Harvest The Energy Of Wind, Solar & Hydrogen

June 30, 2015

Craig Looby of Urban Maximum Industries [UMI] said that for the last two years UMI and Hydrogen411 Technology have been researching and developing a plan to reach energy independence for Bermuda by 2025, with the concept being to harvest the energy of wind, solar and hydrogen from sea water.

The company said, “The bottom line in any economy is the cost of energy. When electricity goes up so does the cost of all goods and services. Jobs are lost and if nothing is done about it the economy could implode into recession or worse.

“Recently there has been a lot of talk in articles from Bermuda about the current and coming problems regarding how the local utility is planning for the future. Their plan for improvement includes raising electricity costs to pay for the transformation to LNG in hopes that the cost of another fossil fuel will stay low.

“The current view held by many is that this new direction for Belco is poorly planned out and risky. So will the people of Bermuda have to settle for another soon to be antiquated technology?

“Not so, says Craig Looby of Urban Maximum Industries [UMI]. For the last two years UMI and Hydrogen411 Technology have been researching and developing a plan to reach energy independence for Bermuda by 2025. To make the argument easy to understand, John Ballor of Hydrogen411 Technology poses a simple question.

“If you were surrounded with an endless amount of clean fuel would you choose to ignore it and import costly dirty fossil fuel? With Belco’s proposed plan rates may go down some after the tax payers pay for their transition but they will always have to buy fuel so how much savings can residents expect??

“Our plan according to UMI and Hydrogen411 Technology is to harvest the energy of Wind, Solar and Hydrogen from sea water. Wind and solar for base power and hydrogen used as an energy carrier to balance the grid then hydrogen to drive Fuel Cell Vehicles, Boats, Back up Power and more and we won’t need to import fuel. The numbers don’t lie says UMI.

“Under our plan to bring 200MW of renewable energy to Bermuda, not only would residents see an immediate drop in rates but at the end of the day when the initial investment is payed off the cost of making fuel [H2] is reduced to maintenance and operating costs bringing the cost of fuel to a fraction of what it is now.

“Our interest is to work with Belco in various ways. We welcome Belco shareholders to contact us and work with us. Potential local investors, we would be interested in speaking with you, as our model has a much wider deployment scope, that goes beyond Bermuda.

“We want to let the public know this new plant build is not going to use tax payer funds, will not require electricity rate increases, will create short, medium and long term jobs and let them know the deployment can spur wage increases in tourism and drive increased tourist air arrivals by making Bermuda and hotels more competitive.

“The Bermuda Government established the Department of Energy to take the lead in meeting both the challenges of Bermuda’s own need for energy and our responsibility to set an example for the rest of the world.

“The Department of Energy’s strategic Goals are to:

  1. Ensure a secure energy supply, in terms of both quantity and cost
  2. Reduce fossil fuel dependency
  3. Encourage greenhouse gas emissions, reductions related to energy

“The UMI Power Master Plan for Bermuda does the following:

  1. Provides a secure energy supply, in 200MW quantity and at a low cost to end users.
  2. Ends fossil fuel dependency, Bermuda will make its own fuel!
  3. Ends greenhouse gas emissions, related to energy.

“UMI needs the public support in order to reach its deployment goals…it is what is best for Bermuda’s future.

“We look forward to speaking with all stake holders and negotiate a path to deployment with the Bermuda Government, that can have us break ground on our proposed site as quickly as possible.

“We are confident our plan is by far the most progressive and inventive option for Bermuda, that boldly exceeds the strategic goals of the Energy Department.

“UMI will be providing a series of media releases to explain the deployment in more detail to illustrate the benefits to the entire island.”

For more info visit their Faecbook page here.

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Category: All, Business, Environment

Comments (21)

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  1. San George says:

    Congrats and best wishes.

    Quo Fata Ferunt

  2. MB says:

    before going public with pie in the sky, perhaps do your homework first, or try Google

    • inna says:

      I was thinking the same thing. But he does say that the deployment of this new power plant will be revealed to the public in due course.

      So we await with open ears…

    • craig looby says:

      can you explain what is pie in the sky?

  3. Arrow says:

    This is nothing new. Hydrogen economies are growing around the world. Some people and governments have had enough of the oil game. What sounds like a lot of money is a drop in the bucket for big energy. Why not keep the profits at home, that will build the economy!! Why buy fuel when you can make it? Did you know the oil companies use massive amounts of hydrogen to refine their oil? Look it up, there’s something wrong with that picture. Wake up people your a slave to big oil!

