"Clean Energy for a better World"
"Future Fuel Shock" - be a survivor or part of the solution... by Kathy McAlister
All the prediction of our oil use habits are coming true. As the old saying goes, "When a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, he concentrates his mind on the right things." Our civilization is about to be hung... we are on the brink of falling off a cliff.
If you can't be part of the solution, go save your family.
Deregulation hysteria and postponing the Clean Air Act mandates means that we are all going to be extremely susceptible to fuel price increases. Transportation is responsible for approximately 60% of the world's oil consumption. (In 1971 just before the first major oil crises we were at 43%) The reason being that both private and commercial use has become indispensable. Our society is built on the use of energy.
We are using 25 billion barrels of oil each year. Each barrel produces about 48 gallons of gasoline. The increase in use is 1 1/2% each year... extra gallons per day just to keep our vehicles rolling. Some predict that by the year 2010 (when we are projected to have the beginning of the slow down of oil) we will be using 310.5 million extra gallons per year from this 25 billion barrels per year.
The growing demand for automobiles in China, India, South Korea and other Asian nations will add the total number of vehicles in the world to 600 million motor vehicles. Nations unprepared to handle the shortfall will be paying a significantly higher price for oil.
The global needs for transportation fuel hinges on the world's major providers of fuel and largest producer of oil. The Middle East nations (OPEC) controls 2/3 of the world's reserves. They will soon have the ability to regain their monopoly on the world's oil markets. The crux of the problem is that all other producing countries will peak before the year 2000. The problem is not that the US will run out of oil, but rather that the handful of nations controlling 2/3 of the world's reserves will have monopolistic power by the year 2000. Greed creates history that we may not want. However, the Middle East may be better for history than we predicting. Let us hope that they are nice to the planet/civilization. (I am especially thinking of myself... I am not into suffering).
In 1990, the U.S... produced just 9 million barrels per day - predicted to drop to 7.2 million per day by the year 2000. By the year 2010 the U.S... is predicted to be able to supply 6.8 million per day. The demand for oil in the U.S... will reach 21 million barrels per day by 2010. (When we started AHA in 1990 we were using 17 million per day.
Currently import oil is about 60% and by the year 2000 it is projected to be at 70%.
So what can we do:
This is the editorial that was in the USA Today April 3, 1996
The Electric Car Debate and the Real Answer
A car that cleans the air is better than electric cars or gasoline cars. For about 15 years members of the American Hydrogen Association (many of whom are also members of the American Lung Association) have demonstrated a vehicle that does better than an electric car.
It uses hydrogen as a replacement for gasoline and cleans the air. The exhaust is cleaner than the air that enters the internal combustion engine of this 1979 Dodge pick-up.
Minus Emissions Vehicles (MEVs) can be made from virtually any existing vehicle by adding a kit consisting of a hydrogen storage tank, fuel delivery lines, pressure regulation, and metering valves. We teach classes on how to convert ordinary vehicles to safe and efficient interchangeable operation on hydrogen, landfill methane, natural gas or mixtures of these clean fuels. (Gasoline can be retained for having bad-air days if desired.)
When the fuel is renewable hydrogen or landfill gas the vehicle becomes a REV-Me (Renewable Energy Vehicle - Minus Emissions) and cleans the air going through the engine and makes a market for methane and/or hydrogen would have rotted into the atmosphere as greenhouse gases.
We often fill our REV-Me pick-up in 8 minutes or less from pressurized storage tanks that were originally manufactured in 1916 and 1917 (20 and 21 years before the Hindenburg burned) and which have faithfully passed every DOT pressure test since 1916 and 1917 for safe commercial delivery of hydrogen on public streets. REV-Me cars, trucks, and buses with long-range and quick-fill capabilities have been demonstrated. A 300 mile range bus will supply full power (to out perform Diesel buses) on demand during all 300 miles and can be refilled with hydrogen in 12 minutes.
The pressure tanks that we use for safely storing the hydrogen cannot be broken by a full stick of dynamite and will withstand an attack with a 357 Magnum pistol using standard police loads. If the vehicle is in a fire the tank will automatically relieve pressure and not explode.
Compared to gasoline, hydrogen is safer because it has a higher air auto-ignition temperature and when released it is 14-times lighter than air which results in rapid disappearance if hydrogen is allowed to escape. The only by-product is water compared to poisonous emissions such as carbon monoxide from gasoline.
But the most important reason for converting the present fleet of 160 million vehicles to operation on hydrogen is economics. The US economy hemorrhages at the rate of one billion dollars every five days to pay for imported oil. We can produce hydrogen for replacing imported oil from farm wastes, landfill gases, and other forms of renewable energy. This "solar hydrogen" will sustain the American experiment and allow us to achieve prosperity without pollution.
Return to American Hydrogen Association Home Page
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