As for our energy problem, one positive note is that we are endowed with renewable energy resources like geothermal and hydropower that we can tap. We have 11 existing electrical power plants run by geothermal energy with a total installed capacity of 1,930 megawatts (MW). As planned, we can raise it to 3,130 MW in 2013. The Philippines has 21 large hydropower stations, 52 mini-hydropower stations and 61 micro-hydropower facilities with a combined capacity of 2,500 MW. This can be increased to 5,500 MW by 2013. We can also tap our rich wind and solar energy resources.

Strategies and alternatives to solve the energy shortage

In view of the twin problems of energy shortage and greenhouse gas emissions that the world faces, long-term strategies are being drawn to address the following objectives: (1) promotion of energy conservation and efficient use; (2) intensified use of renewables; (3) strengthening of research to lower the technical and economic barriers to all types of alternative energy most especially hydrogen; (4) capture of carbon dioxide emissions from power and industrial plants and storing them underground, a process known as carbon sequestration.

Improvements in energy efficiency will come from a number of ways ranging from use of new catalysts and chemical processes, to more efficient lighting and insulation of buildings, to growth of the service economy and telecommuting. Another innovation is the introduction of very efficient "hybrid-electric cars" which combine powerful batteries with a conventional internalcombustion engine. This technology permits significant reduction in idling losses and regeneration of braking losses that leads to greater efficiency and improved fuel economy.

In the use of renewable sources of energy, geothermal power holds the most promise in augmenting the energy supply in countries that are endowed with this resource. Worldwide, there were 8,246 MW of generating capacity in geothermal resources in 1999. The largest users of geothermal energy are the US (2,850 MW), Philippines (1,848 MW), Italy (769 MW), Mexico (753 MW), Indonesia (590 MW), Japan (530 MW), and New Zealand (345 MW). The total generating power represents only about 0.4 percent of the world’s total generating capacity for electricity and will become a very attractive area for investments.

Another important renewable source of energy is biomass. The US is a heavy user of ethanol, which is largely corn-based. It is used in making gasoline blends to power vehicles and farm tractors and equipment. Brazil has long been the pioneer in the use of pure ethanol (derived from sugarcane) as a complete substitute to gasoline for vehicular and farm power. Biodiesel manufactured from palm oil, coconut oil, rapeseed oil, and soybean oil has been in use to a limited extent and can now assume a greater competitive role to partly displace diesel fuel.

Other developments in the search for energy sources that are incrementally improving but still considered as peripheral to the mainstream of global supplies are the areas of solar energy, wind power, ocean energy, and "fuel cell" technology utilizing hydrogen power.

Solar energy is increasingly becoming important. Advances in photovoltaic cell technology are gradually closing the gap in cost competitiveness with conventional systems in generating electricity. Photovoltaic cells convert the sun’s light into usable electricity, using semi-conductors made from silicon or other materials.

They are available commercially in the form of rooftop solar panels. The world leaders in solar power technology are Japan and Germany. In 2004, Sharp, a Japanese electronics company, sold more than US$1 billion worth of solar panels. In Third World countries, off-grid and remote populations are served by solar photovoltaic systems. The pervasive problem encountered, however, is the lack of a maintenance system to serve the network of installed solar facilities.

The world has been harnessing the wind’s energy for hundreds of years. From old Holland to farm communities in the US, windmills have been used for pumping water or grinding grain. Today, the windmill’s modern equivalent is the "wind turbine" which converts wind’s energy to electrical power. Rows of wind turbines are becoming a familiar sight in places like California, USA. The Philippines may soon have its wind turbine structures in selected windy areas. Wind turbines are mounted on a tower to capture the most energy. At 30 meters or more above ground, they can take advantage of the faster and less turbulent wind. Turbines catch the wind’s energy with their propeller-like blades. The blades are mounted on a shaft to form a rotor. A large number of wind turbines are built close together to form a wind plant. They are connected to a utility power grid to provide electricity to communities.

Ocean energy can be harnessed as: (1) thermal energy from the sun’s heat, and (2) mechanical energy from the tides and waves. Oceans are the world’s largest solar collectors. The sun’s heat warms the surface water a lot more than the deep ocean water and this temperature gradient creates thermal energy. Ocean thermal energy can be utilized for generating electricity. Ocean mechanical energy, on the other hand, may come from tides and waves. Tides are caused primarily by the gravitational pull of the moon whereas waves are driven by wind. Tides and waves are intermittent sources of energy. Electricity conversion of both tidal and wave energy involves mechanical devices – a combination of a barrage or dam and turbines that activate a generator. England and France are at the forefront of perfecting the technology.

