Is Hydrogen a Trojan horse?
Bellona Hydrogen workshop at the EU Parliament
Hydrogen a Trojan horse?
BRUSSELS - During the hydrogen workshop March 20th in the EU-Parliament, Member of Parliament Claude Turmes asked if hydrogen is a Trojan horse to the nuclear industry.
Sondre Grinna, 2003-03-21 15:01
Translated by Hanne Bakke
Claude Turmes is Member of Parliament representing the Green party, and arranged the workshop in collaboration with Bellona. He opened the workshop with some thoughts on the hydrogen’s position in the European energy debate.
He was particularly concerned about the powers working for larger use of nuclear power. Turmes asked the question whether the recent years focus on CO2 is about to take focus away from other important energy questions. Nuclear power produces large amounts of energy without CO2 -emissions, and can therefore be labelled “green” without deserving it.
Hydrogen will climb on the political agenda
Turmes asked if hydrogen is a Trojan horse to the nuclear industry. The question is valid, as the nuclear crusaders have taken central seats in the EU high-level group for hydrogen. With hydrogen as a dominating fuel, an enormous marked for nuclear power opens up.
Hydrogen will soon strengthen its position on the EU-agenda, Turmes said. Both president Prodi of the European Commission, and president Bush of the USA, are speaking warmly about hydrogen, an indicator of a higher ranking on the political agenda.
Few asks where the hydrogen is supposed to come from
Turmes has noticed that even though many people are talking about the beneficial features of hydrogen as an energy carrier, few have answers to where the hydrogen is supposed to come from. This experience is shared with Bellona.
It was therefor with great pleasure Bellona could present CO2 -handling as a possible solution within a short timeframe. Even though the solution are based on a final fossil source, and therefor not an optimal solution, the eagerness from the nuclear industry might lead to that green European politicians and organisations catches interest in CO2 -handling as a solution until the capacity of renewable sources are adequate.
bellona.no ... original
Success for hydrogen in European Parliament
Bellona’s workshop in the European Parliament has just ended as a success. The number of people attending was far higher than expected, says Frederic Hauge.
Sondre Grinna, 2003-03-20 19:01
Together with Member of Parliament Claude Turmes, Bellona arranged a workshop on hydrogen in the European Parliament. The purpose was to introduce the Members of Parlament and their assistants to what Bellona views as a realistic path towards the hydrogen society. Other environmental organisations were also invited to present their thoughts and questions regarding hydrogen and underground carbon sequestration.
Unusually high attendance from the Commission
There also were a lot of people attending from the Commission. Representatives from four directorates were present; industry, environment, research and transportation and energy. The Directorate of Research (DG Research) attended with the director responsible for the research program on hydrogen, indicating that the workshop had high priority.
“It’s unusual to see so many Members of Parliament participating at this kind of conference”, says Paal Frisvold of Bellona. “The Commission attendance was unusually high. We have created a dialogue between stakeholders who normally don’t speak together. This is the first time MEPs, representatives of the Commission and NGOs come together to discuss the angle of approach to the hydrogen issues.
Continued dialogue
Turmes from the Green party opened the meeting, before Bellona sketched out a path to the hydrogen society through carbon sequestration. The discussion that followed was both vivacious and constructive.
“We have received many points of view to work on”, said Frederic Hauge of Bellona in his final contribution. He encouraged all the participants to pass on questions and information. Bellona wishes to keep up the established dialogue.
“A very constructive day. Many will probably keep this workshop in mind for some time to come”, stated Hauge right after the meeting had ended. Some of the participants agreed to continue the discussion over dinner later tonight.
bellona.no ... original
Is Bush's hydrogen car plan just hot air?
By Ellen Goodman, 2/13/2003
THE OTHER NIGHT there was a perfect clash of cultures at an intersection in Volant, Pa. An SUV collided with a horse-drawn Amish buggy. The score was SUV 1, Horse 0. The clash was no surprise to those of us who have more horsepower than our Amish brethren but less than a Hummer. SUVs have, after all, become the target of choice for those who have finally connected the dots between the cars we drive, the wars we fight, and the globe we warm.
