快猫短视频

AN EXECUTIVE at the world鈥檚 third largest oil company last week consigned the
internal combustion engine to the dustbin of history. According to Paul Histon,
fuels technology manager of BP Amoco, the next century will belong to vehicles
powered not by oil but by fuel cells running on hydrogen created by splitting
water molecules.

鈥淚f the motor car is to stay with us, we need to explore radical new ways to
fuel it,鈥� Histon told a seminar at the company鈥檚 laboratories in Sunbury, west
of London. While the internal combustion engine is dramatically cleaner than a
generation ago, Histon says it will nevertheless soon be struggling to meet
stricter targets for reduced emissions of smoke, sulphur and the greenhouse gas
carbon dioxide.

鈥淚f we are truly to get big carbon dioxide reductions,鈥� Histon says,
鈥渉ydrogen is the best long-term choice.鈥� It could be extracted from oil or
natural gas鈥攚hich would maintain a role for oil companies in their
traditional form. But ideally the hydrogen would be derived from water,
according to Histon.

The key technology would be the development of hydrogen fuel cells (New
快猫短视频, 1 May, p 20). Histon predicts that fuel cells could be twice as
good as the best internal combustion engine in terms of fuel economy and CO
₂ production.

The benefit to the environment, however, will largely depend on how the
electricity needed for the hydrolysis is generated, admits Bernie Bulkin, BP鈥檚
vice-president for environmental affairs. Using oil-fuelled generators would
provide little gain. In his vision of a future 鈥渉ydrogen economy鈥�, the energy to
create hydrogen from the electrolysis of water will come from cheap and
greenhouse-friendly solar, hydroelectric and possibly nuclear sources.

Histon predicts that, within a decade, we will be seeing a large number of
highly efficient hybrid vehicles on our roads, which will use petrol-driven
generators to feed power to batteries, for instance. But eventually, he
believes, hydrogen fuel cells will take over. 鈥淪ome people say by 2015鈥擨
think it will take a little longer,鈥� he says. Switching to the new fuel
technology would require a massive investment in new infrastructure, however.
鈥淲e only want one big change,鈥� he says, 鈥淚f it鈥檚 going to be hydrogen, let鈥檚 get
on and do it.鈥�

BP Amoco is one of several oil companies that have been repositioning
themselves as 鈥渆nergy companies鈥� and expanding their interests in alternative
energy sources such as solar power. This follows the climate summit in Kyoto in
1997, which set targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Vehicle exhausts
account for up to half of the CO₂ emissions in some industrialised
countries.

Greenpeace complains that the companies are still actively prospecting for
new oil, and BP Amoco says it is currently exploring in 24 countries. But
Histon鈥檚 comments are the most outspoken prediction yet from a major oil company
that its future lies elsewhere.