Fuel cells are devices which generate electricity without moving mechanical parts. Fuel cells can be fed with a fuel such as hydrogen, natural gas, methanol or propane and these fuels convert directly into electrical energy through an electrochemical process. The current generated is utilized in the way it is intended, as an energizer or in powering an electric motor. The efficiency in electrical conversion is twice as high as that of the usual boiler-turbine-generator combination. Their theoretical considerations have been known for quite sometime but it is only in recent years that fuel cells have been put to practical use. Fuel cells have a broad range of applications, from cell phones, laptop computers, to homes, offices and factories, to vehicles of all kinds. Fuel cells, as a component of the energy-generating system, are cleaner and less polluting since minimal quantities of carbon dioxide is produced as a by-product of the reaction. Since there is no combustion, no carbon monoxide is produced. A prototype car, which is powered by a combination of fuel cells and hydrogen gas, produces only water vapor as exhaust material and absolutely no carbon dioxide and monoxide.

The potential of hydrogen

If the supply of fossil fuels or hydrocarbons becomes less and less until it finally runs out in one or two hundred years hence, what will be the fate of human civilization? What will be the most logical source of energy that civilization can bank on for sustained technological progress and prosperity? It leaves us with only one answer: Hydrogen in combination with renewable energy sources.

Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe. It was the first element that was formed as the universe cooled off after the "big bang." It is the power source of our sun (through atomic fusion) and all the stars. More than 30 percent of the mass of the sun is atomic hydrogen.

Hydrogen accounts for 90 percent of the atoms in the universe, two-thirds of the atoms in water, and a significant proportion of the atoms in living organisms and their fossil remains on earth, the hydrocarbons. Hydrogen is the simplest element with each atom composed of just one proton and one electron. But on Earth, nearly all of hydrogen is bound to other elements in molecules such as hydrocarbons and water. Hydrogen atoms must be wrested or split off from these molecules to generate dihydrogen gas (H2), the form it needs to be in to work in most fuel cells. Hydrogen is not a fuel in itself as oil and coal are, but like electricity, it is an energy carrier.

Hydrogen has long been an important gaseous material for the chemical and petroleum industries. Approximately 400 billion cubic meters of hydrogen are produced worldwide each year. Most of today’s hydrogen is produced at oil refineries or by the chemical industry using natural gas as the source. Hydrogen is used predominantly as a feedstock for petroleum refining and for the manufacture of ammonia fertilizer, resins, plastics, solvents, and other industrial products. The space shuttle and other programs use liquid hydrogen and oxygen as rocket propellants and hydrogen-powered fuel cells to provide electricity and water on board.

Hydrogen is manufactured by extracting it from carbonaceous materials like natural gas or water. These materials are decomposed by the application of energy which may be electrical, chemical or thermal. Examples are electrolysis of water; steam reforming of hydrocarbons; and thermal dissociation of natural gas. In the electrolytic process, water is decomposed or split into high-purity hydrogen and oxygen by passing direct current through an aqueous solution of alkali. But electrolysis is energy intensive.

By far, the cheapest way to produce hydrogen is by "steam methane reforming" which involves the heating of methane (CH4) in a catalytic reactor. This strips away the hydrogen atoms, and steam is then added to the process to free up more hydrogen, with carbon dioxide as a byproduct.

Over the long term, as hydrocarbons shall have been exhausted, water will be the ultimate source of energy worldwide. The electrolytic process which is energy-consuming will be driven by renewable energy resources like geothermal, hydroelectric, solar, wind and ocean power. This system has been well demonstrated in Iceland. Iceland is rich in geothermal and hydroelectric energy and has made the country nearly self-sufficient in energy. The electric energy from power grids has been utilized in splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen (as compressed gas) is used to run a city bus fleet, each using hydrogen-powered fuel cells. A fueling station was established to keep the buses running. The system has worked very well that it prompted experts to predict that by 2050, Iceland should run on a completely hydrogen-based energy economy.

Fuel cells powered by hydrogen gas

In the utilization of hydrogen gas to power vehicles, a technological innovation is required via the employment of fuel cells. A fuel cell is a reactor that operates electrochemically. There is an electrically conducting anode made of porous carbon with a metal catalyst such as platinum. This mechanism chemically changes the hydrogen atoms to positively charged hydrogen ions and electrons. The electrons leave the anode to provide the current to perform work. The positively charged hydrogen ions migrate through the electrolyte, attracted by the oxygen (provided by the air) from the cathode. To complete the reaction, the oxygen pulls in recycled electrons and water is generated and discharged from the fuel cell. To make the fuel cells work, quite a number of them are installed under the hood of a car; they are fed with hydrogen molecules which are stripped of their electrons and the current generated is fed to the electric engine that powers the rear wheels. The emissions are just a little extra heat and water vapor.

