From John Etherington
Mick Hamer’s report on vehicle fuels
(17 March, p 18)
seemed a little discouraging at first reading, as it placed the hydrogen-powered
internal combustion engine at the top of the polluting table, ahead of the petrol
engine.
However, his last paragraph makes it clear that the study is based on “as is”
technology, and the output of greenhouse pollutants includes those formed by the
conventional generation of hydrogen from natural gas.
If the hydrogen were generated electrolytically, using photovoltaic trapping
of solar energy in deserts and other arid regions, the hydrogen fuel cell would
emit only a fraction of the 100 grams per kilometre of greenhouse pollutants
quoted for the natural gas fuel cell. The technology effectively exists, but it
needs serious political will to finance it, given our energy economy, which is
so dominated by fossil fuel.
The British government has placed photovoltaic hydrogen on the back burner by
describing it as a “very long term” technology. The people responding to the
recent consultation document, New and Renewable Energy Sources, have
already drawn attention to this potential error of judgement.
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We should pursue the photovoltaic hydrogen option vigorously, and not solely
for pollution control. Otherwise the world will be forced back to nuclear power
as fossil fuels become depleted.
Llanhowell, Pembrokeshire
