Our
Hydrogen
Future
(An Essay and Plays upon Solutions for
the Most Pressing Issues of our Time)
"I believe that water will one day be employed as fuel, that hydrogen and oxygen which constitute it, used singly or together, will furnish an inexhaustible source of heat and light, of an intensity of which coal is not capable. I believe then that when the deposits of coal are exhausted, we shall heat and warm ourselves with water. Water will be the coal of the future." Jules Vernes (1870) "L´île mystérieuse"
The announcement of a hydrogen fuel initiative in the President’s 2003 State of the Union speech substantially increased interest in the potential for hydrogen to play a major role in the nation’s long-term energy future. The Hydrogen Economy: Opportunities, Costs, Barriers, and R&D Needs (Free Executive Summary) http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10922.html
Author: Arindam Banerjee
Adda Enterprises,
22nd April 1007
The Hydrogen Transmission Network for the Integrated Management of Energy and
Water Resources in
Introduction
Living conditions in
Methods historically found
sound and practical in the Western World (
This paper first presents the
structure of a visionary “dream solution” to the problems mentioned in the preceding
paragraph, as the framework for a future National Policy for Integrated
Management of the Energy and Water Resources in Australia. Second, it presents the details, at a level
comprehensible to the lay person, of the fundamentals of the new method for the
proposed solution, and the nature of its lasting impact upon Australian
households and communities. Third, it
outlines plans of action, for implementation.
For the sake of attracting public interest, this is done in the form of
four short plays.
Features of The Dream Solution
The “Dream Solution” to be
outlined in the next section will have the following features:
- Novelty, Simplicity and Clarity. Every person in
- Environmental Friendliness. The environment will never be adversely affected by this scheme. The environment will be progressively benefited with the phasing out of current energy and water management schemes, with the “dream solution”.
- Political Acceptability. It is not possible to think of any reason why any Australian political party or group will oppose the “dream solution”, as the benefits will be so enormous.
- Technical Feasibility. The “dream solution” is eminently practical and certainly possible, given the political will, that under any reasonable government should be forthcoming. The key technologies involved in it have been long understood. While there remains immense scope for further research, for efficiency and cost reduction purposes, the key components for the scheme can be purchased “off the shelf”.
- Upgradeability. There is an unlimited scope for upgradeability and expansion, for the “dream solution”, while allowing the graceful degradation (or necessary upkeep) of existing energy and water management schemes.
- No loss. The transmission losses for energy and water, in the “dream solution” will be practically zero.
- Compatibility. The “dream solution” is perfectly compatible with the existing and future energy generation industries: fossil fuel combustion, nuclear, solar, tidal, wind, bio-mass, etc.
- High safety. It will be possible to construct nuclear plants far away from dense human habitation, as the transmission losses relating to energy transport will be zero. The incorporation of fail-safe switching devices will also enhance safety.
- Real Estate Appreciation. A comprehensive and limitless greening of the Australian continent will be possible with the “dream solution”. This will have an enormously positive aspect on all Australian real estate values.
- Investment of International Capital. The upward drive of real estate values
will cause the flow of investment capital into
- Employment Potential. Very many real jobs will be created for real work, that will benefit present and future Australians.
- Aesthetic aspects. It should not be necessary to create lossy, unaesthetic and environmentally unfriendly structures such as windfarms, more fossil fuel burning or processing structures, lossy canal systems for water movements. The transmission of energy and water will be relatively unobtrusive.
- Pinpoint transmission. Exactly where, and wherever, the energy and water is required, for family or community use, it can be sent with minimal cost and no transmission loss.
- Broadband Telecommunications. Fibre optic communication, for high-speed broadband for Internet and other communications can be added on for a marginal cost, even in remote areas.
- Stable Costs. The energy and water costs can be expected to be highly stable, as all the inputs involved will be under the control of the Australian Government.
- Economics of Scale. With increasing volume of production, and progressively sophisticated technologies, the costs involved can be expected to diminish with time.
- Independent of Time. There will be no time-wise cut-off point for the “dream solution”, as renewable energy generation schemes will be increasingly used.
- Low Costs. The construction capital costs, and even the labour costs for the “dream solution” will be very low as compared to the existing schemes.
- Environment-friendly transportation. A revolution in transportation technology can be effected, for further environmental improvement.
- Research Work. A great deal of research work relating to the “dream solution” has already been done.
