoods," he said.
"If we want to achieve the aspirations of the Make Poverty History campaign or the targets of the Millennium Development Goals, we - governments, citizens and developing countries themselves - must rise to the challenge."

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

How this 12inch miracle tube could halve heating bills

Amazing British invention creates MORE energy than you put into it - and could soon be warming your homeLast updated at 21:09pm on 15th September 2007
Comments (5) It sounds too good to be true - not to mention the fact that it violates almost every known law of physics.
But British scientists claim they have invented a revolutionary device that seems to 'create' energy from virtually nothing.
Their so-called thermal energy cell could soon be fitted into ordinary homes, halving domestic heating bills and making a major contribution towards cutting carbon emissions.
Scroll down for more...

Hot stuff: Ecowatts boss Paul Calver with the device
Even the makers of the device are at a loss to explain exactly how it works - but sceptical independent scientists carried out their own tests and discovered that the 12in x 2in tube really does produce far more heat energy than the electrical energy put in.
The device seems to break the fundamental physical law that energy cannot be created from nothing - but researchers believe it taps into a previously unrecognised source of energy, stored at a sub-atomic level within the hydrogen atoms in water.
Scroll down for more...
The system - developed by scientists at a firm called Ecowatts in a nondescript laboratory on an industrial estate at Lancing, West Sussex - involves passing an electrical current through a mixture of water, potassium carbonate (otherwise known as potash) and a secret liquid catalyst, based on chrome.
This creates a reaction that releases an incredible amount of energy compared to that put in. If the reaction takes place in a unit surrounded by water, the liquid heats up, which could form the basis for a household heating system.
If the technology can be developed on a domestic scale, it means consumers will need much less energy for heating and hot water - creating smaller bills and fewer greenhouse gases.
Jim Lyons, of the University of York, independently evaluated the system. He said: 'Let's be honest, people are generally pretty sceptical about this kind of thing. Our team was happy to take on the evaluation, even if to prove it didn't work.
'But this is a very efficient replacement for the traditional immersion heater. We have examined this interesting technology and when we got the rig operating, we were getting 150 to 200 per cent more energy out than we put in, without trying too hard.
People are sceptical - but somehow it works
'We are still not clear about the science involved here, because the physics and chemistry are very different-to everything that has gone before. Our challenge now is to study the science and how it works.'
The device has taken ten years of painstaking work by a small team at Ecowatts' tiny red-brick laboratory, and bosses predict a household version of their device will be ready to go on sale within the next 18 months.
The project, which has cost the company £1.4million, has the backing of the Department of Trade and Industry, which is keen to help poorer families without traditional central heating or who cannot afford rocketing fuel bills.
Ecowatts says the device will cost between £1,500 and £2,000, in line with the price of traditional systems.
The development of the groundbreaking technology results from a chance meeting between Ecowatts chairman Chris Davies, his wife Jane and an Irish inventor, Christopher Eccles, while the couple were on holiday near Shannon in 1998.
After the inventor showed the couple his laboratory experiments, Mrs Davies, immediately signed a £20,000 cheque on the bonnet of her car and handed it over to Mr Eccles.
He later became chief scientist of Ecowatts' parent company Gardner Watts, but has since left after 'falling out' with the company, according to insiders. Sadly, Mrs Davies died three years ago, so she will be unable to share in the success of her husband's development of the idea.
Mr Davies, now 75, of Dedham, Essex, was unavailable for comment last night.
But Ecowatts chief executive Paul Calver said: 'When Jane Davies whipped out her cheque book, it turned out to be a very good investment indeed.
'She and Chris were always interested in ecology and now it looks as if our heat exchanger system is ready to go on sale soon. We're producing a device in the next nine months to heat radiators.
'Most British homes rely on gas, and the Government has admitted there is a problem getting a substitute. Our device will help solve that.'
Sustainable energy expert Professor Saffa Riffat, of Nottingham University, has also led a team investigating the system.