In the past months, SUVs have been ticketed, picketed, and spray-painted. A poster at an antiwar rally in San Francisco read, ''Draft SUV drivers first.'' The Detroit Project has run TV ads equating drivers to drug dealers. And the more spiritual among us have posed questions -- What Would Jesus Drive? -- suggesting the Expedition is a sacrilege.
On this highway of opinion, you would assume that when the president announced a $1.2 billion program to develop a hydrogen car, aka the ''freedom car,'' the anti-SUV crowd would be on its feet waving the flag. But in the days since the State of the Union address, many environmentalists have been waving warning flags instead.
Even Jeremy Rifkin, author of a new book promoting ''The Hydrogen Economy'' as the one true path to peace, justice, joy, and equality, has protested. Indeed, he called this reporter from his hospital bed right after having a pacemaker implanted to label the program ''a Trojan horse.''
Trojan horse? Horse and buggy? So would Jesus drive the ''freedom car'' or wouldn't he?
''Ah,'' said Rifkin oozing skepticism. When the Fossil Fuel White House proposes a hydrogen car, he says, ''you knew there had to be a catch.'' It turns out that the Bush plan should be labeled Catch Me If You Can.
Catch One is the little bitty taxpayer catch. This program gives its money to auto makers without any requirement that they actually make a hydrogen car. This is a reprise of the Clinton fiasco that plied the Big Three with money to produce a hybrid that would get up to 70 mpg. We did get the first hybrids with much better mileage -- from the Japanese.
Catch Two is bait and switch. The administration wants to keep our eyes on the prize of a hydrogen car by 2020. And keep our eyes off the present.
We have the technology now to produce vehicles that go 40 miles per gallon, saving 3 million gallons of oil a day. But the ''freedom car'' salesmen have fought against raising fuel efficiency standards and done little to support hybrids. The administration is actually suing California to derail clean car legislation. And they want to broaden the tax deduction for small businesses that purchase the biggest, fattest SUVs that ever knocked over a horse and buggy.
Then there is Catch-22. Excuse me, Catch Three, which could trap the energy future in the past. The promise of this new energy technology is that hydrogen is everywhere. But it has to be extracted from either fossil fuels or water.
In short, you need energy to get the energy. The question for the future is whether we'll use renewable sources like wind, sun, and biomass. Or will we use fossil fuels like coal? Would they even use nuclear power to extract the hydrogen?
Words like ''nuclear'' and ''coal'' didn't appear in the State of the Union address. But they did appear in the budget and the president's recent energy speech. Making hydrogen with fossil fuels and nuclear power, says the Sierra Club's Dan Becker, ''is like making a nicotine patch that's carcinogenic.''
War, as is said of hanging, focuses the mind. It's not just the folks holding up ''No Blood for Oil'' signs or putting Saddam stickers on the Explorer who are trying to get a better grip on the steering wheel. When you add the cost of protecting oil to the cost of buying oil to the cost of global warming -- the energy trifecta -- it's going to cost less to produce a fuel cell car that runs on renewable energy.
The good news is that this most environmentally hostile, oil-friendly president brought the concept of hydrogen cars to the public consciousness. The bad news, as Rifkin sees it, is that the White House may be ''using hydrogen to mask an old-fashioned fossil fuel agenda.''
Any serious energy plan has to run on two tracks, one using available technology to improve efficiency now, the other planning for the future. For the moment however, we have another culture clash. So far it looks like Trojan Horse 1, Freedom Car 1.
Ellen Goodman's e-mail address is ellengoodman@globe.com.
This story ran on page A23 of the Boston Globe on 2/13/2003.
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H.C. Starck acquires majority holding in InDEC
02 April 2003
Author: Planet Capital - Press Release
Provider: Fuel Cell Today
H.C. Starck GmbH celebrated the acquisition of a majority holding in the Dutch producer of fuel cell components, InDEC B.V. Petten, with an official ceremony at the Selb site of its subsidiary H.C. Starck Ceramics, on April 1, 2003. Bavarian and Dutch representatives from business and politics also attended the event hosted by the mayor of Selb, Wolfgang Kreil.
