Energy storage... hydrogen? (no?) [RE-wrenches]

[William Korthof]

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Here's some "new" information evaluating hydrogen for energy 
storage:  <http://www.ilea.org/>http://www.ilea.org/

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Institute for Lifecycle Environmental Assessment
P.O. Box 22437 Seattle, WA 98122-0437
www.ilea.org

CONTACT: Patrick Mazza, 206-443-9570 x22; Roel Hammerschlag, 206-328-3093

ELECTRICITY BEATS HYDROGEN FOR FUELING CARS AND FOR STORING AND
DELIVERING ENERGY, NEW STUDY FINDS

A new study finds that major uses for hydrogen envisaged in hydrogen
economy scenarios could be more efficiently accomplished with
technologies that use electricity directly.

"In key roles envisioned for H2 as an energy carrier, transmission of
remote renewable resources, storage of intermittent renewables and
vehicle fuel, electricity offers more energy efficient options that
might preclude mass-scale emergence of H2 technologies," concludes the
study issued by the Institute for Lifecycle Environmental Assessment and
funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Carrying the Energy Future: Comparing Hydrogen and Electricity for
Transmission, Storage and Transportation finds that the energy penalties
incurred in manufacturing hydrogen place it at a competitive
disadvantage vis-a-vis electricity. The full report and an executive
summary are available at www.ilea.org.

"The first and most important understanding about the proposed hydrogen
energy system is that hydrogen is not an energy source," write study
authors Patrick Mazza and Roel Hammerschlag. "It is an energy storage
medium and carrier. And like the only other commonplace energy carrier,
electricity, hydrogen must be made."

The study compares the actual energy available when hydrogen and
electricity carriers are employed and finds that electricity delivers
substantially greater end use energy.

Hydrogen advocates portray it as a means to transmit abundant renewable
energy resources located distant from markets, such as Southwest
sunlight or Great Plains wind. Electricity generated in solar panels or
wind turbines would be converted to hydrogen via electrolysis, a process
that uses electrical current to break the bonds of hydrogen and oxygen
in water. Electricity would be recovered through electrochemical
reactions generated when hydrogen and oxygen join in a fuel cell.
However, when energy penalties are taken into account, only 45-55% of
original energy remains compared to 92% if transmitted as electricity.
Electrical transmission provides roughly twice the end use energy.

Hydrogen is envisaged as a medium to store energy generated by
intermittent renewable sources such as sun and wind, making power
available on demand. However the same energy penalties apply while
other energy storage technologies deliver comparatively more energy.
Hydrogen storage returns around 47% of original energy, while advanced
batteries return 75-85% and established pumped hydroelectric and
compressed air technologies return around 75%. A wind farm which stores
at 47% efficiency would require 160 turbines to generate the amount of
useful energy produced by a 100 turbines which store at 75% efficiency.

Hydrogen as clean vehicle fuel, as projected in President Bush's
hydrogen car initiative, is the most prominent of its foreseen uses.
But relative inefficiencies of hydrogen vis-a-vis direct electricity
play out in vehicle technology too. Using electricity to charge electric
vehicles (EVs) provides twice the miles per kilowatt hour than employing
electricity to make hydrogen fuel. While conventional wisdom has it that
the EV is a technological dead-end hobbled by limited range and extended
recharging times, advanced battery technologies substantially extend
ranges and could meet the needs of a more substantial share of the
market than is commonly understood. Lithium ion batteries developed for
portable electronics are now working in prototype EVs that go nearly 400
kilometers (250 miles) between charges.

A chart on p23-24 of the study shows that batteries outcompete hydrogen
in price, safety, calendar life and gross material availability. On
cycle life, recyclability and toxicity, fuel cells do not show decidedly
superior performance. One developing option near market competitiveness
today that faces no range or charge time limitations while capturing EV
advantages is the plug-in hybrid electric vehicle that runs on batteries
charged from both an on-board engine and the power grid. It could reduce
fuel consumption 85% over a comparable conventional car.

The relative inefficiency of hydrogen as opposed to electricity has
implications for global warming emissions. The study calculates the
carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions reductions from employing clean,
renewable energy in various applications. Directed to displacing
electricity generated by advanced technology coal plants, renewable
electricity eliminates 2.6 times more CO2 than if it is used to displace
gasoline by making hydrogen fuel for cars. Charging EVs removes twice
the CO2 of making hydrogen fuel. The study calculates similar results
for use of natural gas, which also has been proposed as a source of
hydrogen energy.

"These results strongly suggest that priority use for new renewables
should be to eliminate demand for coal-fired electricity," Mazza and
Hammerschlag write. "If for some reason this is not an option, use the
power to charge EVs."

The study distinguishes between hydrogen and fuel cells. While a
hydrogen fuel system is hindered by multiple inefficiencies, fuel cells
can form an important part of highly efficient systems that convert
biofuels or fossil fuels to electricity. Fuel cells can operate as
stationary electrical generators, potentially at significantly higher
efficiencies than central power stations or other distributed
generators. Emergence of a substantial fuel cell market is in no way
conditioned on mass application in vehicles or development of a hydrogen
network.

The study recommends that hydrogen and electricity advocates focus on
complementary development that can support both pathways. This includes
rapid expansion of renewables, improvement in hybrid vehicle technology,
vehicle-to-grid applications that employ parked vehicles as grid energy
storage, and development of biomass supplies from which liquid vehicle
fuels and hydrogen can be made.

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