He said: 'The concept is very interesting and it could be a major breakthrough, but more tests are required. We will be doing further checks.'
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Bondi Beach to be wiped out

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September 16, 2007 03:05pm
THREE of Australia's most popular beaches could be wiped out by rising sea levels in less than 100 years thanks to climate change, a Sydney mayor said today.Waverley Mayor George Newhouse said results of a CSIRO study into climate change predicted that sea levels would rise by at least 88cm by 2100 wiping out Bondi, Bronte and Tamarama beaches in the Sydney's east. “These are places where families and children gather,” Mr Newhouse said. “Our children are our future and we are mortgaging their future by failing to act on this climate change issue.” Mr Newhouse launched a climate-change marker today at North Bondi Children's Pool, which he said was forecast to be under water by 2030. The marker indicates to beach visitors the predicted water height by 2100. “At Bondi, Tamarama and Bronte, we will just lose the whole beach and at other beaches like Collaroy and Narrabeen (in Sydney's north) we will see houses falling into the water,” Mr Newhouse said. The CSIRO study analysed sea level increases at six sites around the world between 1990 and 2006, he said. “I'm told that CSIRO estimate is actually conservative, meaning we could see greater increases in sea levels,” Mr Newhouse said. “After a recent extreme weather event (high seas in March) in Sydney, we spent $60,000 fixing our beaches in one weekend and those occurrences are going to increase with storm surges and extreme weather events as weather heats up.” Mr Newhouse said the event had prompted a group of Sydney coastal councils to commission an independent study into sea levels. “We are extremely worried about this issue and eagerly await the results of our study so we can look at who is best placed to bare the risk of climate change,” he said. Mr Newhouse said he hoped results of the council study would be available by the end of the year.
New Method of Studying Ancient Fossils Points to Carbon Dioxide As a Driver of Global Warming
A team of American and Canadian scientists has devised a new way to study Earth's past climate by analyzing the chemical composition of ancient marine fossils. The first published tests with the method further support the view that atmospheric CO2 has contributed to dramatic climate variations in the past, and strengthen projections that human CO2 emissions could cause global warming.
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In the current issue of the journal Nature, geologists and environmental scientists from the California Institute of Technology, the University of Ottawa, the Memorial University of Newfoundland, Brock University, and the Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve report the results of a new method for determining the growth temperatures of carbonate fossils such as shells and corals. This method looks at the percentage of rare isotopes of oxygen and carbon that bond with each other rather than being randomly distributed through their mineral lattices.
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Because these bonds between oxygen-18 and carbon-13 form in greater abundance at low temperatures and lesser abundance at higher temperatures, a precise measurement of their concentration in a carbonate fossil can quantify the temperature of seawater in which the organisms lived. By comparing this record of temperature change with previous estimates of past atmospheric CO2 concentrations, the study demonstrates a strong coupling of atmospheric temperatures and carbon dioxide concentrations across one of Earth's major environmental shifts.
