DE: Zero emissions ship to commence operation in Hamburg area

probe

Quote:

Proton Motor, the expert in fuel cell and hybrid systems, is supplying the innovative hybrid drive for the world’s first fuel cell-powered passenger vessel, Zemships (Zero Emission Ships). In summer 2008 the vessel will start operating in Hamburg, on the Alster and in the harbour area, carrying up to 100 passengers per trip – completely emission-free. Today the keel was laid, signalising the start of the next phase of the project funded by the European Union. Proton Motor is entering new territory in fuel cell ship’s engines and underlining its trailblazing role in cleantech and zero-emission solutions.

The heart of the new ‘Alster steamer’ is an innovative fuel cell hybrid drive from Proton Motor. The individually developed complete system PM Turnkey is powered by two PM Basic A 50 50kW fuel cell systems. The integrated battery package takes surplus energy from the fuel cells, for example when the ship is stopped at an interim port and requires less power. When the ship needs maximum power – for example during casting-off and coming aside manoeuvres – the batteries supply the energy back to the engine.

Clean and energy-saving

An intelligent energy management system controls the division of work between fuel cells and battery. This ensures maximum efficiency of operation. The fuel used is hydrogen, which is stored on board in pressurised tanks. The ship stores enough fuel so that it only needs to be refuelled about once every three days. Passengers also benefit from the innovative drive system, because the vessel produces no exhaust gases and is very quiet.

“With the integrated Proton Motor fuel cell hybrid drive the vessel isn’t only emission-free, it’s almost twice as efficient as conventional diesel ships. This project shows that our products are ready for everyday use. It offers an opportunity to open up a whole new market and extends our pioneering role in the cleantech industry,” says Anno Mertens, Zemships project manager at Proton Motor.

Extensive network

In addition to Proton Motor, a number of other partners are contributing their specific expertise to the project. Starting in summer 2008 the vessel will be operated by ATG Alster-Touristik GmbH, a subsidiary of Hamburg’s public transport company, Hamburger Hochbahn AG. ATG is also responsible for designing the hull. Linde AG is constructing a hydrogen refuelling station on a side canal of the river Alster to supply the necessary fuel. A total of nine partners are involved in the pioneering Zemships project under the leadership of the Urban Development and Environment Zemships (Zero Emission Ships) is an EU-funded project. The aim of the project is to develop and operate a fuel cell-powered Alster steamer and a hydrogen refuelling station. Projects like Zemships provide essential knowledge which can be used in future to expand the applications of fuel cell technology.

The nine project partners are: ATG Alster-Touristik GmbH, Germanischer Lloyd AG, Hamburger Hochbahn AG, University of Applied Sciences (HAW), hySOLUTIONS GmbH, Linde AG, Proton Motor Fuel Cell GmbH, Ústav jaderného výzkumu Rez a.s. (UJV), Urban Development and Environment Authority of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg.

Unquote

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http://www.hysolutions-hamburg.de/index.php?id=102
http://www.h2moves.eu/projects/11_zemships_hh.html

http://www.bymnews.com/news/newsDetails.php?id=20652

blackbox

Where is the hydrogen fuel generated? Is it generated using nuclear energy to avoid emissions?

probe

blackbox wrote: »

Where is the hydrogen fuel generated? Is it generated using nuclear energy to avoid emissions?

This type of crap question arises here, over and over! :-)

One can only move to a totally green society in stages. We can't wait until every kW of electricity comes from a totally green source before we decide it is OK to put the first electric car on the road, or the first electric boat or hydrogen boat on the water.

In any event, electric motor propulsion is far more energy efficient than the internal combustion engine. It is also a healthier means of propulsion in urban areas.

Unlike the heavily polluting diesel cars which are soon to drop in price in Ireland, because the Irish government doesn't require them to have particulate filters before they qualify for the lower tax rate.

.probe

cathy01

Did I read that bio fule cars have no been linked to cancer?
Sorry if this is the wrong thread for this, feel free to move.
Thnak,
cathy

probe

cathy01 wrote: »

Did I read that bio fule cars have no been linked to cancer?
Sorry if this is the wrong thread for this, feel free to move.
Thnak,
cathy

Perhaps you should start a new thread!

Petrol and diesel cars almost certainly cause increased cancer rates is urban areas.

However a zero emission ship is a zero emission ship, and probably has as near a zero risk of causing cancer as can be found. OK one could have a Chernobyl type event at a nuclear power station feeding electricity to the electrolysis box that makes the H2 for the ship - but that is nothing to do with the ship. The ship could run on H2 made by windmills.

In the same way as one might "cause cancer" by drinking pure clean water which happened to be pumped by electricity generated in a Chernobyl type scenario...

.probe

cathy01

No, I heard it, I think on the news that the fumes from a bio fuel car, causes cancer, or they have found a link.
Could just be normal rubbish, next week THEY will say different.
maybe a new tread is in order, thanks,
cathy

blackbox

probe wrote: »

This type of crap question arises here, over and over! :-)

One can only move to a totally green society in stages. We can't wait until every kW of electricity comes from a totally green source before we decide it is OK to put the first electric car on the road, or the first electric boat or hydrogen boat on the water.

In any event, electric motor propulsion is far more energy efficient than the internal combustion engine. It is also a healthier means of propulsion in urban areas.

Unlike the heavily polluting diesel cars which are soon to drop in price in Ireland, because the Irish government doesn't require them to have particulate filters before they qualify for the lower tax rate.

.probe

It's a sensible, rational question and I don't like your offensive response.

Apart from that your challenge is reasonable.

