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Hydrogen: Where Do We Go from Here?
By Rick Zalesky
Many predict that a sustainable hydrogen economy will begin to emerge
over the next decade or two. Envision clean, quiet fuel cell vehicles
gliding through communities whose electric power is supplied by
fuel cells. Our air will be cleaner; our climate, more stable; our
energy supply, more reliable and secure.
Who could argue with this picture? But it’s easy to make such
predictions. Building a practical pathway to that appealing future,
successfully anticipating and navigating each step along the way…that’s
more difficult.
Still, we at ChevronTexaco are working hard to do just that. Why?
Because as a major global energy company, we are committed to meeting
our customers’ demand for energy, now and in the future. We
are constantly on the lookout for promising new sources of energy,
new markets, and new opportunities to enhance and extend our businesses.
We installed a 200-kilowatt fuel cell at our headquarters in San
Ramon, Calif. to provide power to the facility’s data center
where critical computer systems process data 24 hours a day. Since
1999, we have been researching and developing hydrogen energy, along
with renewables, such as solar and wind energy.
Few people realize that a hydrogen economy already exists at the
industrial level. Energy companies produce hydrogen for use in their
own refineries and market it as a specialty chemical to manufacturers.
In fact, annual worldwide hydrogen production is equivalent to roughly
10 percent of worldwide oil production.
Now we are working to extend the hydrogen economy to commercial
and consumer markets. Drawing on our expertise in fuel conversion
technology, we have developed and patented a simpler way to produce
hydrogen from natural gas. We see reforming natural gas, onsite
at the point of use, in a distributed fashion as the “bridge
strategy” that will enable fuel cell technology to mature
and hydrogen markets to develop. And, as renewable technology develops,
more cost-effective and efficient means of creating hydrogen through
electrolysis may emerge. We have also designed a hydrogen energy
station that is intended to produce hydrogen onsite for fueling
vehicles and uses excess hydrogen to generate electricity from a
stationary fuel cell. We are in the process of building demonstration
stations in California.
Substantial hurdles remain before hydrogen can become a widely accepted
fuel. Among the items on the industry’s to-do list: lower
costs system-wide; develop rigorous codes and standards; solve storage
and distribution issues; and educate consumers about the benefits
and safe use of this potentially new fuel. Over the next five years,
we are planning to lead a team in a U.S. Department of Energy program
to gather data, demonstrate applications in real-world settings,
and determine the most viable route to a hydrogen future. In this
pre-commercial stage of development, public-private collaborations
are key to advancing hydrogen technology.
For the rest of this decade, we have plans to pursue what we call
captured infrastructure projects, in which hydrogen-fueled vehicles
are refueled at a central location – municipal bus fleets,
industrial forklifts, auto fleets, military vehicles, and the like.
By the end of the decade, we expect the results will be in. All
of us should have a clearer picture of which hydrogen technologies
deserve the green light for further development. And we should have
a better sense of if, how, and when hydrogen can become a significant
part of the world’s energy supply.
It will take many years to complete the transition to hydrogen as
a primary fuel for transportation and power generation. Still, it
is hard to conceive of a more important, a more worthy, mission
than providing new sources of clean, abundant energy for future
generations. We at ChevronTexaco are pleased to help lead this worldwide
effort.
Rick Zalesky is president of ChevronTexaco Technology
Ventures’ Hydrogen Business, a subsidiary of ChevronTexaco
Corp (www.chevron.com).
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