Hydrogen News

Press conference

The annual press conference of the DWV was held on 22. February in Berlin. The association presented a summary of the most important events of 2006 and what we can expect from 2007. From now on the annual press conference will be held every year around this time.

(The annual report in German is available on the DWV website for download; please look up our German homepage and there the press release 1/07)

Linde day

The Linde group has received an award for their hydrogen centre at Lohhof near Munich in the framework of the initiative „Germany — Land of Ideas “. The official ceremony on 21. February marked the centre as one of the „365 Landmarks in the Land of Ideas “. „Germany — Land of ideas“ is an initiative of the federal government and the German economy under the patronage of federal president Horst Koehler. It was created in 2006.

(Linde AG press release of 12. Februar 2007)

Scandinavia

The Norwegian company Think Technologies has developed a car mostly made of aluminium and polymers which can be recycled to a degree of 95%. Up to seven of them will be converted to a hybrid drive with battery and hydrogen fuel cell by the Danish company H2 Logic in order to let them serve as demonstrators in the framework of a Scandinavian hydrogen highway project. The car will have a range of 300 km and an efficiency of more than 65 %. The fuel cells of the type Mark9 SSL will be supplied by Ballard.

(H2 Logic press release of 12. December 2006)

Cologne

A new regional hydrogen initiative under the name HyCologne has been created in January in the Cologne region. Among the founder members are industrial and public companies, research institutes, and utilities. They aim at creating a network of economical, scientific, and political bodies which support each other with respect to this future technology, with particular attention to small and medium enterprises. The chemical industry of the region provides an abundance of hydrogen.

Denmark

The Danish government has published a National Energy Plan for the time up to 2025. One of its provisions is that hydrogen cars will be exempt of all taxes. The public support for research, development, and demonstration will almost doubled from 64 to 127 M€ per year. The share of renewables of the total energy consumption will be raised to 30 %. The consumption will be frozen by means of saving 1,25 % per year. By 2020 10 % of the fuel will be generated on the basis of biomass.

(H2 Logic press release of 20. January 2007)

Electrolysis

h-tec Wasserstoff-Energie-Systeme GmbH from Luebeck has been granted the sum of 720 k€ from the program „Company innovations – Top innovations “ of the state of Schleswig Holstein. The project is expected to create 36 new jobs in the company and six more in other companies in the state over the next six years. It aims at the development of new and inexpensive fuel cell and electrolyser systems of the 5 kW class. h-tec plans to use a new cell geometry. The selection of materials for the concept will cause a clear drop of the costs.

Hamburg goes on

Hamburger Hochbahn AG (transport utility), Vattenfall Europe Hamburg (energy supplier) and BP have decided that the nine fuel cell / hydrogen buses running in Hamburg will be continue to operate until at least the middle of 2008. This is at this time the greatest fleet in the world. The vehicles of the type Citaro by DaimlerChrysler have now travelled a total of 212.000 km with 700.000 passengers. This means that emissions of CO₂ alone of 250 t have been avoided. The intention of the partners is to continue the demonstration and further development of the technology beyond 2008.

(Hamburger Hochbahn AG press release of 13. February 2007)

Railway

German rail chairman Hartmut Mehdorn thinks that by 2030 renewable energies will play the main role. Solar energy will then be more important than wind power. He sees hydrogen as one of the fundamental energy carriers. But for the time before it is technically mature we will not be able to do without nuclear energy, according to him.

(Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, 24. December 2006)

Fuel Cells

CFC Solutions

The Tognum GmbH (Friedrichshafen) took over from RWE Fuel Cells GmbH their share in the so far Joint Venture MTU CFC Solutions. Tognum GmbH is now single owner and extends its activities in the stationary fuel cell business. The focus will be on the further development of products for power and heat generation. CFC Solutions will be the first producer in the world to use biogas for distributed, climate friendly, und CO₂ neutral power generation in small power stations. Tognum head Volker Heuer: „With the foreseeable maturity of the stationary fuel cell for serial production the next step of global marketing comes in reach.“

(Tognum GmbH press release of 2. January 2007)

Flexible

A group from the Princeton University goes a new way for the control of the output power of fuel cells. Depending on demand the size of the reaction chamber changes by means of the water generated by the cell. The scientists hope for a simpler power output control and water management as well as a better fuel efficiency. They see lawn mowers and chain saws as applications, both of them today working with small combustion engines.

(University of Princeton press release of 25. January 2007; C. H. Woo, J. B. Benziger: „PEM fuel cell current regulation by fuel feed control“, Chemical Engineering Science 62 (2007) 957-68)

Dry methanol

Kuria Water Industries from Japan has developed a method to bring methanol into a solid form. It is enclosed in chemical compounds forming cavities, so called Clathrates. The dry mass contains about half the energy of the liquid methanol. But the method does not require the use of heavy special containers, according to the company. The compound is planned to be used in cards which could for example supply energy to a mobile phone.

(heise online news of 10. February 2007)

Remark: Now we know that „heavy special containers“ are necessary to handle methanol. But the idea to carry solid fuel in something like a storage card does have a certain charm. In particular for flight passengers who have a lot of trouble today if they want to take just as much as some private water on board.

Laptop

Korean computer maker Samsung has presented a docking station for laptops running on a fuel cell. The system is intended mainly for stationary use like in weekend houses or office containers without power supply. The fuel for the DMFC is stored in a methanol tank which fits about 1,8 l. The system is put under the laptop and has an autonomy time of 15 hours, according to Samsung statements after tests with a Q35 notebook. The start of mass production for the docking station is announced for late 2007.