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According to Rosemarie Came, a postdoctoral scholar in geochemistry at Caltech and lead author of the article, only about 60 parts per million of the carbonate molecular groups that make up the mineral structures of carbonate fossils are a combination of both oxygen-18 and carbon-13, but the amount varies predictably with temperature. Therefore, knowing the age of the sample and how much of these exotic carbonate groups are present allows one to create a record of the planet's temperature through time. "This clumped-isotope method has an advantage over previous approaches because we're looking at the distribution of rare isotopes inside a single shell or coral," Came says. "All the information needed to study the surface temperature at the time the animal lived is stored in the fossil itself." In this way, the method contrasts with previous approaches that require knowledge of the chemistry of seawater in the distant past--something that is poorly known. The study contrasts the growth temperatures of fossils from two times in the distant geological past. The Silurian period, approximately 400 million years ago, is thought to have been a time of highly elevated atmospheric CO2 (more than 10 times the modern concentration), and was found by the researchers to be a time of exceptionally warm shallow-ocean temperatures--nearly 35 degrees C. In contrast, the Carboniferous period, roughly 300 million years ago, appears to have been characterized by far lower levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide (similar to modern values) and had shallow marine temperatures similar to or slightly cooler than today-about 25 degrees C. Thus, the draw-down of atmospheric CO2 coincided with strong global cooling. "This is a huge change in temperature," says John Eiler, a professor of geochemistry at Caltech and a coauthor of the study. "It shows that carbon dioxide really has been a powerful driver of climate change in Earth's past." The title of the Nature paper is "Coupling of surface temperatures and atmospheric CO2 concentrations during the Paleozoic era." The other authors are Jan Veizer of the University of Ottawa, Karem Azmy of Memorial University of Newfoundland, Uwe Brand of Brock University, and Christopher R. Weidman of the Waquoit National Estuarine Research Reserve, Massachusetts. Source: Caltech
» Next Article in General Science - Chemistry: Good
U.S., China sign energy agreement
The U.S. Department of Energy has joined with China in agreeing to increase cooperation to heighten energy efficiency in China's industrial sector.
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The agreement was signed last week by Energy Department Assistant Secretary for Policy and International Affairs Karen Harbert and Chen Deming, the vice chairman of China's National Development and Reform Committee. The memorandum of understanding is to increase cooperation and energy efficiency in China's industrial sector, which accounts for 70 percent of that country's total energy demand. The agreement stemmed from discussions during the third U.S.-China Energy Policy Dialogue, in which the United States and China agreed to conduct audits to increase China's national, regional, and local energy efficiency. "This agreement signifies the importance of our strategic energy and economic cooperation with China," said Harbert. "As global energy use continues to rapidly increase, the U.S. is working to identify ways to increase industrial energy efficiency both domestically and across the globe. Our U.S. industry has significant expertise and products that can improve energy efficiency in China." Copyright 2007 by United Press International
» Next Article in General Science - Other: Queen of bees dies at 95
Nanotech could make solar energy as easy and cheap as growing grass


Scientists are working to produce cheap, sustainable solar energy by imitating nature. Nanotechnology researchers like California Institute of Technology professor Nate Lewis are exploring nanoscale materials that mimic the architecture of grass and photosynthesis to capture and store the sun’s energy.
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A new podcast looks at how Dr. Lewis and his CalTech research team are trying to imbed tiny nanoparticles into simple, inexpensive everyday products like house paint and roof tiles to revolutionize the way solar energy is produced.
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“More energy from the sun hits the earth in an hour than all the energy consumed by human beings on our planet in an entire year. So, if we are going to find an efficient, environmentally-friendly substitute for fossil fuels, it makes sense to exploit the sun,” says Dr. Lewis. “Nanotechnology offers us a way, in principle, to make very cheap materials—like the paint you buy at Home Depot—act as solar cells and batteries.” Ordinary-looking, nano-enabled house paint, roofs or shingles could replace today’s black, glasslike photovoltaic cells which are usually composed of crystalline silicon and are unwieldy, unsightly and very expensive to manufacture. In addition to homes, this innovative technology someday could power cell phones, laptops and even automobiles. Listen to Dr. Lewis talk about his research in the latest episode of an exciting new series of podcasts, Trips to the NanoFrontier. Produced by the Wilson Center’s Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, these podcasts are available online at http://www.penmedia.org/podcast , or directly from Apple’s iTunes music store.