The use of fuel cell and hydrogen technology in powering vehicles is a futuristic realm that may eventually replace the gasoline-run internal combustion engines (ICEs). But the current ICE industry is well entrenched and would do well to preserve its hold on the consumer market. It will continue to innovate and keep abreast with the trend towards a hydrogen economy. As a strategic step, research is underway among automakers to develop ICEs that will run on hydrogen that will burn more readily than gasoline and produce almost no pollutants. These will be known as "hydrogen internal-combustion engines" (H2 ICEs). If manufacturers can get enough of them on the road in the next few years, H2 ICE vehicles might spur the development of a larger infrastructure for producing and distributing hydrogen — the very same infrastructure that fuel cell vehicles will require. If this complementation becomes a reality, then the stage is set for the dawning of the hydrogen economy.

With hydrogen as the fuel of the future, so much money is currently being spent on R and D. Fuel and auto companies are investing between US$500 million and US$1billion yearly on hydrogen research. Major car makers are pouring billions of dollars into a race to put the first fuel cell vehicles on the market. In California, 23 auto, fuel, fuel cell companies and government entities are collaborating to fuel and test drive 70 cars and buses over the next few years. Likewise, the US, the European Union, Japan and other governments are investing billions of dollars into initiatives that would advance hydrogen technology and push it to market ends.

Over 100 companies are aiming to commercialize fuel cells that have a wide array of applications not only for vehicles but for the development of personal gadgets like cell phones, and appliances and equipment for home, office and factory use.

Innovative research is also underway to produce hydrogen with algae, use sunlight and catalysts (artificial photosynthesis) to split water molecules directly, and extract hydrogen from agricultural wastes and other types of biomass.

Hydrogen gas as an energy source has unique characteristics that have implications on commercial handling and applications. It has a "low energy density", which means that far less quantity can fit into a given volume than other fuels. Storing enough of hydrogen in a fuel tank to drive 300 miles requires either compressing on liquefying it. Yet, to drive a fuel cell car on the same distance will need a fuel tank of compressed gas four times as large. Liquefied hydrogen takes up much less room but the gas liquefies at -253°C and the chilling process adds up to the cost of the fuel. The fuel tank must be heavily insulated to keep the liquid fuel from boiling away and it makes the tank bulkier than ordinary gasoline tanks. So, the problem of bulk in carrying the gas load around is something to contend with. It will be an obstruction in making efficient aerodynamic designs of vehicles.

Hydrogen gas is very buoyant, escaping quickly from leaks. This is an important safety issue. Hydrogen has a wide range of limits for flammability and detonability and a broad range of mixture of hydrogen in air can lead to a flame or explosion. The chemical industry routinely handles large quantities of hydrogen safely and the issue is whether a safety assurance can be expected at the public utility level once hydrogen gas becomes widely available. Technical information indicates that the ignition energy (in a spark) to ignite a fuel mixed in air is about the same for hydrogen, gasoline, natural gas and methane. Hydrogen is also nontoxic, unlike methanol and gasoline in higher concentrations.

Shifting to a hydrogen-based economy

A complete shift from hydrocarbon to hydrogen-based economy will require a massive supply of hydrogen. The supply will come from a network of production centers worldwide. The basic working principle is that hydrogen will be extracted from water via the electrolytic process using electrical energy from the limitless flows of the heat of the earth, sun, wind, and oceans. Countries that rank highly in hydrogen production are the following: (1) Countries endowed with geothermal power – US, Philippines, Italy, Mexico, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, Iceland, Hawaii, Vanuatu and other countries straddling along the "rings of fire of volcanic activities"; (2) Countries with cheap hydroelectric power – Brazil, Canada, Iceland, Norway, Sweden; (3) Countries in the sun-belt regions which have access to photo-voltaic technology; and (4) Countries rich in wind and ocean power and with access to technology. It is then highly probable that energy-importing countries like the Philippines can become self-sufficient or an exporter of energy in the future. Hawaii, Vanuatu, and Iceland aspire to become major producers and exporters of hydrogen.

A change-over to a hydrogen economy will happen in a distant future probably beyond our lifetime. Energy experts estimate that a time frame of at least 75 to 100 years may be necessary. Others in the energy sector believe that developments should be fast tracked to achieve the objectives sooner in just a few decades.

The optimistic perspective is that there is still enough lead time to work things over within the transitional period before the supply of hydrocarbons completely runs out. Huge investments running to hundreds of billions of dollars will be needed in establishing the hydrogen infrastructures from production, storage and distribution points, down to refueling stations. Such a change will have implications in the shifting of geo-political power because the source and distribution of fuel – traditionally from the Middle Eastern countries and from exhaustible sources – will now tap into the vast renewable resources of other countries. The world economy may only be able to cope with the developmental requirements only through a gradual process. There are also many technological gaps that need to be worked out but man’s ingenuity and creativity will prevail.

In the end, imagine a world in which energy is limitless and humans can breathe in clean air. The veil of greenhouse gases begins to thin out and global warming ceases to be a threat to Planet Earth. It will be a brave new world for humanity.