- Tailored for
As the “dream solution”
proposed by Adda Enterprises has
twenty-one excellent features as stated above, it can thus deserve to be called
the dream solution for Australian energy and water resources management. How each feature will be incorporated, will
be shown, implicitly or explicitly, in the following sections.
The Basis for the Dream Solution, in Two Words
The basis for the Dream Solution
has already been stated by none less than Mr. George Bush, the President of the
Enormous US funding has been
poured into research and development as a consequence. Many new findings related to the generation,
storage, distribution and use of hydrogen, as the environment-friendly fuel for
the future, have been made and are available for perusal on the Internet. There seems little doubt that the Hydrogen
Economy is at the very least one way to proceed, for future energy requirements. However, there are serious issues –
particularly the fact that more energy is required to form Hydrogen than the energy
the generated Hydrogen will release – that are hampering the development of the
Hydrogen Economy. The lack of a clear
development path for the Hydrogen Economy, (as a result of so far unfocussed
thought processes, and the lobbying of various competing interest groups) in
Europe, USA, and other developed countries, makes it all the more necessary for
Australia – a land with unique attributes - to take up a healthy leadership
position, as a response to the vision of President Bush, on this vital
matter. [References 1, 2, 3, 4]
The lack of realization of
the pollution-free Hydrogen Economy, in Europe and
Geographical and climatic
factors, thus, necessarily propel
The Dream Solution
The following statement
presents in one line the new method proposed by Adda Enterprises, and Adda
Enterprises reserves all rights, including copyright and patent rights, that
will follow from the discussion and incorporation of the new method. Adda Enterprises hereby grants the right to
any interested party to communicate this method, and the related discussions
presented in this paper, in any medium, for public interest, and strictly for
non-commercial purposes only.
Water (usually of salty or brackish
origin) is converted to hydrogen and oxygen, through a variety of conventional and
futuristic energy generation schemes and other means; the generated hydrogen is
piped to various destinations, for the production of energy and pure water, on
a more-or-less continuous, ongoing basis.
We will now go into more
detailed discussions about the words and phrases employed in the “dream
solution”, in order to show its power and relevance, chiefly in the Australian
context. Australia-type situations, in
other parts of the world, are also naturally addressed.
“Water (usually of salty or brackish origin)”: The seas and
oceans around
“is converted to hydrogen and oxygen”: A molecule of
water is composed of two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen. There are basically two different industrial
processes, very well established, that break up the constituents of water into
hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen is for
use; oxygen produced should be released into the atmosphere, as we shall see,
for balance. Appendix 1 goes into some details, along with references.
“through a variety of conventional and futuristic energy
generation schemes and other means”:
“the generated hydrogen is piped to various
destinations”: This is the most crucial and original clause
in the Dream Solution. Transmission of
gas for lighting was very much in vogue in the nineteenth and early twentieth
century – with advances in electric technology, it fell out of use. The Dream Solution is a comeback for gas, with
certain novelties as: pure hydrogen to be piped instead of coal-gas;
interaction with electricity generation at various stages; pure water as a
desirable co-product. The great
advantages for the use of this new insight to suit modern needs will be
elaborated upon in the next section. At
this stage we note that transmission of hydrogen gas by non-leaky pipes is
loss-free, and so, intrinsically independent of distance. It is also far cheaper and far less
unsightly, as well as less obtrusive, than High Voltage lines. Further, the distribution system is very
flexible, and comparatively easy to understand and maintain. Piping hydrogen is a tried technology: [Reference 1]. However, in this reference we shall find that
this piping was something one-off, specifically to meet the needs of the nearby
Chlorine industry. Adda Enterprises, in this paper, is trying to expand the scope of
piping hydrogen on a much vaster scale.
“for the production of energy and pure water”: Energy from
hydrogen is formed most efficiently by a device known as the fuel cell. It could also be formed by combustion with
oxygen, a process that releases a great amount of heat. A modified version of the ancient steam engine
(where instead of huge supplies of water and a chamber for burning coal or
wood, we have hydrogen injection in a cylinder when it burns with atmospheric
oxygen, to form steam that drives the piston of the steam engine) should be
small, and be the drive for an electric motor to generate electricity. The pure water formed from the condensation
process should be stored, and this is the vital and extra side-product so eminently
suitable for the needs of the Australian situation.
