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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 26, 1988)
ydrogen becomes more viable alternative fuel tea By Timothy J. Hammons Staff Writer Imagine a world where Australia is inly a two-hour flight away from here, here the “greenhouse effect” is no nger a concern and where there is an undant amount of fuel for auto- obiles. With the use of hydrogen as a fuel, ese ideas may not be so far in the fu- re, said William B. Craven, manager i>f Texas A&M’s Center for Electroche- ical Systems and Hydrogen Research. The center, a department of the Texas Ingineering Experiment Station, is rec- nized as the leading institute in the United States in hydrogen research. I “We can take hydrogen and use it any where that hydrocarbons, gasoline and diesel fuels are used,” Craven said. He said hydrogen could be used by ev eryone because it comes from water. “If you run out of water, you’don’t worry about fuel,” he said. A problem with hydrogen, however, is that it usually stays in the form of wa ter, he said. The center seeks to break hydrogen away from the oxygen in water with sun light, through a process called water electrolysis. Electrolysis uses solar cells to gener ate electricity, through which the water is passed. Electricity breaks up molecules and gives off oxygen that can be contained or allowed to dissipate. The hydrogen is contained and used to create electricity or used in an internal combustion engine. Craven said that hydrogen makes a better fuel than hydrocarbons. When hydrogen is burned in an en gine, the hydrogen recombines with oxy gen from the air and creates heat, which provides energy, he said. With gasoline, the output of the ex haust is carbon monoxide and carbon di oxide, which pollutes the atmosphere. With hydrogen, the problem of pollut ion does not exist, he said. If the world were to stop using fossil fuels today, he said, it would take 20 years to stop the warming effects that pollution already has caused. Because the hydrogen for fuel comes from water, it is available to every coun try that has the technology to collect it. “The beauty of hydrogen is no one can monopolize it,” he said. “There are prob ably 30 countries in the world that are working on hydrogen research. “They realize the value, that no one country will be able to dominate the process. “The only reason we’re not using it to day is crude oil is cheap,” Craven said. “It is a lot cheaper to drill a hole in the ground and get an enormous amount of energy out of it.” The cost for the hydrogen conversion is equated to about $3.50 per gallon of gasoline, he said. Craven said that West Germany has legislated that the country will use hy drogen as its major source of energy by the turn of the century. Both BMW and Mercedes Benz have developed hydrogen test cars, and Mer cedes will have a hydrogen car in pro duction next year. Soviet Union recently flew an aircraft using hydrogen, he said. United States did the same 20 years ago. Aerospace plane proposed by the U.S. military is fueled with hydrogen. The plane takes off and lands as a nor mal plane, he said, but it will be capable of going into the upper atmosphere. Hydrogen burns so quickly and fast that it is the only fuel that can be used to fly faster than Mach 7, he said. Aerospace plane will fly at Mach 17 to Mach 22, which is about 11,000 mph to 14,000 mph. Flying at such speeds, a flight from California to Japan would take 30 min utes, Craven said. It now takes about 10 hours. Another application of hydrogen is in the use of a fuel cell, which converts hy drogen into electricity, he said. Fuel cell would allow on-the-spot gen eration of electricity, he said. The center would like to place nuclear power plants in remote areas, where the electricity needed to produce hydrogen would be produced. Hydrogen then would be piped into a city, where it could be used with the fuel cell to produce electricity. Craven said a problem with using long power cables is the loss of power over long distances. However, very little hydrogen is lost in pipelines. Conservationists denounce Bush for nature policy Cal AUSTIN (AP) — Republican pres- I idential candidate George Bush per sonally led an effort that has resulted in poisonous chemicals making their way into Texas waterways, according :o a report released Tuesday by two onservationist groups. Brigid Shea, elections and pro ram coordinator for Texas Clean Water Action, said, “It is inconceiv- tble to anyone in the environmental ommunity that George Bush consid- rs himself an environmentalist. “I know of no environmental orga- lization that has endorsed George ush or praises his record. ” Ken Kramer, legislative director of ’Tr" he Texas Sierra Club, said his orga- ^ nzation nationally — with almost >00,000 members — had not made in endorsement in the presidential flection, but it has left no doubt as to ho has a superior environmental re- ord. Because of that, Kramer said, he as strongly endorsing the Demo- ratic ticket of Michael Dukakis and loyd Bentsen. Texas Land Commissioner Garry auro, a Democrat, said Bush is othing more than a campaign con- ervationist. Calling Bush an envi- laiiE ilk )ur l!V' Oil! H ■Coni otliei 'diit: id hi lisinii 1 s'CAA ronmentalist is like calling (GOP vice presidential candidate) Dan Quayle a Phi Beta Kappa, Mauro said. Rep. Lena Guerrero, D-Austin, joined in support of the national Dem ocratic candidates at a news confer ence to release the report criticizing Bush’s environmental record. It was prepared by Clean Water Action and the Sierra Club. A summary said Bush, as chair man of the Task Force on Regulatory Relief, had led the effort to block or weaken federal laws protecting air, land and water, and suspended water pollution control laws designed to prevent thousands of tons of such toxic metals as cadmium, zinc and chromium from entering waterways. The national task force was a vehi cle which allowed some of the na tion’s largest polluters to rescind, de lay or obstruct