Cogeneration (using as much power generated as possible for two or
more end uses resulting in greater efficiency and less fuel wasted)
is an idea marveled about by energy efficiency wonks for a long time
and ignored by big power utilities because there is no economic
incentive to provide it. Except when a local utility or cooperative
partners with local consumers of steam heat and electricity, as in
District Energy in St. Paul and the coming Green Institute plant in
Minneapolis, we don't see many examples. Those partnerships are the
best for which we can hope locally for many reasons, the biggest of
which is that we don't and we won't have carbon taxes, as in the EU
where countries actually are trying to comply with the Kyoto Accords,
for many years to come.
On Jul 4, 2006, at 10:13 AM, Matty Lang wrote:
> The station generates hydrogen on site using wind power and
> electrolysis. The vehicle is a 2005 Toyota Prius hybrid that has
> been converted to burn hydrogen rather than gasoline. It's not a
> fuel cell powered vehicle, but rather an internal combustion engine
> burning H2 generated from wind. The result is zero harmful emissions.
The result is not "zero harmful emissions." It is very nice to see
evidence of the hydrogen economy starting, but if you burn hydrogen
in an internal combustion engine, you are creating harmful emissions
unless stations also supply you with pure oxygen (like NASA does with
dirty H2) to fuel the fire, rather than plain old air. In combustion
of any fuel in air, the nitrogen in the air (70 % of air is N2)
converts to oxides of nitrogen that in turn cause photochemical smog
and ozone formation; as more gasoline and diesel burning automobiles
are replaced, thereby limiting the carbon monoxide/hydrocarbon
component necessary for the reaction, things could improve with
combustion of H2 fuels--but fuel cells are still the present sine qua
non for emission free transportation. Internal combustion engines
should soon be part of SCA (society for creative anachronism)
activities. I wish Metro Transit would put a few H2 fuel cell buses
into service now that they have been proven, but not until we've got
some green H2 fuel available. We need a whole bunch more of those H2
stations like those in Vermont.
I suppose the next personal transportation advance will be fuel cell
vehicles that use some other fuel than H2 to start, since they are
potentially cleaner and more efficient than hybrids or small internal
combustion engine automobiles.