Microsoft Word - pn186
Microsoft Word - pn186
Microsoft Word - pn186
PROSPECTS FOR A
HYDROGEN ECONOMY
There is increasing interest in the use of hydrogen as An energy carrier
the basis for an energy system with low carbon dioxide Unlike oil, gas and coal, hydrogen does not exist in large
emissions. Hydrogen could be used as a fuel for road quantities in nature in a useful form. Like electricity, it is
transport, distributed heat and power generation, and an ‘energy carrier’, which must be produced using energy
for energy storage. This has led to discussion of a from another source. Hydrogen has an advantage over
‘hydrogen economy’ – widespread and diverse electricity, however, in that it can be stored more easily.
production and use of hydrogen. This briefing outlines This allows its use as a vehicle fuel, for electricity and
the basis of interest in hydrogen and examines heat generation and as a storage medium for electricity
technologies for its production, handling and use. Policy generated from intermittent renewable sources.
issues surrounding technology and market development
of hydrogen are also considered. Production
Hydrogen can be produced from a wide range of sources
Background by a number of different routes (see box on page 2).
Hydrogen is a commonly used industrial gas, which is These include:
produced for use in the chemical and other industries, • from hydrocarbons such as coal, oil and natural gas
and in refineries for fuel processing. The idea of using • from biomass and wastes
hydrogen for energy is not new. It has been used both • by electrolysis of water, using electricity produced from
industrially, domestically (town gas, used in the UK until fossil fuels, nuclear, or renewable energy.
the 1950s, comprised 50% hydrogen) and as rocket fuel.
Interest in hydrogen as a vehicle fuel dates back to the While hydrogen has minimal environmental effects where
1800s, but heightened during the oil crises of the 1970s it is used, there may be impacts associated with its
and with technological advances in the 1980s. production. For instance, production of hydrogen from
fossil fuels leads to carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, the
Current interest in hydrogen stems from environmental principal cause of global climate change, and also to
and energy policy concerns including global climate resource depletion. The overall CO2 emissions may be
change, local air quality, noise and security of energy lower than if conventional technologies (such as a petrol
supply, together with breakthroughs in fuel cell internal combustion engine) were used2, and there are
technology (see page 2). Hydrogen can provide power also lower emissions of local air pollutants.
with minimal air pollutant and zero carbon dioxide
emissions at the point of use. For instance the Energy It may be possible to capture and store the CO2 produced
Saving Trust (EST)1 has referred to the use of hydrogen in in biological or geological sinks, such as forests or
fuel cell vehicles as ‘the most promising option for zero underground reservoirs. However, CO2 emissions would
carbon road transport’. Also, because there are many be negligible if hydrogen were produced by electrolysis
possible production routes and uses for hydrogen, it using nuclear energy, or renewable energy sources.
could enhance security of energy supplies.
postnote October 2002 Number 186 Prospects for a hydrogen economy Page 2
Storage and distribution Fuel cells can be used to provide electricity on a small
Hydrogen contains more energy on a weight for weight scale for homes and businesses, and can be included in
basis than any other substance. However it is also the combined heat and power (CHP) schemes. Stationary
lightest chemical element, and so has very low energy systems have fewer constraints on storage space and
per unit volume. For example, at 200 times atmospheric system weight than vehicle systems and require less
pressure, one litre of natural gas contains 5 times more infrastructure development.
energy than a litre of gaseous hydrogen. The box opposite
outlines a number of methods for storing a useful amount For transport, hydrogen can be burned in an internal
of energy in a small volume, e.g. in a vehicle. The most combustion engine (ICE), in the same way as petrol or
suitable storage method depends on factors including the natural gas. BMW currently uses this technology to
volume to be stored, the storage time, space restrictions power a fleet of demonstration vehicles. This produces
and end-use requirements. For example, in buses, water as the main byproduct, but also small amounts of
compressed hydrogen can be stored in tanks on the roof. oxides of nitrogen, an air pollutant. Dual fuel ICE vehicles
have been produced to run on both hydrogen and petrol.
Hydrogen stored by any of the methods mentioned in the
box opposite can be transported by road, rail or sea. Hydrogen can also be used to power fuel cell vehicles.
Compressed hydrogen can be transported via dedicated Using hydrogen in fuel cells is more efficient than
pipelines. There has also been discussion of mixing combustion, with efficiencies of up to 45%, compared
hydrogen into natural gas in the pipeline network. with up to 25% for a dual fuel ICE. Therefore a fuel cell
car could travel over twice as far as a dual fuel ICE car
To refuel vehicles with hydrogen, new dispensing on the same amount of hydrogen. Hydrogen ICE and fuel
technology will be required, to which consumers will cell cars are currently at the demonstration stage (see
need to adapt. Both gaseous and liquid hydrogen box on page 3). Eight major car manufacturers are
refuelling are sufficiently developed that refuelling could planning to introduce fuel cell cars by 2004-5. However,
take place in a few minutes, with no leakage. The world’s there are still issues of cost, reliability and lifetime, such
first public liquid hydrogen filling station uses a robotic that fuel cell cars are not expected to reach mass
dispenser, without the driver having to leave the car. markets until after 2015. As there is considerable
experience with ICEs, some consider that they may be
Use important in the interim.
