Page 19: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (May 2023)

and egg character. generate hydrogen from water during peak production hours

Take ? re. When humanity invented ? re, almost certainly a and the ability to generate power from stored hydrogen during conversation as follows ensued: peak demand hours. And this is not just on the electric grid, it “Look I can make ? re” will apply along the entire energy infrastructure. All we have “So what?” to do is distribute it widely and, strangely, HyBlend could pro- “Well now you can cook food and it will taste better” vide the mechanism for that.

“Well maybe it tastes better but I am not sure I want to HyBlend is a DOE program that injects green (sustainably spend the effort to gather fuel, I think I will rather spend more generated) hydrogen into the national gas pipe line network. time eating raw food than gathering fuel and have less time to When I heard about this as an engineer, I was incredulous eat food.” because hydrogen will leak through conventional gas pipe

There is an adoption hump there. Often those humps are seals and it seemed to me it would require an entirely new gas emotional (I don’t like new stuff), but too often they occur pipe line network down to every home and outdoor gas BBQ. because two things need to come together at the same time to However, in mixture and at relatively low pressures that is- accept a new technology and its bene? ts. sue is manageable with most existing gas lines as long as the

If fuel for cooking ? res is very readily available, cooked amount of hydrogen in the natural gas is around 5%. food will catch on immediately. If fuel is scarce raw food re- Upon initial inspection, once may think that, at best, it will mains in the diet. only reduce the greenhouse effect of all the natural gas we use

This is the chicken and egg issue. in the world by 5%.

I will even substitute sustainable fuels for the ? re discussion: However, here come the eggs (hydrogen fueling stations) “Look I can make sustainable energy” for my hydrogen chickens (Toyota Mirais).

“So what?” This hydrogen can be generated all over the country wher- “Well now you can live like before and not wreck the world” ever there is sustainable power and some water. In Howell, “Well maybe it saves the world, but I am not sure I want to NJ such a plant already exists. It takes sustainable energy and spend the effort to use sustainable fuel, I think I will rather feeds it into the local gas pipe lines. However, if any of that burn oil than look for sustainable fuel and have less time to hydrogen is needed to power a car, ship or plane, it is only take advantage of the things that fossil fuels allow me to do.” a diverter valve away anywhere this hydrogen is generated.

In other words: If sustainable energy is readily available, Instead of locally injecting it into the gas line this green hy- people will use it. If not, they will stick with fossil fuels. drogen could be compressed or turned into e-methanol, and

While I technically preferred hydrogen over batteries, I did would be widely available as a storable transportation e-fuel.

not pay suf? cient attention to the chicken and egg problem with In other words, this relatively simple program that initially regard to sustainable energy. Hydrogen is simply not available might displace only 5% of all natural gas, could actually result to the public, but electric is available at every home. This al- in a national e-fuel supply network that will be the egg that is lowed EVs to ? rst gain a toehold and today this is developing needed to make the chicken exist.

into a ubiquitous world wide battery and charging network. Even more interesting, this program will actually displace

Hydrogen may technically be better than batteries, but a hydro- natural gas, because once we have ample sustainably generat- gen network cannot be developed without cars using hydrogen ed transportable e-fuels (whether compressed, piped or liquid) and hydrogen being readily available simultaneously. together with an improved electrical grid, we no longer need

Toyota actually has tried to establish a start-up hydrogen natural gas at all. At that point the options will be endless, network in California with its Toyota Mirai program. Techni- and consumer acceptance will be almost automatic since the cally it works quite well, but is not gaining rapid customer chicken and egg issue has been removed.

acceptance since there are only a few hydrogen fuel stations I used to think that sustainable energy will be one of human- in the state. ity’s major technology advances, but it may well turn out that

This chicken and egg realization has led me to surrender Hyblend was the actual invention that made it happen. to battery powered EV’s. I simply could not think of a way Meanwhile, never, ever, ignore Chicken and Egg issues that hydrogen could be generally introduced into the world’s in design. sustainable energy infrastructure to an extent that electricity already has been introduced.

For each column I write, MREN has agreed to make a small donation

But then I came across the HyBlend project. Once all en- to an organization of my choice. For this column I select Menhaden

Defenders. During a delightful wide ranging lunch on all subjects that ergy (electricity, heating and transportation) can be generated interest me, its fearless leader, Paul Eidman, introduced me to the sustainably (a technical reality as long as we keep pushing

Hyblend concept. www.menhadendefenders.org ef? ciencies and include nuclear), we will have the ability to www.marinelink.com 19

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