Jordanian student uses solar power to fuel hydrogen cars

[nationalize the fed]

2015-02-02 By Mohammad Ghazal in Amman


Engineering student Qais Sabra works on a design for his generator. Mohammad Ghazal/Al-Shorfa

The high cost of fuel in Jordan and an interest in renewable energy topics have inspired Jordanian engineering student Qais Sabra to design and invent a home solar-powered generator to fuel hydrogen-powered cars...

...Al-Shorfa : What was the genesis of the concept and how did it move into the design stage?

Qais Sabra : Since I began my engineering studies I have taken several courses on renewable energy, and have also constantly followed the latest developments in technology. In following the subject, it became apparent that while many auto manufacturing companies have begun producing hydrogen-powered cars, the high cost of establishing large refuelling stations for such cars was a challenge. Hence the genesis of the idea of a home generator that enables anyone who wishes to own this car to refuel it at home at the lowest cost. I began designing the generator and developing the concept last year after presenting the idea to several academics and experts at the university, who provided me with support to design it.

Al-Shorfa : How does the generator operate?

Sabra : The generator consists, firstly, of a module of photovoltaic cells, which captures the solar energy that is abundant in Jordan, then converts it into electricity to supply the generator with enough power to operate. By incorporating this module we dispense with expensive conventional fuel, and there is no additional cost to generating electricity from the sun. The module has a capacity of 800 to 1,000 watts...

Al-Shorfa : How much does the generator cost?

Sabra : The cost of the home generator ranges between 2,000 and 2,500 Jordanian dinars ($2,821-$3,526). But as demand increases and the concept gains wider acceptance the price will drop significantly. The generator has a life span of 25 years and this (translates) into huge savings especially as no additional costs are incurred after installation other than water consumption. The generator will become available during the current year, God willing...MORE

Full Article: http://al-shorfa.com/en_GB/articles/meii/features/2015/02/02/feature-02

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Solar Hydrogen: The Fuel of the Future
http://www.amazon.com/Solar-Hydrogen-Future-Mario-Pagliaro/dp/1849731950/

Not exactly a new thing

Twenty Hydrogen Myths by noted environmentalist Amory Lovins
http://www.rmi.org/Knowledge-Center/Library/E03-05_TwentyHydrogenMyths

Myth #3. Making hydrogen uses more energy than it yields, so it’s prohibitively inefficient.

Any conversion from one form of energy to another consumes more useful energy than it yields.
If it could do the opposite, creating energy out of nothing, you could create a perpetual-motion
machine violating the laws of physics. Conversion losses are unavoidable; the issue is whether
they’re worth incurring. If they were intolerable as a matter of principle, as Myth #3 implies,
then we’d have to stop making gasoline from crude oil...

[bloomington-lib]

1. That would be great for humanity, but the job creators will never allow that.

[caraher]

2. Actually, this is what they're plugging instead of more practical alternatives

They want to maintain the model of fuel-buying more or less as-is, and prefer to push a more costly, less efficient way of harnessing clean energy for transportation in order to squeeze every last dollar possible out of fossil fuels.

This student could also have used that solar energy to charge batteries, at far less cost, and with much higher "cell-to-wheels" efficiency.

[NYC_SKP]

3. The money is in the middleman, owning the infrastructure. Hydrogen Claptrap.

I read the pertinent parts of RMI's myth #3, which don't support hydrogen battery electric, they only say that the inefficiency is not "prohibitive".

In competitive electricity markets, it may even make good economic sense to use hydrogen as an electricity storage medium. True, the overall round-trip efficiency of using electricity to split water, making hydrogen, storing it, and then converting it back into electricity in a fuel cell is relatively low at about 45% (after 25% electrolyzer losses and 40% fuel-cell losses) plus any by- product heat recaptured from both units for space-conditioning or water heating. But this can still be worthwhile because it uses power from an efficient baseload plant (perhaps even a combined- cycle plant converting 50–60% of its fuel to electricity) to displace a very inefficient peaking power plant (a simple-cycle gas turbine or engine-generator, often only 15–20% efficient).

It can be inferred from the statement above and other sections that grid electric to battery to traction is more efficient than grid power to hydrogen to fuel cell to traction.

But what do I know, except to have had dinner with Lovins' ex wife L. Hunter and a handful of friends one night after a small presentation and reception.

I know what her favorite Scotch whiskey is, that was fun!

[NYC_SKP]

4. Lovins 20 myths report refuted by a physicist:

Myth #3, page 11, 2nd paragraph: “Using Japanese round numbers from Toyota, 88% of oil at the wellhead ends up as gasoline in your tank, and then 16% of that gasoline energy reaches the wheels of your typical modern car, so the well-to-wheels efficiency is 14%. A gasoline-fueled hybrid-electric car like the 2002 Toyota Prius nearly doubles the gasoline-to-wheels efficiency from 16% to 30% and the overall well-to-wheels efficiency from 14% to 26%. But locally reforming natural gas can deliver 70% of the gas’s wellhead energy into the car’s compressed-hydrogen tank. That “meager” conversion efficiency is then more than offset by an advanced fuel-cell drive system’s superior 60% efficiency in converting that hydrogen energy into traction, for an overall well-to wheels efficiency of 42%. That’s three times higher than the normal gasoline-engine car’s, or 1.5 times higher than the gasoline-hybrid-electric car’s. This helps explain why most automakers see today’s gasoline-hybrid cars as a stepping-stone to their ultimate goal — direct-hydrogen fuel-cell cars."

This is why the original premise of “2-3 times higher efficiency” was questioned earlier; it forms the basis of all ensuing conclusions. If we agree that a high-compression HEV will achieve the same overall efficiency as an FCV, then everything turns around: reforming natural gas into hydrogen to be used with an FCV wastes about 20% more fuel than would be the case of running the methane directly into a high compression HEV. The real point of this observation is why Mr. Lovins repeatedly insists on making the comparison between an FCV and a non-hybrid (conventional engine power train) in his analysis; it is logically irrelevant for the reasons stated earlier; i.e., any comparisons must be made relative to the most efficient existing power train—high-compression HEVs.—since this will be the competing force that drives the decision as to what system we eventually adopt (HEV vs. FCV).

He goes on to explain “why most automakers see today’s gasoline-hybrid car’s as a stepping-stone to their ultimate goal—direct hydrogen fuel-cell cars.” I have talked with several auto manufactures; they have given me very different and very intelligent reasons why they’re interested in hybrids: hybrid technology can operate on a variety of fuels; the current liquid and gaseous fuel infrastructure is perfectly compatible with these cars and finally, they are the test-bed for improvements in battery technology should such developments occur (I believe this is inevitable). If anything, I believe it is safe to say that hybrid technology will usher in an era of “Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles” (PHEVs: cars that can go some reasonable distance on electricity alone). This will require no technical breakthrough; the Toyota Prius is an example of one step in this inevitable evolutionary chain.

Pursuing hybrid technology is a sensible and secure plan; it involves virtually no change to our present infrastructure and allows for the possibility of a completely renewably-based system of fuels. Redundancy is the key word here and the ability to use electricity, alcohols, propane, methane, butane, gasoline and even hydrogen makes this choice far less problematic than the fuel-cell powered car.

http://www.oilcrisis.com/hydrogen/crea.htm