March 26, 2003
BIRMINGHAM, AL — The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Engineering has received $3 million from two federal agencies to study the use of hydrogen as an alternative energy source and to set up a consortium in the Southeast that will help create an infrastructure that will one day make hydrogen as easy to deliver as gasoline.
The UAB Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering has received a $2 million grant from the Federal Transit Authority (FTA) to study fuel cell technology for mass-transit buses. A $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will be used to study the use of hydrogen in automobiles and in hydrogen fuel cells for power generation and portable equipment, such as home appliances.
Part of the DOE grant includes establishing the Southeastern Hydrogen Technology Consortium (SHTC). It will be made up of energy experts, automobile manufacturers, transit authorities, fuel cell manufacturers, national laboratories and academic researchers who will exchange ideas on how to create a hydrogen infrastructure in the Southeast and improve understanding about hydrogen technology.
“Since September 11, it is clear that the U.S. must eliminate its dependency on foreign sources of oil,” said Fouad Fouad, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and principal investigator on both grants. “By developing hydrogen technology, the U.S. would no longer have to spend billions of dollars buying oil from volatile countries. Hydrogen is an excellent option as an alternative fuel. It is much more environmentally friendly and has applications across a variety of industries.”
The $2 million FTA grant enables UAB to compare fuel cell buses to standard diesel buses. Researcher will examine energy efficiency and environmental benefits of fuel cell buses.
“We will be doing the technical assessment and demonstration of the buses, meaning that we will be able to show the energy savings, low emissions and how quiet hydrogen-powered buses run compared to diesel buses and CNG buses,” Fouad said. “We also plan to develop training manuals for transit authorities on how to use and maintain hydrogen-powered buses.”
Hydrogen Cars, Appliances Are the Wave of the Future
Two hydrogen-based applications that will be analyzed as part of the $1 million DOE grant are light duty vehicles and generation of electrical power. In cars, hydrogen can be used as a fuel or fuel cell that generates electricity to power an electric motor. Hydrogen gas also can be used for sustainable power generation because it can be produced in unlimited quantities using renewable resources. Researchers will test hydrogen-fueled vehicle emissions, performance and fuel efficiency.
“The by-product of hydrogen combustion is water, making it environmentally friendly,” he said. “This means that fuel-cell plants could generate power with no combustion, cutting down on carbon dioxide emissions and mitigating the effects of global warming.”
Consortium Will Build Support
Fouad said one of the goals of the new SHTC will be to build support for using hydrogen as an alternative energy source. The consortium will educate the public on the benefits of fuel-cell technology and encourage private sector financing of hydrogen-based public transportation. He also hopes to organize a hydrogen fair in the Southeast to demonstrate hydrogen-fueled vehicles, pumping stations, and hydrogen storage and safety issues.
“Though establishing an infrastructure, such as pumping stations and storage, would be costly, the long-term benefits outweigh conversion costs,” Fouad said. “The projects will identify the need to support the use of hydrogen-based technologies at the local, regional and national level, and through the consortium we will educate the public and those involved in transportation to increase the knowledge of hydrogen technology.”