The FreedomCAR Farce

[hatrack]

EDIT

"How does the Bush administration's FreedomCAR initiative differ from the PNGV program?

Lynn: The only real difference is that it's even less goal-oriented than the previous program. With the PNGV there was no goal to get a certain number of cars on the road by a certain time, there was no goal to reduce emissions by a certain amount; but there was the goal to at least have a functioning prototype complete by a certain date. That actually helped to organize and focus work within the automotive industry. With the FreedomCAR program there's not even a target date for any type of technological combination on wheels, so the program doesn't even begin to get to the level of rigor that the PNGV program (which failed) actually had.

What exactly does FreedomCAR promise? That hydrogen will somehow be used in some way someday in a car?

Lynn: That's another problem with this whole idea. Even if they had a target - we're going to put X number of cars on the road running on hydrogen-powered fuel cells by X date - and they managed to do that, the other side which people often do not look at closely enough is, where does the hydrogen come from? If you look at what specifically the Bush administration says in terms of what the road map should be for the commercialization of hydrogen, it's very clear that all of their investment on the fuel side is all based on technologies that are designed to extract hydrogen from hydrocarbons. If you get to this vehicle on the road that's fuel cell powered, it's actually just oil by another name, or natural gas by another name. Or it may even be coal by another name. If you look at the full efficiency of the system, running a fuel cell car on hydrocarbons is probably by most measurements a less efficient use of hydrocarbons than our present internal combustion engine. Simply transferring the emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from individual cars to facilities that extract hydrogen from fossil fuels is not a goal that serves society in any particular way. Unless there was a simultaneous push to develop technologies to allow for the creation of hydrogen from water using renewable energy sources where basically you're creating electricity by solar or wind power, and then putting it into a car. But the question then is, are there better places to be putting that electricity - wouldn't it be better to simply put that in house that are now served by coal? If you're taking electricity and turning it into hydrogen, and then you're taking the hydrogen and turning it back into electricity! Even if you're looking at the fuel cell as a way to get renewable energy into a vehicle, it's not necessarily the most efficient way to do so."

EDIT

http://www.environmentaldefense.org/article.cfm?ContentID=3775

[sam sarrha]

1. Hydrogen is an excuse to make nuclear plants again, with the Plutonium

that the Cold War was the excuse to make !!, with taxpayers money to be later given FREE to power companies to overcharge us for the electricity it makes.. and we will end up paying for the plants too.. then later they will say.. of course the rates are high look at all the infrastructure !!

[phantom power]

2. You can make hydrogen with any energy source

A hydrogen economy doesn't in any way imply nuclear power.

Having said that, I think nuclear power will be necessary to replace the energy we're currently deriving from fossil fuels. But that's a separate issue.

I also think that manufactured hydrocarbons are a more practical energy-storage medium than hydrogen. But that's yet a third issue.

[NNadir]

3. I assume of course that you live a 100% solar life style. Right?

And I assume that your solar system is much cheaper than nuclear power too. Correct?

[cprise]

4. What kind of question is that

..besides being rhetorical?

Do I detect a hint a personal guilt and crankiness over waiting for nuclear infrastructure to arrive for automobiles?

The "beware nuclear attack dog if you're not perfect" attitude got old long ago.

[Wells]

5. Hydrogen fuel cell vs Hybrid-drive technologies....

The PNGV program did not fail. Ford and GM produced successful Hybrid prototypes, the Prodogy and Precept, which achieved 70 and 80 MPG. Their IC engines were turbo-diesels; think biodiesel.

However, these Hybrid prototypes are not the most advanced because their battery packs are "Low Storage", a small battery pack instead of large battery pack, an important distinction. The next generation Hybrid is "High Storage", or "Plug-in" Hybrid.

Small battery packs on the new Ford and Saturn SUVs are equivalent to 2 standard batteries. A larger battery pack, the equivalent of 10 to 15 standard batteries, has numerous benefits:

Battery weight, located low on the frame, reduces vehicle center-of-gravity, improving stability, handling and thus, SAFETY.

Battery weight requires increased structural rigidity; a safety factor for surviving high-speed collision.

The larger battery pack can do what Hydrogen fuel cell wonks and gee-wiz types can only claim: provide homes with an emergency power supply.

The larger battery packs can be recharged via the grid, home-based photovoltiac systems, or via any available energy source.

Larger battery packs can power vehicles for many miles without the IC engine, increasing gas mileage in this way. The IC engine can have reduced displacement, further increasing mileage. This form of Hybrid can achieve 1000 MPG and more, as long as the battery pack is recharged via grid and alternate sources.

The limited driving range of battery-only is NOT a disadvantage. The fact is we drive too much, too far, for too many reasons, most of them ridiculous and wasteful. Comprende? The more we limit our driving range, the more we direct growth and development toward local economies that function without the necessity of long-distance travel and transport. The more we design our future dependent upon long-distance travel, as with Hydrogen fuel cell, the more that dependency grows and cancels any gains in energy efficiency.

The hydrogen fuel cell vehicle is a HOAX. Is it any wonder that the Bush Administration cronies have abandoned Hybrids for Hydrogen. Wake up people. Bush is a liar, a thief, a villian. He serves only the rich and sees others as expendable. He is not christian.