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Tag Archives: Hydrogen economy

The solar,wind and water- three keys for energy independance

Renewable Hydrogen is the key that can offer us energy independence in the twenty-first century. Fossil fuel usage will still continue for some more time because the world has already invested massively on fossil fuel infrastructures. The stacks are too high for them to switch over to renewable over night. It is the Mother Nature who provided us coal, oil and gas all these years using her manufacturing process under the earth over millions of years. But we human beings exceeded her tolerance limit by emitting greenhouse emission by our rapid growth in population and industrialisation.We failed to discover an alternate fuel in time and continued with an age-old technology with all its inefficiencies. Inefficiencies breed pollution. We were keen to use the heat of combustion by burning a fossil fuel to generate electricity or drive our cars, but paid no attention to the gases released during such combustion. We learnt Thermodynamics and the relationship between heat and work, but failed to understand the consequences of gases of combustion and its impact on our environment.

There are two issues involved in burning a fossil fuel to generate electricity. The heat of combustion is an exothermic reaction and we get a certain amount of heat. Then we convert this heat energy into electrical energy and the overall efficiency of such conversion is about thirty-five percent. Only thirty-five percent of the heat input energy becomes electrical energy and the remaining sixty-five percent heat along with gases of combustion are released into atmosphere. Of course part of this heat is recovered in a commercial plant, but the bulk of heat is released into the atmosphere as greenhouse gases. We failed to understand the potential of Hydrogen even though we used Hydrocarbon for several decades. We even discovered Urea, the fertilizer that caused ‘green revolution’ in agriculture, using the same Hydrogen present in the Hydrocarbon feedstock. It is time for us to make best use of a fossil fuel to its most potential when we burn each kilogram of fuel. We should burn coal not just with air but also with steam so that we can generate Hydrogen rich gas that can run a gas turbine in a combined cycle or run our cars on roads. Such a conversion will lead to a substantial increase in energy efficiency as well as in greenhouse gas emission reduction. Governments in industrialized countries should make it a mandatory to convert all their power plants to syngas generation as described above. They should also discourage new plants using fossil fuels with punitive power tariffs and encourage renewable energy projects with higher tariffs. Governments can also impose similar tariffs for transportation depending upon the fuel used such as fossil fuel or Hydrogen.

Governments should encourage renewable energy projects such as solar and wind   to generate Hydrogen from water as centralized power plants and distribute DC (direct current) by rural electrification. If the country side is electrified using this system then, agriculture, business and industries can thrive in rural areas. Direct current (DC) distribution net work can be installed in rural areas and encourage people to use energy-efficient appliances such as Direct current air-conditioners with energy star ratings and tariffs. Governments can bring about these changes by adopting a ‘carrot and stick ‘policy to encourage renewable and discourage fossil fuels.

Solar energy is the key from which all other forms of energy emanate such as wind, geothermal and ocean thermal energy conversion system.  It is of paramount importance to increase the efficiency of renewable systems and improve energy efficiencies of appliances we use. It is simpler to use LED bulbs using a Direct current generated by Renewable Hydrogen. It is once again the Mother Nature that can come to the rescue of human beings through solar, wind and water to generate clean energy for the twenty-first century.

Energy generation and distribution is no longer a business or revenue issue but a moral and ethical issue for Governments. It is only people who can bring about such sweeping changes by electing the right Government who can care for the environment. The future generation will judge us only based on what kind of environment we leave them behind.

Hydrogen from Coal

Coal is an important fuel that helped industrial revolution. It is still a main fuel for power generation in many parts of the world. It is also an important raw material for number of chemicals and they directly compete with Hydrocarbons such as Naptha.It is abundantly available and it is cheap. We are still able to generate electricity at 5 cents per kwhr using coal. But, now we are entering into a new phase of energy generation and distribution, due to changing environmental and climatic issues of the twenty-first century. We need completely a new fuel to address these issues; a fuel that has a higher heat content, which can generate more power per unit value of fuel, and yet, generates no pollution. It is a challenging job and the world is gearing up to meet these challenges. They affect the world because any issues about energy impacts each and every one of us. Many industrialized countries around the world are reluctant to sign an agreement that compels them to cut their greenhouse emission to an acceptable level set by UN panel of scientists.

