Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions with Electricity and Electrochemical Products

Abstract

The use of renewable or nuclear power to displace internationally traded products that are produced elsewhere with coal, provides a natural objective for analysis and research. Electrochemically produced hydrogen will have a role in future vehicles but there may be some nearer term opportunities for producers of electricity to help the transportation sector meet its climate change targets.A recent study of full cycle greenhouse gas emissions has shown that fuel cell powered vehicles are less cost effective than hybrid electric/intemal combustion engine vehicles for coping with climate change. The application of the hybrid approach to a fuel cell system will reduce this disadvantage to some extent while the large numbers of batteries in conventional hybrid and future fuel cell hybrid vehicles will consume electrochemical products.Many Canadian products are either made directly by electrolysis or by reduction using electrochemical products. They are: hydrogen, zinc, copper, magnesium, titanium (magnesium is used to reduce rutile), nickel, manganese, lithium, sodium, calcium, chlorine, sodium hydroxide, sodium chlorate, etc. Some of these products may be in demand for vehicle fuel and for batteries while some have structural applications.Vehicle weight reduction results in a significant fuel and greenhouse gas saving in both urban and highway driving. Production of light metals for vehicle structures is a beneficial application of cleanly produced electrical power though coal is still a significant source of energy in the production of aluminium. With the growth of that industry 10,000 MW. less than 10% of Canada's installed capacity, could be parlayed into 130 million tonnes of equivalent carbon dioxide reduction (more than that produced by road transportation in Canada today), even excluding the savings made by reducing vehicle weight.A wide range of readily shipped electrochemical products will be important in the transportation industry of the future and their production is ideally suited to provide a base load for the power industry.