May 17th, 2012
Let’s Talk Hydrogen Convergence 05/17/12
Episode 53: Will the Smart Grid Go the Way of the Dinosaurs and the rural high-speed Internet, Don’t forget the Transmission Logjam, Also don’t under estimate the Dangers of Dinosaur activity
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May 16th, 2012
UK Researchers make case for Hydrogen as Biofuel
Earlier this month, scientists from the University of Birmingham presented their findings on creating hydrogen from food waste. According to the researchers hydrogen could become a next generation biofuel because all agribusiness concerns have to do is add bacteria to sugary waste to produce it. Furthermore, this same process can be fed by the waste that is left over from current ethanol production.
As you know, these are the benefits of using hydrogen convergence as a framework for achieving sustainability. Hydrogen Convergence can initially run on byproducts of other industrial processes. Byproducts that are normally viewed as waste become assets that can be sold to enhance the bottom line. As the market for hydrogen fuel grows, the entrepreneurship process will take over and enhance the hydrogen production yield.
Most corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports say that sustainability is good business. However, what they mean is that sustainability is good PR for businesses. This research shows a direct competitive advantage for those companies that produce hydrogen rich byproducts. Instead of being net energy consumers, many of these companies could become net energy producers without penalizing economic activity.
Zachary Alexander
Concepts: biofuel, byproducts, CSR, entrepreneurship, UKMay 15th, 2012
Will Smart Metering suffer the Same Fate as Rural Internet?
According GTM Research’s new report called “the Smart Grid in Asia, 2012-2016,” three Asians countries are going to spend over $10 billion on smart metering by 2016. This poses a threat to the competitiveness of both lesser industrialized communities and highly industrialized communities in the United States. Companies that locate their businesses in these Asian countries will have a competitive advantage.
Smart metering gives utility companies remote access to their customer’s meters for monitoring purposes. The reason that these companies have a competitive advantage is because smart metering increases the potential uptime or business continuity. Time is money. Companies that have access to smart metering should have faster restoral times and fewer instances of service degradation.
This scenario should sound very familiar for economic developers in lesser industrialized communities (LIC) because it is the situation that LIC’s find themselves in when it comes to high speed internet. A lot of very serious people agree that high speed internet levels the playing field for companies in a LIC. However, for many LICs the benefits of high-speed internet remains a pipe dream.
The only good news in this report is that these Asian countries appear to be implementing their smart grid strategies without using hydrogen convergence as a sustainability framework. The Unites States Economy needs to be on a more entrepreneurial footing and anything that reinforces the current centralized energy architecture is problematic. Overcoming the smart metering investments will be a challenge but there is still time to get back in the race.
Zachary Alexander
Concepts: energy architecture, LIC, smart grid, smart meteringMay 14th, 2012
Don’t under estimate the Dangers of Dinosaur activity
Today, a lot of the very serious people like to say that they don’t keep up with new technology in their industry because there are too changes. Many of these people like to dismiss every new advance as inconsequential. When pressed they will say, “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.” This policy might have worked pre-Globalization however now the only thing guaranteed is that the pace of techno economic change will increase.
Post-Globalization, this kind of dinosaur activity must be exposed because of the existential threat it poses. Not every technological advance will result in a sea change. On the other hand, small changes can lead to massive upheavals and “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” mindset can cause a chilling effect on the organization. This chilling effect can render the organization blind to techno economic change.
Dinosaur activity interferes with the natural response mechanism much like an autoimmune disease in the human body. Real innovation happens on the periphery or fringes of an organization. Businesses that want to compete in the post-Globalization marketplace must nurture their innovation infrastructure so that they can rapidly take advantage of techno economic changes that others don’t see.
Zachary Alexander
Concepts: autoimmune disease, dinosaur activity, Innovation-InfrastructureMay 14th, 2012
The Impact of Unreasonable People on Economic Development
A lot of very serious people point to the impact of “unreasonable people” as the catalyst for the “Arab Spring” in the Middle East. The same people also ask if the United States and the other OECD countries need a similar movement. You and your peers may want to answer this question by saying, “It often comes down to the difference between lesser industrialized countries and highly industrialized countries.”