environmental laws designed to protect the population. Mark Sanders of the Bush cam paign in Texas said in response if there is any doubt that Dukakis — not Bush — is an “anti-environmental ist, they ought to go look at Boston Harbor,” in Dukakis’ home state of Massachusetts. Presidential ballots impounded because of misleading printing AUSTIN (AP) — The secretary of state ordered pa per ballots in Hidalgo County impounded Tuesday, charging they were printed in such a way as to make voters think they could cast a separate vote for Demo crat Lloyd Bentsen as vice president. “It is incredible for me to believe that this was an oversight or a typographical error,” Assistant Secretary of State Randy Erben said. “If it is deliberate, there’s no place in the process for election officials to act in such an illegally partisan manner.” Hidalgo County Clerk William “Billy” Leo was in a meeting and not immediately available to comment, his secretary said. According to Erben, paper ballots printed for the up coming general election correctly placed one check-off box next to the presidential tickets of the Republican, Libertarian and New Alliance parties. But for the Democratic ticket of Michael Dukakis and Bentsen, a box was printed next to each name. Erben said he believes the ballot was printed that way to make voters think they could vote for Bush as president and Bentsen, a three-term Texas senator, as vice president. Marking both would invalidate the presidential por tion of the ballot, he said. State election law calls for a single vote to be cast for a party’s president-vice president ticket. “It appears we have a deliberate conspiracy to de prive voters of their civil rights,” Erben charged at a news conference. Bentsen also is listed on the ballot as a candidate for re-election to the Senate. That is allowed under the state’s “Lyndon law” that permits dual candidacies. Erben said Secretary of State Jack Rains’ office or dered Leo to impound the Hidalgo County paper bal lots. Both those ballots already voted absentee and those still blank. Leo was ordered to print new paper ballots and to send corrected ballots to those who requested absentee mail-in ballots. The Texas Department of Public Safety and FBI were asked to investigate, Erben said, and ballots in all 253 other counties would be checked to make certain the same thing hadn’t happened there. Slum area tries to obtain clean water EL PASO (AP) — People working to bring water to rural slums east of El Paso hope they bypassed a federal bu reaucratic roadblock by sending an envi ronmental assessment directly to the in terior secretary. Assessment was delivered Monday to Interior Secretary Donald Hodel, Dale Jones, president of the El Paso County Lower Valley Water District Authority, said. Water authority is trying to bring clean running water and sewerage service to “colonias” — poverty-stricken housing subdivisions in east El Paso County’s Lower Valley where about 28,000 peo ple live without treated running water. Authority plans to convert Rio Grande irrigation water for household use. But the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation — an agency of the interior department — said this summer that the authority would have to submit a detailed environmental impact statement because of the plan to change the use of the river water. An impact statement could take up to two years to complete, delaying the de livery of water to colonias. So the au thority sent a less-detailed environmental assessment over the Bureau of Reclama tion’s head to Hodel. El Paso Mayor Jonathan Rogers, U.S. Rep. Ronald Coleman and both U.S. senators from Texas have asked Hodel to meet with Lower Valley residents. Jones said he hopes Hodel will ap prove the water authority’s plan to bring water to about 9,000 colonia residents in the next three years. The assessment, completed a week ago by the Rio Grande Council of Gov ernments, shows that bringing water to the colonias would improve human health and welfare without adversely af fecting the environment in the short term. Some colonia residents drink water from wells they sink in their yards, but most of those wells have been shown to be contaminated with sewage from out houses and septic tanks. Many colonia residents have to go to churches and houses in communities with water, fill plastic jugs with water and tote them back. lb' B SCOTT&WHITE CLINIC, COLLEGE 1600 University Drive East STATION ithe Will® | were oappl' 1 as a” ihan l l Y ,f(M m i# ea* Audiology Occupational Medicine Richard L. Riess, Ph D. Dr. Walter J. Linder Cardiology Opbtbalmology Dr. J. James Rohack Dr. Mark R. Coffman Dermatology Orthopedic Surgery Dr. David D. Barton Dr. Robert F. Hines Family Medicine Dr. Art Caylor Dr. William R. Kiser Dr. Walter J. Linder Dr. Richard A. Smith Dr. Kathy A. Stienstra Dr. Robert Wiprud Otolaryngology Dr. Michael J. Miller Pediatrics Dr. Dayne M. Foster Dr. Mark Sicilio Plastic Surgery Dr. William M. Cocke, Jr. General Surgery Dr. Frank R. Arko Dr. Dirk L. Boysen Internal Medicine Psychiatry Dr. Steven Kirk Strawn Dr. Valerie Chatham Psychology Dr. Alton Graham Dr. Jack L. Bodden Dr. David Hackethom Radiology Dr. Michael R. Schlabach Dr. Luis Canales Obstetrics/Gynecology Urology Dr. James R. Meyer Dr. Michael R. Hermans Dr. William L. Rayburn Health Education Dr. Charles W. Sanders Sally Scaggs, RD Call 268-3322 For Appointment © Rent a Face ■ si As S iV • This Halloween, don’t be caught wearing your own face... rent one from Cologe- ro’s. We have masks and costumes for rent to transform even the most sedate per son into a party animal. COlOfiFMS Park Place Plaza Next to Winn Dixie Texas Ave. S. at Southwest Pkwy. 693-0709 VOTE BY ABSENTEE BALLOT Avoid the lines on Nov. 8. It’s quick and it’s easy so absentee vote now at the following loca tions: • The College Station Community Center 1300 Jersey St. across from TAMU campus • The Brazos County Courthouse on Texas Avenue in Bryan between 26th and 25th streets Open Sam to 5pm FEEL THE R1