“on a more-or-less continuous basis”: This is the truly novel aspect of the plan,
apart from the integrity existing in the totality of its construction. Current hydrogen production schemes stress
greatly upon the storage of the generated hydrogen. It is the difficulties relating to the transportation
of the stored hydrogen, which is seen as a major drawback to the implementation
of the Hydrogen Economy. When hydrogen
is not stored at all (except for special purposes) on the whole, but directly
converted to energy and water at the required destinations, after piping it
using the Hydrogen Transmission Network, all the problems and costs relating to
storage and transportation are averted.
Ultimately, then, the Dream
Solution is a great desalination process which also works as a flexible and
relatively lossless energy transfer system.
Vehicles running on hydrogen
naturally need the highest energy conversion efficiencies – and this has been
the main focus for research. Fuel cells
give the greatest efficiencies. Hydrogen
combustion with pure oxygen also gives high efficiencies – but the temperatures
involved are very high. Combustion in
ordinary air, in the presence of water is not so efficient, but a lot cheaper;
where pure water is at least as important as energy generation, inefficient
combustion processes of hydrogen to form water is certainly desirable under
many situations, especially in the arid Australian context.
Piping hydrogen for water
formation has many advantages over conventional methods for water transport: no
evaporation loss as happens in canals; much thinner pipes are required as hydrogen
combines with nine times its weight of the oxygen in the air, so only one-ninth
the weight of the water need be supported; no need for any pumping uphill as
Hydrogen is a very light gas and so can climb to any height naturally ;
constant and reliable monitoring systems which could shut down the flow in case
of a leak; easier maintenance.
The surplus energy at the
destination, could be converted to electricity, and fed back to the local
electrical power company. Every
household or community in the Hydrogen Economy could thus become a supplier of
electric power (in addition to being a consumer) at certain times. The oxygen balance is maintained – the oxygen
used to create water, at the destination, is equal to the oxygen released to
the atmosphere earlier.
Certain aspects of the
economics involved in the proposed hydrogen transmission, from the users’
perspective, are enlarged upon in the plays “The Sale” and “A Meeting of Minds”
presented later in this paper. The References and Quotations section contain
information about the current stage of the Hydrogen Economy, and have urls to a
great deal of technical information. Here it is relevant to note that whatever
the current production costs and sale price may be, given the facts relevant to
Australia (to repeat, scope for many nuclear plants, all distant from human
habitation; enormous opportunities with solar power) the costs cannot but come
down, with mass production techniques deriving from heavy and increasing
demand, and increasingly efficient technical processes arising from further
research to improve present practices.
That would be consistent with most industrial products and practices. In the fifties the first IBM hard disk drive
had to be transported by an airplane, it was that large! And its memory capacity was – five
megabytes! Today we have gigabyte drives
that weigh only a few grams. So,
whatever the price of hydrogen may be now, it is bound to come down progressively
when it is popularly realized that the piping of hydrogen for both water and
energy at all needed destinations, is the best possible solution for balancing
the needs of the environment with the ever-growing needs of civilization.
The Benefits from the Dream Solution
The environment will be the
chief beneficiary from the Dream Solution, as this is the stable and lasting
path to greenery and resulting happiness, leading to: greater production of
food without need to cut down more forests and harm wildlife; benefits to farm
animals; a lower rate of depletion of fossil fuels that could be put to more
useful purposes such as the making of plastics and drugs; human population in
hitherto unlivable areas; the decrease of greenhouse gases leading to greater
health with a better formed ozone layer, less melting of polar ice, and less
erratic climatic conditions.
While it may be expected that
most environmental agencies should be satisfied with the Dream Solution, the
Nuclear Industry should be thoroughly elated.
The construction of nuclear plants far away from dense human habitation
should be politically more acceptable than having them close to cities, as must
be the case if power losses from transmission have to be minimized. However, the touchy issue of hazardous
nuclear waste remains – in the Australian context this is less of an issue than
in most countries, as the nuclear waste can be buried in the vast uninhabited
deserts. The solar power industry, along
with other alternative energy generation industries, will get potentially huge
markets. The gas pipe laying industries,
which will be crucial for laying the pipes necessary for this new form of
energy and water transmission, will be similarly benefited.
It may be thought that the
oil industry will be upset by this new approach, but in fact the Dream Solution
will work to their benefit. With less
oil used for fuel, the existing reserves will last longer, and that would mean
that the oil industry would last longer.
