DOE collaborating with Michigan to advance hydrogen and fuel cells
19 January 2019
The US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Fuel Cell Technologies Office (FCTO) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) aiming to enhance collaboration on hydrogen and fuel cell research and development (R&D) with the state of Michigan to promote private investment and domestic job creation.
Through this MOU, MEDC will leverage capabilities at DOE’s national laboratories to enhance analysis and data collection to guide future R&D.
Michigan and DOE will also work to develop emerging hydrogen infrastructure technologies and grow the domestic supply chain.
DOE’s Fuel Cell Technologies Office focuses on advancing an innovative portfolio of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies through early-stage applied research and technology development. Technology R&D includes hydrogen production (from diverse domestic resources, including renewable, fossil, and nuclear resources); infrastructure development (including hydrogen delivery and storage); and fuel cells for transportation, stationary, and portable applications.
Through its H2@Scale initiative, the office brings together stakeholders to advance affordable hydrogen utilization to increase revenue opportunities in multiple energy sectors.
Better late than never!
Hope that they will not redo what has already been done by Ballard, Toyota, Hyundai, Honda and many others.
Posted by: HarveyD | 19 January 2019 at 08:55 AM
These policies are created by the Trump Administration and I fear are based more on campaign donor payoffs, than good science.
Posted by: Lad | 19 January 2019 at 12:00 PM
This is money wasted. There's no point whatsoever in creating a brand-new and totally incompatible energy transport and delivery infrastructure when we've got two very serviceable ones already in use, and one of them can be inexpensively adapted to almost any liquid we might decide to use.
Posted by: Engineer-Poet | 19 January 2019 at 01:10 PM
One major problem with business as usual is that the current predominant energy sources from (liquid fossil-bio fuels, coal, NG) are progressively killing us and most other earth living inhabitants/things.
Without an accelerated switch to cleaner energy sources, pollution and GHGs may win the battle by the end of the current century?
The current very costly infrastructures to collect, transport, process and use fossil and bio fuels will have to be progressively replaced to make room for a major expansion in the future electric and H2 economy.
A new program in France, to replace (for $1) your existing oil/gas furnace (over 8,000,000 units) for very high efficiency Heat Pumps, is having an immediate success.
Of course, oil and gas producers in USA and Canada would not allow such a common sense program.
Posted by: HarveyD | 19 January 2019 at 01:55 PM
By the way, our new (made in Asia) most efficient (SSER-30+) heat pumps are operating normally with -24C outside temp today and keep all rooms at 22C to 23C, without the help of the resistive wall heaters .
Year to year electricity consumption, is an average of -20% to -30% than with the old AC units, even if the daily outside temps are colder this winter. Also, a huge difference in the hourly e-consumption (available from Hydro-Quebec at no charge for the last two years)
An excellent way to reduce pollution and GHGs from oil/gas furnaces. Unfortunately the subsidy is presently limited to $500 in our Province. The new SEER-32+ heat pumps, effective to -30C, are a very good investment and a 50% subsidy would be justified. However, we would end up with a huge clean (Hydro/Wind) electricity surplus for many more years or until we use 3,500,000 electrified vehicles instead of the current 45,000?
Posted by: HarveyD | 19 January 2019 at 02:23 PM
H-D:
Excellent.
I read somewhere that pollution is roughly 1/3 from transportation, 1/3 from power generation and 1/3 from buildings. I would like to see other Governments tackle the building segment like Canada is doing. One day heating will be by electric heat instead of fossil fuels; however, it will take time since fossil fuels are so entrenched in the business and electric heating will have to win the cost battle.
Posted by: Lad | 19 January 2019 at 03:50 PM
This is the sort of thing that triggers my AIF (Acute Idjit Fatigue):
So use electricity for most transport energy, and make some liquid fuel that can be made without fossil carbon as the backup. Use today's gasoline infrastructure to distribute and dispense it, like we do with E85. Per NREL we have more than enough available biomass to make the required fuel if we don't waste the carbon in it. There, end of problem.
Building more "renewables" requires far more material (and fossil fuels to make it) than we can afford. Wind and solar require literally 10x as much steel and concrete as the same energy from nuclear.
We need an accelerated switch to breeder reactors, using either U-238 or Th-232 as the fuel supply. Those are the only things that can provide all the energy we need, when and as we need it, with materials costs we can handle.
