Hydrogen Transmission Network: Integrated Clean Energy, Clean Water Solution

As most governments are considering harmful solutions like nuclear energy and piecemeal solution like clean coal, there is now an invention that stands to provide both energy and water to everyone, while in the process consuming no irreplaceable resources, generating no waste, and replacing two infrastructures - electric grid and water system - with a single elegant network whose efficiency is significantly greater than that of the electric grid. This solution solves two resource shortages for foreseeable future while significantly reducing their burden on the environment and having the potential to both stimulate the economy in the short term and realize great savings in the long term.

The proposal is on the Climate change website of the Australian government, and it has been introduced to governments worldwide. It is called The Hydrogen Transmission Network (HTN).

Here is a summary of what it does and how it works:

How it Works

Solar energy is to power electrolysis of ocean water. The oxygen is to be released into the air; the hydrogen is to be sent through pipes to every home, every city, every farm, every industrial and commercial installation, to be reacted on the spot with oxygen in the air to produce energy and water at once. The basis of energy will move from the electric grid, with its current mix of coal, nuclear, and hydroelectric sources, to the abundant energy of the sun and the energy of the ocean. Meanwhile water needs will be provided from the oceans, reducing the burden on the freshwater resources in countries where they are inadequate to meet the needs of the growing population.

Environmental Advantages

At the price of one, round the clock, people will get on-demand clean energy and clean water, without destruction of anything that cannot be replaced and without production of any harmful byproducts. More area will become capable of sustaining farms, human habitation, and forests, creating more food and clothing for internal use and export, accommodating the population growth, and creating green area to absorb atmospheric CO2. The sources for energy – currently mostly fossil fuels – and for water – currently freshwater, which is in many places inadequate and running out – will become the sun and the ocean, neither of which are polluting and neither of which are at any risk of running out for centuries. The process will produce as its byproduct only water, which will then go back into the environment to create greenery and replenish the water taken from the ocean.

Economic Advantages

The HTN will create huge numbers of jobs in the short term for its development and construction, putting back to work the people dislocated by industrial flight abroad. It also will lift the economy out of the financial crisis. In the long term, it will save huge amounts of money by replacing two infrastructures – electricity grid and water – with a single efficient network of hydrogen pipes. The fossil fuel resources will last longer and be used for higher-end goods. The greater farmland will be able to sustain greater population, reduce world hunger, and produce more farm products for exports or internal use. More forestland will become possible, creating more area for CO2 absorption and for regeneration of the planet. A sustainable, well-supplied, population will become possible in places such as Australia, Israel, the American Southwest, the Arabian Peninsula, and ultimately the deserts of Central Asia, India, China, and Africa. The deserts will become farmland and forest land, reducing hunger and absorbing the atmospheric CO2, and tipping the balance from disaster toward sustainability.

Technological Feasibility

The technology for all three parts of the HTN exists already. The energy efficiency of the mechanism has been computed at 50% to 70%, which is far more than the current electric grid. The RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) report proposes a special type of pipes – steel pipes with internal glass pipe – to make sure that the hydrogen is delivered safely and on demand. With solar-powered electrolysis plants at the point of input, and fuel cells or special engines at the point of output, this will create a single environmentally clean, economic, elegant and reliable infrastructure to provide for the energy and water needs of houses, cities, towns, offices, and commercial and industrial installations of any country that implements the Hydrogen Transmission Network.

The original proposal was made for Australia and described for Australia, but it can be useful just about anywhere. It is found in greater detail on

http://www.users.bigpond.com/adda1234/HP.htm