Increasingly the oil pumped out will be used for plastics and related
industries. Similarly, the coal reserves
would last longer, and be used to make hydrogen primarily.
Farmers in the drought or drought-prone areas should be
those most ready to welcome the Dream Solution, as it will provide them with an
assured supply of water and power, independent of weather or climatic
conditions. They could thus have a far better planned, and assured, business
approach. With the improvement of their situation, as the primary industries
will be the first to be directly benefited, the small towns will find better
business, and the population and capital drift to the big cities should be
arrested. Secondary industries (banking,
insurance, entertainment, industrial production) will be in a better position
to make a strong comeback. This will
definitely impact favourably upon the real estate prices in the country areas,
creating a virtuous cycle for growth, as further loans could be available with
the increased equity.
With less pollution, and more
water in the cities, the living conditions will definitely improve. People may learn once again the joy of taking
a proper shower, or a long hot bath – recently, strict water restrictions have
made these not just luxuries, but pleasures morally unattainable. Gardens can once again be watered properly,
and the turf and swimming-pool industries may once again have their day.
In the ensuing Hydrogen
Future, it is perfectly conceivable to think of much-improved (for safety,
comfort and speed) airships lifted and run by Hydrogen to link
Enormous financial
investment, engineering expertise, and manpower need to be put in to make the
Dream Solution a reality. Without major
Government or Government-supported initiatives, work of this size and scope is
unimaginable. However much the amounts
spent, the unlimited and ever-increasing demand for the end products – energy and
water – will make the amounts spent worthwhile, as they can be recovered over
time. Many new communities will be
created; existing communities will increase in size and affluence; the position
for repayment will consequently improve with the enlargement of the taxation
base.
It is not just that
The social and economic
issues relevant to the Hydrogen Future are further outlined in the next part of
this work, which consists of four one-scene plays. It is expected that the powerful medium of
drama should be the most effective in communicating the basic ideas and goals
of the Hydrogen Future to a very wide cross-section of the world’s
population. The author urges the
concerned multilingual people, who may approve of his work, to translate the
plays – and also, this essay! - into other languages.
References and Quotations:
Reference 1: http://www.hyweb.de/Knowledge/w-i-energiew-eng.html
Issue : 8.7.1996
Authors: Dr. Werner Zittel,
Reinhold Wurster
Ludwig-Bölkow-Systemtechnik
GmbH
Excerpt:
4.3.1 Transport of CGH2
Compressed hydrogen is these days
delivered from producer to consumer in mobile compressed tanks using trucks or
trains. Alternatively it can be supplied via a pipeline distribution network
to which multiple suppliers and consumers are attached.
Road transport is carried out using
trucks carrying steel bottles at 20 MPa with each vehicle carrying about 2400 -
3600 Nm3.
In
Reference 2: http://www.princeton.edu/~chm333/2004/Hydrogen/intro.html
Excerpt: While the goal of this website
is not to curb the enthusiasm for hydrogen, we do wish to break through the
hype and promote a more realistic picture of the challenges, benefits, and drawbacks
of establishing a Hydrogen Economy. This new economy will use hydrogen gas as
an energy currency. We will examine the production of hydrogen from renewable
and non-renewable resources, the storage and infrastructure requirements of a
hydrogen based economy, the use of hydrogen in power plants, cars, and small
electronics, the benefits and possible damage to the atmosphere hydrogen could
cause, and the enthusiasm shown by governments around the world for hydrogen
technologies.
Reference 3: http://www.princeton.edu/~chm333/2004/Hydrogen/conclusions.htm
Excerpt: More than anything else, we hope that this website gives an understanding of the complexity of the Hydrogen Economy. In order for hydrogen to operate as a working energy currency, markets must be developed for the production, applications, storage and infrastructure for hydrogen. The main environmental benefits are the atmospheric effects a Hydrogen Economy would produce. However, measuring these benefits is difficult because a great amount of uncertainty exists about the magnitude and even the direction of the effect of hydrogen on the atmosphere.
The sheer scale of the Hydrogen Economy suggests that government involvement may be a necessary for its success. Many countries around the world are busily investigating and experimenting with the use of hydrogen as a replacement for fossil fuels as an energy currency.