Governments such as US, China and India are reluctant to sign such an agreement because their economy and growth depends upon cheap energy, made from coal. Such an agreement will be detrimental to their progress, and the leaders of these nations are not ready to sign such an agreement. They also understand that world cannot afford to continue to use coal as they have used in the past. It is simply unsustainable. It is a precarious situation and they need to carefully plan their path forward. On one hand, they need to keep up their industrial and economic growth, and although they need to cut their emissions and save the world, from catastrophic consequences of global warming.

A simple analysis of the fuel will show that Hydrogen is a potential energy source for the future. It has energy content at least five times more than a coal for a unit value. Coal has an average heat content of 5000 kcal /kg while Hydrogen has an average heat content of 39,000 kcal/kg. Coal has a number of impurities such as ash, sulfur, phosphorous, other than carbon. Burning coal will emit greenhouse gases with toxic fumes that have to be removed. Therefore, these industrialized countries are now looking ways to generate Hydrogen from coal; that too at a cost which will be comparable to other current fuels such as natural gas. It is not an easy task because natural gas is formed by Mother Nature over several hundred thousand years. It is readily available and there is no manufacturing cost except processing cost. We are used to free energy from Mother Nature. This is the crux of the issue.

Hydrogen is the most abundantly available element on earth; yet it is not available in a free form. It is available as a compound, such as, joined with oxygen forming   water H2O molecule; or joined with Carbon forming Methane CH4 molecule.This Hydrogen should be separated in a free form, and this separation requires energy. How can coal, which is just a Carbon, generate Hydrogen?  It requires an addition of water in the form of steam.  When coal is gasified with air and steam, a mixture of Hydrogen and Carbon dioxide is generated, known as Syngas (synthesis gas).

2C + H2O+O2  ———  2H2 +2 CO2

The syngas is separated into Hydrogen and carbon dioxide using various methods using their difference in densities. The Hydrogen can be stored under pressure for further use. Research work is now under way to capture carbon dioxide for sequestering. Carbon sequestration is a method of capturing carbon dioxide and storing it in a place where it cannot enter the atmosphere. But the technical feasibility and economic viability of such a system is yet to be established.

Carbon sequestration is a new concept and the cost of sequestration can potentially increase the cost of energy derived from Hydrogen despite the fact, Hydrogen has energy content five times more the carbon. However, there is no quick fix for our energy problems, and we have to reconcile to the energy cost will increase in the future but eventually cut the greenhouse emissions. These developed countries should at least show to the rest of the world, how they plan to cut their emissions and their action plans; such disclosure should be subject to inspection by UN panel. In the absence of any concrete mechanism, it will be impossible to stop the global warming in the stipulated time frame considering the fact that a number of coal/oil/gas-fired power plants are already under implementation.

Hydrogen assisted combustion

We have been using fossil fuels like diesel, petrol and natural gas for power generation and transportation from the time of industrial revolution. The basic fuel and the combustion technology are practically the same with efficiencies less than 40%. In fact we have become very complacent with both the fuel and the combustion technology and there were no major research and development on both the above issues. In fact we became completely dependent on these two issues and there was no real breakthrough either in substituting the fossil fuel or in the combustion technology. The basic reason behind this situation can be attributed to the discovery of electromagnetism, which opened the way for electricity generation as well as transportation. In both these industries, the key part is the motor which provided a rotary motion. This rotary motion generates electricity in turbines and such motion is created by combustion of a fuel, which is invariably a fossil fuel. We have carried on this for few decades before the emission of greenhouse started rising abnormally and became an issue.

We are now at cross roads wondering what the future holds for the world. Is it possible to carry on the business as usual or look for an alternative source of energy? We started looking at various sources of energy as an alternative. Any alternative energy source should meet two critical parameters namely the lower or no carbon emission and sustainability. Low carbon can be achieved by few methods. The immediate option is to maximize the energy efficiency of existing systems so that for the given input of fuel the output is much higher than what we have achieved all these years. But this increase in efficiency should be real to achieve the emission levels of greenhouse suggested by the UN panel on climate change.

The second option will be to switch over to different fuels with less carbon emission e.g., coal-fired power plants switching over to gas-fired power plants using combined cycle. Retrofitting organic Rankin cycle as a bottoming for steam turbines to squeeze out some extra energy. Decentralizing the power plants in a phased manner in favor of distributed energy systems where gas, instead of electricity, can be supplied to each industry, to generate their own power using CHP process. All these measures can help reduce the emission level but our dependency on fossil fuel will still continue.

