The Great Lakes Zephyr - Wind Energy & Hydrogen Journal

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There are 2 messages in this issue.

Topics in this digest:

1. Hydrogen Storage Remains Significant Challenge
From: AP@alternatepower.com (Alternate Power)
2. Re: Wind Power Cheaper than Coal
From: greenscitek@webtv.net


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Message: 1
Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2003 20:28:06 -0700 (PDT)
From: AP@alternatepower.com (Alternate Power)
Subject: Hydrogen Storage Remains Significant Challenge

From: greenb3an@yahoo.com (Green Bean) Date: Thu, Sep 25, 2003, 2:51pm All-Energy@yahoogroups.com
http://www.industryweek.com/DailyPage/newsitem.asp?id=5356
Fuel-Cell Experts Say Hydrogen Storage Remains Significant Challenge
Fuel-cell technology has advanced steadily, yet hydrogen storage remains a significant challenge still to be met if fuel-cell vehicles are to succeed commercially. That's just one of the findings published in a recent report based on interviews with 34 fuel-cell experts throughout the world.
"Three years ago, there was enormous debate about whether fuel-cell vehicles would carry hydrogen or make it on board from a liquid fuel," says Sheila Lynch, executive director of the Northeast Advanced Vehicle Consortium (NAVC), which published the report Future Wheels II: A Survey of Expert Opinion on the Future of Transportation Fuel Cells and Fuel Cell Infrastructure. "Since then, consensus has formed around carrying the hydrogen, but now the big debate is how to store enough of it on board to satisfy customer needs."
The report also identifies other signs of progress -- or lack thereof -- related to fuel-cell technology. For example, it notes quick advances in the prospects of fuel cells in such applications as laptop computers and cell phones, while some experts are raising new concerns about fuel cells in the transit market. Also, the report notes that transportation fuel cells have moved from the laboratory to field trials over the past three years, resulting in an increased focus on manufacturing processes and consolidation among industry players.
The complete report is available as a free download at www.navc.org.
The Future Wheels II report was funded by the Defense Department's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
Boston-based NAVC is a public-private partnership of organizations working to promote advanced vehicle technologies in the northeast United States. It was established in 1993.
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Message: 2
Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2003 18:06:52 -0700 (PDT)
From: greenscitek@webtv.net
Subject: Re: Wind Power Cheaper than Coal

In case anyone missed this article. MikeF.
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http://wvhc.drw.net/VoiceSept01/WindCheaper.VS.Sept01Voice.htm
Information submitted by Vivian Stockman:
Wind power is now cheaper than coal in the U.S., according to a study
published in the journal Science. The study's researchers, two Stanford
engineers, priced wind power at 3 to 4 cents per kilowatt hour, already
competitive with the market price for coal power. After factoring in
health and environmental costs, they put the true price for coal power
at 5.5 to 8.3 cents per kilowatt hour. For wind power to take off,
however, the researchers say that lawmakers will need to give the
industry the same investment opportunities and tax breaks historically
given to fossil fuel industries. The researchers propose this
bargain-basement deal: eliminating nearly two-thirds of coal-generated
electricity and single- handedly dropping the country's greenhouse gas
emission levels below 1990 levels by building 225,000 wind turbines --
at an initial cost of $338 billion.
Poll * 5815 responses [Since no information available to the editor
about sampling procedures, cannot say if these results are statistically
significant]
Do you support the proposal to build 225,000 wind turbines across the
country?
Yes, it's the kind of energy vision needed – 83%
No, it's a costly pie in the sky scheme – 15%
Can't decide – 3%
"There is no reason not to invest in wind at this point," said Mark
Jacobson, a Sanford University professor of environmental engineering.
"Wind is so obviously cheaper if we look at total costs."
Writing in the journal Science, Jacobson and Stanford colleague Gilbert
Masters calculated that wind-generated energy costs 3 to 4 cents per
kilowatt hour. Coal power is priced around there as well, but if you
factor in the indirect health and environmental costs the price is more
like 5.5 to 8.3 cents per kilowatt hour, the engineers calculated.
The researchers also noted that coal dust kills 2,000 U.S. mine workers
annually and has cost taxpayers about $35 billion in monetary and
medical benefits to former miners since 1973.
Karen Batra, a spokeswoman for the National Mining Association,
acknowledged that coal mining has an environmental impact, but said "we
are all working toward a goal of reducing emissions and have made
tremendous strides in reducing emissions in the past 30 years since the
Clean Air Act."
Critics of wind power argue that the turbines – which look like giant
propellers – have been linked to the accidental deaths of migratory
birds that get caught inside the propeller blades, and that the turbines
take up a tremendous amount of space. But Jacobson said these problems
could be avoided by selecting sites out of migration paths and by paying
farmers to put them on their land.
"Wind has trivial health and environmental problems associated with it
in comparison with coal," Jacobson said.
Although wind power is the fastest growing source of energy in the
world, the United States has been slow to use it because coal is so
cheap and wind has received no government incentives, Jacobson said.
Wind power provides the United States with less than 1 percent of its
energy, compared to 52 percent from coal, according to the U.S.
Department of Energy.
Analysts say the U.S. market will see 1,500 megawatts of new wind power
installed by the end of the year.
For America to catch up with major wind power nations such as Germany,
Spain and Denmark, political backing by the Bush administration and
Congress is essential, Jacobson said.
In order to build more wind farms in the United States, lawmakers must
be willing to offer the same investment opportunities and tax incentives
given to the more established coal, gas and oil industries, he added.
The energy bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this
month focuses heavily on boosting domestic oil, coal and natural gas
production, doing far less to promote wind power as an energy source.
The Senate, still working on its version of the energy legislation, is
virtually certain to focus on conservation and energy efficiency.
Depending on where you live, you might be able to shop around for
cheaper, and if you're so inclined, greener power sources. Click on a
state to see if it offers green power programs. (West Virginia offers no
green options).
Global Warming Payback
The authors added that a massive campaign to build turbines, while
costly, would have an additional payback: a sharp drop in carbon dioxide
emissions, one of the gases that many scientists fear are warming Earth
by trapping heat via a greenhouse effect.
If around 225,000 turbines were built, Jacobson noted, it would cost an
initial $338 billion with a minimum of $4 billion annually for
maintenance. But doing so would eliminate almost two-thirds of
coal-generated electricity and thereby reduce greenhouse gas emissions
to below 1990 levels, the authors estimated.
That 1990 goal is already envisioned by the 1997 U.N. Kyoto Protocol on
climate change, which the Clinton administration signed but which the
Bush administration has spurned.
"If you really want a massive change then you need to do something big,"
Jacobson said. "It's expensive but the wind turbines, which have an
average life span of 20 years, would pay for themselves in that time."
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