Avoidable costs   (NOT YET FULLY EDITED)

We are completely absorbed by the adaptation of the historically accumulated energy economy to the current demands with a repair kit.That is expensive and unnecessary. Current strategies include:

  • Increase of efficiency
  • Reduction of resource use
  • Energy saving for financial reasons

Saving for financial reasons is always sensible. The other points do not fit into a sustainable hydrogen economy as their capability is almost unlimited, and the resources last for an eternity. Here is a selection from our repair kit:

Construction of new high voltage transmission lines and strengthening the grid

Electricity is viewed as especially valuable in our electricity-driven energy economy. That is why none of it should be wasted. For this purpose, the following measures are being taken:

  • Extension of transmission lines to bring electricity from the windy north to users in the south
  • Strengthening of the power lines to our neighbours (European copper plate)
  • Strengthening of the distribution network for peak production from solar installations and electric transport in both directions
  • Preservation and maintenance of the current national grid to develop it into a smart grid with central control
  • Equipping end users with smart meters (already an EU directive)
  • Equipping end users with smart devices, which turn themselves on and off depending on the electricity provided
  • Central control of all end users and producers. That is gigantism and incapacitates citizens.

Electricity Storage

In the coal era, the production of electricity could be adapted to demand by the second. Today electricity produced depends on the weather. Simple logic therefore dictates that electricity must be stored. There are different proposals for this purpose, depending on the indended use:

  • Flywheels for storage in the order of seconds
  • Battery storage for covering minutes to a few days. Batteries of different types are currently surging into the market and are being subsidisesd.
  • Pumped storage, for economic storage of large quantities for hours and days. Several large installations are being planned or built.
  • Power to Gas. Storing electricity in the form of hydrogen or methane (synthetic natural gas, SNG). There is already outrageous investment.
  • Demand site management

The last two points are novel. With power to gas it becomes possible to buffer enough to cover a complete absence of sun and wind for months. For the conversion back to electricity, the entire capacity must be available as shadow power stations, for environmental protection. In fact brown coal power stations are deployed for that. The energy chain electricity-gas-electricity contains losses of more than 60%. In the final roll-out, at least twice as much renewable electricity must be produced than is then ultimately used.

Demand site management uses the mainly excess electricity for heat production. That sounds crazy initiall, as high value energy (exergy) is converted into lower value energy (anergy) - but it is simpler and more efficient than power to gas. If electricity is used instead of oil or gas, you still have the same amount of energy for example in the form of natural gas as the quantity of electrical energy used. From the unused natural gas, you have produced virtual natural gas. But just as with power to gas, the entire electricity generation capacity must be available in the form of shadow power stations. Only in this case the energy chain is more efficient, and the investments lower.

As shown elsewhere, a regional hydrogen economy allows the national grid to be stabilised without losses or additional investments. In regions where a lot of electricity is produced, and no electricity grid is available or the electricity or heat demand is insufficient to use up the energy, electrolysis installations are sensible. A re-conversion to electricity should then follow in decentralised combined heat and power installations (fuel cells).

Local and district heating networks

In almost every city streets are being dug up for the thick pipes needed to provide the population with heat from power stations. What used to be a great idea is now being driven to the edge of impracticality, as the large fossil-based power stations are turned off most of the time when heat is needed.  As biomass power stations should also contribute to network stability (there is a premium for it) these suppliers are increasingly failing. Right now a huge amount of money is being wasted.

Engine heat and power

In principle well intended. It is just that the purchase of really decentralised machines and their maintenance is very expensive in comparison to fuel cells in a hydrogen network. The machines are difficult to control and always dependent on the electricity grid.

Shadow power stations

To cover all scenarios, almost the entire electricity generation capacity must always be available in the form of power stations. That does not come for free.

Environmental damage and avoidable investments for promoting atomic and fossil based energy carriers

Although if these are abroad or at sea, the investments are gigantic. Even the current investments are gigantic. We will have to live with this situation for a long time because the energy economy as it is planned (energy goal 2050: UBA 2010) and from all groups of society (also the energy companies) is accepted. That will have immense financial consequences - ranging from building law (silent reposession) high taxes and high energy prices.

Fuel cells in the gas network

In this scenario high temperature fuel cells (SOFC) are implied with an internal reformer or a low temperature PEMFC with a reformer included upstream. In both cases, a hydrogen-rich gas is produced from natural gas, which can be converted to electricity by the fuel cell. Because of the upstream hydrogen factory (850°C), these installations can only follow a change in demand slowly, and have a very limited control region. In Germany around 300 have been made available for field tests over the last 10 years. In South Korea they have made 20,000 every year. The production cost is given to be 25,000 € for a 1 kW installation. In high volumes they should be available for around 10,000 €. In comparison to a fuel cell in the hydrogen network (30 €/kW) they are much too expensive. For industrial applications the Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell (MCFC) running at 600°C is still used in the USA, which is sold in the MW category. It is also very expensive and sluggish.

It would be much more simple to install a natural gas reformer for the production of hydrogen for a district and to equip the customers with simple fuel cells. Electricity providers and traders are however not enthusiastic about customers producing their electricity more cheaply.

Production of bio-gas from crops

The production of bio-gas is uneconomic in comparison to the hydrogen technologies presented here. That has several reasons:

  • not all parts of the plant can be converted by fermentation. That is particularly the case for woody parts (containing lignin). The average energy yield is therefore no more than 50%.
  • The optimisation of plants for bio-gas yields leads to low overall yields, even if a lot of fertilizer is used
  • Methane being the final product leaves us prisoners to the historical energy economy with its poor efficiency
  • The use of waste heat during roughly constant electricity generation is not always realisable.

Production and import of bio-fuels

The production and use of bio-fuels is extremely inefficient. It starts with the used of oil crops with typically low yields and ends with their use in a car with an efficiency of around 20%.

Insulation of buildings

Insulating older buildings is a good thing, if it is possible for a reasonable cost. In most cases it is not worth it. The reduction in heat use by 95% as assumed by the German government as part of their energy goal for 2050 is not possible for retro-fitted insulation. That would require a complete re-build of around 90% of all buildings. The cost of that would be many times greater than that of the reconstruction after the last war.

Summary

All of the measures listed here are Stranded Investments in light of a hydrogen economy. They are extraneous and lead to an unnecessary financial burden of much much more than 1000 billion €.

updated: 05.07.2014