The Future with Hydrogen Begins Today!
Statement by Dr. Rolf Ewald, Chairman of the German Hydrogen Association, at the meeting "Energy of the future: hydrogen" of the Social Democratic fraction in the Bavarian parliament on 6. October 1997 at Munich
Introduction
Our world and our technical civilization work on the basis of energy sources which today are still plentiful. Without these we would fall back in pre-industrial conditions. If we want to maintain our state of civilization and to share it with others, we must do something for it!
The reasons are known:
- limited energy resources
- ecological problems
- together with ever increasing energy demand due to
- the growth of population and rising standard of life.
So far there is unanimity, in principle. Almost nobody seriously doubts these relations. Very different, however, are the opinions about which consequences to draw:
- who must act?
- what must be done?
- when shall we start, and how urgent is the whole thing, anyway?
1. Who must act?
Those social groups which could take provisions against a disastrous development in the fields of energy and environment have a tendency to ignore and diminish the problems; a common argument is that of the remaining amounts of energy carriers. This reluctance is not surprising:
economy must secure its short-term profits
politics has budget problems, also in the industrial countries nowadays;
the citizen could theoretically exert pressure on politics, but is not aware that imminent danger requires urgent actions.
Politics alone, however, can be the motor for long-term oriented decisions to secure our future.
2. What must be done?
Politicians (= la classe politique) shall not just "do something" in the matter of energy and environment, they must as a class take the lead of society; they must make energy and environment a national and international task for the whole society.
Examples from the past show that this is feasible:
- the national European nuclear energy programs after World War II, and
- the US moon program.
It is necessary
- to develop a long-term, conclusive, believable vision. It must not depend on the current budget problems of the respective government;
- to define without consideration of interests of single groups the boundary conditions for economy and society which are necessary for arriving at this end.
What exactly such a vision and the programs for its achievement contain should not be discussed here in detail. But two things appear to be certain:
The dominant renewable energy sources in the long run will be photovoltaic and solarthermal energy and maybe biomass.
Hydrogen will play an important role as energy carrier together with electricity, i.e.
- for energy storage,
- for energy transport, and
- for energy transformation (e.g. from chemical to mechanical energy for motors for transportation).
While we think about the future we should not forget that hydrogen already played in important role in the energy economy of the past and is still doing so:
- Hydrogen was generated from coal as water gas, coke gas, and town gas, in modern variations as product of coal gasification.
- In industrial scale hydrogen is today generated almost only by reforming of natural gas.
- Hydrogen served for coal hydration for the production of gasoline (still in South Africa!)
- A quite recent and still growing importance of hydrogen is in the refineries for the hydration of heavy oils and tars.
- Desulfurization and environmentally suitable procession of mineral oils for the production of the so-called "reformulated fuels" is done by means of hydrogen.
- We all know hydrogen as rocket fuel.
- Numerous different technologies for production and application of hydrogen are around us already today.
During the transition phase to the introduction of renewable energies, which has already begun, the possibilities to save energy and / or to reduce environmental loads by means of hydrogen use can and should be made use of as transitional strategies. Particularly suitable for this is the transportation sector. To mention just a few:
- the increasing use of H2 or substances close to it like natural gas or methanol in combustion engines to drive vehicles (bridge function of natural gas!)
- the turn towards the fuel cell with its high efficiency of energy transformation
- use of hydrogen in environmentally highly stressed regions for local reduction of immissions
- protection of the upper layers of the atmosphere and stratosphere by means of hydrogen or natural gas aircraft.
- Hydrogen applications as part of transitional strategies are usually based on conventional, i. e. generally fossil, energy sources. They prepare the way, however, for renewable primary energies.
The development of both - renewable energy sources and hydrogen as energy carrier - must be promoted.
Which brings us to the 3rd question:
3.: When shall we start?
The answer is quite simple: "now!"
The responsibility for ensuring our future demands it.
At first, of course, the economical use of the limited fossil resources is mandatory to delay the arrival of the critical energy and environment situation as far as possible. This, however, is only a means to save time, not to avoid the collapse.
Therefore the promotion of the future energy technologies at once and at full force is necessary. Today our economical strength and the abundance of conventional energy still permits us to do this.
Other countries, like the USA, Japan, and Canada, have already taken the lead on this way.
The meeting today shows that the readiness to act at once exists in Germany as well, at least in Bavaria.
The German Hydrogen Association supports this initiative and appeals to all those who have political responsibility to act in time, and this is now.
Once we have only horse and cart and bicycles for transportation, as mentioned in the introductory remarks, it will be too late to develop new energy systems.
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