What makes unreasonable people so powerful in lesser industrialized countries is there willingness to put their countries’ on more entrepreneurial footings with little or no resources. On the other hand, the United States and other OECD Countries have all the resources they need or access to the resources they need to put their economies on a more entrepreneurial footings.
The only thing stopping highly industrialized countries from rapidly responding to techno economic events is dinosaur activity. For those that are new readers of the ebTDesign Forum, dinosaurs (i.e., big coal, big oil, and big nuclear power) are companies that either can’t or won’t change their business models based on techno economic changes to the post-Globalization landscape. They would rather delay the inevitable.
Economic developers in highly industrialized countries need to be more like “dinosaur hunters” than like unreasonable people. We at the ebTDesign Forum describe dinosaur hunters as individuals that make it their mission to hunt down delaying tactics by members of their communities and to champion techno economic change. The reason is because neither evolution nor creative destruction take prisoners.
Zachary Alexander
Concepts: dinosaur activity, dinosaur hunters, OECD, unreasonable peopleMay 10th, 2012
Let’s Talk Hydrogen Convergence 05/10/12
Episode 52: Understanding the Cost Advantages for Lesser Industrialized Communities, $566 Billion required to maintain the Status Quo, Fast Chargers ignore Current Budgetary Reality
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May 9th, 2012
Understanding the Hydrogen Convergence Cost Advantage
As economic developers, it is challenging to make the case for early investment in hydrogen infrastructure without the availability of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. It will be much easier to build hydrogen infrastructure once automakers produce enough hydrogen fuel cell cars to use as demo models at auto dealerships. In fact, the dirty little secret is that hydrogen fuel cell vehicles sell themselves.
The cost advantage comes from the fact that hydrogen convergence can be implemented incrementally. As you know, the budgets for economic development organizations are under pressure. On the other hand, energy architectures are changing all over the world and maintaining the status quo is no longer an option because neither evolution nor creative destruction takes prisoners.
These are the same dynamics that killed mainframe and super computer companies in the 1990’s. Personal computer arrays allowed organizations to match the brute force computing power provided by super computers at a fraction of the cost. Retrofitting gas stations with hydrogen pumps will do the same for America’s energy architecture. Simply put hydrogen convergence will provide an incremental upgrade path.
Even a small increase in power generating capacity or minor addition of metering functionality can result in major cost overruns for consumers. Changing conventional energy architectures will be extremely challenging for lesser industrialized communities (LIC) due to budgetary constraints. This is why choosing hydrogen convergence as an energy architecture framework makes sense.
Zachary Alexander
Concepts: energy architecture, hydrogen infrastructure, LICMay 8th, 2012
Hydrogen Convergence Movement grows in South Africa
The European Hydrogen Association (EHA) participated in a South African Round-Table on Technology Cooperation with developing countries. This event showcased the efforts of EHA to promote hydrogen convergence around the world. The reason that economic developers in the United States should care about this event is because South Africa is the largest trading partner of the European Union.
This means that American companies that produce hydrogen convergence solutions will be disadvantaged by the lack of commitment by the Department of Energy (DOE). As you know, we at the ebTDesign Forum have been critical of both the Obama Administration and Congress for the confusion coming out of the DOE. This election should be about putting America on more entrepreneurial footing.
The future will be won by those communities that can unlock the benefits of shared achievement in sustainability. The best way to do this is by making a strategic commitment much like the moon landing. Then a government agency like the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Interagency Working Group (IWG) can act as an economic development organization to build a better business climate for sustainability.
Zachary Alexander
Concepts: Congress, DOE, EHA, EU, IWG, Obama, South AfricaMay 7th, 2012
Promoting Fast Chargers ignores Queueing Theory
According to greentechgrid.com, Schneider Electric is introducing its new fast charging systems at the annual battery electric vehicle (EV) showcase symposium. In fact, this fast charger introduction comes at a very opportune time because California will use money from the $120 million settlement between the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and NRG Energy to purchase EV charging infrastructure.