W can look at a completely different fuel source and new technology for power generation and transportation. If we look at carefully there are not many alternative fuel sources except Hydrogen that could meet these limits. We are also trying to develop bio fuels. But biofuels are also organic chemicals with carbon backbone which will generate greenhouse emission. Moreover bio fuel sources such as palm oil, corn are also food sources. There is an indiscriminate deforestation and plantation of palm trees in tropical countries like Malaysia, Indonesia and PNG. The focus is now shifting to carbon based organic compounds like biofuel and biogas. This will create a situation where food crops will be substituted with energy crops creating food shortage.But the carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere may not be reduced drastically by these methods.

We need to develop an energy source which does not emit any carbon emission and at the same time we should be able to use existing technology to the possible extent. Only Hydrogen can meet these requirements. In the current situation it is impossible to substitute fossil fuels in a short span of time. We can cut fossil fuels by blending with Hydrogen to the most extent possible so that we can meet two goals. We can cut the carbon emission and at the same time we can deploy Hydrogen as a blended fuel with fossil fuel and not, pure Hydrogen. Since Hydrogen is a very light gas and readily forms an explosive mixture with oxygen, this opens up a new opportunity to develop Hydrogen assisted combustion process in power generation as well as in transportation. It will be easier to handle a mixture of natural gas and Hydrogen for combustion in Gas turbine, or spark ignited reciprocating engines, as well as, gasoline combustion engines in cars. This will also gives us an opportunity to develop advanced and competitive systems like Fuel cell as an alternative technology for combustion process in due course of time.

The hydrogen assisted combustion technology is much easier, faster and economical and at the same time cut the greenhouse emission to an accepted level. But the source of such Hydrogen cannot be natural gas but only renewable sources. The renewable technologies such as solar, wind, geothermal, OTEC (ocean thermal energy conversion) should generate renewable Hydrogen. This is the key for sustainability as well as for greenhouse gas mitigation. These two benefits are too attractive to ignore and it is time we move from total fossil fuel to Hydrogen blended fossil fuel. The blended fuel along with the energy efficiency measures suggested above should go hand in hand, so that we may get over this turbulent period of financial crisis and global warming.

It is also possible that Hydrogen assisted combustion be adopted for coal-fired power plants by simply firing coal slurry, finely powdered coal blended with water and conveyed pneumatically for firing boilers and also for gasification process to generate syngas for IGCC (Integrated gasification and combined cycle) applications. Syngas production will be critical in the near future for a smoother transition from fossil economy to Hydrogen economy irrespective of the route we adopt.

Water- Fuel of the future

Water makes up 71% of the planet earth and it is the most potential energy source of the future. Water is a product of combustion between Hydrogen and Oxygen, two most abundantly available elements and   vital for life on earth. The bondage between Hydrogen and Oxygen is so strong that it requires a certain amount of energy to separate them. Separation of Hydrogen and Oxygen using the process of Electrolysis is a well-known technology. Separation of water by high temperature using Thermolysis has also been studied.  In both the processes the separation of Hydrogen and Oxygen after decomposition is a key step because of the strong affinity between the two elements. Hydrogen has to be separated in a pure form without any trace of Oxygen. Currently most of Hydrogen is generated commercially by steam reforming natural gas because of its easy availability as piped gas in many developed countries. Moreover steam reforming is a well established commercial technology that has been used for decades in chemical process industries. The hydrogen resulting from steam reforming is acceptable for combusting in Hydrogen internal combustion engines but not pure enough for a Fuel cell car. Any trace of impurity from natural gas such as Sulfur or Mercaptans can potentially poison the catalyst used in fuel cell which is very expensive. Hydrogen with purity less than 99.99% is not recommended for Fuel cell applications.

Currently there are few issues to be addressed before Hydrogen becoming a commercial fuel. The energy required to separate Hydrogen from water by commercial electrolysis is about 6Kws (kilowatts) to generate 1 m3 (cubic meter) of Hydrogen. Two key factors for electrolysis are purity of water and  direct current source. Water of certain purity is a critical part for Hydrogen generation. Deionized water with electrical conductivity less than 0.10 micro Siemens/cm is required. Normal drinking water conductivity is less than 100micro Siemens/cm. The potable water can be deionized with reverse osmosis system to get necessary quality. In fact both high purity water and direct current are not commercially available. A renewable energy sources such as solar or wind that generates direct current can be used for electrolysis. This will drop batteries and rectifier that we normally use in renewable energy systems. The generated Hydrogen can be stored in cylinders under high pressure. The stored hydrogen is the stored energy that can be used as and when required.  We can use the stored Hydrogen to generate electricity to meet our power requirement whether it is a home or business or industry. The major advantage with this system is that we can generate power when we need and we don’t have to depend on the grid power. We can also export surplus power to the grid. In fact all DC appliances can be connected with DC power from Fuel cell and operated to improve the efficiency. Such a system is ideal for remote locations without any grid supply such as remote villages or islands.

