Canada has put millions of dollars into the development of a future energy source - hydrogen fuel cells, writes Frank McDonald, Environment Editor
Mention hydrogen and most people will think of the H-bomb or the Hindenburg. But the Canadian government is putting its faith in a future "hydrogen economy" by investing millions of dollars in research and development of fuel cells.
On April 1st - and nobody saw it as a joke - Canada's prime minister, Paul Martin, used the GLOBE 2004 environmental conference in Vancouver to announce funding for a "hydrogen highway" linking the city's airport to Whistler, location of the 2010 Winter Olympics.
The plan is to use buses powered by non-polluting hydrogen fuel cells to transport 5,000 athletes, 10,000 media folk and two million spectators to the world-famous ski resort in the mountains north of Vancouver, with hydrogen filling stations along scenic Route 99.
Whistler is just two hours away, but the ultimate aim is to extend the highway hundreds of kilometres down the Pacific coast to San Francisco and Los Angeles, taking in Seattle and Portland on the way. Even California's new governor, Arnold Swarzenegger, backs it.
"We are indeed on the cusp of a new clean energy era that will transform society," Paul Martin said. As he sees it, the push to commercialise environmental technologies is similar to the "space race" of the 1960s and Canada wants to be the world leader in this area.
The government is putting its money where its mouth is. Later this year, when it sells its remaining 19 per cent shareholding in PetroCanada, one billion Canadian dollars (€625 million) of the proceeds will be invested in the development of cutting-edge environmental technologies.
Canada is one of the world's biggest oil producers, with huge reserves in Alberta, and the leading exporter of oil to the US - outstripping even Saudi Arabia - so environmentalists fear that hydrogen for its fuel cells programme will be derived from fossil fuels rather than renewables.
Chevron, Texaco, DuPont and Ford are among the major corporations backing Fuel Cells Canada, which co-ordinates much of the research and development from its off-campus headquarters and testing station at the teeming University of British Colombia in Vancouver.
Shell is one of the partners in Chrysalix, another clearing house for fuel cell development, because the company believes it's going to be the next big area. Ballard, a Canadian company that's also involved, has already supplied buses powered by fuel cells to run in Stockholm.
Wal van Lierop, Dutch-born president and ceo of Chrysalix, says there will be a lot more of these buses by 2010, though he doesn't foresee a mass market for fuel cell cars until after 2030 when oil becomes uncompetitive; one encouraging sign is that its price is rising inexorably.
What's driving it - and the interest of oil companies in fuel cell technology - is the huge increase in demand, especially from China. Its oil consumption is rising by the equivalent of "adding a Brazil every two years", as van Lierop says, and he expects the supply of oil to peak within the next decade.
Though both Ford and Toyota have produced hybrid cars partially powered by fuel cells, he believes the most interesting market over the next 10 years will be small applications - such as digital cameras, laptops and mobile phones, where fuel cells would replace rechargeable batteries.
There are 50 companies actively engaged in the government-sponsored Fuel Cells Canada programme, according to Chris Curtis, its vice-president, and 17 of them are directly involved in fuel cell production. They also happen to be clustered in British Columbia, particularly in the Vancouver area.
Curtis sees the 2010 Olympics as a "hook" for promoting new technologies, with Vancouver's "hydrogen highway" acting as a large-scale showcase for fuel-cell technology. The trick will be for Canada to capitalise on its world leader position in this area by turning it into a commercial proposition.
Just as Denmark cornered the largest share of the wind power industry, Canada already supplies parts for 82 per cent of fuel cell products worldwide. "We're very good at developing new technologies, but they're usually commercialised elsewhere - in the US. This time it will be different," Curtis insists.
Where does Ireland feature in all of this? Well, despite a huge exhibition of the latest environmental technologies from all over the world, GLOBE 2004 attracted just two delegates from Ireland - John Sweeney and Eugene O'Brien, of RDI Recycling Services, in Dublin, who said it was well worth the trip.
Further information is available from www.fuelcellscanada.ca and info@chrysalix.com