On the other hand, fast chargers are still pretty slow compared to hydrogen filling stations. Even the Schneider Electric fast chargers can take 30 minutes to charge an electric vehicle versus 3 minutes for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. As economic developers, the strategy of promoting fast chargers versus investing in hydrogen infrastructure is a dinosaur attack. By promoting fast chargers, confounders are saying there is no need for hydrogen infrastructure.
Energy sector dinosaurs (i.e., big coal, big oil, and big nuclear power) are companies that either can’t or won’t change their business models in reaction to techno economic events. It’s up to economic developers to direct their client companies to read some of the literature on queueing theory. A lot of very serious people don’t seem to understand that decreasing fueling time increases competitive advantages.
You would think that anyone that has ever seen a NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) race could attest to the competitive advantage. As you know, time is money because many times the only way to overcome time constraints is to spend more money. There was a time when fleet owners had to buy more electric powered forklifts to address long charge times. Now, they save money with hydrogen fuel cell models.
Zachary Alexander
Concepts: CPUC, EV, fast chargers, hydrogen infrastructure, queueing theoryMay 4th, 2012
$566 Billion needed to maintain current US Energy Architecture
According the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), “at least $566 billion will be needed to revitalize the grid through 2020.” Failure to act will lead to an increase in power outages over the same time period. As economic developers, you know that this is just the starting estimate for maintaining the current energy architecture. However, we at the ebTDesign Forum suggest that there may be other options.
The current energy architecture framework hasn’t changed very much since the 1880’s. Most local power grids are still based on centralized power generation, massively expensive transmission lines and other distribution assets. In 2005, the power generation community started looking at the benefits distributed networks were providing the computer industry.
It was this desire to provide the energy sector with the same kind of innovation platform that the computer sector enjoyed which led to the development of the hydrogen convergence architecture framework. In fact, during this time period, there was a meeting sponsored by the Northern Virginia Technology Council and organized by the ebTDesign Forum that provided many of the principles that form the foundation of hydrogen convergence.
There is a moral imperative to fix America’s aging power grid because it provides lifesaving services. But as Albert Einstein would say, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” America can’t hope to maintain the same standard of living for its people using an energy architecture from the 1880′s. Hopefully, economic developers will come together to champion the much needed changes that will save the day.
Zachary Alexander
Concepts: ASCE, Einstein, energy architecture, NVTCMay 3rd, 2012
Let’s Talk Hydrogen Convergence 05/03/12
Episode 51: Understanding the impact of pre- and post-Globalization business practices, Less than 90 Days to the London Olympics, When Oslo to Monte Carlo is not a road race.
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May 1st, 2012
September 8th Power Outage shows dangers with EV Clusters
A lot of very serious people say that there are no such things as battery electric vehicle (EV) clusters. For new readers of the ebTDesign Forum, an EV cluster is the term that has been given to the random concentration of electric cars in a given community. As you can imagine an EV cluster is a fluid phenomenon that can spring up anytime or anywhere people tend to congregate.
The threat posed by EV clusters relates to the ability of local power grid operators to react to indiscriminate increases in energy demand. This is a major problem with current energy architectures. They are not designed to respond to dynamic energy loads. Most of the energy architectures currently deployed are built to support fixed energy loads and require long lead times to modify.
In fact, the September 8th power outage that took down San Diego, parts Of Arizona and Baja California is a case in point. According to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), the outage was blamed on inadequate planning which is short for unexpected load. And, this will always be the case with EV clusters.
The reality is that the only way to handle the dynamic nature of EV clusters is by deploying an excessive amount of contingent transmission and distribution capacity. As someone once said on LinkedIn, “moving large amounts of electricity around is very difficult.” Doing it dynamically without the benefits of the hydrogen convergence framework is almost impossible.
