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Group moved by hydrogen’s power
Farmers, ranchers and small-land owners in Northern Colorado have limited amounts of water and lots of wind — not a great combination during the state’s worst drought in more than 50 years.
By DAVID PERSONS
[email protected]
(Many thanks to R. Paul Williamson, Dean- University of Montana College of Technology for passing this along.- Russ)
But, don’t despair, says Maury Albertson, a Colorado State University professor in civil engineering.
Water and wind are exactly the right elements to have if you’re interested in making money and improving the environment, he said.
"First, you can generate electricity from wind turbines and then use that electricity to produce hydrogen from water by electrolysis," the CSU professor said. "It’s a wonderful process. All that’s left over (after hydrogen has been extracted) is oxygen, and that can be collected, too, or released into the atmosphere. The beauty is there’s no polluting."
Albertson and other members of a nonprofit group called Hydrogen Now want to be at the forefront of the country’s hydrogen program as it develops over the next 10-15 years. Their goal is to make Colorado the top renewable hydrogen-producing center in the United States.
They believe the first step will be to form a wind-to-hydrogen production system in Larimer County. If that works, Albertson said the concept would be copied all across Colorado.
Albertson said the best way to undertake such a project would be to create a co-op of interested landowners. The co-op, once formed, would start by securing loans to purchase the necessary wind turbines. The co-op then would lease land for the turbines from its membership.
The electricity generated would be put on a small grip for co-op members. Any excess electricity would be redirected to an electrolyzer that would break down water into hydrogen and oxygen, which would be collected.
Albertson said the hydrogen could be used by co-op members to replace propane or natural gas in their homes or sold to area hydrogen stations, such as the one the city of Fort Collins is considering.
Of course, there are some drawbacks, Albertson admitted.
The wind-to-hydrogen system won’t be cheap.
Bob Willis, a Hydrogen Now spokesperson, estimates that an electrolyzer for a one-megawatt system would cost $800,000. A megawatt of electricity powers approximately 1,000 households a day.
But by the time four 250-kilowatt turbines and other equipment is purchased, the price tag for the system is close to $5 million.
However, both Albertson and Willis believe that the demand for hydrogen will grow at such a rate in the next 10 years that the co-op will be able to easily pay off its loans.
"It’s being estimated that by 2010, the hydrogen business will be a $100 billion business annually," Willis said.
There already is proof that may be so.
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About hydrogen
Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe and exists primarily in combination with other chemicals, primarily natural gas and petroleum products. Water also is one of the most common substances that contains hydrogen. Hydrogen can be stored as a gas, liquid, or solid.
# It takes about seven gallons of water — two toilet flushes — to produce enough hydrogen by electrolysis to power a home and fuel a vehicle for a month.
# Water or steam is the only byproduct when hydrogen is burned in an engine.
# Hydrogen won’t soak into your skin.
# Hydrogen is non-toxic and does not produce noxious, poisonous or carcinogenic fumes.
On the Internet
These Web sites offer hydrogen information:
# http://www.arb.ca.gov/homepage.htm
# http://www.drivingthefuture.org
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Hydrogen fuel cell technology has been around since the 1970s and is routinely used as a power source by NASA.
Automaker Daimler-Chrysler has put a new hydrogen-powered test car on the road every year for the past five years and plans to put 80 fuel-cell powered cars on the road as early as 2004, including 20 in the U.S.
To further speed up hydrogen production and technology, President Bush announced in his State of the Union address last week a $1.2 billion plan to encourage the development of automobiles that run on hydrogen.
While farmers and ranchers could benefit from the wind-to-hydrogen process, small landowners are the ones who have shown the most initial interest.
"I’m interested in things that might better us and our environment," said Frank Leibrock, who lives on a 40-acre parcel near Red Feather Lakes.
Leibrock, a retired administrative profession at Colorado State University, said he attended a public meeting by Hydrogen Now last week to learn more about its plans.
He said what appealed to him the most was the possibility of using his windy property to generate electricity.
"It blows quite a bit up here," Leibrock said. "I’m watching the ponderosa (pines) nod to each other right now."
Other people who own windy property and attended the meeting voiced similar views.
Fiona Gammonley, who lives on a 35-acre parcel in Owl Canyon north of Fort Collins, thinks using a wind turbine to generate electricity is a great idea if it can be cost-effective.
Rene Colton, who owns a 40-acre parcel southwest of Carr near Larimer County road 15, said she supports the wind-to-hydrogen concept since it could make the U.S. less dependent on foreign oil. But, she says she’s still studying it "to see whether it fits in" with her lifestyle.
http://www.coloradoan.com/news/stories/20030206/news/929091.html
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