Hydrogen - Energy Policy Analysis: A Conceptual Framework - page 196

Building a national hydrogen delivery infrastructure will be a significant challenge. It will take
time to develop and will probably include various combinations of technologies. Infrastructure
needs and resources will vary by region and by type of market (e.g., urban, interstate, or rural), and
infrastructure options (or the delivery mix) will continue to evolve as the demand for hydrogen
grows and as delivery technologies mature (USDOE 2010).
Distribution
A delivery infrastructure for hydrogen will include land dedicated to the pipelines, truck storage,
storage facilities, compressors, and dispensers involved in delivering fuel to end-users. To date,
most hydrogen fueling stations have been constructed to support demonstration projects. As the
hydrogen market increases, it is expected that existing fueling stations will expand to meet the
demand, offering hydrogen pumps in addition to gasoline or natural gas pumps. Other hydrogen
fueling stations will be stand-alone operations, some with self-service pumps (USDOE 2009).
By 2011 only a few states and the District of Columbia had announced plans to construct the
refueling and maintenance stations needed to support hydrogen vehicles. California had pro-
gressed furthest, with thirty-one installed hydrogen refueling stations, about half of the United
States total, and a few private maintenance facilities. As of 2007 there were a total of sixty-three
hydrogen demonstration refueling stations in the United States. Two-thirds of the existing refuel-
ing stations are capable of self-producing hydrogen, and the remaining one-third are stationary or
mobile refueling stations that rely on deliveries of liquid or gaseous hydrogen for their operation.
Currently, there are no home refueling stations except those located at manufacturers' research
facilities. California hosts the nation's only hydrogen refueling station connected to a hydrogen
pipeline and a centralized production plant (USEIA 2008b).
Utilization
Fuels cells are the key to greater future utilization of hydrogen. A fuel cell is a technology that
allows energy stored in hydrogen to be converted into electrical energy for end use. Stationary
fuel cells can be used as backup power for critical facilities during emergencies, power generation,
power for remote locations, and cogeneration, in which excess heat released during electricity
generation is used for other applications. Fuel cell vehicles can be used for transportation of people
and goods in small or large quantities. Fuel cells can power almost any portable application that
uses batteries, from hand-held devices to portable generators. They can also power transportation,
including personal vehicles, trucks, buses, and marine vessels, as well as provide auxiliary power
to traditional transportation technologies. Hydrogen can play a particularly important role in the
future by replacing some imported petroleum currently used in cars and trucks.
Although fuel cells can use a variety of fuels, including gasoline, hydrogen is usually preferred
because of the ease with which it can be converted to electricity and its ability to combine with
oxygen to emit only pure water and potentially useful heat as the only by-products. Fuel cells
look and function very similar to batteries. A fuel cell continues to convert chemical energy to
electricity as long as fresh hydrogen is fed into it (USEIA 2008b). Hydrogen-powered fuel cells
are not only pollution-free, but have two to three times the efficiency of traditional combustion
technologies. A conventional combustion-based power plant typically generates electricity at ef-
ficiencies of 33 to 35 percent, while fuel cell systems can generate electricity at efficiencies up to
60 percent—and if by-product heat is used in cogeneration, the overall efficiency can approach
90 percent. Under normal driving conditions, the gasoline engine in a conventional car is less