Zachary Alexander
Concepts: energy architecture, EV Clusters, FERC, NERC, power outageApril 30th, 2012
Oslo to Monte Carlo, Sounds like Road Race
According to FuelCellWorks.com, members of the Zero Emissions Resource Organization (ZERO) set a record for the longest independent trip in a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. Generally, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are accompanied by support vehicles that carry spare parts and extra hydrogen fuel. In this case, the journey was accomplished using only public hydrogen filling stations available to anyone.
Economic developers would be well-advised to view this feat as an example of the maturity of both hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and hydrogen infrastructure. As we have said in past blog segments, hydrogen convergence is not a game. It is a race to save lives. This is just one more sign that the fossil fuel era is coming to an end and that industrialized economies can be decoupled from the roller coaster of oil prices.
Zachary Alexander
Concepts: FuelCellWorks, hydrogen infrastructure, oil prices, ZEROApril 30th, 2012
The Dangers of Pre-Globalization Institutions
All of the institutions that govern America’s economic sustainability are pre-Globalization. And, pre-Globalization economic institutions were built on excessive consumption. This comes from the post-World War II transition period when consumption was needed to rebuild the post-War economies of our allies. Now, America is struggling to find its way through the post-Globalization transition.
For example, NASA and the Department of Energy (DOE) have become the new dinosaurs in the room. They are no longer the places where bright ideas go to thrive. The reason is because they are both based on failure mode management. We at the ebTDesign Forum define failure mode management as a management system that is based on the belief that “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.”
In general, this means that government strategies don’t change unless they are clearly broken. For example, the space shuttle flew for 30 years before there was a policy change. The space flight policy retreated back to Apollo era designs instead of working to perfect reusable space shuttle. In fact, one of the things that NASA and the DOE have in common is that they both try to justify their conservative decision making process on cost not on future benefits.
At the ebTDesign Forum, we suggest that not making the proper technology investments is a ticking time bomb. In graduate school, professors use to say that siphoning off profits without any concerns about the needs of ongoing business will eventually cause it to go belly up. Pre-Globalization institutions like NASA do the same when they perform their duties on the cheap so that they can pay for tax rebates.
Zachary Alexander
Concepts: DOE, failure mode, NASA, pre-Globalization, sustainabilityApril 27th, 2012
91 Days until the London Olympics
There are 91 days until the start of the Summer Olympics. And for hydrogen convergence advocates it feels like things have already started. The major auto makers have agreed to production ready hydrogen fuel cell vehicles by 2015. But, the real push will come one year later in 2016 which is just in time for the Rio Summer Olympics. This is what it must be like for an Olympic host city.
It takes 7 years to stage the Olympic Games and it will be 7 years after Secretary Chu made his comments about killing the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. So, there are just a little over 4 years left to deploy all of the hydrogen infrastructure necessary to turn around the United States Economy. Unlike most so-called gurus, we at the ebTDesign Forum think it’s still possible change America’s energy architecture in time.
A little over 4 years is left to make the investments in hydrogen convergence or risk making the same mistakes as the ones made by the cell phone industry. Instead of staying engaged and current in the development of hydrogen infrastructure, lawmakers can push an agenda that benefits battery electric vehicle (EV) manufactures rather than the American people.
The United States can either go it alone or build on the hydrogen convergence legacy of the Vancouver and London Olympics. Lawmakers can choose to extend the Fossil Fuel Debt Spiral or join with the rest of the world by decoupling the United States Economy from roller coaster oil prices. When you and your peers get back from your weekend, we will be less than 90 days from the greatest show on earth and a little over 4 years from implementing a fully sustainable economy.
Zachary Alexander
Concepts: architecture, hydrogen infrastructure, London, Olympics, RioApril 26th, 2012
Let’s Talk Hydrogen Convergence 04/26/12
Episode 50: Why develop New Energy Architectures? Does Biodiesel have a place in th Hydrogen Convergence Framework? Does the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Merit Review still Matter?
