May 11, 2009 9:49 AM PDT
Obama kills Bush fuel cell plan
WASHINGTON--President George W. Bush's $1.2 billion plan to develop cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells was eliminated by President Barack Obama last week, saving $100 million a year.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu said the government prefers to target more immediate energy-saving solutions.
"The probability of deploying hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in the next 10 to 20 years is low," Energy Department spokesman Tom Welch said in an interview.
(Source: Automotive News)
The logistics of establishing a "hydrogen economy" are just mind boggling. I totally agree that the technology is too far out there and that our money (meaning taxpayers) would be better used improving on existing technologies and others that don't require a massive shift in infrastructure (for example how do we safely transport compressed hydrogen, how do we store it, how doe we make a robust supply of hydrogen fuel without using more fossil fuels (which defeats the point)).
Some of these answers will come by the exploration of larger fuel cells for power generation (homes, companies, etc). That technology is still being funded. It's just the fuel cell car that is being put on the back burner.
The problem isn't the cars, it's the lack of infrastructure to SUPPORT the cars. 10 to 20 years is wholly unreasonable to have all the refuelling points up and running across the U.S.; the investment would be MASSIVE and without HUGE government subsidies private enterprise won't see it through on their own. OTOH, in places like China hydrogen could indeed work; there IS no existing gasoline infrastructure, and putting in a hydrogen station would cost just as much as a petrol one.
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by Wiggletoe
May 24, 2009 1:46 AM PDT
- Hydrogen fueling system is the existing natural gas distribution system plus off-the-shelf reformers at local service stations from Air Products with advertised 90% efficiency ranges and the same natural gas used to make gasoline would be enough for fuel cell cars.
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(7 Comments)An initial step in refining is adding hydrogen, then in the cat-cracker more hydrogen is added and then its was blended with 10% oxidizer (MTBE) made from natural gas. Reform natural gas at the service station and use it in a 300% more efficient system (fuel cell) and fuel cell cars can run on the same natural gas or hydrogen used to make gasoline, minus the crude (added carbon) or course.