Freedom from fossil fuels: a diversity of fuels--including hydrogen--is what is needed for U.S. energy independence says this Connecticut legislator.

Five-dollar-a-gallon gasoline.

It's no stretch of the imagination anymore. In fact, it's just shy of becoming a reality. In some countries it's already here. And if that number gives you a chill then that same price for heating oil may very well cause you to freeze. The American economy and the consumer have had their chest laid bare to the world market's competition for energy locked in natural gas and oil.

Yet, it doesn't have to be that way. Science, technology and world political events have brought us to the place we need to be. This confluence of factors brings us to the eve of a much needed revolution in America, an energy revolution. However, in order for the public good to prevail over deeply rooted multinational interest, the people must once again join forces to lead it.

FAILURE TO LEAD

In many ways our government has failed our country. It has not in any meaningful way helped develop and create the alternative energy infrastructure we need to pull away from oil and all its attendant political and environmental ills. Instead lawmakers have relied on the world's energy producers to set policy and provide information on the very matter that enriches them. Government has given short shrift to a vast array of new technologies that can provide the energy we rely on for our society. In some ways it has even stifled the creation of incentives needed to move the process along.

Energy, most of it produced from oil distillates, is a huge cost driver for each of us on an individual level as well as for business and industry. It's not that the world will run out of oil any time soon. It's not clear if oil production has peaked although some noted experts think it may have.

But the demand for energy is growing worldwide at a rate not anticipated 20 years ago. Supplies of deeper more difficult to reach reservoirs of oil are more costly to extract. If we learned anything from our high school economics class it is the rule of supply and demand. A greater demand coupled with a lower supply results in higher costs. Supply is contracting worldwide (or the cost of obtaining that supply is increasing). Demand is growing at unprecedented rates in Asia and elsewhere. That equals higher prices for all of us at the pump and the light switch. Not to mention all our goods and services. China is an example of the world's changing economy, although China is certainly not the only rapidly developing country voraciously consuming the world's oil reserves.

A LOOK AT CHINA

The economic growth in China is the fastest in the world. China's Gross Domestic Product grew by the rate of 9.1 percent in 2002, and to the increasingly alarming 9.7 percent within the first half of 2004. To put this into perspective, the U.S. GDP has averaged about 3.3 percent over the last 12 years.

China is the second largest importer of oil, second only to the United States. The United States now imports 64 percent of its oil and remains the largest consumer of oil products. We are 4 percent of the world's population. The other 5.6 billion or so people want the things we have: refrigerators and automobiles, things that need energy. Over the past 75 or so years, the United States and Western Europe were the primary developing nations. As such, most of the world's oil supply was ours to command since no one else had very many cars and trucks. This is rapidly changing, in June 2004, China imported 2.8 million barrels of oil per day, a 47 percent increase over the preceding June of 2003 with no end in sight.

There is no silver bullet in the technological arsenal that will instantly offset oil as a primary transportation fuel or for energy needs across the board. In all likelihood, different types of alternatives will be used for various applications. That's good. A diversity of fuels for various applications can help reduce dependency and vulnerability to adverse economic and political situations. Geothermal, solar and wind will play important roles in shaving oil imports, but the automobile doesn't work very well on these technologies. It is the automobile that we must address if we are to find energy independency for our nation.

HOPE IN HYDROGEN

Hydrogen fuel cell powered vehicles are where the future lies. Hydrogen is the most plentiful element on the planet. It is found in every glass of water, in natural gas and even in landfill gas-sewage. This is not new technology. Sir William Robert Grove invented the fuel cell in the 1830s. Grove knew that by using electricity he could split water into hydrogen and oxygen. He theorized if you reversed the process and combined hydrogen and oxygen you would get electricity. He tried it. It worked. It still works today and after billions of dollars in investment and research, fuel cell buses and vehicles are on the road. Even more advanced models of fuel cell powered vehicles using the hybrid energy recovery systems like that used on the Honda Insight hybrid are being developed by automakers and companies like Connecticut's own United Technologies Company.

