We have two problems that underlie most other problems. First the need for safe, reliable power. Almost nothing in the modern world works without it. To produce power takes energy. The other problem is existential. Changing climate due to excess CO2 and CH4 affects everything, including access to energy. It affects where we can live and what we can eat. We cannot solve, or more correctly make any progress on either without considering the other. It’s instructive to start with electricity. Everyone should know that it’s not free. We have to make it. Fortunately, we know many ways. Most of the electricity ever made required burning fossil fuel, mostly coal. The transition from biological fuel like wood, to coal was simple and coal was, still is abundant. Unfortunately, it is mostly carbon. It is not pure, many of the contaminants, like uranium, are more worrisome than the carbon dioxide burning it creates.
There are many other ways to generate electricity; fossil fuels have the advantage of familiarity and portability. Burning methane, CH4, natural gas is a very good alternative to burning coal C. The hydrogen part produces only water and the carbon is less contaminated.
There are other energy sources that can generate electricity, and although most of them lack portability. Electricity can be safely transmitted long distances to a stationary application, like your home. There are renewable sources such as solar, wind, moving water, geothermal, that can claim to be carbon neutral. Waste and agricultural products can substitute for fossil fuel. These cannot compete with fossil fuels for portability, some are fixed and others are not as efficiently transported. The other disadvantage to many renewables is intermittency. The sun does not always shine and the wind may not blow where and when you need it. Even volcanoes and rivers have periods of unusual activity
Nuclear fission is one of the most practical sources of reliable baseline, that is, always on, power. Unfortunately, it has been hyper politicized based on people’s sometimes irrational fear of radiation and the analogy of nuclear power to nuclear weapons. No one makes the same analogy between chemical-based power and chemical-based weapons. Napalm is made from gasoline. The most commonly used construction explosive ANFO is made from fertilizer and diesel fuel. No member of the general public has ever been harmed by a pressurized water nuclear reactor. Geothermal and hydraulic are very reliable, but the sources are limited and not portable. We have been using hydraulic almost as long as fire. Water wheels powered the industrial revolution before steam.
Transmitting electricity to a moving vehicle is challenging. Overhead wires and third rails are practical for fixed routes, but transportation flexibility requires energy that is compact and light weight. Batteries are heavy and expensive, over 50 times as heavy as diesel or jet fuel and they are just as heavy used-up. Practical for small vehicles but not very attractive for aircraft, where light-is-right or long-distance travel where the batteries might weigh more than the payload.
It’s hard to cut through the hype, hydrogen can never be more than an energy storage and transmission medium, not a source. Almost all the hydrogen on earth is bound up in something else and the energy to release it exceeds the energy you can extract. Any source other than water has a waste disposal problem. The energy to weight ratio looks good, but the energy to volume ratio is beyond impractical. Another improbable source is nuclear fusion. The theory sounds good but practical development has been 30 years away for 50 years. To function it requires duplicating the pressure, temperature and chemistry at the center of the sun.
There is a lot to be done. Fortunately, some very smart and very determined people are working on these issues and they are finding ways to solve some of the problems profitably. It turns out you can extract CO2 from the air, and find markets for it. There has always been profit in waste, if you have enough of it, Hawaii doesn’t.
The greatest of all these, is all of these, plus ingenuity.
Ken Obenski is a forensic engineer, now safety and freedom advocate in South Kona. He writes a biweekly column for West Hawaii Today. Send feedback to obenskik@gmail.com