Hydrogen News

Congress

The 4th German Hydrogen Congress was held on 21 and 21 February in Essen. The first day was dedicated to reviews from politics, technology, and science. The target persons were not only experts but also decision makers and persons from insurance and finance companies. At the same time an education and information event was an offer to more than 100 students and teachers to inform themselves about future technologies, qualification chances, professions, and education. A hydrogen and fuel cell quiz was an occasion for the students to demonstrate their knowledge.

During the second day reports were given on the state of research, development, and demonstration of generation, distribution, and storage of hydrogen as well as the use of fuel cells in various fields of application.

Press Conference

On 26 February DWV held an annual press conference to give a review of the past year and an outlook to the immediate future. A comprehensive report about 2007 had been prepared by the association.

A report about the state of the founding of the Joint Technology Initiative in Brussels was given by André Martin who works there for the industry association New Energy World. Just the day before the press conference the European Council had given the green light for it (see the news item „Europe“). And is it not true that generation and use of hydrogen are associated with losses? If yes, does hydrogen make a sense in terms of energy? DWV board member Reinhold Wurster answered these questions comprehensively.

The annual report and the other printed matters distributed at the press conference are available for download (press release 2/08 of 26 February 2008, in German). The event will be held again next year around this time.

Iceland

In April a fuel cell will be installed on board of the Icelandic whale-watching ship „Elding“ („Lightning“). According to Icelandic New Energy this is the first installation of this kind on board of a ship which is used commercially. When the crew spot whales at sea, the Diesel engines will be shut off so that the paying passengers can heard the sounds of the animals. During this phase the fuel cell will supply energy for the ship.

On the roads of the North Atlantic Island eleven hydrogen cars of different kinds are now in circulation. Icelandic New Energy is optimistic about the future. Company head Jon Bjorn Skulason expects the number to grow to 20 until the end of the year, and twice as much in two and a half years. By 2030 or 2035 the majority of the Icelandic cars could be running on hydrogen. The whole thing is a long term project. Icelandic New Energy made a forecast seven years ago for how long it would take Iceland to convert fully. „We're maybe somewhere between 12 and 18 months behind schedule. So if you think about a 50-year timeframe, that's very little“.

(Reuters, 23 January 2008)

HyWays

Between 2025 and 2035 the use of hydrogen cars could be economical in the European Union. Under suitable conditions this could reduce the oil consumption in EU traffic by 40 %. This is based on the assumption that until 2030 some 16 million hydrogen cars exist in the EU and that some 60 G€ have been invested in the creation of the necessary infrastructure. This are statements from a EU funded study called „HyWays“. Scientists analysed the expenses for hydrogen generation, a supply network, and building the corresponding cars in comparison to the savings due to the phasing out of conventional fuels and cars.

The starting point was the present situation in Germany, France, Finland, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Different ways to produce hydrogen were analysed to get a forecast. The energy economy can benefit from an increased hydrogen generation to introduce renewable sources to a greater extent. Wind power for example, which is difficult to fit into the grid today, could be used for large-scale production of hydrogen. Hydrogen is "one of the most realistic options" for environmental and economic sustainability in the transport sector, according to the European Commission. The necessary transitional period offers Europe the opportunity to take the lead in developing the technology. The right steps have to be taken quickly if Europe is not to count the cost of late market entry.

Lighthouse

A first „lighthouse project“ using hydrogen and fuel cells has been realised in England. The historical South Gare Lighthouse is the world's first fuel cell lighthouse and directs sailors safety to Tees and Hartlepool, two of the most important British deep water harbours. The demands on the fuel cell and the hydrogen supply are extreme because it is exposed to the inclement North Sea weather. The project partners want to show the performance of modern hydrogen energy systems even under conditions like this. Apart from the Harbour Authority and the lighthouse operators the fuel cell make Schunk and Air Products for the hydrogen are among the partners. Ian Williamson from Air Products is particularly pleased about the new application: „Just the extreme location of the lighthouse at the North Sea demonstrates the potential of hydrogen as energy carrier in the supply of ambitious applications.“

