I used to own a white Volkswagen bus. It had been sitting in a garage in Dallas, Texas, for about 13 years. When I bought it; it had 10k miles on the engine. The interior was in mint condition. Price tag: $500. Sounds like a dream? Yep. I put a couple thousand dollars into new brakes, wires, etc., and then got the hell out of Dallas, with a pussycat VW engine running me along all the way back to California.
Man, I didn’t know ANYTHING about automobiles, but if there was one thing I loved about that VW, it was that even I could flip through the manual at crucial moments and accomplish two things: 1) get an idea of what might be going wrong; 2) get it fixed right easy. I – yes, I -- completely re-wired the entire something-or-other once, and it worked. I did that. I still have the toolbox and tools I assembled just for that job, even though I no longer own that vehicle.
Hmm. Well, newer cars aren’t like this, and they haven’t been for a little while now. I am completely un-surprised when I hear stories from friends who ’ve been told they have to shell out umpteen hundred hard-earned dollars to replace a damned chip that’s acting up – because it hap-pens to be located somewhere under a certain part of the stu-pidstructure, next to the angina crimp of the flush handle.
So saying, I’ve got good news and bad news for everybody who knows how a toaster works but doesn’t know how to flush the angina crimp out of the general superstructure: Hydrogen Fuel Cells are coming. The good parts are that Fuel Cells of this sort are clean and strong and capable, and that there’s reportedly much money and effort being spent on the intention of replacing dead dinosaurs with stardust as a primary source of energy. Which means, Fuel Cells will become part of everyday public life once the last oil well owned or influenced by G.W. Bush has finally, finally, coughed its last black squirt. Don’t get your hopes up about it happen-ing any sooner than that. If it does, fine. If it doesn’t, no one can say we haven’t been pissed off for decades that it took so long.
The bad part of the news is, despite the fact that the past couple of generations of kids can Save the Princess from the Evil Dragon in their videogame X-Boxes without blinking an eyelid, just about everyone is still
stupid and will still have to pay zillions of repair dollars every time their Fuel Cells cross internal wires while coasting the daily commute at 12 mph due to overpopulation.
Everything that stupid people could want to know about Hydrogen Fuel Cells can be found on the Web site of the Rocky Mountain Institute, at www.rmi.org.
What is a Hydrogen Fuel Cell?, you ask. How does it work? Should I long des-perately for its coming? Go to the Web site. Do you really care, or what?
Here’s an edited excerpt, for those of you who will never visit the Web site:
"The California Fuel Cell Partnership (CAFCP) currently manages a refueling station for the many fuel-cell vehicles undergoing intensive road testing in the state today. The West Sacramento facil-ity stores liquid hydrogen at -423 degrees Fahrenheit in a 4,500-gallon tank. Between this tank and a car lie a vaporizer, which converts the liquid hydrogen into a gas, and a compressor, which can vary it’s [sic] pressure output depending on the needs of the car’s internal tank. A tanker truck delivers hydrogen to the facility in much the same way that gasoline is delivered to your local pump.
"As the CAFCP states it, ‘a fuel cell vehicle driver connects the electrical and computer cable to the vehicle to confirm that the safety systems are established and functioning properly. The information transferred by this process to the computer includes details of the vehicle fuel tank, vehicle manufacturer and specific condi-tions set by the manufacturer that must be met to begin fueling, such as confirming the car ignition is off. Following that, the driver connects the fill nozzle and fills the vehicle.’"
Imagine your family’s excitement as every trip to the Gas Station becomes a miniature Shuttle Launch! Of course, you’ll experience this excitement multiple times while driving your great-grandkids (at 12 mph, due to overpopulation) to the There Used To Be Icecaps nature memorial center in Sacramento, D.C.
No, seriously, here’s a very interesting, albeit basic and primitive and toaster-like, additional quotation:
"Fuel cells still cost more today than conventional power sources. But more and more companies are choosing fuel cells for their dependability, fuel efficiency, and clean operation…. Fuel cells will find their first wide-spread use in portable electronics. These ‘micro fuel cells’ offer far higher energy densities than
those of comparably sized batteries, allow-ing a typical laptop to operate unplugged for 10 hours or more. Micro fuel cells also offer the added appeal of eliminating the need for battery chargers and AC adapters, as they require refueling instead of recharg-ing…. In light of global climate change and our dependence on foreign oil, people are raving about the potential for a zero-emis-sion, home-produced hydrogen economy."
Hydrogen Fuel Cells are coming, and I’m looking forward to it. True, even, to the words of the Rocky Mountain Institute site, I’m raving about it.
Still, I have a suspicion, that when the Almighty Mechanic thirty years from now looks me in the eye and tells me that the Lame Graft of the Fuel Cell’s Pineal Gland needs some major and expensive comfort, I’m going to turn to my grandson and say, "Huh?"
And I’ll wish that President Schwarzenegger’s Hefty-Ho Vehicle Fixin’ Tax Exemption would’ve included pathetic vehicles like mine.
Sources / Comments
About RMI:
Rocky Mountain Institute was established in 1982 by resource analysts L. Hunter Lovins and Amory B. Lovins. What began as a small group of colleagues focusing on energy policy has since grown into a broad-based institution with more than 45 full-time staff, an annual budget of nearly $7 million (much of it earned through programmatic enterprise), and a global reach. RMI brings a unique perspective to resource issues. |