The same stored Hydrogen can also be used as fuel for a car whether it is a combustion engine or a Fuel cell car. Hydrogen can be compressed and stored under high pressure. Alternatively, Hydrogen can be stored using metal hydrides in smaller volumes. Honda introduced the first fuel cell car in the market in 1999. Since then they have made considerable improvements. Honda FCX Clarity, sedan offers a mileage of 270 miles for a single cylinder of Hydrogen at 5000 psi pressure. They are introducing a latest model with Hydrogen pressure at 10,000 psi which will considerably improve the mileage further. Unlike Hybrid cars, Fuel cell cars run silently and experts who have test-driven the car are very much impressed with the performance. Similarly Ford introduced Hydrogen combustion engine 6.8 liters V-10 engine to power E-450 Hydrogen shuttle bus. Ford modified their Gasoline engine to suit Hydrogen fuel.

Substituting Gasoline with Hydrogen is no longer a theory but a commercial reality. More and more research is being undertaken to improve the performance. Currently the cost of Hydrogen cars and Hydrogen fuel is expensive, due to lack of infrastructures to manufacture such cars or to distribute Hydrogen. However these cars will soon replace gasoline cars. Similarly homes and business can generate their own electricity for their daily use using stored Hydrogen. Water will become the fuel of the future and Hydrogen will clean up the air that has been heavily polluted by fossil fuels for decades.

Renewable Hydrogen- Future source of clean energy

I use the word ‘renewable Hydrogen’ for the Hydrogen derived from water using  renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, geothermal, wave energy, ocean thermal energy conversion systems and biological processes. Hydrogen is clearly the energy source of the future because it has got the highest energy content, compared to any other fossil fuels such a diesel, gasoline, or Butane. The energy content is more than three times that of natural gas, which is considered as the cleanest commercial fuel available in the market. The heating value of Hydrogen is 61,100Btu/lb compared to 23,879 Btu/lb of natural gas. Moreover, only Hydrogen can guarantee a complete reduction of Carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The problem with renewable Hydrogen is the cost, at current situation. The DOE (department of energy, USA) has targeted a cost for Hydrogen production at $10to $15 per mmBtu, which is comparable with current Natural gas cost. Currently bulk of the Hydrogen is commercially produced by steam reforming natural gas. However; this process will emit carbon dioxide at the rate of 11,888gms per Kg of Hydrogen produced. Though the cost of Hydrogen by this route is cheaper, mitigation of carbon dioxide is clearly an environmental issue. However it is an important route during the transition process from fossil fuel to a full fledged Hydrogen economy of the future.

Natural gas is increasingly in demand and the price of natural gas keeps increasing as the supply demand gap widens. Large natural gas liquefaction plants are already in operation in many parts of the world and number of new plants are under implementation or under planning stages. Japan, South Korea, Taiwan are three largest importers of LNG (liquefied natural gas) from Australia in Pacific region. There are many coal seam methane gas facilities already in operation in Australia and many are under planning. Due to the disaster at Fukushima nuclear plant, Japan has stepped up its import of LNG. India and China, which have been traditionally using coal as a major fuel, have started importing LNG for their power plants. This has pushed the prices of LNG in the international market significantly. Though LNG is relatively a cleaner fuel, it is very expensive to build import terminals. Moreover countries like India and China do not have a good distribution network by peipelines.The economy of scale also favor only large capacity LNG plants and terminals.  However it is not a sustainable solution in the long run considering the fact that supply of natural gas also keeps dwindling steadily. Despite all these obstacles, Governments around the world are looking only for short-term solutions like LNG, simply because it is an easy fix.