(Press release of Initiative Brennstoffzelle of 9. January 2007)

Energy and Climate

Climate report

Once every six years the IPCC (a panel of climatologists working for the United Nations) publishes a climate report. Each time the reports were more alarming. The last was presented early February in Paris. With almost certainty the greenhouse gas emissions of man are behind the climate change. The global warming observed now is already without parallel. But this is just a weak taste of the things to come. In the most favourable case we can expect a warming of 1,1 to 2,9 °C until 2100, in the worst 2,4 to 6,4 °C. The rise of sea level by 2100 will be 19 to 37 cm in the best case, 26 to 59 cm in the worst. Even if all CO₂ emissions were stopped at once the the temperature would rise by another 0,6 °C. The rise of the sea level will continue for centuries to come.

Even more threatening are the statements in the third yet unpublished part of the study. By 2020 at the latest the output of climate gases must no longer rise each year, but drop significantly. Otherwise the earth will warm up by more than 2 °C during the 21^st century in comparison to the pre-industrial period. This would cause irreversible processes like the acidification of the oceans and the melting of huge ice shields in Greenland and the western Antarctic. The CO₂ concentration in the atmosphere must be stabilized on a level of not more than 420 ppm. Otherwise it is „unlikely or very unlikely“ that a warming of 2 °C and more can be prevented. The current value is 383 ppm, and the annual rise is 2,5 ppm. The IPCC experts say the objective can be met, but „only in the most stringent scenarios“ for the future and with „rapid introduction of new and more efficient technologies“. An amount of 16 trillion (!) $ (10**12) is estimated to be necessary to be spent for low CO₂ technologies until 2030. But the costs for doing nothing would be much higher. In this respect the IPCC report is in full agreement with the Stern report published last fall. (See „Climate report “ in No. 5/06)

Car emissions

In 1995 the European car makers accepted a self obligation towards the EU that by 2008 the average of new cars would not emit more than 120 g CO₂ per km. Today there is agreement that the objective can not be achieved. The Commission does not like this at all and considered legal means to enforce an average consumption of new cars of 120 g/km by 2012. This met fierce resistance of in particular the German car makers. They warned the Commission that jobs would be lost in the German car industry if the 120 g would become compelling. They broke little ice with the Commission: „Jobs are not lost when changes are anticipated in time, but when you deny them in a backward minded fashion“, according to its spokesman.

Environment commissioner Stavros Dimas has already reacted his way. His official Mercedes will soon be replaced by a smaller and more sustainable car. Reports say that the selection is between a Toyota Prius or a Lexus with hybrid drive. The Lexus with 250 kW emits 186 g/km. A DaimlerChrysler S class with similar power blows about 270 g/cm in the air.

Threatened

The US government has proposed to add the polar bear to the list of threatened species. Among the reasons for this are pollution, hunt, settlement, tourism — and global warming. „Polar bears are one of nature's ultimate survivors, able to live and thrive in one of the world's harshest environments“, said Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne. „But we are concerned the polar bear's habitat may literally be melting.“ The ice coverage of the arctic and the number and size of the ice floes have decreased and continue to do so with increasing speed. The Interior Department deviates from the usual line of the government which denied or at least downplayed climate change for a long time..

(Associated Press, 27. December 2006; see „Arktic” in Nr. 6/04)

Politics

North Rhine-Westphalia

The most populated German state has been taking the lead in the support for hydrogen and fuel cells and wishes to continue to do so. This was the message of Christa Thoben, state minister for economy, during a press conference held on 24. January in Brussels. She said that her state is a strong partner for the international hydrogen community. One reason for this are the huge amounts of industrial excess hydrogen and a unique infrastructure. Another are the advantages in terms of competition and costs in comparison to other sites. The close cooperation between state politics and industry, a well-defined development concept and a strong basis of experience were names as other success factors. Of particular importance is the cooperation with partners all over the world. Minister Thoben: „The next major international event in this context for us is the world hydrogen conference 2010 in Essen."

(Press release of the ministry of economy of 24. January 2007)

Driving on Tortillas

The US government promotes the use of biofuels to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions. This has caused a real boom to the benefit of the corn producers. The corn reserves are on a historical low. So the corn export from the USA to Mexico dropped significantly. This causes a sharp rise of corn prices there, because the corn production in Mexico is more expensive than in the highly mechanised agriculture north of the Rio Grande. Unfortunately corn is the most important staple food of the Mexicans. Ten thousands demonstrated in late January against the food prices and demanded a price stop, higher wages, and a new agricultural policy. President Calderón negotiated a price limit for tortillas with the producers. The mood of the population has not become much better.

What else we have found ...

All lies

The Londoner Guardian reported on 2. February that even before the IPCC published its climate report the Washington based American Enterprise Institute (AEI) sent letters to scientists in the USA, UK, and elsewhere offering them 10.000 $ for statements against the conclusions of the report, plus travel and other expenses. They described the IPCC experts as „resistant to reasonable criticism and dissent and prone to summary conclusions that are poorly supported by the analytical work“. AEI is one of the most influential Think Tanks of the US neocons and played key role in the Iraq war with its studies and conclusions. One of its sponsors is the oil company ExxonMobil.

Remark: Not before Bangladesh, New Orleans, and numerous islands of the Pacific will have disappeared and they just will start to evacuate major parts of The Netherlands, Denmark, and the German North Sea coast certain people will reluctantly concede that under certain conditions an idea of a future problem could be perceptible.