Hydrogen can be used to provide electricity and heat
either through use in a fuel cell (see box on page 3) or Safety
through combustion. A fuel cell is a device similar to a Like most other fuels, hydrogen is flammable, and
continuously recharged battery, which generates potentially hazardous if handled incorrectly. It is no more
electricity by combining hydrogen with oxygen from the hazardous than other fuels, but has different properties
air. The only byproduct is water. Hydrogen fuel cells are which must be understood in order to store, transport
silent, have no moving parts and produce no air and use it safely (see box on page 3).
pollutants.
postnote October 2002 Number 186 Prospects for a hydrogen economy Page 3
Source: POST
Hydrogen
Conditions for transition
Air
A transition to a hydrogen economy is uncertain, and not
inevitable. Transitions have been investigated using
Current projects scenarios for future energy systems. Some scenario
Projects demonstrating the use of hydrogen as a vehicle fuel exercises, such as those prepared for the PIU Energy
are in operation worldwide. For example, the Munich Airport Review, assumed that use of hydrogen would require
Hydrogen Project, opened in 1999, supplies hydrogen to large scale infrastructure development. It was not clear
cars and airport buses. The California Fuel Cell Partnership, how this would be developed, given that many national
also established in 1999, comprises 28 government and
infrastructures were developed by monopolies or public
industry groups, testing and promoting fuel cell vehicles. The
EU Clean Urban Transport for Europe project will provide bodies. This uncertainty resulted in infrastructure
fuel cell buses in 10 European cities in 2003, including 3 in development being considered to be the primary barrier
London. In the UK, projects include a stationary hydrogen to use of hydrogen, and so widespread use projected only
fuel cell used in Woking to provide heat, power, cooling and for the long term, after 2050.
clean water for a leisure complex, with hydrogen generated
by reforming of natural gas. The Urban Solar Hydrogen
Economy Realisation Project in Cambridge will use However, several other studies (e.g. the Foresight
electricity from a photovoltaic system to produce hydrogen Fuelling the Future exercise) consider that such a
for buses. Iceland intends to become the world’s first wholesale infrastructure change is not necessary. It is
hydrogen economy, with hydrogen produced from renewable argued that development could start from niche markets
electricity sources (geothermal and hydroelectricity).
and ‘islands’ of hydrogen availability and so would not,
for example, involve switching all filling stations to
hydrogen at the same time. Providing hydrogen at a local
Issues fleet vehicle depot or as part of CHP schemes could
Visions and scenarios
expand to supplying vehicles in a local area. Once several
There is an emerging consensus that hydrogen could
schemes had built up, networks could be formed.
have a key role in energy systems. The Government’s
Powering Future Vehicles strategy states that “the
A UK development path
ultimate low-carbon destination looks likely to be fuel
Despite these differences of view, it is widely thought
cells using renewably produced hydrogen”. A hydrogen
that hydrogen use in the UK may begin with transport, in
economy would include generation of hydrogen from
particular for fuelling fleet vehicles and buses. Buses
diverse and distributed sources, used to power transport,
have fixed routes and can be refuelled and maintained at
homes and industry. Generation would be possible at a
depots. Using hydrogen in stationary applications such as
range of scales, from large centralised plants using
small CHP schemes is thought likely to develop at the
technologies such as steam reforming, to forecourt or
same time, although there is some uncertainty as to the
even domestic electrolysis and reforming units. Hydrogen
level of contribution in the next decade.
could be distributed from the larger sites by road,
pipeline, or sold in solid storage units.
The next step would then expand transport use of
hydrogen to cars and other light vehicles. The use of
The large number of possible production routes gives
hybrid vehicles, which have a battery as well as a fuel
several benefits. Numerous organisations and even
cell or conventional engine may act as a stepping-stone
individuals could become producers of hydrogen, forming
to fuel cell commercialisation, as expertise and
a new and diverse economy. The security of supply of
standardisation of components develops. Hybrid vehicles
transport fuel would be enhanced, especially if hydrogen
give a significant efficiency improvement over current
were produced from UK renewable electricity, biomass,
technologies.
waste or gas supplies.
postnote October 2002 Number 186 Prospects for a hydrogen economy Page 4
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