Friday, April 23, 2004
Letters Editor
300 - 1450 Don Mills Road
Don Mills, Ontario
Canada
M3B 3R5
Hydrogen smoke screen
Dear Editor:
Hydrogen is alleged to provide emissions free energy. Why, then, does discussion of the technology create such a swirling smoke screen?
Recent FP articles by Brian Piccioni (Hydrogen’s non-future, April 3, 2004, pp. FP11) and Pierre Rivard (Counterpoint: Fuel cells go beyond cars, April 19, 2004, pp. FP 15) danced around many obscure points for and against the development of hydrogen applications as part of the energy scene.
Let’s cut back to the chase. The essential goal spurring development of technology to use hydrogen fuel is to provide a substitute for the declining stock of oil which provides liquid fuels which power our vehicles. Hydrogen can be produced using electricity from immobile sources of energy such as nuclear and renewable energy and large coal power plants. We do need mobile energy. Hydrogen promises that mobility.
Hydrogen can also facilitate management of greenhouse gas emissions, should that become necessary. It allows stationary non-emitting energy providers to serve the transportation market. Carbon dioxide can also be captured from the exhaust of coal power plants which produce hydrogen. Recovering it from the atmosphere after it is discharged from millions of moving vehicles may pose a bigger challenge.
Additional information on the use of hydrogen in transportation can be found at Computare’s website (www.computare.org/publication.htm) under the title “Transportation and Hydrogen”.
Yours truly,
Duane Pendergast