A fuel for innovation – Hydrogen, touted as energy solution, builds awareness in Denver

The touted "hydrogen economy" is making a high-energy splash in Colorado.

By Steve Raabe, Denver Post Business Writer

Billed by some advocates as the ultimate energy solution, hydrogen is the focus of a new promotional firm in Denver and two events next month to trumpet hydrogen’s potential as a clean, abundant, renewable fuel for vehicles and electrical devices.

In the wake of President Bush’s recent, stated commitment to spend $1.2 billion over the next five years on hydrogen research and development, Andrew Bermingham has created HydrogenWorks, a downtown Denver startup company focused on promoting hydrogen and its use in fuel cells.

Fuel cells generate electricity through a chemical reaction, without the need to burn fossil fuels such as natural gas, coal or petroleum. In a fuel cell, hydrogen and oxygen combine to create electricity with only water and heat as byproducts.

"It’s a technology whose time has come," said Bermingham, 41, who has invested more than $100,000 of his money in the for-profit promotional venture.

Besides HydrogenWorks, Bermingham is founder and general partner of Hydrogenica Partners LP, a venture capital firm investing in alternative energy projects.

HydrogenWorks will present the Hydrogen Education Tour, a display of prototype fuel-cell vehicles and educational exhibits Oct. 11-12 at the Colorado Convention Center.

Financial backers of the tour, with additional stops scheduled in Los Angeles and Washington, include Ford Motor Co., Colorado School of Mines, the Colorado Governor’s Office of Energy Management and Conservation, and Golden-based National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Last year, about $6.2 million of the renewable energy lab’s total budget of $218 million was spent on hydrogen projects.

"From a big-picture perspective, the notion of a hydrogen economy is very compelling," said lab spokesman Gary Schmitz. "But it’s not going to happen overnight."

Analysts say hydrogen’s enormous potential is offset by current technological limitations that make its use economically unfeasible in most applications.

Developing efficient ways to produce, transport and store hydrogen are expected to take decades and billions of dollars.

Hydrogen can be extracted from water, or from fossil fuels such as natural gas or methanol.

But extraction from water, known as electrolysis, is relatively expensive and inefficient because it requires electricity.

Hydrogen recovery from fossil fuels is cheaper and easier but leaves hydrogen subject to natural-gas shortages and future price spikes.

"At present, it is far less expensive to use power from the grid and other traditional sources" to supply electricity, said Jayanthi Kamalaratnam, an analyst with energy research firm Technical Insights.

Ultimately, Bermingham said, the answer could come from hydrogen electrolysis using electricity from renewable energy sources such as wind turbines and solar photovoltaic panels.

Another firm connected to Bermingham, Montreux Energy, next month will hold the Hydrogen Infrastructure Investment Roundtable, an international gathering in Denver of 100 energy industry and financial leaders.

Other Colorado-based hydrogen programs include Ball Corp.’s development of fuel cells for defense applications, Basalt-based Hypercar’s research on fuel-cell vehicles and Vehicle Project LLC, a Denver firm developing fuel-cell motors for locomotives and mining equipment.

Bermingham realizes hydrogen development will require money, research and plenty of time.

"There’s an old joke: Hydrogen is the fuel of the future and always will be," Bermingham says. "But we think Colorado could be a wonderful test bed for making it happen."

HYDROGEN EDUCATION TOUR

Dates: Oct. 11-12

Site: Colorado Convention Center

Tickets: $8, with a $2 discount in advance through http://www.hydrogen.com

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