(Press release by Air Products of 20 December 2007)

Hamburg

At this time the Hamburg transport utility Hamburger Hochbahn is operating the greatest fuel cell bus fleet in Europe. From 2010 hybrid vehicles are expected to circulate in the streets of the city. The fuel cell loads batteries which supply hub motors. This second generation will be much more economical than the present vehicles. Consumption is expected to drop from 20 to 10 or 12 kg hydrogen per 100 km. And the new bus generation will be more comfortable: „The hydrogen hybrid technology is perfect for city buses. It offers much more comfort by soft acceleration, and it uses the advantages of hybrid technology in an optimal way; the stop-and-go cycle generates a lot of braking energy for charging the batteries“, says Hochbahn director Jost Knebel. But one technical challenge is far from having been mastered: the battery. It must have about 200 times the power of current bus batteries and must be correspondingly bigger and more expensive.

(Hamburger Abendblatt, 25 February 2008)

Wind and Hydrogen

The project HyWindBalance located at Oldenburg (North Germany) has won the transfer award and 5000 € at a contest named „Award Environment Enterprise: North West“. The award is given to activities which distinguish themselves by outstanding, exemplary, and voluntary commitment for the environment which exceeds the legal necessities. The project is about the development of a system which combines wind parks with hydrogen as energy storage medium. The objective is to steady the fluctuating power input from wind parks, in particular during low wind periods.

(Press release of 29 February 2008)

Toys

The British toy maker Corgi will fit more and more fuel cells into toys as power supply. The first in the row is a remotely controlled toy car called H2Go which was presented on the toy fare at Nuremberg in February. The company promises that the child simply has to fill water into the tank element to play. A battery is provided to split this water into hydrogen and oxygen. A solar charger is available as option. The grown-ups are already enthusiastic: during the fair the type received the novelty award ToyAward 2008 in the electronics and technology class. The small car will be marketed beginning in September and will cost around 175 €.

(Press release of 6 February 2008)

Fuel Cells

Mobile phone

The Canadian company Angstrom Power has fitted a metal hydride tank and fuel cell into a common Motorola mobile phone and offers twice the time a battery provides. Filling up of the system can be done from ordinary hydrogen cylinders. The case of the phone was not changed for fitting the fuel cell in. This is the first time that a fuel cell was completely integrated into a serial mobile phone.

(Press release of 8. January 2008)

Approved

The US company Medis Technologies Ltd. had its Medis Power Pack tested for compliance with applicable European guidelines by TUEV Rheinland and obtained the right to put the CE sign on it. Of particular interest was compliance with the standard IEC 62282-6-1 for micro fuel cells. The power pack is a fuel cell based charger which can provide additional 30 hours of talking time to a mobile phone and some 60 to 80 hours additional playing time to an iPod. The device can not be recharged.

(Press release of 20. February 2008)

Cartridges

The French company BIC, the world's greatest manufacturer of ball pens, one-way lighters, and one one-way shavers, intends to build up an infrastructure for the fuell supply of direct-methanol fuel cells for the power supply of portable electronics. Apart from the sales classics methanol cartridges will be distributed to run fuel cells in laptops or phone chargers. The result should be an unconspicous, but ubiquitous product which delivers reliable energy for a few Euros.

(Der SPIEGEL online, 2. January 2008)

Energy and Climate

Car emissions

The German car makers are very satisfied with their progress to the reduction of CO₂ emissions. This is at least what the president of their association VDA, Matthias Wissmann, said during a press conference on 6. February. He stated that in 2007 the average CO₂ emissions from new cars in Germany dropped by an average of 1.7 % to below 170 g/km. The greatest reduction (-2 %) could be achieved by the German companies in comparison to the importers (-1.3 %). The smallest values were reported from the Japanese (-0.6 %) and French (-0.8 %). Wissmann thinks that this is the result of the high innovative power of German car makers. He appealed to the European Commission to change its thinking concerning the compelling limits which are planned for the reduction of emissions (VDA press release of 6. February 2008).

By request of DWV the VDA press department provided the values which Wissmann had referred to (all absolute values in g CO₂ / km).

