Santa Monica On Hydrogen Fast Track

W. Woodland Hastings
Special to the Mirror

   In his State of the Union Address, George Bush proposed $1.2 billion in research funding for hydrogen, in part to relieve the United States from dependency on imported oil. One would think that a U.S. president announcing plans to take initiative on a promising new technology that can be both clean and renewable would be music to the ears of environmentalists.
   However, without missing a beat, the president revealed serious flaws of his approach when he stated, “that the first car driven by a child born today could be powered by hydrogen.” The Bush timetable won’t get us production line vehicles for at least 16 years – and there is no reason that it should take so long.
   Santa Monica officials have taken substantial steps toward accelerating the development of clean energy systems — to the degree that if the president would take a cue, a child born today might still be in a car seat when hydrogen vehicles hit the showrooms. In 1994, the City initiated its Sustainable City Plan, which includes policies aimed at rapidly reducing emissions from city-owned vehicles and embracing long term energy strategies that utilize clean, renewable energy sources. This forward thinking set of policies has set the stage for Santa Monica to leap forward with deployment of hydrogen systems – not research.
   Mr. Bush embraces two wrong approaches for developing hydrogen — one that delays implementation, another that keeps on polluting.
   The first is to link hydrogen vehicle development inextricably to fuel cell development, with fuel cells replacing conventional batteries as the power source in electric vehicles. While fuel cells are a promising technology and should be pursued aggressively, internal combustion engine automobiles – including the one you drive to work every day – can be designed to run on hydrogen today.
   The second wrong path is employing carbon-based methods for hydrogen generation. Using fossil fuels, such as natural gas, to obtain hydrogen nullifies much of the benefit of hydrogen, as it continues the inherent pollution involved in the extraction, transportation, storage, and end use of those fuels.
   If we use water for generating hydrogen, we have the potential to develop a fuel cycle with negligible pollution. In this process, known as electrolysis, a simple electrical current is used to split the oxygen and hydrogen molecules in water. The hydrogen is then collected, compressed and stored, and there is little other waste or pollution, assuming solar, wind, tidal, or other clean power sources are used to generate the electricity in the first place. And the only exhaust from a hydrogen vehicle is water vapor.
   Hydrogen is what powers the nuclear fusion process in the sun. We are made of it and we drink it in every glass of water. It is highly flammable, like most good fuels, but it also has characteristics that make it extremely safe. Since it is the lightest of all the elements, it rises and dissipates rapidly. It is non-toxic, never pools, and cannot cling to skin or anything else. Systems can be designed so that a damaged hydrogen tank releases its contents quickly and safely.
   The president should take advantage of hydrogen’s versatility and insist on a program that takes us to production line internal combustion hydrogen vehicles in about five years. Internal combustion hydrogen vehicles could be part of the near term remedy while we aggressively pursue efficient, practical fuel cell technology.
   Santa Monica can provide leadership in advancing hydrogen infrastructure development as part of its efforts to meet the goals of the Sustainable City Program and establish itself as the first city in California to use a clean and renewable hydrogen powered vehicle fleet for day-to-day operations. City staff has already taken steps to investigate hydrogen fuel, and is actively seeking outside funding from various sources to implement the most promising opportunities as quickly as possible.
   What does this all mean for the average citizen? What can each of us do? Call, write, fax, and email your elected representatives and tell them that you want clean hydrogen from solar, wind and other clean sources, not petroleum-derived hydrogen. Santa Monicans can also support programs like the Sustainable City Plan and the implementation of a hydrogen fueling station and vehicle fleet in the City.
   Woody Hastings serves on the Advisory Board of Clean Air Now, a hydrogen advocacy non-profit organization based in Riverside, and served on the Board of Directors of that organization from 1995 to 2000. He is currently the Chief Environmental Officer for HyGen Industries, a company founded in 1998 to develop hydrogen infrastructure in Southern California and the rest of the U.S. He can be contacted at whastings@hygen.com.