Another Letter to the Editor

       Two articles in the Friday October 30^th paper (Reporter Herald) both make the same point:  we are a ways away from replacing fossil fuels with clean solar, wind, and hydro energy.

       The editorial from The Dallas Morning News takes a look at the future of transportation and electricity generation and opines that natural gas will still be a major player in the energy industry come 2050.

    According to the frontpage article by John Fryar, the Platte River Power Authority has come to the same conclusion, at least for 2030.  Skeptics have warned for years that solar and wind energy cannot cover all the power needs of the nation.  There are times when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow.

     The hang up for clean energy is an efficient battery that can store excess power to use in no-wind and no-sun situations.  Some attempts to store excess energy include using the excess  electricity to pump water uphill and letting the water flow downhill to turn a generator when the power is needed.  Another uses excess power to turn an air compressor which becomes an air-powered motor used to turn a generator when the process is reversed.

     Denmark, the world leader in wind energy, is now experimenting with using excess power to extract nitrogen from the atmosphere.  The nitrogen, in the form of ammonia, fertilizes crops in the fields.  The plants produce oxygen, which helps to offset the CO2 produced by natural gas used to produce power when “clean” sources cannot meet demand.

       American farmers have used ammonia for decades to fertilize crops, but that ammonia is a product of petroleum.  Denmark’s “green” ammonia eliminates the use of petroleum and the CO2 associated with its production.

      Production of “green” ammonia is nearing economic feasibility.  In conjunction with the production of ammonia, Denmark researchers are working on a practical method of using excess power to produce hydrogen and oxygen from water.  The hydrogen can be used to replace fossil fuels for power generation or transportation, and using hydrogen as a fuel doesn’t produce CO2.

     Until such processes prove themselves practical, economical, and efficient, natural gas will have to fill the power gaps.  The road to 100% clean energy may not follow the map we have charted.  There may be detours and dead ends.

       The greenies will have to console themselves with the fact that burning natural gas is much cleaner than burning coal, and that the CO2 produced by using natural gas can be offset by other methods of producing oxygen. 

      Meanwhile, more power to those striving to find a clean, efficient, light-weight battery that will make electrical transportation practical.