Biogas can be generated from organic waste and waste waters by anaerobic digestion. Many sewage treatment plants around the world have started generating biogas to generate power for captive use and to export the surplus power to the grid. Similarly municipalities are also implementing projects to convert ‘waste garbage’ to ‘energy’. However, the scale of operation favors only large capacity plants in larger cities. However these biogas plants will still emit carbon dioxide because biogas will be combusted using conventional engines, micro turbines and Fuelcells.This is once again a temporary solution only. We need to look beyond all these technologies to really cut the greenhouse emissions.

The only option is by Renewable Hydrogen and we need to take steps to make it a commercial reality. Biohydrogen is another potential technology. However the technology is still in a nascent stage but it is promising. Renewable Hydrogen using renewable energy sources are our best bet. Countries have already started investing in renewable energy infrastructures such as solar and wind. They can as well plan for renewable Hydrogen so that they can be certain about three things. One, they can generate and use uninterrupted power supply without importing oil or gas. Secondly they can be certain that greenhouse emissions can be reduced to pre-industrialization level. Thirdly they can be certain about the last cost of energy and its stability in the long run. These are three important factors every citizen of a country is looking for. It requires political will, determination and swift action on the part of each Government.

Hydrogen-the key to sustainability

Renewable energy is one of the fastest growing energy sources of our times. But still there are many obstacles to overcome, before it can substitute current methods of electricity generation using fossil fuels, or substitute petrol in cars. The main obstacle is, the intermittent and unpredictable nature of renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar. Wind blows only certain seasons of the year and then wind velocity fluctuates widely in a day. Similarly sun shines only certain hours in a day and the intensity of radiation varies widely in a day. The wind velocity and sun’s radiation intensity are critical components in designing a reliable energy system. It is an anomalous situation, when we need power, there is no sun or wind; when sun shines or wind blows, we may not need any power. How to overcome this anomaly? That is the key, in successfully deploying renewable energy technologies.

Currently we are using batteries to store the energy. When there is a wind with reasonable velocity or sunshine with reasonable radiation intensity, we can generate power and store them in batteries. The wind velocity should be above certain threshold limit, say such as, a least wind velocity of 3mts/sec for amount of hours, while designing a wind based energy system. The same principle applies to solar energy and we need certain minimum solar   intensity and several hours. But in reality, we don’t get these minimum operating parameters, which make the design of a renewable system more complicated.

Batteries can accumulate these small energy generations by intermittent sources of wind and sun, and store them. But these batteries have certain life between 3-5 years and requires regular maintenance, replacements.They also have certain charging and discharging cycles and limitations. At the end of its life, it has to be disposed carefully because these batteries are made of lead and acid, which are toxic materials. Many companies are trying to introduce better technologies such as ‘flow batteries’. But experience shows that such batteries are confined to only smaller capacities. Large scale storage is expensive and sometimes it is not economically feasible. Lithium-ion batteries are more efficient than Lead-acid batteries, but they are more expensive so the renewable energy projects become expensive and cannot compete with conventional fossil fuels, in spite of higher tariffs offered by Government as incentives. Moreover the demand for Lithium-ion batteries will increase substantially in the future, as more and more Electric cars are produced. But lithium sources are limited and it is not sustainable.

The best option to develop renewable energy systems is to generate Hydrogen using renewable energy and store them, instead of storing them in batteries. We can use stored Hydrogen to generate power, or use as fuel for the car, as and when we need. There are no maintenance or disposal problems with Hydrogen storage, when comparing with batteries. Hydrogen generators (electrolyzers) can generate Hydrogen when the intermittent power flows from wind or sun. They can run from a range of capacities from 5 to 100% of rated capacity and they are more suitable for renewable energy sources. But there will be a loss of energy, because the amount of power required to generate Hydrogen, is more than the power generated from the resulting Hydrogen by a Fuelcell.The initial cost will be higher, but it will give operational flexibility with least maintenance, and even adoptable to remote sites. Technology is improving to cut the cost of fuel cells and electrolyzers so that Hydrogen based renewable energy will become a sustainable source of energy in the future. Hydrogen is the only solution that can solve both power generation and transportation problems the world is currently facing.

Can Electric cars eliminate greenhouse gas emission?