However, the establishment of a hydrogen economy requires the development of hydrogen technology and infrastructure. Hydrogen currently costs more per gallon equivalent of gasoline, but this cost could come down with the development of a cost efficient production system. In addition to a production system, a hydrogen economy needs reliable transportation and storage systems. The challenge arises from moving and containing nature's lightest weight gas without compromising its purity. Moreover, some scientists have brought up questions about hydrogen's environmental virtues.
The enthusiasm shown by governments from several countries suggests that, for better or worse, hydrogen will be affecting us in the coming decades. As such, it is imperative that we understand what is required for the Hydrogen Economy to reach fruition and the limitations hydrogen may have. In this way, we can invest wisely in the future rather than depending on the promises of politicians, entrepreneurs, and philosophers.
Reference 4: Possible
Structure of Hydrogen Economy. Source: http://www.ch2bc.org/
Reference 5: The Hydrogen
Economy: Opportunities, Costs, Barriers, and R&D Needs (Free Executive
Summary)
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10922.html
Brief: The announcement of a hydrogen fuel initiative in the President’s 2003 State of the Union speech substantially increased interest in the potential for hydrogen to play a major role in the nation’s long-term energy future. Prior to that event, DOE asked the National Research Council to examine key technical issues about the hydrogen economy to assist in the development of its hydrogen R&D program. Included in the assessment were the current state of technology; future cost estimates; CO2 emissions; distribution, storage, and end use considerations; and the DOE RD&D program. The report provides an assessment of hydrogen as a fuel in the nation’s future energy economy and describes a number of important challenges that must be overcome if it is to make a major energy contribution. Topics covered include the hydrogen end-use technologies, transportation, hydrogen production technologies, and transition issues for hydrogen in vehicles.
Four Plays
We will now present scripts
for four short plays outlining the way the Hydrogen Economy could be introduced
into suburban, community and farm areas.
These plays are set in the time period 2007-2010 AD.
The
Dramatis Personae
Mr. Black House Owner
Bob Hydrogen Salesperson
(Suburban Area, 2010 AD. Bob has
door-knocked at Mr. Black’s residence, and is now in the parlour)
Bob: Good morning, sir. I am Bob, and I represent Hydrogen
Mr. Black:
Good morning, Bob. I have my doubts
about this Hydrogen solution. For one
thing, is it safe? I have heard that
Hydrogen is very explosive. Like, the
airships used to catch fire and blow up quite easily, when they were filled
with Hydrogen.
Bob: Safety is our primary concern, sir. Modern control techniques have fail-safe
switches – as soon as there is a leak, even the slightest, the supply is cut
off and a possible explosion is thus averted.
The Hydrogen solution is no more dangerous than the gas supply you
already have at your house. These gas
switches are similar to the electricity safety switch at your meter box. We have come a long way since those airship
disasters.
Mr. Black:
So what are you proposing?
Bob: Hydrogen
Mr. Black (excitedly):
You mean I get lots of water and also free electricity – even a cheque
maybe from the electricity suppliers?
Bob: Yes, sir.
We have a special deal with them.
They are coming to the conclusion that it is best that electricity is
produced without pollution in every home, with use of hydrogen. That will cut down the need for them to burn
carbon. In fact, they are going to be
our major suppliers of hydrogen, till the nuclear and then finally the solar
sources come to play.
Mr. Black: I am very interested. Assured water, money from electricity, and
perfect for the environment! It seems
too good to be true.
Bob (smiles):
It is a new idea, sir, proposed by an
Australian, which has been widely embraced.
They are ecstatic about it in the country towns.
Mr, Black: Yes, I have heard of that. But how much will it cost?
Bob: At present our hydrogen costs are still a
bit steep, but I assure you sir, that they will come down steadily with time,
with increased production. We have new
mass-scale production techniques for Hydrogen.
More importantly there is this very new idea of piping Hydrogen for
combustion directly at the destination, instead of the expensive storage and
transportation. So the prices are now only about a tenth of what they used to
be before. You will be charged forty cents for every kilogram of Hydrogen,
which means that your daily cost will be ten dollars, and the monthly cost will
be three hundred dollars. Then there is
a monthly charge of a hundred dollars for the installation and hardware costs,
but that too will decrease over time. There
are various Government incentives relating to tax reductions and rebates, which
should mean that you ultimately you would be paying around three hundred and
seventy five dollars per month.
