This op-ed was original published in the Saint Albans Messenger and reposted here with permission
October 8, 2024
Abomination of an energy act — Thank you, Emerson Lynn, for your op-ed piece in the 4 Oct Messenger. You are way too genteel and mannerly, Emerson, in your treatment of our VT Legislature and their abomination of an energy Act, titled: Clean Heat Standard. At best, it’s an unmitigated disaster. At worst it will surely precipitate a financial calamity for our citizens and the long-term financial integrity of our state. Let me characterize things with some graphical imagery. Recall a short TV cartoon clip. An ‘olden days’ stagecoach drawn by cartoon horses with cartoon characters as coach driver and coach footmen. Cartoon passengers are hanging out the windows. The rickety old stagecoach is careening through the countryside in a frantic dash, bumping up, down, swaying side to side. The cartoon characters laugh and cheer as they sing “…we don’t know where we’re going but we’re merrily, merrily, merrily on our way…!” Well, that’s our legislature and their Clean Heat Standard …and, so, where are we going with VT-CHS?
Let me begin by suggesting horror stories that hundreds of millions—even tens of billions of dollars will be required to carry out the confusing particulars of Clean Heat Standard should surprise no Vermonter. Our legislators have enacted a law that beats around the bush with no sense of direction and no well-defined objective—except, perhaps, to create a massive pot of money. Inevitably, opportunistic, vested interests will plunder the pot of money without ever achieving any meaningful progress on carrying out the intent of the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2020. The present situation is far worse than the cartoon stagecoach imagery, cited above, because in our case, the cart is presently before the horse! We need to change that. Simply stated, we have to stop putting carbon into our atmosphere. Presently there is only one viable, safe, cost effective and realistically attainable methodology and that is to supplant all fossil fuel energy sources with hydrogen. Wait! Don’t flee to the fire exits. Learn.
First from Wikipedia. “On May 2, 1800, English chemist William Nicholson decomposed water into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity. This was the first electrolysis of water.” Further, from Wikipedia, in 1839 Englishman, William Robert Graves demonstrated operation of a hydrogen energy fuel cell which produced an electric current by re-introducing hydrogen and oxygen to each other via a semi-permeable porous wall. Starting in the mid-1900’s, U.S. space programs regularly used hydrogen fuel cells as on-board power sources for space flight. Today, any ordinary citizen can buy electrolyzers and hydrogen fuel cells in the online marketplace. Both items exist in sizes from tiny up to huge units delivered to a jobsite on large flatbed tractor-trailer trucks. So, how does this impact an ordinary citizen?
One particular New Jersey citizen, named Mike Strizki, took advantage of the easy availability of hydrogen energy production components to build his own home hydrogen energy system. Mike, like me, is a retired civil engineer. I visited Mike at his rural home in New Jersey. On his garage roof, are solar panels which produce electricity all day long. His solar panel electricity powers his electrolyzer all day, producing hydrogen which he stores in tanks similar to the propane gas storage tanks one often sees adjacent to Vermont rural homes. With his hydrogen fuel cell, he produces electricity, as necessary, to keep his large home storage battery fully charged. His home-produced hydrogen powers all of his home electricity needs and also fuels his two Toyota Mirai hydrogen automobiles. Mike says he meets all of his annual hydrogen fuel needs during the months of May and June. Mike is completely off the grid and he did not go ‘broke’ putting together his home system. Presently, Mike custom-builds a limited number of home hydrogen power systems for individuals across the country.
It does not take a quantum leap to understand that for a few million dollars [not billions—not hundreds of millions] Vermont could get started on its own program of hydrogen energy home, commercial and industrial power system upgrades and demonstrate the viability of hydrogen as a realistic and affordable replacement for fossil fuel. The best news of all—a pot of federal money for hydrogen energy project grants to states like Vermont, already exists. All that is needed now is for VT citizens to insist that their legislators abandon the Clean Heat Standard and get us started into the new age of hydrogen energy– Greg Pierce P.E. (CE) ret.