There is a myth that electric cars will eliminate Greenhouse gas emission and reduce the global warming. Electric car will not reduce the greenhouse emission because; you still need electricity to charge your batteries. Companies promoting electric cars are now planning to set up their own battery charging stations because, customers have to charge batteries of these electric cars every now and then. Otherwise, they will not be able to drive their electric cars continuously.  There is no battery currently in the market that can last more than 28 hours between the charges, though many companies are trying to develop superior batteries. One company claims a Battery(electricity) of 300whr/kg, for their LLithium-ion polymer battery, much superior than other batteries, which can run 600kms, with 6 minutes charging. Though, new batteries such as semi solid Lithium-ion battery, based on the principle of ‘flow batteries’, are promising, it is still, a long way to commercialization. President Obama  has set a set a target of 1 million electric cars in US roads, by 2012.It is estimated that US has to produce about 40 billion dollars worth of domestically produced batteries. A lithium-ion battery which weighs less and stores more energy is the promising technology. But Lithium resources are limited. Battery is the heart of an electric car. These electric cars do not emit smoke, or make noise like petrol cars. But, these two factors alone are not sufficient to substitute traditional fossil fuel powered international combustion engines.

It is also true, that electric cars can cut green house emission to an extent, where fossil fuel consumed cars are replaced with electric cars. To that extend, the fossil fuel consumption by these cars are reduced. But the power to charge the batteries will still have to come from the common grid. Unless the power generation technology using fossil fuels is changed, there will be no dramatic greenhouse gas emission reduction by introducing electric cars. Alternatively, if cars are built on Hydrogen based fuel either using a conventional Internal combustion engine, or by using Fuel cell, then a substantial amount of greenhouse emission can be eliminated. However Hydrogen generation should be based on Renewable energy source only. Whichever way one looks at it, renewable energy is the key. Those Governments and companies who do not invest in renewable energy technologies and systems, now, will have to pay a heavy price, in the future. But even those companies investing on renewable energy technologies, should look beyond current technologies and systems. The best starting point for these industries will be to substitute ‘storage batteries’ with ‘stored Hydrogen’.

It is much simpler to install PV solar panels or wind turbines, and to generate Hydrogen on site, from water. One can store Hydrogen in fuelling stations, and fuel the cars. Honda was the first entrant into this market, who was focusing on fuel cell technology, using compressed hydrogen gas. Alternatively such Hydrogen can be generated from ‘Biogas’ generated from biological wastes and waste treatment plants. All necessary technologies are currently available to make it happen. Governments can try to promote small townships with Hydrogen fuel stations, and show case such models to the rest of the country or other nations to follow. This will help nations to reduce their greenhouse emission and at the same time, they can become self-sufficient in their energy requirements. They no longer have to depend on polluting oil and gas, from few Middle East countries. Countries like India with impressive economic growth heavily depend on oil imports and any slight fluctuation in oil prices can easily upset such growth. It is time Governments around the world take a serious look at Hydrogen, as their alternative energy source. It is just not good enough to promote renewable energy technologies, but they have to develop generation, storage and distribution technologies for Hydrogen. What is needed at this hour is, ‘will, determination and leadership’ on the part of the Governments, like US, China and India, that can set an example for the rest of the world by investing in Hydrogen economy.

Water and Energy

We know from the famous equation  of Albert Einstein , that a tiny amount of mass is a vast storehouse of energy. But even the molecular Hydrogen as a result of water decomposition, is a promising energy source of the future. However, the amount of energy we use to split water into Hydrogen and Oxygen is higher compared to the amount of energy that Hydrogen can generate using Fuel celll. But we can mitigate this problem by using Renewable   energy such as PV solar, Solar (thermal), wind energy, geothermal energy, and Ocean thermal energy conversion. The cost of renewable energy is still expensive for two reasons;

  1. We are used to cheap energy from fossil fuels for decades, and we have already recovered most of these investments.

2. A complete switch over to renewable energy technologies will require massive new investment. Unlike the investments we made on fossil fuel infrastructures over several decades, we have to invest on renewable Energy development on a massive scale, and we have to deploy them in a shorter span of time, simultaneously all over the world. Currently there is no such infrastructure in renewable energy industry in existence.

Meanwhile the unabated emission of carbon dioxide by fossil fuels is causing global warming. There are many skeptics on the science on global warming. Such skepticism does not stem from the fact that they have a concrete proof but, ‘such skepticism’ serves their vested interest. Politicians who are in power do not want any increase in the cost of energy, which becomes unpopular among people may eventually, throw them out of power. They say they want to serve people with low cost energy but, neither politicians nor the common man understands the consequences of such measures.

