Mawson, Antarctica [RenewableEnergyAccess.com]
The viciously-cold winds that howl down to the coast of Antarctica
from the inland icecap are now harnessed by wind turbines that supply
remote power to an Australian research facility, which is developing
methods for on-site hydrogen production.
The Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) received a grant of half a
million dollars from the Australian Greenhouse Office to demonstrate the
use of hydrogen generated by wind in Antarctica. The demonstration
project at the remote Mawson site will research the safety and
operational aspects of using hydrogen on station, as well as its
viability as a major energy carrier.
Hydrogen is not, as many people believe, an energy source. Neither is
electricity. In contemporary energy systems, electricity serves as an
energy carrier. It is produced from primary energy sources using
technology such as diesel powered generators, coal-fired power plants or
wind turbines. It is the same case with hydrogen.
Hydrogen will be generated using energy from the Mawson station's wind
turbines, stored and used in a test fuel cell, as fuel in a heater and
in one of the station vehicles. Two Enercon wind turbines, capable of
withstanding blizzards in excess of 300 km/h, were recently installed.
Together, the units provide one MW of electricity for use at the
research station and for the hydrogen project -- and dramatically lower
the need for imported diesel fuel.
"The Mawson system will generate well over ten times the power of
existing Antarctic wind-power systems while having a much lower
environmental impact than the current option of diesel fuel now used
throughout Antarctica," said Australia's Environment Minister
Robert Hill, regarding the wind turbine construction. "When the
system is fully developed, an Antarctic station will, for the first
time, be able to use a renewable source to meet virtually all its energy
needs."
For the upcoming hydrogen demonstration project, the AAD plans to
install the test fuel cell and heater at the field camp on Bechervaise
Island. They will provide electricity and heat for the scientists
involved in the penguin monitoring program. By the completion of the
project, the staff at AAD expects to gain sufficient information to be
able to model the large-scale use of hydrogen to supplement their energy
requirements.
Hydrogen used by the Bureau of Meteorology staff for daily weather
balloon flights is currently generated on site. Electrolyzers, powered
in part by wind energy, produce hydrogen from water. Any excess hydrogen
produced will be stored and utilized for the project. The system will be
installed and implemented during the 2005-06 season.
The AAD expects that the use of hydrogen as a fuel will reduce the need
for fossil fuels during those times when the wind energy is insufficient
to power the station. The hydrogen will fuel either a large-scale fuel
cell system or an internal combustion engine generator.
The ultimate aim is to be able to run the station and all the field
camps without the use of any fossil fuels. The AAD believes this may be
the first attempt to use hydrogen as a major energy source in
Antarctica.
******************
A Veterans' Day thought written by Montana engineer Warren Worth: a
commentary on Richard Rhode’s Book “Dark Sun”.
Richard Rhode's “Dark Sun” estimates the cost of the nuclear arms
race as follows: By 1955, the Atomic Energy Commission capital
investment was 9 billion, more than General Motors, Bethlehem and US
Steel, Alcoa, DuPont, and Goodyear combined.
By 1957, the AEC consumed 6.7% of total US electrical power, 11% of
nickel production, 34% of stainless steel, 33% of hydrofluoric acid.
In an estimate that includes "delivery system" as well as
weapons (delivery systems meaning aircraft, missiles, and a latecomer -
FedExGroundZero), the US spent four trillion dollars and the Soviet
Union a comparable amount. Near the end of the race, tens of thousands
of weapons were created, each with more power than the combined energy
of the bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And this even though, during the
Cuban missile crisis, Kennedy could not allow the possibility that even
one U.S. city be nuked.
So how many weapons did it take to be a deterrent? Looks like one was
plenty. Ten would certainly be enough; kind of like prunes.
Many researchers summarized that the arms race was only remotely coupled
to the actions or intentions of the other side, the supposed enemy, but
was much more strongly coupled to, according to Rhodes, the
"domestic political and economic systems of the superpowers."
Since the weapons could never be used, and everyone knew that, it was
politically and economically correct to have an "arms race".
What is strange about the "race" is that it could never be
finished.
Imagine what an alternative energy race could do, the jobs it would
create, the regional economies it would change. Four trillion dollars
buys a lot of solar panels, folks.
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