H.C. Starck GmbH, Goslar, the Dutch research institute ECN (Stichting Energieonderzoek Centrum Nederland), also located in Petten, and Planet Capital, Zeist/Netherlands, a major shareholder in InDEC, initially signed a non-binding letter of intent concerning the takeover in November 2002. The transaction was ultimately concluded at the end of February 2003. H.C. Starck and ECN will also collaborate on a research project in the field of solid oxide fuel cells, better known as SOFC. (The total investment will be in the double-digit million euro range.)
The Energy Research Center of the Netherlands (ECN), is an independent, market-oriented foundation for research, development, consulting and knowledge-transfer. ECN plays a key international role in the development of sustainable energy supply. For the commercialization of promising developments, ECN then looks for competent partners like H.C. Starck who have the necessary marketing and sales infrastructure to successfully position the new technologies in the world market.
Planet Capital managed by Planet Capital Management is a Venture Capital Fund in creation, with focus on early stage, fast-growing, technological, renewable-energy technology and services ventures.
In 1999 ECN founded the subsidiary InDEC, which operates a pilot plant for the production of components for solid oxide fuel cells. As a consequence of H.C. Starck’s longstanding SOFC powder development efforts, an intensive contact has existed with ECN and InDEC for several years.
This mutually beneficial cooperation will deepen through the acquisition. By combining the SOFC activities of H.C. Starck and InDEC, it will be possible to realize future synergies in materials development and component production. With InDEC ECN has thus seen the successful outcome of yet another project.
The actual series production of fuel cell components will take place at H.C. Starck’s site in Selb at a later date. This project will require additional investments and new jobs will be created. Ernst N. Jung, member of the Executive Board of expressed his enthusiasm for the acquisition: “Through this acquisition, H.C. Starck has secured excellent business prospects for this promising technology and taken a further step in forward integration.”
Dr. Kees van der Klein, former Managing Director of InDEC and now a Director at ECN, says: “InDEC has found the suitable strategic partner with the right know-how to set up mass production facilities and to commercialize the fuel cell technology.” Dr. Albert Fischer, Managing Partner of Planet Capital stated that "this acquisition by H.C. Starck demonstrates that venture capital plays a pivotal role for early stage products and concepts for the energy industry."
With fuel cells chemical energy is converted into electricity in a direct electrochemical process. The resulting high efficacy for electrical energy production leads to an efficient and thus an ecologically and economically optimal use of the combustion gases. There are different kinds of fuel cell systems, but H.C. Starck and InDEC have concentrated on the production of planar ceramic components for SOFC systems. H.C. Starck/InDEC have supplied the new cells to developers of fuel cell systems that have already begun testing pre-series models of fuel cells in practice.
The potential market for the application of SOFC technology mainly targets the market for decentralized energy supply in households. Another application for the future is in vehicles, where SOFC can supplement starter batteries as a second energy source to reduce the combustion of diesel fuel and thus also emissions.
InDEC’s pilot production and staff will remain in Petten. Dr. Alexander Michaelis of H.C. Starck has been appointed Managing Director of InDEC.
Kyocera develops 1kW solid oxide fuel cell
31 March 2003
Author: Stefan Geiger, Fuel Cell Today
Provider: Fuel Cell Today
According to the Denki Shimbun, the home and office technology manufacturer Kyocera Corporation has developed a 1kW solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) for home used. Due to its strong background in ceramic materials, the company provides all necessary ceramics itself.
The development team consists of around 25 researchers which aim to put the first prototypes into action by the end of the year. After an initial one-year test period, the company plans to bring its fuel cell to commercial markets by 2005.
Kyocera has spend 500 million yen (US$ 4.2million) in its research and is currently trying to improve life time and lower operating temperature. The company might expand its technology efforts and has the intention to raise FC as new energy business. |