Sir William wasn't concerned about any number of other pluses that hydrogen fuel cells also bring to the table. They are more efficient users of fuel because nothing is being burned. The waste products from the process are water and heat; two byproducts that can be used again. Fuel cells are almost nonpolluting, the supply is abundant on earth and when made from water, opposed to natural gas, the energy source is renewable.

It does take energy to make hydrogen. There is no free lunch. It takes about the same amount of energy used to refine oil into gasoline and heating fuels. When using natural gas, which has lots of hydrogen in it, fuel cells work just fine. The fuel cells can't really be called renewable sources of energy when used with natural gas, but it is a bridge fuel to hydrogen generation. The cells, when used with natural gas, are far more efficient in fuel-to-energy conversion than gasoline or other combustion engines and they can be called Green, very Green.

Automobile manufacturers have developed fuel cell/hydrogen vehicles, and a few are already in use. But the technology can't be expanded until we start producing hydrogen fuel.

We face a chicken and egg situation when it comes to implementing fuel cell technology for our cars and trucks. The auto industry says there are no fueling stations to make the huge investment in setting up mass production and no one will build them because there are no mass manufacturing of fuel cell cars. Remember vinyl records? When the compact disc hit the market it was expected to take 15 years to penetrate because no one had CD players. Well, they just made the players and the CDs at the same time and records went the way of the Edsel.

HYDROGEN HIGHWAYS 

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is breaking some eggs in California. He has proposed the world's first hydrogen highways.

He is involving business, nonprofit groups and technical experts in developing the blueprint. A map of the routes and technical requirements was due the first of the year. The plan calls for a public/private partnership to create and fund the system. Funding is expected to include a combination of revenue bonds, general fund appropriations and private money.

Fueling stations will be built along California's vast highway system as a public investment. Schwarzenegger is taking the first giant leap to make our energy revolution happen. In many ways, he is leading the nation's energy policy by taking action that protects us from being dependent on outside sources of energy. It seems if Washington can't or won't, Governor Schwarzenegger will. We can as well.

Fuel cells and some other alternatives are currently more expensive than the old oil driven machines, hence the reluctance to build the foundation. In a short time the world competition for oil will drive prices even higher and fuel cells will become competitive and in short order cheaper than oil. We need to build the infrastructure now so industry can do its magic. We need to do as California is doing. Our energy flank is wide open to world market oil cost that can damage our economy and each of our pocketbooks.

Energy independence is freedom from foreign countries, their entanglements and multinational oil companies that don't really care about our country. In fact, the energy revolution may be the most patriotic thing we can do for our nation. As the founders of this country did 200 plus years ago we must now do as well--separate ourselves from foreign lords. Energy independence can be achieved. It will require public investment and putting the people's future first. We just need to be willing to invest in a future that is right around to corner.

RELATED ARTICLE: What can states do?

State legislators can help prepare the way toward energy independence by focusing on what works best where they live. Above all, state lawmakers need to help fund geothermal, solar, wind, biofuels and hydrogen projects. They need to put money into plans for conserving energy. Every effort to use less energy and especially to use less imported energy, moves us closer to American energy independence.

On the automotive front, hydrogen is clearly the future. It is best suited in the near term for more populated and heavily traveled regions. Governments are going to have to make a big investment in pipelines, technology and fueling stations just like we put government money behind our highway system, ports and airports. It will take time. In the interim, using ethanol and other homegrown fuels is in the best interest of our country.

Legislators are a creative bunch and need to find ways to promote and fund our energy future. A couple of ways to do this: a referendum, bond issuance or assessment on energy products. Then businesses have to take over.

We always need to think about consumers and taxpayers, but trying to save a dollar this week at the cost of five next week is not in the interest of our people. The old adage of "pay me now or pay me later" is true in this case as in most. There is too much "pay me later" going on these days and we can't afford to leave our nation vulnerable when it comes to energy.

--Terry Backer, Connecticut Representative

Representative Terry Backer chairs the Connecticut House Energy and Technology Committee. He is vice chairman at the National Conference of State Legislatives' Energy Committee.