  4. Curious says:

    Quick Google

    ‘Production of hydrogen from water requires large amounts of energy and is uncompetitive with production from coal or natural gas. Potential electrical energy supplies include hydropower, wind turbines, or photovoltaic cells. Usually, the electricity consumed is more valuable than the hydrogen produced so this method has not been widely used’

    So you generate power with wind and solar, use the excess to split water, store the hydrogen and then use that when you dont have an excess.

    Guarantee there isnt enough Solar/Wind max generation capacity available to meet Bermuda’s need

    • Sickofantz says:

      But if it reduced our dependance on fossil fuels could only be a good thing.

    • craig looby says:

      We are not depending on solar and wind alone to generate the 200MW, I repeat…we will be providing a detailed overview to the public on the “how” once we have our talks with the government and BELCO.

      Since we have not provided these details….it is premature for any one to assume the quick google facts are correct in total.

  5. Sickofantz says:

    Wow this sounds great! Better for the environment, would help reduce the cost of our tourism product and the price of doing business here and would help Bermuda’s less well off.

  6. So utilise wind solar and hydro to produce solid hydrogen fuel cells…one refrigerator size generator is silent …no pollutants…and powers three houses…imagine…renting out a house with electricity provided…in Rome aqueduct was built …sheer volume of water sluiced to smaller apertures increased speed and sentbit up hill or to power windmill pumps …we could turbine energy by increasing speed through impellors facing two directions inverted also increasing speed…ad a few magnets and a dynamo…voila….electricity….

  7. craig looby says:

    Good day all thanks for your interests thus far,

    As stated this deployment plan will be explained to the public step by step via the Bermuda media. So every one understands the objective and how we will all get there.

    As Bermudians know…change is not easily accepted here, so resistance is expected…education is they key.

    Our plan is very simple, but capital intensive. As we engage with the Bermuda government we will be able to keep the public informed and educated at the same time, step by step and we look forward to further public discussion.

    There are some questions that I see above…some based on science fact…some not.

    Basically, the technologies we will use have been proven in commercial deployments in various countries for over 15 years, and the economies who have adopted these systems are thriving. Bermuda can join them.

    • Sickofantz says:

      Could you let us know some examples of where they have been successfully employed and where you have gained your experience in these technologies?

      • craig looby says:

        Various countries in the EU have made these conversions, with more planned in other countries…there is a wealth of information on the internet.

        I have been educated in these various technologies via my own research, and with the education of the various members of H2411…they have professors and other scientists on their team, H2411 is our technology provider, and UMI are the concept developers.

        Its through H2411′s experience that we have come to this deployment model for the 200MW plant, after two years of researching what will and wont work in Bermuda.

        • 32n64w says:

          Are those same EU installations supporting solely the equivalent of a small town comprising 60k residents?

    • Jus' Askin' says:

      “…change is not easily accepted here, so resistance is expected…”

      I find that insulting to the people of Bermuda :-D

      You need to prepare for a larger consumption of electricity, if it is made cheaper to the consumer, they will use more.

      How much revenue from taxation will government lose if BELCo cuts back on importing fuel due to this project?

      I still back Nuclear Power ;-)

  8. LINDA LOU says:

    WOW PEOPLE — WE NEED TO COME TOGETHER AND NOT THROW SILLY COMMENTS AT OTHERS — THIS IS A VERY SERIOUS MATTER — YOU CAN LOOK AT ICELAND AND SEE THAT THIS TYPE OF ENERGY IS WORKING FOR THEM — HAPPY TO GO GREENER

  9. ImJustSayin says:

    Bloom Energy is better and more reliable.
    Bloom Energy is a provider of breakthrough solid oxide fuel cell technology generating clean, highly-efficient on-site power from multiple fuel sources. The company was founded in 2001 with a mission to make clean, reliable energy affordable for everyone in the world. Bloom Energy Servers are currently producing power for several Fortune 500 companies including Google, Walmart, AT&T, eBay, Staples, The Coca-Cola Company, as well as notable non-profit organizations such as Caltech and Kaiser Permanente. The company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA. For more information, visit www.bloomenergy.com.

  10. Jus' Askin' says:

    Nuclear Power is the way forward :-D

  11. JUNK YARD DOG says:

    Diversification is the key.
    Every thing is relative .
    Every thing is proportional.
    Never put all you eggs in one basket.
    Bigger is not always better.
    We need to consider many smaller land based wind generators.
    Tide rise and fall power at HM Dockyard.
    We need to consider along with other resources like Flats bridge power.