The reason I raise the question is that many people seem to think that developments like this are a new source of energy, when they are simply a means to store energy generated elsewhere.

To assess the total pollution (and resource consumption, which IMO is a bigger issue) you need to consider the full energy chain.

BTW I agree with you totally about those filthy diesel cars.

probe

blackbox wrote: »

It's a sensible, rational question and I don't like your offensive response.

Apart from that your challenge is reasonable.

The reason I raise the question is that many people seem to think that developments like this are a new source of energy, when they are simply a means to store energy generated elsewhere.

To assess the total pollution (and resource consumption, which IMO is a bigger issue) you need to consider the full energy chain.

BTW I agree with you totally about those filthy diesel cars.

1) My opening remark was not intended as offensive – more hyperbole. Hyperbole, stated in the hope that it would wake some people up to understand that the energy production/consumption cycle, from origin to consumption, is complex and involves a lot of individual cells, rather than a single system controlled by one entity.

2) Anyone who changes the drive system for their boat, car, bus or train from hydrocarbon to electricity is making a very positive contribution to minimising all forms of pollution – both air and sonic, and is helping to reduce the consumption of energy.

3) Getting the electricity producers to change from fossil to green sources is a separate compartment – though just as important.

3) Nuclear energy has without doubt the longest and potentially the most unhealthy pollution tail of all sources. “Is it generated using nuclear energy to avoid emissions?”. I say again. Crap.

Aside from the "Chernobyl type risk" and all emissions from badly designed, incompetently run, well past their use-by date British reactors, we will be arriving at the point where the economically usable uranium is running out. They will be left with low quality uranium that will consume more energy than it delivers to process.

The British government is toying with the idea of charging nuclear electricity producers with the full cost of the mess created by the industry. Which no doubt they will try to pass on to the consumer. If this cost was properly accounted for, it could be perhaps 1€ per kW/hr! Maybe a lot more given the time value of money.

.probe

SeanW

blackbox wrote: »

Where is the hydrogen fuel generated? Is it generated using nuclear energy to avoid emissions?

This type of crap question arises here

It's a very valid question. How is this thing ultimately going to be powered. The short answer is coal. And the way the Germans are going, that's going to include a large quotient of brown coal. That stuff is nasty, and in the interim, they're probably not going to accomplish much by converting transport to electricity, in fact it might even be cleaner to just keep using diesel.

That said though this is a good project, some of us outside Germany might out the technology to better use.

probe

SeanW wrote: »

It's a very valid question. How is this thing ultimately going to be powered. The short answer is coal. And the way the Germans are going, that's going to include a large quotient of brown coal. That stuff is nasty, and in the interim, they're probably not going to accomplish much by converting transport to electricity, in fact it might even be cleaner to just keep using diesel.

That said though this is a good project, some of us outside Germany might out the technology to better use.

A large proportion of the backbone of public transport infrastructure in Germany is already electric – i.e. passenger rail, railfreight, S/U bahnen, trams etc. As is the case in all of the rest of Europe, aside from Ireland. Large scale railfreight projects as have taken place in the Netherlands and Switzerland will move even more freight from diesel to electric.

I doubt if Germany is going to go back to large-scale coal mining as an energy source, notwithstanding the large reserves of energy in the black material. Who is going to go down coal mines (of the current and future generations) and dig the stuff out?

Ireland is in the fortunate position of having access to abundant green energy that is economically viable today. While various parts of Germany and the rest of Continental Europe have lots of wind energy in many regions, their main source of new green electricity will be the direct route – i.e. solar. The price per kW of capacity will continue to fall, and the solar to electricity energy conversion efficiency will rise dramatically. Old green energy infrastructure (mainly hydro) will act as a backup (“turning the generators into pumps sending the water back up the mountain during periods of abundance of wind and solar”).

Austria has started installing LED street lights powered by solar (the solar cell is mounted on the lamppost) and they can provide light even after three or four dark cloudy winter days with no sunshine, without recourse to the grid. Some 10% of the electricity generated in Europe goes on street lighting. Several cities in China have street lamps powered by their own individual micro-windmill and/or solar. The low manufacturing costs in Asia will make tiny windmills very inexpensive, once they ramp up production and marketing in the west.

It seems to me that the future is not a “nuclear or coal is inevitable” one. Rather it will be driven by technologies that focus on each energy consuming application (like street lighting) and providing a green solution tailored to that application.

Increasingly homeowners will be meeting more of their energy needs in-house – (eg solar heating water, small scale wind, geothermal). People living in well planned apartment complexes will have their energy needs met from their trash (and the trash and waste wood etc from neighbouring sources) – which will feed a combined heat, power and cooling district energy system. Developments using these technologies have been around for decades on the continent.

The bottom line is that neither coal nor nuclear will last indefinitely anyway. There is no point in hanging one’s hat on these dirty options, and it is utterly bonkers to start using them for the first time at this stage. Far better to wake up to the fact that we are at the start of an era where all sorts of green technologies are becoming very scalable and affordable. And Ireland is in a prime position to start doing it NOW.

Unfortunately the opposite is happening in Ireland. Some of the key parties behind one of the CO2 dirtiest companies in Ireland had recently disposed of their investment in Ireland's only significant green energy producer. To add insult to injury they sold it to a company that one would have thought is least likely to develop Irish wind energy resources - compared with one of the energy majors on the Continent who have the deep pockets to take advantage of Ireland's unique position, and the marketing resources to sell the energy in the large mainland European energy market.

Ireland's short-termism never ceases to amaze me.

.probe

Wien solarLED streetlights:

http://www.metaefficient.com/leds/solar-trees-may-light-up-europe.html