DOWN THE ROAD
Florida Leading Nation in Hydrogen Development

Most of us are still years away from pulling into a fueling station and topping off a tank of hydrogen, but Florida is at the leading edge of developing the technology needed to turn the most abundant element in the universe into a clean fuel source. By weight, hydrogen has three times as much energy as gasoline and seven times as much as coal. In an automobile, hydrogen can be used in an electrochemical - not combustible - process that creates water as its only waste product, helping to cool as well as clean the air.

A naturally reactive element, hydrogen exists at normal conditions only in combinations such as oxygen with water and with carbon in natural gas. Researchers have not yet discovered an efficient method to extract the hydrogen and it currently costs about 20% more than a comparable amount of gasoline. Replacing automobiles and fueling stations with safe, cost-effective equipment also will require an enormous investment.

Critics say it can never be done, but proponents say it's only a matter of time before it's absolutely necessary to develop large quantities of a clean-burning fuel that allows the U.S. to be self-sufficient.

Meeting the challenge will be "even more difficult than putting a man on the moon," says Ali T-Raissi, director of hydrogen research at the Florida Solar Energy Center. Still, he's confident that solar power can be used to create hydrogen which can fuel everything from homes to cars to ships.

"There's a common confusion about hydrogen that compares it to petroleum or coal, but the correct analogy is electricity because hydrogen is an energy carrier not a source of energy," he notes. Solar power can be used to create hydrogen, which can be easily stored and transported - attributes solar alone can't claim.

While still not cost-effective, T-Raissi and his colleagues at FSEC won an innovative technology award from the World Hydrogen Energy Conference this summer the only research award presented to U.S. scientists - for work that extracts hydrogen using solar power.

On the other side of the equation, Florida is installing one of the nation's first hydrogen fueling stations at a state park outside Orlando as part of the Florida Hydrogen Partnership, a public-private group that brings together key leadership from NASA - which uses hydrogen to fuel space shuttles - university research centers, utility companies and international manufacturers.

Funded with a portion of $1.7 billion in federal grants committed to hydrogen research over the next five years, the project addresses several of the issues that must be resolved before hydrogen is widely used, including technologies for storing hydrogen, long-lasting fuel cells and safety.

"We're not there yet and there's still a lot to be done, but we need to develop alternatives to fossil fuels as quickly as possible," T-Raissi said.

By weight, hydrogen
has three times as
much energy as gasoline
and seven times
as much as coal.

New Diesel Emission Rules Will Help Clear the Air

Luckily for Tampa Bay residents, it's easy to miss most air pollution. Although ozone levels exceed stringent federal standards several days most years, this usually occurs in the dog days of summer when we're already doing everything we can to say inside. The exception to that rule is diesel fumes from trucks and buses that spew visible - and odorous -emissions, releasing nitrogen oxide and a host of toxic contaminants including arsenic, cadmium, dioxin, and mercury into the air and eventually the water.

That's changing, but it's likely to be a long slow road. New federal standards enacted this year require diesel engine manufacturers to reduce nitrogen oxide by 50% in new engines starting with the 2004 model year.

While the rules are welcome, they don't address vehicles already on the road and no one knows how important a role they play in overall air pollution. But that's changing too, thanks to federal grants to the Environmental Protection Commission of Hillsborough County.

One state-of-the-art monitor is already tracking diesel emissions from a suburban site near Valrico to measure the volatile organics, heavy metals and other toxic substances that are linked to diesel fumes. "It's part of the National Air Toxic Trend network and one of 22 sites across the country using the same instrumentation to measure air pollution," says Leroy Shelton, the EPC's assistant director for air. "It's not source-oriented - these monitors are in neighborhoods across the country to determine pollution levels where people live."

A second grant finalized earlier this year will allow the EPC to place a second diesel monitor outside its offices near the Port of Tampa, one of the most heavily traveled roads in the state for trucks. "We want to compare highway levels to neighborhoods, plus we may be able to pick up some of the diesel emissions from ships," Shelton said.