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April 25th, 2012
Even Biodiesel has a role in Hydrogen Convergence Framework
Yesterday, the ebTDesign Forum published a blog segment about the changing energy architectures. Now, we want to talk about one of the most promising technologies for achieving sustainability which is biodiesel. The challenge for economic developers is how you build a consensus around any one technology. In truth, there are too many options and you can’t engage enough of the public to achieve a general agreement.
The solution to this challenge for economic developers is to fully invest in an energy architecture framework. This means educating both community leaders and the business community about how energy architectures are changing around the world. A well designed architecture framework like hydrogen convergence provides a context for holding the conversations that lead to outcomes that satisfy real stakeholders.
The business case for using hydrogen convergence as a framework for achieving sustainability is on display at the Hannover Fair (i.e. a well-known international trade show). The Linde Group is using biodiesel to produce hydrogen. And, it’s the ability to pull together all the renewable energy sources that makes hydrogen convergence such a great framework choice.
Until now, the biggest challenge to achieving sustainability on the technical side has been the warring renewable energy tribes (i.e. biofuels, solar, and wind). Advocates spend just as much time talking about the dangers of fossils as they do about the shortcomings of the other renewable energy technologies. Once again, the strength of using hydrogen convergence as a framework is that all these renewable technologies can co-exist.
Zachary Alexander
Concepts: energy architecture, framework, Hannover Fair, LindeApril 24th, 2012
Developing Energy Architectures using Hydrogen Convergence
According to 90% of the attendees at this year’s World Economic Forum (WEF), energy architectures are changing. Even though these very serious people agree that things are changing, they are less clear about which framework should be used to develop these new energy architectures. These are the kinds of challenges that people who live through techno economic transitions period must handle.
Furthermore, it is just a matter of time before most economic developers will be tasked with developing strategies that will help their communities achieve sustainability. Once your community leaders acknowledge that peak oil has already occurred then economic developers will be tasked with helping local businesses navigate the post-Globalization marketplace. And, this new marketplace is very concerned about sustainability.
Hopefully, community leaders in your area will take to heart the advice given by Albert Einstein when dealing with the need to design new energy architectures. He said, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” And, it’s this mindset that provides the opportunity to use hydrogen convergence as a framework for achieving sustainability in the near-term.
Zachary Alexander
Concepts: Albert Einstein, peak oil, post-Globalization, techno-economic, WEFApril 23rd, 2012
Sustainability provides New Opportunities for Small Fleet Owners
Enabling economic sustainability in the United States will create new demand for small business owners. Techno economic change based on sustainability needs to start at the grassroots level. The reason is because disruptive innovation requires new businesses that can make a meal on small cost structures. Incumbents are wedded to their cost structures and it’s very difficult to get by with less.
On the other hand, mainstream commentators are still focused on the whims of energy sector dinosaurs (i.e., big coal, big oil, and big nuclear power) because they sponsor delaying activities. This is not to say that all transnational corporations are dinosaurs. Dinosaurs are companies that either can’t or won’t change their business models in reaction to techno economic events.
The good news for economic developers is that hydrogen convergence provides a framework for enabling sustainability based on disruptive innovation. While other sustainability measures which are based on shaming business executives into doing the right thing which never works. Hydrogen Convergence is designed using concepts that led to the rapid deployment of commercial Internet infrastructure.
Most economic developers will agree that new industry clusters tend to grow up around new infrastructure. And by definition, new industry clusters will lead to new job creation. If small fleet owners are like most small businesses they will see the most benefits from techno economic changes like sustainability because small companies don’t have legacy solutions to protect.
Zachary Alexander
Concepts: dinosaurs, disruptive-innovation, sustainability, techno-economicApril 22nd, 2012
Happy Earth Day to all our Readers!!!
As readers of the ebTDesign Forum, you know that very few barriers to sustainability are actually technical. In fact, the vast majority of barriers are actually more cultural.
On this Earth Day, we would like to wish you and yours a fun and safe day however you choose to celebrate it. And, look forward to your future comments.
Zachary Alexander
Concepts: cultural, Earth Day, sustainability