2 IN CALI ag - 4 - Sunday, November 19, 1989 - North Shore News FORNIA — harbinger of a Bos Hunter * strictly personal e I things new, it seems, from New Ages to new phobias — the automobile counter-revolution has begun in earnest and Caaada, lo and behotd, is following somewhat truculently (if you'll forgive the pun) in its wake. Yet Canada is ideally positioned to be in the forefront, not the rear, of the big switch to alternative fuels that the automotive industry is about to make. Back in March this year, of- ficials in Los Angeles adopted a sweeping 20-year anti-pollution plan which has become a model for the world — including Canada’s environment ministers, who have pledged to adopt California standards by 1994. The fact that just last week in The Netherlands, the U.S., Japan and Russia ganged up to block a comprehensive plan to reduce car- bon dioxide emissions by 20 per cent by the end of the century means only that the process will be slightly delayed and the price to be paid down the road will be con- siderably higher. Change, nevertheless, is coming. The fact is, as Robert Keating wrote in Omni magazine recently, “the fossil fuels that prepelled the world through the industrial age are now killing it.”’ At a literal level, this is more true than most people realize. Apart from the biosphere itself be- ing at risk, the cost of premature death and illness caused by the burning of fossil fueis — including cancer, chronic and acute respira- tory sickness, heart disease and lead poisoning —. is estimated in allure of a Pappas Fur yourself. PAPPAS FURS—SIMPLY THE BEST FURS THE WORLD HAS TO OFFER! Pappas Furs Designers Ltd. is Canada’s largest independent furrier. Our formula for success: THE WORLD'S FINEST FURS at the WORLD'S MOST REASONABLE PRICES—guaranteed! May | suggest a Pappas Fur in your future? Cora F nS ees the U.S, alone at $113 billion a year. The first obvious alternative is natural gas. The switch to this plentiful fuel has begun in earnest. There are some half-million natu- ral-gas powered vehicles on the eliminating the need to touch base ata service station. (I like that!) If one would fook further for an even cleaner alternative to deadly fossil fuels, the logical starting point is hydrogen —- an invisible, odorless gas which is the most plentiful element in the universe. Because it is also one of the lightest clements, hydrogen tends to rise into the atmosphere, com- bining with other elements. lt can be extracted from natural gas, which Canada hus in abun- “‘Anybody with a house heated by natural gas will soon be able to drive his or her car home, park it in the garage, and plug in to a natural gas compressor, eliminating the need to touch base at a service Station.’ roads worldwide, including some 20,000 in Canada. The Toronto Transit System has already begun to phase out its diesel buses, replacing them with natural gas vehicles. In terms of the greenhouse ef- fect, natura! gas isn't the ultimate answer, since it still involves the release of nitrogen oxides. The . amounts involved are significantly smaller than current levels, howev- er. And so far as carbon dioxide emissions are concerned, natural gas-powered engines reduce that by 20 to 35 per cent. 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If the Pappas Fur lifestyle, which is eminent prestige and incomparahle eiegance, sounds rather intriguing, | personally invite you to experience the endiess PRESIGENT PAPPAS FUR DESIGNERS LTD. 449 Hamilton Street Open Monday to Saturday 9:00 a.m-5:30 p.m. Now Open Sunday 12:00 p.m-5:00 p.m. and by private appointment xe The Pappas Family... Quality Furs Since 1913 Lifetime Guarantee on all Pappas Furs. Ask for cur written guarantee. dance, through a process called steam reforming, also through electrolysis, and through photolysis, a chemical reaction us- ing sunlight. The only byproduct of hydrogen combustion is a harmless water vapor so clean it can be converted to drinking water. At the moment, the most com- mon use of hydrogen is in the manufacture of ammonia, which finds its way into dyes, fertilizers and rocket fuels. The distinguished electrochemist John Bockris, who coined th:: phrase ‘“‘hydrogen economy 10 describe the alternative fuel -nergy future into which we are being driven, states that ‘‘in the race to produce hydrogen, (the U.S.) is running behind the Soviet Union, Coput Canada and West Germany."” Would that it were true! The Russians and West Germans are, indeed, pouring fortunes into de- veloping hydrogen as the fuel of the future, while Japanese resear- chers are busy fine-tuning super- sonic aircraft engines fueled by liquid hydrogen. But Canada’s “‘spirited pursuit of a hydrogen society,’? as Omni describes it, has, in fact, ground to a halt. In 1985, two years after its in- ception, funding for the Institute for Hydrogen Systems, a national coalition of 50 organizations, was cut off by the Ontario government, a year after the federal government axed its own funding program for hydrogen research, leaving the ‘spirited pursuit’? nowhere. Lest anyone think that since Canadian governments have shown a lack of interest there’s some 300d reason to suspect that rydrogen isn’t the answer, i refer you to a remark made recently by Dr. Rolf Povel, a director of Mercedes-Benz, Inc., whose com- pany has already built a large-scale hydrogen-fueled test fleet of cars that has accumulated 450,000 miles. Said Dr. Povel: *Conventionai engines and vehicles can be modified and adapted to run on hydrogen, and it is possible to utilize existing supply networks for natural gas and electricity to gen- erate hydrogen locally.” He added: ““The information learned from (our) research has greatly expand- ed the potential to harness a virtual unlimited supply of fuel for use in the next century.”” The Mercedes-Benz hydrogen research vehicies can achieve a speed of 105 mph. On the downside they can, as yet, travel only 70 miles before refueling. This is the reason they aren’t on the market yet. But it is only a matter of time — and not much of that. To be continuede This week at councils THIS WEEK North Vancouver City and District Councils will be meeting on Monday, Nov. 20 at 7:30 p.m. West Vancouver District Council! will be meeting the same night but at 7:45 p.m. For a comprehensive agenda contact the respective municipal halls, F WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 22 7:00 pm tickets $5.00 SENTINEL SCHOOL 1250 CHARTWELL DR. WEST VANCOUVER NORTH VANCOUVER 986-0388 WEST VANCOUVER 926.5541 681-6391