Remark: For reasons easy to understand Wissmann does not tell us that the CO₂ emissions by German manufacturers are still on a considerably higher level than those of the rest of the world. In 1998 the European companies accepted an obligation to come down to CO₂ emissions of 140 g/km by 2008 and 120 by 2012; reminding them to this today will be answered by a friendly smile.

But wait a moment - there are also the German customers who buy all this. New cars in most other EU countries emit much less climate gas. And even German cars sold in other European countries produce a lower CO₂ average than those sold at home. The power of the manufacturers is based on the wallets of the customers.

Withdrawal

The federal US Department of Energy (DoE) has withdrawn from a project which aimed at building the first „clean“ coal-fired power station of the USA. The objective of the FutureGen was to build a 275 MW plant by 2012 and to demonstrate technologies for separating carbon dioxide from the exhaust gas of power stations and depositing it. But the costs doubled to 1,8 G$, and the department was not willing to pay half of it. Negotiations about a new cost sharing failed.

(Nature 451 (2008) 612-3)

Politics

Germany

The National Innovation Program Hydrogen and Fuel Cells (NIP) has now started formally. „Jointly with the industry we will provide one billion Euro over the next ten years for the development and application of this technology“, said Wolfgang Tiefensee, Federal minister for transport, on 18. February in Berlin during the founding ceremony of the state-owned company NOW (Nationale Organisation Wasserstoff- und Brennstoffzellentechnologie). The company will provide the management for the whole program. Its seat will be Berlin, and it will have a staff of nine.

(BMVBS press release of 18. February 2008)

Europe

The research ministers of the European Union have approved the proposal of the Commission to create a Joint Technology Initiative (JTI) for hydrogen and fuel cells. During a meeting of the Competitiveness Council on 25. February agreement on the basic elements of the JTI was achieved. The objective of the new instrument is to accelerate research and development such that hydrogen and fuel cells can enter the European market between 2010 and 2020. The EU will provide 470 M€ over a period of six years, complemented by the same sum from the private partners. Research Commissioner Potočnik said during the meeting that better energy efficiency and the creation of markets for low carbon energy technologies may be the most important efforts for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions right now. But the long term solution is investing in renewable energies.

Obituary

Tapan K. Bose

Prof. Tapan K. Bose, one of the best known persons in the international hydrogen field, died on 24. January in Canada, aged 69. The greatest part of his professional career he spent as physics professor of the University of Québec in the Trois-Rivières research centre of which he was a co-founder. He received numerous awards for his contributions to the progress of science and technology and for his promotion of many partnerships and projects. For a number of years he was also chairman of the ISO standardisation committee TC 197 „Hydrogen Technologies“. For a while Bose was also board member of the National Hydrogen Association (USA). His last office was Vice Chairman of the Canadian Hydrogen Association and Board member of the International Association for Hydrogen Energy (IAHE) and the Partnership for Advancing the Transition to Hydrogen (PATH).

What else we have found ...

Focus on ecology

A quite new car card game called „Eco Vehicle Trump Cards“ was developed by the British Marches Energy Agency. The spectrum of ecological cars extends from the Hybrid Toyota Prius over the fuel cell Honda FCX to the electro scooter Vectrix. Neither power nor acceleration are given as technical data, the players rather compare CO₂ emissions or fuel consumption.

While the whole thing is basically a nice gag it triggered a painful howl from the British full throttle press. „Just when you thought the world couldn’t get any more stupid, along comes some beardy environmentalist twat“, was a comment in a car magazine. One editor was haunted by the depressing foresight: „It is depressing that a whole generation of youngsters will have some dismal picture of a hybrid MPV on their bedroom walls.“ He recommended standing outside our local schools and handing out Lamborghinis posters. Kris McGowan, project head at Marches Energy Agency, remains relaxed. „Kids love stats, and CO₂ emissions is a more important stat these days than horsepower or number of cylinders. Top speed is still in there, and some of the vehicles are very fast indeed.“

Remark: Soon the children will inquire about the wear of the tyres of their kick scooters.