If the hydrogen fueled commercial aircraft design by Lockheed was used, it would be impossible for a passenger to hijack the aircraft because the passenger compartments are completely separated from the flight crew by a hydrogen storage tank. Given these critical safety and national security implications, and given that the fossil fuels are highly polluting and are being exponentially consumed on a global scale, and given the potential climate change implications of continuing to use hydrocarbon fuels, Braun is calling for a wartime effort to shift from oil to hydrogen.
According to Braun, hydrogen is the only zero carbon emission "universal fuel" that can power virtually any engine or appliance, from the family automobile, commercial aircraft, moon rockets, power plants, or a Coleman stove on a mountain top. When hydrogen is used as fuel, pure water is returned as the combustion byproduct, thus no pollution is generated, and nothing is consumed in the process. Moreover, extensive field tests over many decades by NASA and BMW have shown hydrogen to be much safer than gasoline or other hydrocarbon fuels when accidents do occur. One thing is certain, if the U.S. wants to make sure that buildings will not be leveled by hydrocarbon-fueled aircraft, the entire fleet of approximately 16,000 aircraft need to be modified to use liquid hydrogen fuel. Boeing is the most logical company to receive a government contract for these modifications, and such a contract would allow Boeing to reemploy many of the highly skilled workers that have been recently laid off because of the global economic downturn.
The hydrogen fuel for the aircraft could initially be manufactured from off-peak electricity from existing power plants, until wind and other solar hydrogen production technologies can be mass-produced. Companies like Boeing and Lockheed can and should be focused on mass-producing these hydrogen production technologies that can make the U.S. independent. It is worth noting that the blades on wind systems are now the size of the wings on a 747 aircraft, and 10 million one-megawatt state-of-the-art wind energy systems could provide 100% of the U.S. energy requirements in the form of electricity and/or hydrogen. Given that the interior components of a wind generator are similar to the components found under the hood of a car or truck, and given that over 17 million cars and trucks are manufactured in the U.S. each year, the 10 million wind systems and related electrolysis subsystems could be mass-produced and installed in just a few years. It is worth noting that after the attack on Pearl Harbor, every major industry in the U.S. was retooled in 12 months.
Osama bin Laden and his supporters have been financed by oil revenues, most of which have been provided by the U.S. and our allies. As such, it is now time to shift form oil to hydrogen with wartime speed. Such a "transition of substance" will make the U.S. energy independent as well as essentially pollution-free. Instead , and the billions of dollars that would have gone to purchase foreign oil will instead be used to provide long-term "prosperity without pollution" for the U.S. and the rest of the world. This shift from oil to hydrogen is being advocated by hundreds of scientists and engineers from more than 80 countries who are members of the International Association of Hydrogen Energy (www.iahe.org). The National Hydrogen Association (www.hydrogenus.com) and the American Wind Energy Association (www.awea.org) are the corporate trade associations that assist Members of Congress and the U.S. Department of Energy in prioritizing national renewable energy implementation strategies.
The "trigger mechanism" for this "transition of substance" is the passage of a Fair Accounting Act or similar legislation by state legislatures and the U.S. Congress that will factor in the many "external costs" of using oil and other fossil and nuclear fuels. These external costs include the billions of dollars in environmental damage that results from using fossil fuels and the resulting health care costs that are not factored into energy costs. If a fair accounting system is used, hydrogen will be the least expensive fuel. As such, H2 PAC is organized to lobby for the passage of the Fair Accounting Act or other legislation that will accelerate the transition from the existing oil economy to a hydrogen economy.
HYDROGEN POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE Tel: (602)
955-4555
6245 North 24th Parkway, Suite 209 Fax: (602) 955-5444
Phoenix, Arizona 85016 Email: info@h2pac.org
PROPOSED UNITED STATES LEGISLATION
FAIR ACCOUNTING ACT
Whereas it is well documented that the vast majority of the increasingly
unhealthy urban air pollution in major metropolitan areas is a direct
result of the combustion of carbon-based fuels for automobiles, trucks,
aircraft and power plants, and;
Whereas carbon-based fuels are non-renewable and therefore unsustainable
fuel options that must be imported into the U.S., and;
Whereas hydrogen is the only zero carbon emission combustion fuel that
can be made from both fossil fuel and renewable resources, and;
Whereas all green plants on the earth have been utilizing a solar-hydrogen
energy production process for over 3 billion years whereby the hydrogen
is extracted from water with solar energy, and;
Whereas hydrogen can allow the United States to become energy independent
and essentially pollution-free, and;
Whereas the United States has enough land and renewable energy resources
to develop into a "Saudi Arabia"-class energy exporter of hydrogen
fuel that is non-toxic, pollution-free and inexhaustible, and;
Whereas 18 gallons of water is required to manufacture a gallon of gasoline,
and only 2.3 gallons is required to make a similar energy content of hydrogen,
and;
Whereas NASA, Boeing, Lockheed and Airbus have documented that hydrogen
can be safely used to fuel commercial aircraft and spacecraft, and;
Whereas major oil companies, such as Texaco, Shell and British Petroleum
(BP) have already established hydrogen business units, and;
Whereas hydrogen is safer in the event of accidents than hydrocarbon fuels
such as gasoline, or natural gas, and;
Whereas investigations published in Scientific American have shown that
the "external costs" of carbon based fuels, which include health
care costs, corrosion to buildings and bridges, military costs, crop losses,
employment and subsidies cost U.S. citizens up to $300 billion annually;
and;
Whereas this $300 billion in external costs does not factor in the fact
that the vast majority of U.S. citizens are forced to live and raise their
children in highly polluted areas that seriously degrade the quality of
life on a day-to-day basis, and;
Whereas the United States consumes about 200 billion gallons of gasoline
and diesel fuel annually;
Be It Resolved, therefore, that a Fair Accounting Act shall provide that
a $1.00 per gallon tax be gradually assessed on liquid hydrocarbon fuels,
starting at $0.10 per gallon on January 1, 2002, and increasing each year
by an additional $0.10 until January 1, 2012. Non-renewable gaseous fuels
containing carbon, such as natural gas, shall be assessed on a comparable
carbon content basis as liquid hydrocarbon fuels.
