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KAPPE SEMINAR SERIES …

Tags: environmental imperatives, fuel cell vehicles, gasoline diesel, greenhouse gas pollution, h2gen innovations, hevs, hybrid electric vehicles, hydrogen infrastructure, innovations inc, internal combustion engine, local air pollution, long term solutions, oil consumption, oil dependence, plug in hybrids, power trains, sandy thomas, societal benefits, time horizon, urban air pollution,
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Language: english
Created: Wed Aug 27 16:29:39 2008
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               KAPPE SEMINAR SERIES
                                 151 Willard Building

                           Wednesday, October 29, 2008
                             11:15 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Transportation Options in a Carbon-Constrained
                     World:
    Plug-in Hybrids, Biofuels and Fuel Cells

                      C.E. (Sandy) Thomas, Ph.D.
                               President
                        H2Gen Innovations, Inc.
                          Alexandria, Virginia
With the mounting awareness that climate change and oil dependence are both serious and growing
threats to society, some organizations are now promoting near-term options such as plug-in hybrid
electric vehicles (PHEVs) or biofuels such as ethanol or butanol to alleviate these threats from the
transportation sector. These near-term options are desirable and should be pursued to reduce our de-
mand for imported oil, but they should not be taken as a substitute for much better mid- to long-term
solutions such as hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) to curb urban air pollution, climate
change gases and oil consumption. The national security and environmental imperatives for action
are so strong that we should be vigorously pursuing all plausible transportation alternatives without
delay.

We report here on the results from an extensive computer model developed over the last decade to
simulate the societal benefits of various alternative transportation options including hybrid electric
vehicles (HEVs) and plug-in hybrids fueled by gasoline, diesel fuel, natural gas, ethanol and hydro-
gen, including both internal combustion engine (ICE) and fuel cell (FC) power trains. These simula-
tions compare the societal benefits over a 100-year time horizon of each vehicle/fuel combination in
terms of reduced local air pollution, reduced greenhouse gas pollution, and reduced oil consumption.
The model estimates the costs of installing a nation-wide hydrogen infrastructure, and also the costs
of reducing the carbon footprint of both electrical generation and hydrogen production over the 21st
century.


Contact: Bruce Logan, 863-7908; blogan@psu.edu