Nanotechnology could clean up the hydrogen car's dirty little secret

(Nanowerk Spotlight) Back in January, when the U.S. president announced his hydrogen fuel initiative and proposed to spend a total of $1.7 billion over the next five years to develop hydrogen-powered fuel cells, hydrogen infrastructure and advanced automotive technologies, he said that it will be practical and cost-effective for large numbers of Americans to choose to use clean, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles by 2020. According to the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Hydrogen Program, the government's goal is to achieve "technology readiness" by around 2015 in order to allow industry to make decisions on commercialization by then. That's only eight years to go. Given where the technology is today, this goal seems very ambitious, to say the least. Nanotechnology could help speed up the journey to the hydrogen society, but it will take some sensational breakthroughs on the way. The three key areas for the vehicles (we will not touch on the infrastructure issues here) are clean - the emphasis is on clean - hydrogen production, hydrogen storage, and the fuel cell itself. We'll take a look at how nanotechnology will play a role in these areas.
First, let's get the terminology straight. Getting an internal combustion engine to run on hydrogen is not difficult (but it is difficult to get it to run smoothly). Some of the Hydrogen Vehicles on the road today still have an internal combustion engine, but one that uses either pure hydrogen or a mix of hydrogen and natural gas. True Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles basically are electric cars (having a flashback to the 1970s here?) where fuel cells convert the chemical energy of a fuel – hydrogen – directly into electricity without any intermediate thermal or mechanical processes. Neat thing is that the exhaust consists solely of heat and water.
Hydrogen Production
Hydrogen fuel cells get their hydrogen either produced on-board by converting liquid fuels (gasoline, ethanol, or methanol) to hydrogen, or by using hydrogen that has been generated off-board and stored on the vehicle. Where that off-board generated hydrogen comes from is problem number 1: There are no hydrogen wells.
Hydrogen has to be produced, and that can be done using a variety of resources. The cleanest by far of course would be renewable energy electrolysis: using electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen; this electricity could be generated using renewable energy technologies such as wind, solar, geo- and hydrothermal power. The dirtiest, at least until highly efficient carbon capture and sequestration technologies are developed, is the gasification of coal. Of course you can also use nuclear energy to provide the electricity for electrolysis.
However, 95% of all the hydrogen produced in the United States today (and 50% worldwide), some 9 million tons annually, is produced from methane in natural gas using high-temperature steam – so-called steam methane reforming. Government researchers say that they see natural gas only as a 'near-term' solution; 'near-term' meaning the time it takes to come up with a better and cleaner solution that scales industrially. That solution doesn't exist yet.
And here is the dirty little secret: while politicians and the energy industry talk about the clean future of the hydrogen economy, the DOE's Hydrogen Energy Roadmap foresees up to 90% of hydrogen production coming from fossil fuels – coal, gas, oil – the rest mostly from nuclear power plants (why do you think the oil companies are investing hundreds of millions of dollars into hydrogen technology?). In other words: although hydrogen fuel cell cars themselves may emit nothing but water and heat, the process of powering the fuel cells with hydrocarbons will continue the economy's dependence on fossil fuels and leave behind carbon dioxide (sequestered or not), the primary cause of global warming.
(For an in-depth discussion of hydrogen energy read the policy statement "Renewable Hydrogen" (pdf download, 788 KB) from the American Solar Energy Society.)
The greatest challenge to clean hydrogen production is its cost. Unless government mandates the use of hydrogen or significantly increases the taxes on existing fossil-based fuels, the 'gallon/liter gasoline equivalent' (the amount of fuel with the energy content of one gallon/liter of gas) will be the measure used by drivers to decide what fuel to use. And the cheapest way today to produce hydrogen is from fossil fuels.
Nanotechnology's major contribution to the clean production of hydrogen lies in its application to solar cells and the catalysts used in water electrolysis. The holy grail here would be a highly efficient device that you fill with water, put in the sun, and get hydrogen without using any outside source of energy. Solar cells have the potential to make this dream come true. The two key issues for now are efficiency (which is low) and cost (which is high).
In one type of solar cell hydrogen is generated directly in a photoelectrochemical process that is based on the conversion of sunlight energy to chemical energy. It has been shown that nanoscale electrode materials, resulting in higher surface area to volume ratios, will increase the efficiency of the cell.
