Battling Climate Change Requires an Army of Technologies, Fuel Cells Included

June 21, 2009 – Vol.14 No.14

BATTLING CLIMATE CHANGE REQUIRES AN ARMY OF TECHNOLOGIES, FUEL CELLS INCLUDED.
by Bruce Mulliken, Green Energy News

I can’t stand ants. I want to make a deal with the Queen or whoever it is that runs the ant colony that sends its workers into my house: I’ll feed you and your troops everyday. Just stay out of my kitchen. Fair enough? In this unusually wet spring in Maryland it seems as though everyone is waging a battle against ants.

The Obama Administration has released a study best described by its title, “Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States.” The study makes it clear that the climate in the U.S. (as it is elsewhere) is already changing: For better or worse every nook and cranny of the country has been and will be affected, and every sector of society and the economy will see its impacts. As noted in the chapter on Human Health, a warmer, wetter nation will breed more insects, creating more opportunities to spread disease.

What the report doesn’t cover is climate change mitigation – what can be done to save ourselves and the planet from frying up and being eaten by, well, ants? Mitigation possibilities will come in a later report.

From the beginning of the global warming/climate change debate it has been clear that mitigation was the driving factor behind climate change deniers. Mitigation will mean people will have to adjust their carbon emission habits, and some industries, if they can’t cut emissions, will eventually be forced out of business. Naturally they don’t want that.

Mitigation will also mean developing new technologies that shelter us from the heat of the Sun or suck greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere. We’re not even sure what those technologies are, let alone anywhere near to developing them. At this point, with climate change advancing as fast as it is, it will take more than just replacing dirty energy with clean to cool off the planet, but we have to do that too.

What we need to do is investigate all technological possibilities no matter how offbeat they may seem. What we need to do also is not throw away clean technologies that are well along on the development path, but not fully commercialized.

Case in point: Hydrogen fuel cells for vehicles. The Obama Administration has decided to slash the budget for the fuel cell vehicle program, including the market transformation program and other pertinent research as well as development and demonstration programs for the hydrogen and fuel cell industries.

Cutting money for fuel cells probably isn’t a good idea.

It’s true that fuel cell technology has its problems – cost, hydrogen storage, and the lack of a fueling infrastructure – but the automakers including GM, Daimler, Toyota and Honda have considerable faith in the technology and are still developing it. (Honda, of course, sells a limited number of fuel cell cars.) If they didn’t like the technology, or thought it had no future, they would have abandoned it years ago. They didn’t.

It’s also true that plug-in hybrids and highway-capable battery electric vehicles are closer to large scale commercialization than fuel cell vehicles. However, there’s a chance that the high cost and limited range of those vehicles will put the brakes on their market success. If they don’t make it what then, what if fuel cell vehicles are gone? What ultra-clean vehicular technology will the U.S. have? Er, nothing. Toyota, Honda and others would still have fuel cell technology if the U.S. abandons it. This wouldn’t bode well for the already damaged U.S. auto industry in the long run.

The U.S. Fuel Cell Council (USFCC) and Fuel Cells 2000 have collected considerable information supporting fuel cells and are encouraging supporters to contact their Congressmen to support the restoration of funding. The groups even have an online letter supporters can complete and send.

Given the frightening scenarios for our climate as well as the ongoing concern about oil supplies from somewhat-less-than-friendly trading partners, it world seem foolhardy to abandon fuel cell vehicle research.

If the nations of the world don’t soon take steps to combat global climate change, those ants who weren’t a problem 10 years ago (and could very well be a climate canary) could become more than just pests. We need all the technology we can get, even if it isn’t perfect.

Links:

Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States.
http://www.globalchange.gov/publications/reports/scientific-assessments/us-impacts

Fuel Cells 2000
http://www.fuelcells.org

U.S. Fuel Cell Council
http://www.usfcc.com

Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Network
http://www.fch2-network.com