Mr. Black: Three hundred and seventy five dollars per
month! Now that’s a lot of money. I cannot afford it.
Bob: Sir, we have started out with a no-money-loss
but increased-comfort policy for the customer. Your present energy costs for
gas and electricity are one hundred and thirty dollars a month, and your water
costs will be fifty dollars a month less for the extra two hundred liters per
day that you won’t have to pay for. With
the current Government attitudes for penalizing heavy water users, the water
costs may go up indefinitely, just like taxation on cigarette prices. You would sell your surplus electricity, and
that in our estimate that should not be less than two hundred dollars per
month.
Mr. Black: I did not understand that last bit. Exactly
how can I sell my surplus electricity?
Bob: This is
the question almost everyone asks! I
have here a small worksheet which Mr. Banerjee created, using information from
his recent gas, water, and electricity bills. To get two hundred liters of water a day, he
needed twenty-five kilograms of hydrogen.
Now, twenty five kilograms of hydrogen would give him, conservatively,
around seven hundred and fifty kilowatthours of energy every day. Now, his informative gas and electricity
bills told him that his daily energy needs were thirty-seven kilowatthours, or
only 5% of the energy he would generate.
The bills also said that his daily energy cost was $2.26. Mr. Banerjee figured that if he could sell
the surplus electricity he would generate, at the rate he was paying, he would
make nineteen times $2.26 per day, or say over twelve hundred dollars a
month! Now that is rather more than the
two hundred dollars I was talking about.
When you will be burning your hydrogen, you will be producing the
surplus electrical energy which will feed into the electricity grid – at other
times, you will be drawing power from the grid.
We control the combustion schedules, for evenness of distribution. When most people start to provide the
surplus, in the cities and the suburbs, they will not be lighting each other up
– they will be powering the industry.
Mr Black: Ah, I see.
Bob: So, in
our view you should not, rather, can not lose financially even now. You will definitely gain much more in the
long run, as the hydrogen prices will go down, and the water and energy costs
from traditional sources will go up. And
as you know, with water presently it is not so much the price, as its
availability. When did you last have a
long comfortable hot water bath in your expensive spa?
Mr. Black
(smiles ruefully): I cannot
remember. Why, I cannot even remember
when I last took a proper shower.
Bob: There you are! There isn’t much life without water,
sir. The water shortage will not improve
the property values, if certain necessary measures are not taken. To maintain and improve real estate prices,
we must have the Hydrogen Future. The
sooner we all start, the better.
Mr. Black: Where do I have to sign?
Hydrogen goes Bush
Dramatis Personae
Mrs. Smith Mayor
Mr. Ryan Councilor
Mr. Bugsy Entrepreneur
(Setting:
Mr. Ryan: Here we are, all excited here about the
Hydrogen Future. From what is known, it
seems exactly the right thing for us.
Mrs. Smith: So what do you propose for us?
Mrs. Smith: And this hydrogen – where is it coming from?
Mr. Ryan: So the supply can be endless?
Mrs. Smith: Thank goodness!
Mr Ryan: A lot of jobs have been created because of
all the work involved in the construction and laying of the Hydrogen
Network. We expect many more jobs to be
created. Primary industry seems to be the
biggest gainer. However, it looks like we can get a fair industry too, with
availability of cheap electricity, water and of course development of real estate.
Banking, insurance and retail will follow on their heels. Hydrogen will slowly displace petrol for
transportation, and distance will become less of a factor.
Mrs. Smith: The population shift to the major cities has
been reversed, now. Real estate prices
have been rising satisfactorily.
Mr. Bugsy: You know, this country is full of deserts, and
we could be looking at lots of
Mrs. Smith: Now won’t that we a worthy thing to do, for
the coming generations!
Hydrogen Stationed
Dramatis Personae
Mr. Legg Station Owner
Mrs. Legg Mr. Legg’s wife
James Hydrogen
(Setting: Outback Station, 2008 AD. On the verandah of the Legg residence)
Mr. Legg: I still cannot believe it! All these years, we have suffered so much
because of the drought, and now, this miracle of a solution!
Mrs. Legg: I too cannot believe it. It seems too good to be true. Please tell us about it, again.
James: With pleasure, Mrs. Legg. Hydrogen
Mrs. Legg: I think I have understood. What this means is, that our livestock will
never have to die of thirst.
Mr. Legg: And we could cultivate so much more.
