Alternative energy is called alternative, until it is cheaper, but cheaper than what? – electricity out of the wall at 12 cents yesterday, 15 cents today, 18 cents tomorrow?  Are you aware that people in the U.S. pay different amounts for electricity?  The average residential retail price of electricity in the U.S. was 10.6 cents per kWh in 2007.  Florida was 11.2 cents, most southern states were about 9 cents, WV 7 cents, UT 8 cents, NY and CT about 18 cents, and CA and NJ 15 cents.  So, states that burn coal have the cheapest electricity rates. Places like Utah and West Virginia burn their own coal, so even though they get all the pollution and the greenhouse gasses, at least they get to keep all their money, unlike Florida which ships more than $25 billion out of state to purchase fuel.  Florida has already been paying more for cleaner burning fossil fuels than the Southern states to our north.  We are now paying more for natural gas than we are for coal, and that price increase is more than what is being suggested to add to our electric bills for solar energy.

New Jersey has more solar than Florida because homeowners in NJ have a Renewable Portfolio Standard, and fees (collected into a Public Benefit Fund) are used to incentivize the homeowner for solar on their roof.  If such a fund collected $1.50 on your electric bill in Florida, we could have the equivalent of California’s Million Solar Roofs Program.  Clearly $1.50 is less than the $40 a month cost of doing nothing.  While solar water heating is cost effective today, solar electricity (photovoltaics) without a subsidy is not cost effective today, but the subsidy is still less than the cost of “accelerated cost recovery” for nuclear power.  What about the jobs?  These jobs will not be in China and India, they will be done by your neighbor.  Vote Solar estimates that more than 3,800 megawatts (MW) of solar could be added by 2020 and with it approximately 85,500 new jobs in Florida. What a great way to love your neighbor.

Jim Fenton, Director
Florida Solar Energy Center

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One of the more interesting hydrogen projects going on now at the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) deals with a unique way to produce hydrogen. Dr. Ali Raissi and Karthikayan Ramasamy are developing a process to produce hydrogen based on reformation of used automotive lubricating oils.

Used lube oil — often considered just another substance to be disposed of — can be valuable when recycled as a re-refined lubricant or as an energy source. Each year, Floridians generate more than 45 million gallons of used lubricating oils. Typically, used lubricating oil is delivered at a cost of about 10 cents per gallon, making it a potentially inexpensive source for local production of hydrogen. Another interesting attribute of used oil is that it is collected in central facilities near high population areas – exactly where hydrogen is needed to fuel automobiles and transportation systems.

Most lube oils contain a complex mixture of higher hydrocarbons very difficult to break down using thermal energy alone. After all, lube oils are especially formulated to withstand very high temperatures encountered within the internal combustion engines of automobiles. At FSEC, Raissi and Ramasamy have built a thermocatalytic reactor and process that uses supercritical water to reform lube oils into a high pressure, hydrogen-rich synthetic gas. This process is especially useful for coupling to conventional refrigeration plants for hydrogen liquefaction. The energy required for compressing hydrogen prior to liquefaction is provided upstream of the process using thermal energy instead of mechanical energy downstream after hydrogen gas evolves.

Water becomes a supercritical fluid at temperature above 374.2°C and pressure over 22.1 MPa. In the Supercritical region, densities are a fraction of that of normal liquid water, while solubility behavior is closer to that of high-pressure steam.

To date, FSEC researchers have operated this system successfully using both virgin and used/discarded oils and have demonstrated the viability of the process.

To view a video showing the laboratory apparatus and an animation of the FSEC process for producing hydrogen from used lube oil, click on http://media.fsec.ucf.edu

The Florida Solar Energy Center, a research institute of the University of Central Florida, is the largest and most active state-supported energy research center in the country. Current research activities include solar water and pool heating, solar electric and distributed generation systems, energy-efficient buildings, alternative transportation systems, hydrogen fuel, fuel cells and other energy areas. For more information about the center, visit www.fsec.ucf.edu or call the FSEC Public Information Office at (321) 638-1015.

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