Fuel from water
Berit Pegg-Karlsson in Polperro, Cornwall, is the Swedish-born director of the British-Scandinavian Association for Wind and Hydrogen Power, backed by the Pure Energy Trust, of which self-sufficiency writer John Seymour is the main trustee. Pegg-Karlsson plans to popularise in Britain the very successful hydrogen 'Welgas' experiment financed in the town of Harnosand by the Swedish steel industry, SAAB and other firms. In Harnosand, Olaf Tegstrom designed and lived in a house where the electricity came from a small computer-controlled Danish windmill in the garden. The electricity was used to electrolyse filtered water into its constituents, hydrogen and oxygen, with the hydrogen gas used for cooking and heating the house and as fuel for a SAAB car. The car is non-polluting as the exhaust consists almost entirely of water vapour, and the safe storage problem has been solved, with the gas absorbed to form a metal hydride and released as required. Indeed in West Berlin, thanks to government subsidies for fuels that did not cause acid rain, Daimler Benz has built a filling station where various converted vehicles can be filled with hydrogen, produced from town gas.
'The electricity was used to electrolyse filtered water into its constituents, hydrogen and oxygen, with the hydrogen gas used for cooking and heating the house and as fuel for a SAAB car'
Sooner or later, Pegg-Karlsson believes, hydrogen will become the world's prime provider of energy, a technological revolution that would solve the problem of atmospheric pollution, at the same time as gradually replacing nuclear power. Hydrogen is an excellent fuel with an energy content three to four times higher than oil, and it can be produced from all known energy sources, besides being a by-product of many industrial processes.
Having hosted seminars for scientists and others on the subject in Sweden, Pegg-Karlsson now wants to do the same in Britain, and the city council of Uppsala in Sweden is interested in forming links with a British city such as Bristol, to share ideas and to conduct joint hydrogen projects. The Pure Energy Trust is also attempting to obtain funding for a minibus to run on hydrogen derived from a 20kw wind turbine and electrolysis unit.
'Hydrogen power is Jules Vernes' old dream come true - using water as a fuel'
Pegg-Karlsson is enthusiastic about her Association's potential: 'Humanity can today create what a few years ago was thought of as a very distant future society. And it's all about positive development, caring for the earth and taking steps towards a sustainable future society. Hydrogen power is Jules Vernes' old dream come true - using water as a fuel. The technology is already available. It is largely a question of people and politicians taking brave decisions.'
An information package is available for a minimum L2-50 donation from the Pure Energy Trust, Fairview, Polperro, Looe, Cornwall, PL13 2RB (tel 0503 72143; fax 0503 72063).
A hydrogen car at less than 1p a mile
Adapted from an article in the Daily Mail by Michael Kemp and in the Times by Kevin Eason.
A new fuel cell, patented as the Laser-Cell-TM, costing L2,000, has been developed by Dr Roger Billings (who invented the first home personal computer and double-sided floppy disk). When his fuel cell is plugged into the electric mains it extracts hydrogen from water over an eight hour period and stores the gas harmlessly in powdered metals, where it cannot explode or ignite.
The fuel cell can then be switched into 'reverse' and turn the hydrogen into electricity to power the electric motor driving the car. Dr Billings' invention could have much wider applications, using hydrogen for home electrical needs and for trucks, buses, trains, boats, submarines and aircraft.
The cell is a third the size of a Fiesta petrol engine and has no moving parts, nothing to service and a life of over 250,000 miles. 60 to 80 per cent of the hydrogen is turned into electricity, compared with the fuel-to-power ratio of a petrol engine of 30 per cent.
'Fast and quiet, a hydrogen car costs less than 1p a mile to run and is also environmentally friendly. The only exhaust is water vapour'
Fast and quiet, a hydrogen car costs less than 1p a mile to run and is also environmentally friendly. The only exhaust is water vapour. A model using the new technology could be on sale for under L20,000 by 1993.
A petrol-driven Fiesta costs 33.5p a mile to run but in the prototype hydrogen vehicle, two gallons of water provide enough hydrogen for a 300-mile drive and the car has a potential top speed of 80mph.
Dr Roger Billings, Director, Academy of Science, Kansas, USA.
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