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The potential of hydrogen as an alternative fuel source has been trumpeted for many years, but the technology has still not caught up with the dreams. Hydrogen is a naturally-occurring element that is found in abundance in many common chemicals, such as water. But hydrogen is difficult to obtain on its own. It must first be isolated using various processes. This is frequently done by passing an electrical current through water using a technique known as “ reverse electrolysis” or by applying steam to natural gas using a process known as “reforming.”1 The main benefits of hydrogen energy are that, when used as a fuel, it greatly simplifies the process of combustion and gives off completely clean emissions.
Fuel Cells
The great hope for hydrogen is that it could eventually supplant gasoline as a means of powering automobiles. In order to do so, hydrogen-based fuel would need to be stored in a fuel cell that would be incorporated into the car’s engine design. A fuel cell is similar to a normal battery with the exception that its capacity for energy storage can be replenished by external fuels rather being limited to a set amount of internal fuel.2 Fuel cell technology is not, however, very well advanced. This has prevented the development of hydrogen as an energy source.
The Hydrogen Economy
Former U.S. President George W. Bush made the creation of a “hydrogen economy” a centerpiece of his energy policy for the future. Through the Hydrogen Initiative and FreedomCAR program, several billion dollars have been devoted to researching production of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies during the next decade, spurring the growth of a new industry.
Despite this enthusiastic support and substantial commitments from top car manufacturers, it is not expected that production of commercial hydrogen cars will be possible until at least 2011-2015. Some experimental hydrogen cars have been built and road-tested, but none could be practically manufactured on a mass scale at the current time.
President Obama made the decision to cut $100 million in funding for the hydrogen fuel cell program. Energy secretary Steven Chu explained the decision saying, “We asked ourselves, ‘Is it likely in the next 10, 15, 20 years that we will convert to a hydrogen car economy?’ We felt the answer was ‘No.’”3
The Costs of Innovation
There are three major concerns about the current emphasis on hydrogen as a potential replacement fuel capable of meeting the world’s transportation needs. First are cost and technological uncertainty. Not only do critics claim that hydrogen will not be a short-term “silver bullet” solution for reducing global dependence on fossil fuels, they also argue that real implementation of hydrogen technologies could be as many as 30-50 years away.
The internal combustion energy is a highly efficient mechanism that has been gradually improved over the course of a century, and it will be difficult to displace as a source of motor power.4 In addition, “the internal combustion engine is not a fixed target: the conventional cars of 2020 will be far cleaner, more efficient and therefore much harder to dislodge than today’s new cars.”5 If this is the case, then much of the funding currently being devoted to research in hydrogen and fuel cell technologies might be better spent in other areas, “Some energy experts say the current drive to develop fuel cells depletes the [U.S.] federal budget for bringing to market other non-polluting, renewable energy sources that are on the verge of becoming commercially viable.”6
Net Energy Gains
The second major concern about hydrogen power, familiar to us from our discussion of biofuels, involves net energy gains. As was the case with ethanol, significant amounts of energy must be expended to transform hydrogen in a state in which it is consumable as fuel. More often than not, the energy powering the fuel fabrication process is derived from traditional fossil fuels, resulting in small or even negative net energy gains. In other words, “If the hydrogen is made from processes involving carbon-based fuels all that has happened is that the emissions of globally-warming carbon dioxide have moved from a car’s exhaust pipe to a power station chimney.”7
Delivery Infrastructure
Finally, and perhaps most important on a practical level, is the problem of delivery infrastructure. Assuming that engineers eventually learn how to design new engines that take advantage of fuel cells, a completely revamped network for distributing hydrogen would be necessary in order for it to gain wide acceptance as a fuel for vehicles. Existing pipelines could not be used because hydrogen is highly corrosive. Special modes of transmission and new fueling stations would have to be built at tremendous cost to both suppliers and consumers.
Currently, there are over 300 hydrogen fueling stations in operation worldwide. Most of them service special urban buses in Europe that have been equipped to run on hydrogen. As of 2010, there are 77 operational hydrogen fueling stations in North America (with 43 additional stations in planning; the majority of them in California. 8 In fact, California has led the way with an ambitious program for development of a delivery infrastructure, labeled the “hydrogen highway” by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The goal is to build 200 fueling stations along the length of the state by 2010. There were eight fueling stations opened between 2007 and 2008. Only two more were planned for 2009.9
Hydrogen has the potential to be the fuel of a new global economy. In the meantime, it provides a warning about overselling what alternative fuels can accomplish.
To learn more about electric cars, including those that hydrogen, click here.
4 Cooper, “Alternative Energy,” 180
6 Cooper, “Alternative Energy,” 180; Griffiths, “Accelerating Along the Road to Nowhere”
7 Griffiths, “Accelerating Along the Road to Nowhere”
8 “Hydrogen Fueling Station Database.”
9 “CAH2Net 2008 Report to the Legislature” 1.
Picture Source: http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energyfacts/sources/IntermediateHydrogen.html
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