Mercedes-Benz chief supports global hydrogen economy

When the head of Mercedes-Benz talks, people take notice... An ardent supporter of the automotive industry, Chairman of Daimler AG and head of Mercedes-Benz passenger cars, Dr Dieter Zetsche, fervently argues that the industry sets an environmental example for others to follow.

That much is clear from a wide-ranging speech the Benz boss delivered at a special media event the night before the opening of the Frankfurt motor show.

Speaking in German with simultaneous translation taking place, Dr Zetsche kicked off with the observation that society's pessimists are concerned that growth of the consumer society cannot continue without further detriment to the environment.

"We need growth through innovation," Dr Zetsche argued. "In this regard, 'higher, faster, farther' is anything but passé."

It has to be sustainable growth however — and quite simply hydrogen is the best prospect for sustainable power in the future, says the Benz exec. While he doesn't see an end in sight for the car or personal mobility generally, Dr Zetsche suggests the industry must find ways of supplying affordable cars to aspiring markets in China and India, to name two, without contributing to the twin evils of global climate change and peak oil.

The global automotive industry will grow faster this decade than the global economy, says Zetsche, who takes a sly swipe at radical environmentalists by pointing out that the growth of SUV sales in Germany is stronger than the rising tide of popularity for the Greens party.

Although Benz is very much committed to fuel-cell technology, Zetsche acknowledges there's a place for battery-electric vehicles also. As an analogy, he cited the obsolescence of the steam locomotive, now replaced entirely by either diesel locomotives or electric trains. The two newer motive drive systems operating across the world's rail networks work in parallel.

There's no suggestion that one might ever replace the other. That's the argument Dr Zetsche mounts in support of electric vehicles and fuel-cell vehicles complementing each other.

Clearly fuel cell vehicles and EVs can lead the way into a cleaner future for personal transport, in partnership, but ultimately clean power must beget clean power. There's no point charging an electric vehicle's battery pack, or creating hydrogen by electrolysis, using power generated by coal-fired power stations. Even nuclear power stations are being gradually decommissioned in Germany. It will take a 12-year program to conclude, but the Germans are already drawing up to 30 per cent of their energy from renewable resources.

A lesson for Australia in that, it might be argued.

Interrupting his speech, Dr Zetsche ran a video fronted by Jeremy Rifkin, President of the Foundation on Economic Trends. In his video, Rifkin argued for a "third industrial revolution", one in which hydrogen is the lynchpin. To create this new modus operandi in a world that is already locked into technological inertia requires five steps — or pillars as Rifkin describes them.

The first pillar is a shift away from fossil fuel dependency, in favour of renewable sources of energy.

Over a 50-year timespan, Rifkin's second pillar will see "homes, offices and factories" converted to "micro power plants". Solar panels on the roofs, wind and thermal energy can all be captured by modifying existing structures or building new ones. As a qualified economist, Rifkin argues that the construction work required for his second pillar has the potential to keep the global economy in a constant bull market state for the 50 years.

Pillar three involves storing the renewable energy, once captured — converting the energy to hydrogen, typically through electrolysis. Hydrogen, compressed, can be stored easily in conventional gas tanks already developed for the storage of volatile substances such as compressed natural gas.

For the fourth pillar, Rifkin proposes an 'energy internet'. The electricity grid becomes a 'nervous system' for transport.

The fifth and final pillar involves zero emission vehicles using hydrogen created through renewable energies for fuel cell operation, or EVs charged from domestic power supplies (also renewable), as the car manufacturers already anticipate.

Dr Zetsche explained that the boom in oil production throughout the 20th Century ran in parallel with, and largely as a result of, increased consumer preference for privately-owned cars. It has now reached the stage, however, that the oil industry can no longer easily supply consumer demand for private cars, whereas hydrogen is everywhere and freely available. It doesn't require deep-sea drilling or plundering national parks to reach it, although it has to be separated from some other element.

But the separation can be carried out in a way that's CO2-neutral if renewable energies are used — solar, wind or hydro-electric.

Therein lies another point to his argument: Hydrogen is not limited to one geographic area and won't create rich nations and cartels feeding off the wealth of other nations without its natural resource.

Dr Zetsche wrapped up his speech acknowledging that he had set out to provoke thought in his audience — thought about the future.

"I hope... that I was at least able to fire your imagination with the assertion that 'higher, faster, farther' remains more than right for our times," he said.

The final, telling point came with his observation that a hydrogen economy wasn't an especially new idea.

"Even Jules Verne extolled the virtues of a hydrogen economy," he said. "But those who still dismiss this technology as Utopia have missed one thing — these days it's a matter of science, not fiction."