30 Fairmont Park Lane S
Lethbridge, AB
T1K 7H7
Phone: (403) 328-1804
Thursday, November 06, 2003
The Editor
The Lethbridge Herald
P.O. Box 670
Lethbridge
AB, T1J 3Z7
Dear Editor:
Jim Beattie (Hydrogen fuel cell could wean us from reliance on fossil-fuel energy, Thursday, October 28, 2003, A6) emphasized the benefits of hydrogen fuel cells and urged more discussion of the hydrogen energy option.
Managing greenhouse gas emissions from transportation presents major problems. Practical technical solutions to re-capture greenhouse gases from fossil fuels burned in our cars and discharged to the four winds through their exhaust pipes are not yet available. The exhaust from hydrogen powered vehicles contains mostly harmless water vapor.
Nature does not make pure hydrogen freely available to us. Separating it requires an energy source which will generate some emissions and greenhouse gases. It is potentially storable and portable (with high pressure, extreme cooling or other techniques still under development) and thus presents a means to use energy from stationary and/or intermittent clean sources of energy such as renewable and nuclear power in our planes, trains and automobiles. Emissions from stationary fossil fuel plants which produce hydrogen could be captured and isolated.
Contrary to Mr. Beattie’s opinion, hydrogen fuel is discussed in Alberta. The Suzuki Foundation and Pembina Institute provided a public report (March 2000) which considers greenhouse gas emissions from its production. Alberta’s climate change plan (October 2002) urges more emphasis on developing the use of hydrogen. I published a paper (May, 1999) on hydrogen powered cars myself, which is on the Internet at www.computare.org. It compares carbon dioxide emissions from several alternative methods of producing hydrogen used to power cars and light trucks.
Yours truly,
Duane Pendergast