It will be our future generations who will face the brunt of this skepticism, by facing fuel shortage or unaffordable cost of fuel, erratic climate change, and frequent natural catastrophies.It is time for the world to act decisively and swiftly and move towards renewable energy, by massive investment and creation of new skills and jobs on a very large scale.

The companies who have massively invested in fossil power plants, and the governments who depend on the support of such companies and who want to keep the energy cost low, because of its popularity, are the major list of scientists opposing main stream scientific assessment of global warming. The hidden cost of environmental challenges and its consequences is much higher than the savings, due to cheap fossil fuels. It requires a paradigm shift and a sense of social justice, in the minds of Governments and companies. It is not all that difficult to switch over to cleaner technologies. In fact most of the technologies are already available and it requires only a ‘will, bold decision and leadership’ by Governments.

Any clean energy solution should be sustainable in the long run. Hydrogen can meet not only the sustainability but even the transition from fossil fuel to Hydrogen will be smooth. To start with all existing fossil fuel infrastructures can be modified towards Hydrogen generation, and fuel cell based Electricity generation  infrastructures. Of course this will require large investment but compared to a complete shift to renewable energy, it will require only a relatively smaller investment. For example, all fuel stations can be converted into Hydrogen stations by simply installing steam reformers, including LNG based fuel stations. All gasoline based automobiles can be either fitted with Hydrogen IC engines, or converted to fuel cells cars similar to Honda FXL models. If the Governments all over the world can agree for such conversion and a complete shift to Hydrogen economy then, it can become a reality in the next decade. We have to focus on ‘Renewable Hydrogen’, which can come from seawater, a waste source of Hydrogen using renewable energy sources, and Biohydrogen  using from waste organic matters. The future generation will not only have a cleaner and affordable fuel but, a more sustainable future!

Distributed -energy- systems

Distributed  generation system, is a system that generates power at the point of usage; unlike the centralized electricity generation, where power is generated at a remote place and then distributed to various locations using Power transmission  grids. The centralized systems became popular, due to its convenience, to transmit large power over long distances, under high voltage. However, there are several disadvantages, in centralized power generation and distribution. Most of these power generation plants are using fossil fuels, like coal, oil and gas, whose efficiency is only about 40%; which means, only about 40% of the heat value of the fuel used is converted into electricity, and the balance is a waste heat, discharged in the form of greenhouse gases, into the atmosphere. That is why; power station are the largest emitters of greenhouse gases, in the world. These plants are  not only the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, but also a very inefficient, because bulk of the fuel is simply combusted and discharged into the atmosphere. With ever-increasing cost of oil and gas, these power plants are ‘white elephants’ that drain the oil and gas resources in the world and turn them into greenhouse gases. Such inefficiencies drive the cost of power high, and also increase the pollution levels. This unabated emission of greenhouse gas has to be curtailed.

At this juncture of global warming, and increasing energy cost, Governments and companies, should encourage distributed energy systems. The advantage with distributed energy systems is, when we generate energy  on site using a fuel, we can use the waste heat  in a productive way, thus increasing the power efficiencies from 40% up to 80-85%.This increase in efficiency, will result, is the reduction in the cost of energy. The power savings from distributed energy system varies  from 10% up to 80%. Industries and business who use continuous processes (24×7) and whose energy bill is substantial, are the ideal candidates for distributed energy systems. It is easier to adapt distributed energy system, with gaseous fuels, like natural gas and Hydrogen, than with liquid fuels such as diesel or solid fuel such as coal.

Distributed energy system can even be installed, using ‘Biogas’, where large quantity of  organic waste or waste water is available throughout the year, like dairy plants, breweries, municipal sewage systems etc.The power generated in DES system, is invariably a direct current (DC), which is usually converted into alternating  using rectifier,   before usage. But, part of this DC load, can be used directly in the form of Dc current, wherever necessary. For example, many consumers are using Light-emitting diode bulbs for lighting, to save energy. In distributed energy system, it is possible to use direct current for these applications because you can save a certain amount of energy in the process of converting DC to AC, and then again AC to DC.In fact, we can connect number of appliances directly  to  direct current.

In addition to the above advantages, we can utilize the waste heat  to generate steam, hot water, chilled water or space airconditioning.For example, if a distributed energy system generates  500 kw Electric power using natural gas, with an efficiency of 30%, the gas consumption will be about 1666 Kws.The remaining waste heat available is about 1166 Kws, which is equal to about 300 TR chilling capacity. This chiller can be used to air-condition an office space. The total efficiency of such system can be as much as 80%.We can reduce the cost of energy as much as 60% or more, in some cases.