James: You may be interested to know that, with so
much more interest in the rural areas now, property prices all around have
started to rise at a phenomenal rate.
Your equity will increase with the Hydrogen Future. That will help you to get more loans. The economy will keep on growing at a steady
and healthy rate for the foreseeable future.
And you could congratulate yourselves, for being among the pioneers in
saving the Earth from the pollution resulting from the burning of fossil fuels.
A meeting of minds
Dramatis Personae
Mr. Sen UN Representative
Niblet Representative, Environmental Interests
Mr. Doyle Representative, Oil
interests
Mrs. Cole Representative, Coal
Interests
M. Perrier Representative, Nuclear
Interests
Ms. Bolar Representative, Solar Power
Interests
Miss Ito Representative,
Agricultural Interests
Ms. Amelina Representative, Transportation
Interests
Mr. Myer Representative, Financial
Interests
Mrs. Chen Hydrogen
(Setting: Conference Room, United Nations,
Mr. Sen: Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to this
meeting. As you know, we will be
discussing the consequences of the brilliant proposal for the realization of
the Hydrogen Future, as proposed by one Mr. Arindam Banerjee. I am proud to say that I come from the
country he originates from –
Niblet: I thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is an honour for me to speak on such an
important occasion. I personally speak
for those who have been nearly driven to extinction. I mean all those who are called stone-age
people. For hundreds of thousands of
years we have lived in peace. We love the environment. We feel we are loved by the environment, every
moment, in return. We rejoice in the
grace provided by the sun and the moon, the wind and the stars. Our dancing is inspired by the movements of
the free and the wild. We respect all
wildlife – when we kill them it is only for our own survival. Unfortunately,
our way of life was found to be inferior, and our own selves to be as animals,
by the visitors from
Mr. Doyle: Mr.
Chairman, I am very much moved by Niblet’s speech. He has touched upon by far the most shameful
chapters of human history.
Unfortunately, the past cannot be undone. All we can do is try out best not to distort
it with indifference and misrepresentation.
Instead, we must learn sound lessons from our mistakes, for a better
future. I represent the oil interests. Oil companies have contributed a great deal
to humanity. We have made transportation
possible over great distances, cheaply and safely. Our products are used in a great range of
industries, to produce a near-unlimited range of useful products: from perfumes
to pharmaceuticals; from plastics to domestic cooking fuels. The whole modern
economic structure is based upon oil, and oil prices. Environmentalists may well blame oil
companies for pollution. But, just try to ban any of our products – just pass a
law against selling petrol, say – and then see what will happen! In first world countries our popularity beats
the environmentalists by a factor of at least ten to one.
Mrs. Cole: I endorse what Mr. Doyle just said. I represent the coal interests. We have been around longer than the oil industry. We are primarily responsible for the
Industrial Revolution, which has shaped the world we live in. Today most of the power generated comes from
burning coal. Yes, people will
demonstrate against the emission of greenhouse gases, but can they live with
power cuts? No!
M. Perrier: Mr. Chairman, Mr. Doyle and Mrs. Cole are
evading the key issue of pollution.
Pollution is an inevitable and also increasingly unacceptable by-product
of the oil and coal industries. True,
they have made many technological improvements over the years, but the huge
increases in the volumes that are burnt have outweighed the gains from
efficiency. Now with
Mr. Sen: May I remind you all once again that today we
have assembled to discuss the “Hydrogen Future”. I will now call upon Mrs. Chen, who is a
Technical Specialist from Hydrogen
Mrs. Chen: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The first point to note is the complete
feasibility of the Hydrogen Future – there are no theoretical or practical
limitations. In brief: in the long run
we shall be converting sea-water, or brackish water, ice or freshwater, to
hydrogen and oxygen using electrolytic processes. In the short term, we can produce hydrogen
with chemical methods like passing steam over red-hot coke. Hydrogen can also be made from biological
processes. Water is composed of two atoms
of hydrogen, and one of oxygen. Energy is required to break up the water
molecule to hydrogen and oxygen. When
the hydrogen and oxygen are combined to form water once again, energy is
released. It so happens that by weight,
hydrogen provides more energy than any other fuel. One kilogram of hydrogen, upon efficient
conversion, provides up to 39 KiloWattHours of energy and – also, very
importantly - ten liters of water. All this was well known. There even is a hydrogen pipeline constructed
in