The Hydrogen Economy Ed 1 2007

Abstract

Introduction

• What is the Hydrogen Economy? Is it going to happen?
• The energy sector of the world is on the cusp of immense change
• The world’s demand for energy is voracious and increasing
• Our energy infrastructure is aging and large chunks are at the end of their design life
• People are becoming aware that the primary energy resource, fossil fuels, is not limitless
• We are constantly bombarded with catastrophic predictions of global warming
• So what is the answer?
• One solution being put forward is to convert from the Carbon Economy which fuelled the Industrial Revolution to a Hydrogen Economy
• But what is this and will it solve the problems?

Report Scope

• This report explains what a Hydrogen Economy would be
• It describes the many obstacles which would need to be overcome to bring it into existence
• The development of the Hydrogen Economy will advance on two parallel fronts
• The development of another technology, the Fuel Cell, is essential to the exploitation of Hydrogen; the two are interlinked
• Fuel cells utilise the chemical energy of hydrogen to produce electricity and thermal energy
• We are further along the road than many people realise, the report outlines the development of Fuel Cells as technologies and markets
• The technology and infrastructure to produce and deliver large quantities of hydrogen to consumption points must be created
• The many and varied technologies of Fuel Cells, alternatives to batteries and the combustion engine, must be developed and refined to exploit the properties of hydrogen
• Hydrogen will be produced from a diverse base of primary energy feedstocks, or from water using renewable electricity in the process
• Fuel Cells are already being commercialised and are used in a wide variety of products

Key Research Findings

• Hydrogen and Fuel Cells have competitors
• New technologies include large scale electrification in conjunction with plug-in hybrid vehicles and Li-ion batteries in transport
• In the stationary applications market, distributed electricity generation or cogeneration present an alternative to hydrogen
• Other significant competitors are a new level of power generation technologies, such as large, increased efficiency coal and gas-fired power plants, possibly using underground coal gasification (UCG) with CO2 capture and storage (CCS), renewable electricity supply technologies which are already widespread in the market (wind and solar PV) or now being commercialised (ocean and tidal energy), and new nuclear power technologies
• ABS believes that in 50 years the world may use a hybrid, a composite of Hydrogen and Fuel Cells, beside other energy carriers, distributed generation, gas and electricity, renewable energy and emission-free generation from hydrocarbons using underground coal gasification, carbon capture and storage
• The possibilities are endless