Another type of solar cell – a photovoltaic cell – produces electricity that can then be used to power electrolytic production of hydrogen from water. Experiments with nanowire arrays and other nanostructured materials have shown that they improve the efficiency of these cells.
Without going into details here – we have plenty of news articles and spotlights on this topic on our site – it is probably safe to say that nanotechnology will play an important role in building the type of highly efficient solar cells required to become a viable alternative to fossil fuel based hydrogen production.
Hydrogen Storage
Storing the hydrogen onboard that is needed to run your car's fuel cells poses another challenge. Very roughly speaking you would need about 1 kg of hydrogen to drive 100 km (or some 2.2 lbs. per 60 miles). That means you need about 5 kg/10lbs. of hydrogen to have the same average range as today's cars. Since hydrogen's density is only 1/10th of a gram per liter at room temperature, that means you somehow need to pack 50,000 liters (∼14,000 gallons) of hydrogen into your tank. There are three ways of doing this: as a high-pressure compressed gas; a cryogenic liquid; or as a solid.
Compressed hydrogen gas tanks will likely be used in early hydrogen-powered vehicles and will need to meet cost and packaging requirements to play a role across various vehicle platforms. Honda last year announced the FCX concept car that stores 5 kg of hydrogen at 5000 psi in a tank small enough to fit into a midsize car.
Rather than using thousands of psi to compress hydrogen into a tank, or cooling it down to minus 252°C (minus 421° F) to liquefy it, an intriguing alternative of hydrogen storage has led to metal hydrides, chemical hydrides, and physisorption-based storage, where hydrogen is adsorbed onto the interior surfaces of a porous material. The stored hydrogen can then be released by heat, electricity, or chemical reaction. Many metals are capable of absorbing hydrogen as well.
Nanotechnology plays an important role here. Nanomaterials have diverse tunable physical properties as a function of their size and shape due to strong quantum confinement effects and large surface to volume ratios. These properties are useful for designing hydrogen storage materials. For instance, researchers are now investigating nanostructured polymeric materials as hydrogen storage adsorbents. The new polymer adsorbent material has shown great promise in preliminary tests.
Due to their large surface areas with relatively small mass, single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) have been considered very promising potential materials for high capacity hydrogen storage. Theoretically, they can store hydrogen up to 7.7 wt%, as every carbon atom in SWCNTs chemisorbs one hydrogen atom. In addition, the subsequent physisorption of hydrogen on the surfaces of hydrogenated SWCNTs can increase the capacity of hydrogen storage even further. However, there is some skepticism on carbon nanotube hydrogen storage due to early mistakes in experimental publications and a rational basis for high capacity hydrogen storage materials is now being developed.
Fuel Cell
Not surprisingly, a fuel cell is essentially just the reverse of an electrolytic cell: whereas electricity is used to decompose water into its constituent gases during electrolysis, in a fuel cell water and electricity are generated by the direct recombination of hydrogen and oxygen.
A major challenge for hydrogen powered cars today is the cost of the vehicle. The cost for fuel cells alone are currently hovering between $1,000 and $3,000 per kilowatt. To compete with vehicles equipped with internal combustion engines, those figures need to drop to about $30/kW. There are several kinds of fuel cells, but Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) fuel cells – also called Proton Exchange Membrane fuel cells – are the prime candidates for use in automobiles.
Both the electrolytic and the fuel cell use expensive platinum (which currently sells for about $45,000 per kilogram) as electrode material. Researchers are looking at two ways to bring the cost of catalysts down: One way to minimize platinum usage is to increase catalytic efficiency by nanostructuring the platinum metal; another way of eliminating the use of platinum altogether is by exploring the use of much cheaper non-precious metal catalysts where the nanostructured surfaces match or exceed the catalytic properties of platinum.
Nanotechnology certainly will play a major role in a future hydrogen economy. The big question is when most of this hydrogen will be generated from renewable sources and not fossil fuels. Certainly not by 2020.
By Michael Berger, Copyright 2007 Nanowerk