Be It Further Resolved that the funds raised by the Fair Accounting Act
shall be used to provide low interest long-term financing and other financial
incentives for the implementation of hydrogen production, storage, transportation
and end-use technologies. It is anticipated that individual State Legislatures
will also impose similar financial incentives on a state level to provide
a level playing field for the renewable hydrogen energy technologies.
hb@phoenixproject.net
SHIFTING FROM OIL TO HYDROGEN
PIECES TO THE
PUZZLE
1. Energy Options
Oil and other non-renewable fossil fuels are being exponentially consumed,
which is having a profound impact on air and water pollution, and global
climate change. Shifting to zero-carbon emission solar hydrogen systems
would fundamentally resolve the energy supply and environmental problems.
Hydrogen can be manufactured from water with algae and other microorganism,
as well as with any source of electricity.
New electrical production options include coal and nuclear power plants
or solar technologies, such as photovoltaic, wind and ocean thermal systems.
2. The Big Bang
The story of hydrogen began with the "Big Bang" some 15 billion
years ago, when hydrogen atoms were first formed in the Universe. Gravity
was the primordial force that caused the hydrogen to condense into vast
clouds that collapsed into stars, which consume the hydrogen as fuel.
When the larger stars with sufficient mass exhaust their supply of hydrogen,
a supernova occurs which then forms the heavier elements.
3. Biochemical Origins
Some of the first life forms on the Earth were photosynthetic algae that
existed approximately 3.5 billion years ago. Hydrogenase is a critical
enzyme used in extracting hydrogen from carbon. The Chlorophyll molecule
uses sunlight to extract hydrogen from water. With developments in Microbiology,
Molecular Biology and Nanotechnology, biological hydrogen production systems
can be fully optimized.
4. Storage Systems
Unlike electricity, hydrogen can be stored and/or transported as a compressed
gas, as a cryogenic liquid or as a solid (metallic hydrogen). Liquid hydrogen
most closely resembles gasoline from a perspective of volume and vehicular
weight. In the case of commercial aircraft, the takeoff weight is reduced
by as much as 40 percent.
5. Transportation
Hydrogen can be transported in underground pipelines (thereby eliminating
the need for new high voltage electrical transmission lines), tanker trucks
or ships. Hydrogen pipelines can carry both gaseous and liquid hydrogen,
and it is possible to create an interstate hydrogen pipeline system that
can also include a metallic hydrogen cable that will also be able to transport
electricity with virtually no energy loss.
6. End-Use Applications
Hydrogen is the only "universal fuel" that can power virtually
all automobiles, aircraft, spacecraft, power plants or appliances, including
a Coleman stove operating on a mountain-top.
7. Environmental Impact
Hydrogen is the only zero-carbon emission fuel. As such, carbon emissions
that cause air and water pollution, as well as global climate change are
eliminated. As such, shifting to a hydrogen energy system will have a
profoundly positive impact on the Earth's biological life-support systems.
8. Economic Considerations
There is no product produced that does not have a fundamental energy cost.
Given the exponential consumption of non-renewable fossil fuels, it is
impossible to know how much energy will cost in the future. Shifting to
a "Hydrogen Economy" will eliminate future cost and supply uncertainties
and significantly impact the U.S. balance of trade.
9. Safety
Many people confuse hydrogen fuel, which involves a simple transfer of
electrons, with the hydrogen bomb, which involves thermonuclear reactions.
Most people do not realize the most of the passengers and crew of the
Hindenburg survived, and that extensive data complied by NASA & BMW
rate hydrogen as safe - and in many important ways safer - than gasoline
and other hydrocarbon fuels when accidents do occur.
10. Fair Accounting Act
If the "External Costs" of using fossil and nuclear fuels, which
include environmental and health care costs, were factored into the price
of gasoline, hydrogen would be the least expensive fuel. Only elected
officials are able to factor in external costs. As such, the legislative
trigger mechanism for the hydrogen economy is the passage of a Fair Accounting
Act that will insure that hydrogen will be the least expensive fuel
HYDROGEN POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE
6245 North 24th Parkway, Suite 209
Phoenix, Arizona 85016
H2 PAC PRESS RELEASE
September 24, 2001
Tel: (602) 955-4555
Fax: (602) 955-5444
Email: info@h2pac.org