Kick-starting the hydrogen economy : Well to wheels study Shell well to wheels study results, presented at the SAE World Congress in Detroit, 5-8 March 2001
Kick-starting the hydrogen economy
Although it may not yet be feasible to have fuel cell
vehicles running on hydrogen produced from renewable
sources, greenhouse gas emissions could still be cut
considerably with current fuel cell technology - which uses
hydrogen produced from fossil fuels - according to a study
by Shell Global Solutions.
There are many other fuel and drivetrain options being considered
for future vehicles that offer improvements in greenhouse gas
emissions and energy usage, including the hybrid drivetrain,
which uses a conventional engine in conjunction with an electric
motor. The ultimate goal - to have fuel cell vehicles providing
emission-free transport by running on hydrogen produced from
renewable sources, such as biomass or electrolysis - is not
deemed feasible in the short term.
At the Society of Automotive Engineers' 2001 World Congress in
Detroit in March, Jurgen Louis of Shell Global Solutions' Fuels
Business Group revealed the findings of a `well-to-wheel' study
into the greenhouse-gas emissions and energy usage of these
various technologies. The study, which was commissioned by
Shell Hydrogen, considered the fuel's whole history, from raw
material to energy output, as it can be misleading to compare
only the emissions or energy usage of fuels when they are
burned in a vehicle engine. A fuel that gives low emissions from a
vehicle could be responsible, for example, for very high levels of
pollution during its production phase.
"According to the calculations in our study, there is a
considerable greenhouse gas benefit by changing to hybrid or
fuel cell vehicles in the near future," Louis told the conference.
But, he added if emission regulations become more severe in the
future, hybrid vehicles would need after-treatment systems -
which reduce the efficiency of the vehicle and thus increase
greenhouse gases - while the emissions from fuel cell vehicles
are intrinsically lower.
He added, "Furthermore, because hydrogen can be made by a
large number of renewable or sustainable pathways, it holds the
best long term hope for mobility with zero global warming
impact."
Full article and presentation coming soon.
shellhydrogen.com ... original
shellhydrogen.com ... who's cell is in this picture link ? |