Are already in place and paid for. We can't afford to build whole new ones for hypedrogen. We can upgrade the electric grid somewhat and repurpose the petroleum system, and that will do it.
Posted by: Engineer-Poet | 19 January 2019 at 04:40 PM
The majority (in most of Canada, Japan and EU including NA-Natives) will no longer accept new Oil/Gas pipelines and refining equipment near their lakes, rivers, streams, fresh water sources, residences, schools, offices, factories, hospitals, shoping centers, towns and cities etc.
Moving that polluting stuff by trucks and trains will soon meet major objections by most residents.
Burning that polluting stuff in/for our trains, trucks, cars, heating units etc will also meet more and more objections by the majority.
So, if/when you can't no longer use all those very costly Oil/Gas infrastructures, we may not have the choice but to replace them will cleaner energy sources to be used in cleaner running vehicles and HVACs. Resistance is futile?
NB: With the latest very high efficiency Heat Pumps, you can air conditioned and heat your house/apartment with clean electricity, for about the same price or less than with an old AC and Oil/Gas furnace. An alternative way to reduce the energy required for HVAC would be to upgrade the national/state building codes together with a national programme to refurbished existing homes.
Nothing really wrong with nuclear energy perse to produce clean electricity, if the initial, on-going operation, insurance, appropriate spent fuel management and refurbishing costs are reduced to reduce cost well below $0.05/kWh instead of $0.20 to $0.25/kWh for the latest NPPs being installed in EU. Similar units cost have been reduced in China to $0.14 to $0.17/kWh but it is still too high and the total cost may be under-evaluated. NPPs are no longer an affordable clean energy source.
Posted by: HarveyD | 20 January 2019 at 09:23 AM
The Alzheimer's patient is at it again.
It won't be for oil and gas. It will be for fourth-generation bio-based fuels.
A few may be clueless enough to want to cut off the basis of their own mobility and their essential supplies of things like food, but the majority are going to tell them to STFU.
One taste of having their heat go out during a cold snap will cure them of that.
We're not going to run out of biomass as raw material for fuels. That is the entire POINT of "renewables". They're just not going to be nearly as big as petroleum is now.
That's mostly because (a) they hadn't designed and built anything since the early 1990's and all the experienced engineers and workers had moved on, and (b) they started with a 1.6 GW design instead of working their way up as they did the first time. Teething pains.
NPPs are the ONLY clean dispatchable scalable power source. There are no substitutes for "dispatchable" and "scalable".
Posted by: Engineer-Poet | 21 January 2019 at 04:35 AM
My answer to the total cost of NPPs was too long and could not be posted. I'll review an post it latter.
Posted by: HarveyD | 21 January 2019 at 01:00 PM
We are about to get a 12 unit installation of the first NuScale Small Modular Reactor power plant in Idaho for Utah Rural Power. Will have to see where the price comes in after they get rolling. Who knows, maybe if it is cheap enough, there will be enough power so that you could afford to waste some making hydrogen.
Posted by: sd | 21 January 2019 at 02:11 PM
When incapable of progressing the argument children often resort to tantrums and dummy spits. Although never a good sign, most get over it in the 1st year.
One solution is scheduled quiet time or afternoon nap.
Posted by: Arnold | 21 January 2019 at 06:26 PM
Australia's emerging hydrogen sector will receive a major boost if Labor wins the looming federal election. (Labor and Liberal- National coalition are the only political parties to have held power in .a.u )
Bill Shorten will today announce a billion-dollar National Hydrogen Plan to "supercharge Australia's renewable energy industry".
Political support for the clean energy source, which has close to zero emissions, comes as British naturalist Sir David Attenborough warns world leaders have a decade to solve climate change or the planet is doomed.
The following interview today with Mark Butler shadow minister for enviro water and climate:
https://player.fm/series/rn-breakfast-separate-stories-podcast/is-labors-1-billion-national-hydrogen-plan-a-win-for-the-environment
Posted by: Arnold | 21 January 2019 at 06:43 PM
Meanwhile, Australia has no plans to stop either using or exporting both natural gas and coal. No doubt the hydrogen will be made by steam methane reforming. It's all greenwashing.
Posted by: Engineer-Poet | 22 January 2019 at 05:03 AM