NOTES: Burn a ton of coal - produce 3.7 tons of CO2. Torrefaction - neat word - means to heat biomass to 270C in the absence of oxygen, driving out all the moisture and reducing the biomass to coal-like density and power containment. Then burn the bio-pellets in a conventional coal power plant. CO2 neutral, no sulfur, no mercury, little ash. Win-win all around, except for the fact that biomass consumed is not recycled into the soil, so what you are actually accomplishing is burning your top soil! Economists see the environment as a subset of the economy. Ecologists, on the other hand, see the economy as a subset of the environment. Which view is sustainable? International carbon tax - the Mexican plan gains traction! Wind turbines on Paris rooftops!
Greetings and Introductions: Chapter President, John Gotthold, greets all attendees and asks each attendee to state their name and a short synopsis of their background and what they hope to learn by attending the meeting. 10 minutes.
1. Hydrogen Transportation: US Government support shifting from hydrogen to deep hybrid battery as shortest way to increase fleet efficiency. Ford converting truck plant to electric cars with hundred mile range. hydrogen vehicles in Istanbul, Montreal, Nestle Waters, Hebrides, all getting hydrogen vehicles and $42 million of stimulus money, all providing for lift truck fleets and telecom standbys in minor volume. BMW hydrogen salt flat racer. New hydrogen powered wheel chair. Comparison of electric drive to hydrogen fuel cell drive. 79 kWH in as opposed to 202 kWH in. $2.00 gas tipping point for drivers!!! Chocolate-powered Formula 3 race car debuts! Toyota, Honda, GM reaffirm commitment to fuel cell cars. National Hydrogen Association paper shows that the only way to get to 80% CO2 reduction by 2050 is with fuel cell cars! Mazda RX8 Hydrogen running in Norway - Crown Prince Haakon - driving first leg of HYNOR hydrogen highway, which is now open. London - Green Transport Day - ITM POWER hydrogen cars to enter. TOYOTA speeding up its hydrogen fuel cell cars to 2014. BIO-MASS burned in coal fired plants for electric battery cars will be much more efficient than converting it to ethanol!! OBAMA cuts $1.2 billion hydrogen car funds in favor of deep battery hybrids - better mileage NOW!
2. Hydrogen Technology: ECN reaches 16.4 percent efficiency with multicrystalline PV. Mimic photosynthesis for hydrogen. fuel cells for chemical plants. Solid oxide for home combined heat and power, "fuel cell boiler", essentially adds electricity production to the water heater!! Potassium nanotubes produce hydrogen! Zinc oxide nano crystal - hydrogen molecule bounce. Hydrogen from glycerin - Linde plant! Gas power plants to also produce hydrogen. Swedish researchers double efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells. Torrefaction - coffee roasting biomass into bio coal!! Ammonia borane - hydrogen storage to fifty percent. Super strong metallic spider silk - great for hydrogen tanks. Polymeric hydrogen pipelines!!
3. Hydrogen Business: Stimulus money jump starting over a thousand fuel cell installations. 37-mile, 14-inch hydrogen pipeline for Air Products. ENOS cell-tech completes plant in Japan for production of 1 kW combined heat and power. BASF opens production facility in New Jersey for high temperature MEA production. Solar power cheaper than utilities for first time in Northeast. CHINA ahead of us in cleaner coal plants!
4. Government Support to Hydrogen: US to take carbon reduction lead? Will going green revive the economy? California governor wants clear energy policy. Renewable jobs!! National Hydrogen Association upset with government cuts to hydrogen research. US accepts responsibility for its CO2 emissions!!! NEW method to turn biomass into gasoline. House legislation would reduce nationwide energy use by 10% - here come efficiency improvements whether you want them or not.
5. Global Warming and Oil Depletion: Shell to drop investments in wind, solar, hydrogen! Sea salt clue to climate change! Copernican shift in thinking required. Economists can't measure environmental degradation as it is very diffuse, only supposed GDP growth because it can be measured in dollars!! ASPO curve starts to tilt downward in 2009. We are at the beginning of the end of oil!!! FIRES MAKE CLIMATE CHANGE WORSE! Severe power shortages in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan. No more nuclear or raw coal plants in US? HUGE iceberg breaking off of Antarctica. US CORPORATE agriculture responsible for 18% of US global warming emissions!
6. Outline for AHASVC Certificate: Draft the Certificate for posting.
7. Draft Letter to the President: All members sign the letter to the President and post it on the web site.
DRAFT – Letter to the President
Dear President Obama,
As the recovery and stimulus plan begins to change the energy landscape, we need to take a hard look at the future energy system. It must have six characteristics:
- It must have sufficient energy equivalent to replace all the coal, oil, and natural gas that is being utilized today as well as projected demand for the future.
- It must be producible in many ways all over the world and not be subject to monopoly.
- It must be scalable so that it is feasible for distributed generation and use as well as for centralized production and transport.
- It must be benign, not producing harmful by products such as radioactive waste or greenhouse gases or air pollution of any kind.
- It must be endlessly recyclable so that future generations can utilize it as well as the current occupants of the planet.
- It must be storable so that natural energy can be captured and stored for use as needed.
THE ONLY ENERGY FORM THAT MEETS ALL THESE CRITERIA IS HYDROGEN.
Hydrogen must be “produced”, freed from its chemically bound natural forms on the earth. Hydrogen is in every plant, every animal, and every drop of water on the planet. The Department of Energy recognizes one hundred and thirty four methods for significant hydrogen production, all of which have the potential to be low cost, so that hydrogen can be produced all over the planet. It can be stored indefinitely (AHA has a tank filled in 1914 which is still at full pressure). Hydrogen, whether combusted, burned, catalytically converted, or utilized in a fuel cell, produces only water vapor as exhaust. As long as the sun shines, the citizens of the
United States
and all the people of the planet can run their civilization on HYDROGEN.
John Gotthold, President of the Silicon Valley Chapter of the American Hydrogen Association and all the members of this grass roots voluntary organization, who endlessly work to build a true future of sustainable prosperity without pollution and without global warming.
