Let's turn to the challenge of
climate change and energy
sources.
Our science correspondent miles
o'brien is asking, can
alternative energy sources
really help?
Miles: It's a Toyota M.R.I.
Fille -- fuel-cell vehicle.
Jack is director of the national
fuel-cell research center at the
university of California Irvine.
He is convinced a future that
runs on hydrogen like this car
is finally around the corner.
How's the performance?
>> It's nice.
You can design a fuel-cell
engine just as fast as any
battery engine.
Miles: A fuel cell generates
electricity by relying on the
attraction between hydrogen and
oxygen molecules.
A membrane allows positive
hydrogen particles to pass
through to oxygen supplied from
ambient air.
The negative particles are sent
on a detour, creating a flow of
electrons, electricity to power
the motor.
After the work is done, all
those particles reunite to make
water, which is the only
tailpipe emission on these
vehicles.
>> The main benefit is you can
go farther, and hydrogen is
light, so you can put a lot of
hydrogen on board.
Miles: Until now, fuel cells
have had a bumpy, sporadic
right.
First imagined in 1839, they
finally moved into a real-world
application in the 1960's when
nasa developed them as a way to
generate electricity on Apollo
spacecraft.
40 years later, president George
W. Bush pledged more than $1
million in federal funding to
spur widespread adoption of
fuel-cell cars.
>> Our scientists will overcome
obstacles to taking these cars
from left laboratory so that the
first car driven by a child born
today could be powered by
hydrogen and pollution free.
Miles: When people looked under
the hood, they were less
impressed.
After all, most hydrogen is
produced with methane, so there
really was nothing climate
friendly about hydrogen.
>> You could say it was
greenwashing.
>> I would agree.
It tainted hydrogen a bit as
something that enables fossil to
keep going.
Miles: They never stopped going
here and now are drawing renewed
attention and funding.
The reason, cheap and
increasingly plentiful wind and
solar generation make it
possible to employ renewable
electricity to split water
molecules, making hydrogen
carbon free, so-called green
hydrogen.
Is there currently a hydrogen
renaissance?
>> Absolutely.
Almost all jurisdictions that
have objectively considered, how
do we achieve zero emissions in
all and uses, they have realized
hydrogen is required for making
all those sectors zero emission.
Miles: Required because
batteries alone will not get us
there.
Planes, trains, ships, and
trucks need less weight and
longer-range then batteries will
likely ever provide.
At the port of Los Angeles,
Toyota is road testing fuel-cell
powered trucks.
Veteran driver Danny Gamboa gave
me a spin.
He has been evaluating hydrogen
fuel cell trucks for the past
five years.
>> This truck is different.
It is a lot quieter, has a lot
more torque and power, and
doesn't pollute.
The only thing coming out of the
tailpipe is water.
Miles: Four Gamboa, this project
is personal.
On an average day, 16,000 trucks
haul water out of the port of
Los Angeles.
He and his family lived nearby
and all his kids have asthma.
>> Children have the burden of
the truck emissions and get very
little help.
If I can push the needle, I'm
going to do it.
Miles: Toyota made its first big
bet on hydrogen vehicles 30
years ago.
>> This is a fuel-cell garage.
We take a look at the vehicle on
a deep level.
Miles: Craig Scott is the
general manager of Toyota's
fuel-cell solutions group in
garden, California.
>> The good news is the
technology exists.
This is not a fundamentals of
physics problem, this is an
engineering exercise and
development of resources and
bringing scale.
When you are moving from the
income bit that's been around
hundreds of years, there are
costs.
Miles: California provides
incentives.
Jack Brower took me to one of
the 45 hydrogen filling stations
in the state.
Hydrogen is energy dense but
also the lightest element on the
periodic table, so it must be
highly compressed or liquefied
to be distributed.
>> It will always be more
expensive than gasoline to move
around.
That's why infrastructure is
key.
If we can have these built and
make a bunch of liquid hydrogen
and deliver it this way, it will
become less expensive.
Miles: Getting to that point is
driving a lot of work at the
renewable energy laboratory in
golden, Colorado.
The bipartisan infrastructure
bill includes $9.5 billion in
federal funding for hydrogen
technology development.
The department of energy an
effort to seed the market with
hydrogen distribution hubs
across the country.
>> To get to a national hydrogen
network, government incentives
and partnership are critical.
This is the energy systems
integration facility.
Miles: Mechanical engineer Keith
wiki runs the fuel-cell and
hydrogen technology laboratory.
What are you working on that's
going to make this happen?
>> The number one goal is to
make hydrogen cost less to
produce.
There is a goal to get down to
one dollar per kilogram in one
decade.
Solar and wind took 30, 40 years
to get to where they are now.
Miles: They are refining every
aspect of hydrogen production.
Here they are testing new
techniques to improve the
performance of devices called
electrolyzers that can pull
hydrogen out of water.
>> How do you do that with the
least electricity possible?
Miles: They are building an
extensive wind and solar farm to
power hydrogen electrolysis.
Hydrogen can be used for grade
level energy storage, providing
power when the wind is not
blowing and the sun is not
shining.
Hydrogen can enable them to all
renewable grid.
>> Absolutely.
Hydrogen can enable a huge
penetration of renewables and
not needing the power plants
using combustion today.
Miles: Hydrogen is again seeing
a moment in the sun.
This time the technology and
urgency may spark a more
positive reaction.
For the pbs newshour, I am miles
o'brien at the port of los