PORT TOWNSEND — Today’s teenagers will rely on new technologies for their energy needs, according to a scientist who appeared as a Port Townsend High School guest teacher Thursday.
“Where you are getting your power will change in the future,” said Steve Wittrig, a retired director of advanced technologies at BP, a multinational energy and fuel company. He is now a senior adviser for advanced energy systems at the Clean Air Task Force, a Boston-based health and environment advocacy group.
“Whether it’s ammonia or something else, there will be new energy sources.”
Wittrig taught two chemistry classes, discussing alternatives to the current dependency on fossil fuel.
Ammonia as fuel
He is an advocate for the use of ammonia as a clean-burning fuel that can be used in power plants and with vehicles and engines that are designed and engineered for its use.
Wittrig suggested the establishment of local “energy stations” that would be configured with ammonia fuel that could be used to supply community-based electric power, heating and cooling.
“You are at the end of the loop in Port Townsend and have a vulnerability if the transmission goes down,” he said.
“If it’s considered to be enough of a risk that the transmission lines would go down and it would take a few months to fix them, then putting in a neighborhood energy station where you could provide enough ammonia to generate enough power is a good idea.”
Energy stations are most appropriate in high-risk places where fuel is expensive, Wittrig said.
Wittrig came to Port Townsend to talk about energy stations at the monthly luncheon meeting of the Jefferson County Energy Lunch Program.
Program sponsors suggested that Wittrig talk to the classes “to make my trip more worthwhile,” he said.
Wittrig said he found out about the teaching gig Tuesday, and although he doesn’t have any classroom experience, he “gives lots of talks” and is comfortable presenting scientific concepts to groups of all knowledge levels.
30 years in industry
Wittrig started working for Amoco in 1981 and joined BP after it purchased Amoco in 1998, eventually retiring in 2011.
During his tenure, BP allocated funding and research support for alternative energies but no longer has the same commitment to the technologies.
“About 15 years ago, BP determined we had a large cash flow and experience in building energy businesses, so we spent around $25 billion on alternative energy sources,” he said.
“The investment is still going on and we still have businesses coming out of that, but we sold off a lot of the wind and solar because it wasn’t something that we were as good at as we thought we would be.”
BP sold those assets “to people who can do a better job with them,” he said.
Wittrig said ammonia is a naturally produced chemical that is necessary for plant growth. It can be burned in the same way as methane.
Energy competition
To accomplish this, commercialized equipment needs to be developed with the knowledge that it will eventually compete with existing energy sources.
“In order for this to work, you need to find the right niches where people have an interest that supports commercialization,” he said.
Wittrig said he hoped students came away from his talk with some understanding about how to solve energy problems.
“There are lots of very interesting things that are going on with technology that address all the different apocalyptic things we are hearing about,” he said.
“It’s not that scary. It would be very interesting for students to learn about it and get involved as they decide where they want to go to college and what they want to do.”
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
