Here comes the future.

It is no wonder Natural Resources Canada and the National Research Council were major promoters at the recent Hydrogen and Fuel Cell 2003 Conference in Vancouver. By 2011 the hydrogen economy worldwide is expected to be worth $46 billion and then $2.6 trillion by 2021.

As we enter the hydrogen fuel age we can look forward to spectacular growth in what has the potential to be one of the cleanest energy forms yet. Natural Resources Minister Herb Dhaliwal was emphatic. "This trade show is a glimpse into the future. The technologies on display here are the foundation for that change." He went on to announce $4.5 million in support for the hydrogen industry.

In Jules Verne’s 1874 novel The Mysterious Island he predicted the world would eventually be powered by hydrogen. "Water can be decomposed into its primitive elements by electricity... hydrogen and oxygen which constitute it, used singly or together, will furnish an inexhaustible source of heat and light, of an intensity of which coal is not capable. Some day...steamers and the tenders of locomotives will, instead of coal, be stored with these two condensed gases, which will burn in the furnaces with enormous calorific power... Water will be the coal of the future."

At the conference were a couple rows of sleek, shinny new fuel cell vehicles covered in logos. They looked like racing cars in their pits. People were boarding a demonstration bus powered by methanol fuel cells for a "clean burning" free ride offered by the Methanex Corporation.

Inside the trade show were 44 exhibits dedicated to the simplest element in the universe and some very complex ways to extract energy from it. At the Price WaterHouse Cooper display an engineer-type in a plaid shirt was debating hydrogen’s chicken and egg problem with a three-piece suit.

"We can’t design fuel stations until we know what kind of vehicles will be filling up."

"We can’t build the cars if there are no fuel stations to fill them up."

Storage

In order to get enough H2 into a tank to make it worth transporting, the gas must be compressed. But hydrogen is such a small atom that it tends to leak right through metal containers.

The result is, liquid hydrogen and compressed hydrogen are just two of seven contenders for the new system’s choice. All the others carry their hydrogen, chemically bonded to carbon and oxygen, and are commonly known as methanol, ethanol, natural gas, coal and gasoline. Used this way, fuel cells, although much more efficient, still exhaust some carbon dioxide which is one of the greenhouse gases. So what good is hydrogen, if its production is the result of burning more coal or gas. And even more worrying is the idea of using new nuclear reactors.

Encouraged by US federal research money, a spokesperson for the nuclear industry claimed the need to build 5,000 new nuclear piles to satisfy the anticipated surge in demand for hydrogen.

Small storage devices are pretty well ready claimed Greg Rommey, ChevronTexaco’s fuel cell vice-president. By the end of the year micro fuel cells will be powering portable laptop computers and many other electronic devices.

But the more significant question remains; will fuel cells power cars and trucks in the future? To help assure that they do, President Bush has pledged to spend $1.2 billion over the next five years on research and development on "freedom car" hydrogen vehicles. The European Union is expected to announce a similar program soon.

Daimler Chrysler recently drove a demonstration fuel cell car across the US using methanol supplied by Methanex but the company didn’t think it would be ready before 2010.

Iceland, Tokyo, San Diego, Palm Springs, even BC Hydro’s hydrogen-oriented subsidiary, Power Tech Labs, have all built new H2 stations. But you need a string of stations along the highway to make it a viable fuel if you plan on going places. Such a "hydrogen highway" is envisioned by hydrogen promoters for the northwest coast of the USA.

BC Premier Gordon Campbell told the conference that he would like to see our own H2 highway in place to service the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Then like a revival show, the tents came down. The demonstration cars were all put on their trailers and towed away to their next demonstration by gas-guzzling pick up trucks.

Just the bottom line please

According to David Friedman, with the Union of Concerned Scientists, the cumulative cost of switching to hydrogen could approach $1 trillion and take 30 years.

Amory Lovins, the alternate energy design guru from the Rocky Mountain Institute, is more optimistic. His institute’s subsidary company built a lightweight hydrogen car, that is lighter, and four times more efficient. His vision includes an industry exploring innovative ideas like potential hydrogen storage in underground vaults or caverns on Vancouver Island.

A few days later in Seattle, Bonneville Power Administration’s former head, Jack Robertson, drew smiles of encouragement when he proposed that the Northwest should become "the Saudi Arabia of hydrogen."

Why is it taking so long for Utopia to arrive?

Roy McAlister, president of the American Hydrogen Association agrees and thinks we should add Victoria / Vancouver to the emerging hydrogen nation. He has a more direct approach to the conversion problem that we can start now. It’s so simple it’s hard to imagine why so much money is being spent on the interim steps. Burn the hydrogen fuel in exiting engines. With a small mechanical addition, our cars would be perfectly suited to run on hydrogen. He claims it would be cost competitive if done on a mass scale.

To supply a national demand for the fuel McAlister suggests deploying existing technology in large plants that would render any bio matter into its constituent elements: carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. Then instead of just high-grading the hydrogen and dumping the CO2 into the air, he advocates keeping the oxygen from re-combining with the carbon through a series of established chemical transformations. The carbon would then be turned into a variety of very strong and useful materials. Carbon fibre can be used to make everything from shoestrings, to lightweight blades for wind turbines and bodies for airplanes and cars.

As he headed home aboard hundreds of tons of flying metal and aviation fuel, he left behind his business card "We have a moral responsibility that unites people on every continent Prosperity without pollution."

Carl Chaplin writes on sustainable energy. He can be reached at carlchaplin@shaw.ca.