Distributed energy system, is the best and cost-effective system to cut energy bills as well as to reduce Greenhouse gas Otherwise the power for air-conditioning has to come from the grid. It is a win situation, for everybody involved. Such system can also be used, with Hydrogen. In fact, the heat value of Hydrogen is much higher than any other fuel, such as coal, oil or gas. Hydrogen is the energy of the future that is not only clean but also sustainable.

” Water and Clean Energy -Two sides of the same coin”

Why I say “water and clean energy, are two sides of the same coin?” At the outset, it may sound odd, but in reality, these two are closely interconnected. Let us examine, step by step, how they are connected, to each other, and what are the implications, in terms of cost, and environmental issues.

Take for example, power generation industries. The two basic materials, any power plant require, are, fuel and water. It does not matter, what kind of fuel is used, whether it is a coal based power plant or liquid fuel based plant like Naphtha, or gas based plants, like piped natural gas or LNG Of course, this statement is applicable only, for existing, conventional power generation technologies, and not for PV solar or wind energy, technologies. Let us consider, only power generation, involving conversion of thermal energy, into electrical energy. Today, more than 80% of power generation in the world, is based on thermal power, including nuclear plants. What is the usage of water in power plants? All thermal power plants use steam, as the prime motive force, to drive the turbines, (gas turbine is an exception, but, even in gas based plants, the secondary motive force,  is steam, using waste heat recovery boilers, in combined cycle operations). The quality of water for conversion into steam is of high quality, purer, than our drinking water. The second usage of water is for cooling purpose. The water consumption by power plants, using once through cooling system is 1 lit/kwhr, and by closed circuit cooling tower, it is 1.7lit/kwhr .Only about 40% power plants in Europe, for example, use closed circuit cooling towers, and the rest use only ‘once through’ cooling systems. The total power generated in 2010, by two largest users, namely US and China, were 3792Twhrs and 3715 Twhrs  respectively. The total world power production, in 2008 was 20,262 Twhrs, using following methods.

Fossil fuel: Coal 41 %, Oil 5.50%, Gas 21%, Nuclear 13% and Hydro 16%.

Renewable: PV solar 0.06%, PV thermal 0.004%, Wind 1.1%, Tide  0.003 %, Geothermal 0.3%, Biomass &others 1.30%.

(1Twhrs is = 1,000,000,000 kwhrs)

The above statistics, gives us an idea, on how much water, is being used, by power generating plants, in the world. Availability of fresh water, on planet earth, is only 2.5% (96. 5% oceans, 1.70% ground water, 1.7% glaciers and ice caps, and 0.001% in the air, as vapor and clouds).The world’s precious water source, is used for power generation, while millions of people, do have water, to drink. The cost of bottled drinking water is US$ 0.20 /lit, in countries like, India. This situation is simply unsustainable.

The prime cause, for this situation, is lack of technology, to produce clean power, without using water. The power technology, we use today, is based on the principle of electromagnetism, invented, by Michael Faraday, in the year 1839. That is why, renewable energy, is becoming critically important, at this juncture, when the world is, at the cross road.

In order to overcome, the shortage of fresh water, many countries are now opting, for seawater desalination. Desalination, again, is an energy intensive process. For example 3-4 kwhrs of power is used, to desalinate 1 m3 of water. This  power has to come, from fossil fuel fired, thermal power plants, which are often co-located, with desalination plants, so that, all the discharge, from both the plants, can be easily pumped into the sea. Since, the world is running out of fresh water, we have to look for attentive source of water. In countries like India, the ground water is being exploited, for agricultural purpose, and the ground water is getting depleted. Depleting water resources is a threat to agriculture production. It is a vicious circle.

That is why, distributed energy systems, using Hydrogen as an alternative fuel,  is an important step, towards sustainability. One can generate Hydrogen from water, using renewable energy source, like solar or wind, and store them, for future usage. The stored Hydrogen can be used to generate power, as and when required, at any remote location (even where there is no grid power).The water is regenerated, during this process of power generation using Fuelcell, which can be recycled. There is no large consumption of water, and there is no greenhouse emission. It is a clean and sustainable solution. The same stored Hydrogen can also be used as a fuel for your car! Therefore; (The above statics are based on Wikipedia data).

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